Suppose, however, that He had:

• Come with a Greek name, adapted from a false deity?
• Had long hair, as though He were taking a Nazarite vow, yet drank wine?
• Promoted the eating of swine's flesh, universally considered by Jews to be an abomination?
• Disregarded the covenant sign of the seventh day Sabbath?
• Replaced a covenant which the Law affirmed was eternal?
• Nailed the Law, revered by Jewish sages, to the cross?
• Failed to consummate His marriage to Israel?
• Instead wooed a new bride: the Gentile Church?
• And finally, founded a NEW rival religion to Judaism called Christianity?

Or even suppose that His disciples had started teaching these things--all "extra-biblical" events which the prophets forgot to mention that the Real Messiah would do in what the world knows as the "Old Testament"--as soon as He died? How many Jews would then have accepted Him as the promised Messiah foretold in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets? Not many if at all, and yet today this is exactly what the Church claims that the Messiah did! Imagine the remarkableness of performing such a feat: the equivalent of a rabbi arriving in America and converting 50% of Christians to orthodox Judaism in just 3½ years, and that with the bonus of modern technology and transportation! How such a great reformation? The answer is simply that the first century believers did not believe like the Church believes today. As the apostle Luke wrote, "Thou seest brothers, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe: and they are all zealous for the Law." (Acts 21:20b)

Something happened, however, between the time that Luke penned those words and the next several centuries. M. Turretin, describing the state of Christianity in the fourth century, said that "It was not so much the [Roman] Empire that was brought over to the Faith, as the Faith that was brought over to the Empire; not the Pagans who were converted to Christianity, but Christianity that was converted to Paganism."⁽¹⁾  Emperor Hadrian, in a letter to the Consul, Serianus, observed that "There are (in Egypt) Christians who worship Serapis; and devoted to Serapis are those who call themselves 'Bishops of Christ.'"⁽²⁾  Faustus, writing to Augustine, saw the same thing, and stated accordingly: "You have substituted your love-feasts for the sacrifices of the pagans; for their idols, your martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honors. You appease the shades of the dead with wine and feasts; you celebrate the solemn festivals of the Gentiles, their calends, and their solstices; and as to their manners, those you have retained without any alteration. Nothing distinguishes you from the pagans, except that you hold your assemblies apart from them."⁽³⁾

Startling as they may be, these statements are not unfounded, as one may at first suspect. Instead they are historical, accurately describing a religious subversion which has led to nearly two-thousand years of recession in our roots, and for this reason, they warrant cause for concern. We're still in the same situation which Turretin, Hadrian, and Faustus described today, except that the problem has proliferated. With the streets of religion paved in ecumenicalism (acceptance of all religions), the sidewalks crawling with universalists (the belief that all faiths lead to heaven), pastors sanctioning the mass murder of infants (abortion), and the church doors bulging with those who work sexual perversion (adultery and homosexuality), nothing really distinguishes us from the pagans at all. Nonetheless, most of us grew up as "Christians", taught that this was the religion which Messiah brought us - the original faith. Is Christianity as we know it today the original faith, or has something overcome the original faith? Has the original faith, in fact, been replaced by another faith; another gospel, as we read about in Galations 1:6,7? Seeing that the Scriptures are the sole foundation of truth, we would do well to begin comparing the teachings of the Scriptures with the doctrines projected by modern Christianity which have no Scriptural basis.

• We've been taught that Saturday was the "Old Testament Sabbath"; that Jesus realized this to be "fundamentalism" and gave us SUNday (the "Lord's Day"), which is now the day of worship and enjoyment.
• According to our Pastors, the "Old Testament" law (bondage) forbade us to eat all sorts of animals, and didn't even say why. Under Jesus' "grace" we can now eat anything we want, all because Peter saw a vision about not looking down on Gentiles in Acts chapter 10 (see verses 17-28 for the interpretation of what Peter's vision REALLY meant). Even though our doctors now tell us that the exact "no-no's" listed in Leviticus aren't good for us, and despite the fact that we're dying from cancer, heart disease, etcetera, Jesus will return at the last minute before we wipe ourselves out and give us new, heavenly bodies to replace the ones we destroyed.
• The Mosaic law (slavery) made us keep feast days on which we had to sacrifice a bunch of poor animals and smear their blood over all sorts of stuff, supposedly to take away sin. Jesus came along and discovered that God's plan wasn't working, so he gave us some new days such as 1) Xmas, 2) Easter, 3) Thanksgiving, and 4) Halloween, on which we now sacrifice an annual 1) Xmas ham, 2) bunny rabbit eggs, 3) turkey, and 4) humans, as evidenced by the skeletons hanging from our trees, skulls in our windows, and plastic gravestones in our yards around October 31st!
• Instead of smearing blood around, we now eat it as we devour our rare steaks and a million other "unkosher" delicacies (as forbidden in the Law), "smear" our houses with holly and mistletoe (fertility symbols), twinkling lights (the host of heaven), ghosts and witches (evil spirits), and decorate our yards with horned creatures (reindeer), jack-o-lanterns, and a jolly red wizard whom we have christened as Santa Clause (or "Satan Claws" more correctly!). As for taking away our sins, the Lord Jesus handles that with a magical little wand we call "grace."
• In plain words, Christianity teaches that the God of the Old Testament is harsh, bloodthirsty, and cruel, and that Christ is soooo different from the God of the Old Testament that he is separate from the God of the Old Testament, and we now worship and obey Christ instead. Now that the "Old Testament God" is mentally "out of the way", Christianity teaches that Christ's mission was to nail the "Old Testament Law" to the cross, henceforth abolishing it.

Are you having any questions??? You should. Didn't the Almighty say, "Behold, I am YAHWEH, I change not" (Malachi 3:6)? Didn't the prophets say that "YAHWEH is not a man to lie, neither the son of man that He should repent" (Numbers 23:19)?  Didn't the Messiah say, "I and the Father are ONE" (John 10:30), and "The Son can do nothing of Himself, but only that which He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son also does" (John 5:19)? Didn't He also say, "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father who has sent Me" (John 5:30)? And again, "When ye have lifted up the Son of Adam, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things" (John 8:28)?

Didn't the Apostle Paul record that "the Messiah is the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8)? Didn't Yah'shua say, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing: it is my Father that honors Me; of whom ye say that He is your Elohim (Deity)" (John 8:54)?

Didn't the Jews "set up FALSE WITNESSES who said 'This man speaks blasphemous words against the Temple and the Torah... saying that this Yah'shua of Nazareth shall overthrow this place and change the Law of Moses'" (Acts 6:13,14)? Didn't Yah'shua correct them, saying, "Think not that I am come to destroy THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS; I am not come to destroy, but to FULFILL." (Matthew 5:17) "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that ALL HAVE TO BE FULFILLED which were written in THE LAW OF MOSES AND THE PROPHETS AND THE PSALMS concerning Me." (Luke 24:44,45)?

If fulfilling the Law meant making it null and void, then fulfilling the Psalms and Prophets would mean making them null and void also. Yet if Yah'shua fulfilled the Psalms and Prophets in exactly the same manner which Christianity teaches that He fulfilled the Law, He could not have been the Messiah, having nullified the prophecies about Himself! And for that matter, if He nullified the Law which the apostle Paul affirmed was "just and good" (see Romans 7:12), His death would not have taken away our sins, because that would mean he annulled His Father's provisions for substitutional sacrifice. Finally, how could He return to claim His bride and establish His Father's Kingdom if He rendered the "Old Testament" inoperative, including His promises, through the prophets, that He would come back to do this?

WHERE IS THE BASIS FOR WHAT WE'VE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE?

Through the prophets,  Zechariah and Jeremiah, the Bible says that a remnant will rise up in the latter days asking these very questions.  "In the days of affliction the gentiles will come unto thee from the ends of the earth and say 'Surely our fathers have inherited only lying vanities, and teachings which cannot be trusted'." (Jer. 16:19)  “And ten men from every nation under heaven shall take hold of the tassel of ONE Hebrew's garment saying, ‘Show us the way to Zion, for we see that Elohim is with you’.” (Zec. 8:23)  "In those days and at that time, declares YAHWEH [they] shall seek YAHWEH their Elohim, and shall enquire about the way to Zion with their faces toward it. (Jer. 50:4,5a)

SO HOW DID CHRISTIANITY GET THIS WAY?

In 135 C.E. the emperor, Hadrian followed suit by decreeing the death penalty for Sabbath keeping, studying Scripture, circumcising children, or for any Jew entering or residing in the city of Jerusalem.⁽⁵⁾ The disciples received the same treatment because: "Roman Authorities considered Jewish, every person who kept the Sabbath, so they mistreated Gentile believers as if they were Jewish. When these cruel persecutions arose, many Gentiles chose not to be labeled as Jews. To convince authorities they were not Jewish, most Gentiles dropped the 'Jewish' law and the 'Jewish' festivals" ⁽⁶⁾

By 315 C.E., those who still professed faith in Yah'shua were divided between the law-abiding Messianic believers - known up until this point as "Nazarenes" - and the Gentile believers who had dropped the Sabbath and Feasts, and were starting to be called "Christians". In Acts 11:26 we read that "the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch." Antioch, as history reveals, was where much of the persecution of Jews was taking place!  Along with the "Christians" came a man named Constantine who saw a vision of a flaming cross in the sky (a sun-worship symbol incidentally), and the next day began professing conversion to Christianity. He refused to change his pagan ways, however, and was not "baptized" until nearly twenty years later when he was on his deathbed in 337 C.E.! After his so-called "conversion" he ordered a horoscope from an astrologer for himself and his new city of Constantinople⁽⁷⁾, continued sacrificing to "Jupiter, best and greatest"⁽⁸⁾, drowned his unoffending wife, Fausta, in a bath of boiling water (C.E. 320) and beheaded Crispus, his oldest son (C.E. 326).⁽⁹⁾ Is it any wonder that "modern research has... ventured...to question the fact of his conversion, or at least his sincerity?"⁽¹⁰⁾

"Constantine's religious devotion was 'peculiarly' directed toward the...Sun...and he was pleased to be represented with the symbols of the god of light and poetry. The unerring shafts of that deity, the brightness of his eyes, seem to point him out as the patron of a young hero. The offerings of Apollo were crowned with the votive offerings of Constantine, and the credulous multitude were taught to believe that the emperor was permitted to behold with mortal eyes, the visible majesty of their tutelary deity.... The sun was celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine."⁽¹¹⁾

The text of the first Sunday Law, issued by Constantine in 321 C.E., read:

"On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed."⁽¹²⁾

In the pagan mind, this "venerable day of the Sun" belonged to Tammuz, who was worshiped as the young incarnate sun deity.⁽¹³⁾ Ancient Israel had become defiled by this heathen cult (see Ezekiel 8:14), and by the time of Constantine, so had the church, who had begun "using the comparison of Christ with the Sun as an instructive symbol, naming Him 'Sun of Truth', 'Sun of Resurrection', 'Sun of Salvation', and thus admitting the influence of the cult of [the sun]."⁽¹⁴⁾ Eager to span the rift between perverted Messianism and "pure paganism", the Church fathers next began to call him "the True Sun"⁽¹⁵⁾, "Christ the Sun, the Eternal Sun"⁽¹⁶⁾ and even "the true Apollo"⁽¹⁷⁾, which was none other than the age old sun-deity of the Greeks!

"Christianity had already been joined by unconverted pagans and the half-Christian gnostic sects were thriving. These Gnostic sects were, in a variety of forms, an admixture of Christianity, Neoplatonic philosophy, sun-worship, and the worship of some of the older idols. The difference between them and Christianity (which by now consisted mostly of Gentiles) was at times difficult to determine.... Ignatius, Justin, Chrysostom and Barnabas all had a major share in promoting anti-Judaism, which made the rejection of the 'Jewish Sabbath' an almost natural consequence"⁽¹⁸⁾

In "Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity" we read that most of the Gnostics "sooner or later abandoned their Gnosticism and became practicing members of the Catholic Church, who sometimes went a long way to meet them.... The Gnostics brought with them into their new faith.....all the paraphernalia of the worship of heathen gods."⁽¹⁹⁾ Examining the doctrines of modern Christianity, we still find evidence of these things. Marcion, for instance, spoke of Yahweh as a tyrant, while Manicheanism, the Gnostic cult of which Augustine was a member for nine years, "looked on Judaism with horror, rejected the Old Testament entirely, and was not improbably born in an outbreak of anti-Semitic fury."⁽²⁰⁾ More recently the Patriot-News, in a review of Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion Of The Christ", went so far as to state: "'I think we're seeing a shift away from the bloodthirsty God who sacrificed his son'.... [Christianity] is so different from the old that 'it's almost as if there are two different religions'." ⁽²¹⁾  This same opinion was voiced by Manes, the founder of Manicheanism, some 1,700 years before, who referred to YAHWEH as "the prince of darkness [who] led them astray in the lusts he taught them, since he was not the god of truth."⁽²²⁾

Having covered some of the anti-Semitism and aversion to the "Old Testament" which emerged in the early centuries, suppose that we re-enter the subject of law from a common sense approach. If you are reading this webpage, I am 99% certain that you consider it wrong to 1) lie, 2) steal, 3) cheat on your spouse, 4) curse, 5) worship idols, or 6) murder someone. Furthermore, if someone should abuse or murder one of your relatives, I am almost certain that you would want them locked up and receiving the consequences of their crime so that they could not go their way and hurt someone else. If you do in fact believe that these things are wrong, and would want action taken against the individual who did them, then you do not believe the Christian doctrine that the Old Testament law has been done away. How so? Because the entire objective of the Law is to:

• Forbid these things as wrong
• Set forth consequences for committing these sins so that they will not spread and affect other innocent parties.

Unfortunately, the same can not be said about the secular judicial system, nor the standards set forth and upheld by the modern Church. After all,

• How many Christians place themselves before their Creator? And before you get too upset at me for asking, just pause for a moment and think: how many would have to admit that their things, their lusts, and their addictions are their gods, in spite of the fact that we live in a nation composed of 60-70% professing Christian individuals?
• How many believe that dishonesty is okay; a way of life--making the best buck, and that cheating is only wrong if it's someone else cheating on you?
• How many teach that it is "biblical" to be immoral in varying and even horrifying degrees? How many "Christian live-in deals" are going on in America right now with no commitment and what they are told are no consequences? As a result, how many "good Christian girls" are having "good Christian babies" without husbands? How many "good Christian couples" are getting divorced because of affairs? How many "good Christian pastors" and "good Christian church members" are pushing for homosexual's rights and "same-sex unions"? And how many "good Christian husbands and dads" can't look at their wives and kids like they used to, because they're addicted to pornography?
• How many Christian moms are murdering their unborn babies because they claim they are part of their body (and suicide is okay)?
• How many of those in countries other than our own are justified in saying that the United States of America, this "great Christian nation", is "the great satan"? After all, the "great Christian country" is filled with a great number of professing Christian individuals who trample great aspects of moral law underfoot, and could care less about it.

Isaiah 65:2. I have held out My hands all day long (says YAHWEH) to a stubborn people who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; [3] the people who provoke me continually to My face, who slaughter in gardens and burn incense on altars of brick; [4] who sit among the graves and spend the night in secret places, who eat the flesh of pigs, and the broth of unclean meat is in their pots. [5] Who say, "Keep to yourself, for I am holy to you!"

Now if you are a "Sabbatarian" (meaning you observe a Saturday sabbath) you may say that Sabbatarians are different, but I would have to ask "How much different?" And again, before you get too upset with me for asking, pause for just a moment and think:

• They all say that they keep the Sabbath. Some of them do this by resting, some by going to church, and others by mowing their grass, going fishing, or going to work. There's a great deal of variety. As some would say, "it takes all kinds".
• A sizable number of them profess to keep the annual Feasts (Passover, Tabernacles, etc), and then proceed to keep them by going and getting drunk, and fellowshipping in night-clubs and on beaches with people running around 95% nude! (Goodness gracious, I could swear that some of our Sunday brethren in the conservative circles are justifiably looking down their noses!!!)  "They profess that they know Elohim, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work, reprobate." (Titus 1:16)  "And then will I profess unto them [says Yah'shua] 'I never knew you.  Depart from Me, you who work LAWLESSNESS'." (Matt 7:23) 
• Most Sabbatarians keep the food laws, if not because Scripture says so, because Ellen G. White says that Seventh Day Adventists may eat only vegetables (and imitation bacon bits on their salad).
• Most Sabbatarians don't abort their babies, although they will use condoms and pop the pill (see Genesis 38:10,11). Also, they generally don't ordain gays or lesbians--just divorcees on the sixth and seventh marriage (see 1Timothy 3:2) and Sabbath school teachers addicted to pornography, with children hooked on drugs (compare that please with Titus 1:6).

Hosea 7:1. "Whenever I would heal Israel", says YAHWEH, "then the crookedness of Ephraim (the historical tribe of Israel whom scholars identify with modern Christianity) is uncovered.... [2] And they do not say in their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their own deeds have surrounded them, they have been before me.... [8] Ephraim mixes himself among the peoples (think: America, the 'Christian Nation', the 'great melting pot'); Ephraim has become a cake unturned. [9] Strangers have devoured his strength, but he does not know it..... [13] Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them because they have transgressed against Me! And I Myself have ransomed them, but they have spoken falsehoods against Me.... [15] And I INSTRUCTED them, I strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against Me. [16] They return, but not to the Most High. [8:1] ...They have transgressed My covenant, and they have rebelled against My Torah (or Law). [2] They cry out to Me, 'My Elohim - we, know You!' (or "In god we trust")... [8] But Israel has been swallowed up. They have now become among the nations as a vessel in which is no pleasure.... [11] Since Ephraim has made many alters for sin, they have been alters of sinning to him. [12] I have written to him numerous matters of My Law (or Torah) - they were regarded as strange." [13] ....Now does YAHWEH remember their crookedness and punish their sins. Let them return to Egypt (literally, bondage)! [14] For Israel has forgotten his Maker...... [9:3] They do not dwell in the land of Yahweh, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and eat unclean food.... [5] What do you do for the Appointed Times, and in the Day of the Feasts of YAHWEH?.... [7] The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come. Israel knows! The prophet is a fool, the "man of the Spirit" is mad, because of the greatness of your crookedness, and great is the enmity...... [9] They have deeply corrupted themselves...He remembers their crookedness, He punishes their sins..... [17] Elohim rejects them, because they have not obeyed Him, so that they have become sojourners among the heathen!"

Keith Green, in his article, "What's Wrong With The Gospel?" had it right when he said: "The world around us is going to hell. Not because of communism, not because of television, not because of drugs, or sex, or alcohol, or the devil himself. It is because of the Church." ⁽²³⁾

"One repeats and repeats that Western societies are history's greatest repositories of racism, sexism... anti-Semitism, fascism, and Nazism... The crimes of the West flow from the character of the West, as shaped by Christianity." -Pat Buchanan⁽²⁴⁾

"Face it, the church today is not a sanctuary from the world, nor is it a 'holy' place. In the best case scenario, it is a slice of the world where there is an attempt at evangelism and worship. But on average, the church is a social club composed of a mixed multitude." -Michael Pearl⁽²⁵⁾

Shall we stay in the social club composed of the mixed multitude then, or shall we step out in search of the Real Messiah and the original, apostolic faith?

If you have wondered why a Hebrew Messiah, born of a Jewish maiden, would have a Greek name, and why He whose mission was to restore the pure religion would be chronicled in the language of commerce....

If you have wondered how the One claiming fulfillment of 4,000+ years of Messianic prophecy by Israel’s sages could support the disintegration of the Law and the replacement of Israel with Gentile Christianity....

If you find yourself questioning the veracity of the “virgin birth”, or wondering how His alleged Deity can be reconciled with Deuteronomy 6:4....

Or if you are Jewish and wonder how, in light of Daniel 9:25 and 26, the Messiah could not have already come....

Then Almighty YAHWEH has a message for you, and has directed your steps to this place.  This website contains articles, audio messages, books and study material, all  from a non-denominational perspective (unaffliated with any mainstream religious organization) which explain the how-when-and-where that Judaism and Christianity strayed from the original faith, and will introduce you to the Real Messiah who walked in Nazareth, illuminating the reality of His teachings and identity as they harmonize with the Hebrew Scriptures.

MORE REAL MESSIAH INFO

IS AHEAD. CLICK WHEN YOU ARE READY.

 

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Resources Cited On This Webpage:

1. Taylor, Robert; Diegeses, p. 50

2. Giles, John; Hebrew And Christian Records, Vol. 2, p. 86

3. Draper, John; Science and Religion, p. 48, emphasis added

4. Ogwyn, John; God's Church Throughout The Ages, p. 201

5. Ausobel, Nathan; Pictorial History of the Jewish People

6. Comay, Joan; Who's Who in Jewish History

7. Boll, Franz; Sternglaube und Sterndeutung, p. 31

8. Alfoldi, A.; Conversion Of Constantine And Pagan Rome, p. 62

9. Lardner, Nathaniel; Credibility of the Gospel History, v. 2, p.342,343

10. Alfoldi, p. 6

11. Gibbon, Edward; The Triumph of Christendom, p 309

12. Schaff, Philip; History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, p.380

13. Hislop, Alexander; The Two Babylons, p. 96,118,228

14. Alfoldi; Conversion of Constantine and Pagan Rome, p. 5

15. Origin; Commentary on John I, p. 25, 161, 163, 166

Cyprian; De Dominica Oratione, p. 35

16. Dolger, F.J.; Antike und Christentum, vol. VI, pp 1-56

17. Dolger; Sol Salitus, p. 378

18. Koster, C.J.; Come Out Of Her My People, p. 12

19. Legge, Francis; Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, p. 21,22

20. Legge; Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, p. 278

21. The Patriot-News, Friday 2/13/04, Section E, p. 1, "For some 'Passion' film misses point", by Mary Warner.

22. Legge; Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, p. 315

23. <www.lastdaysministries.org>

24. Quoted in "State Schools Are Not 'Neutral'--They're Anti-God!" by Buddy Hanson; Homeschool Digest, Vol. 14, Num. 4, p. 45; P.O. Box 374, Covert, MI 49043

25. Pearl, Michael; "Sanctuary", No Greater Joy (March April 2005) <www.nogreaterjoy.org>.