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Are we Karaites...because we keep the annual
Feasts by the observational, Torah-based calendar?
Some seem to think that
the answer is yes. Some also seem to think that the calendar given
in the literal interpretation of the Torah is "Karaite Kraziness", as they call
it, and label their own teachings as "prophetic calls",
and those who disagree with them as "anti-Semetic", "arrogant",
"ignorant" and "paramount to rejecting the faith" for rejecting what they
call the "traditions of the fathers", which is a euphemism for the Talmud. Are these accusations true, or are those directing them,
in fact, false prophets, stealthily leading people away from the plain-literal teachings of YAHSHUA and towards rabbinical Judaism
instead? What does the Torah say regarding the calendar?
"Hachodesh hazeh lakem ro'she chodeshim ri'shown
huw' lakem l'chodeshi hashawneh." (Shemoth/Exodus
12:2)
"Hayom atem yots'im b'chodesh haaviv" (Shemoth/Exodus
13:4)
"Shamar 'et chodesh haaviv v'asithah Pesach l'YHWH Elohikha ki
b'chodesh haaviv. (Devarim/Deuteronomy
16:1)
Literally
translated:
"This lunation
is the head of lunations for you. It is the first lunation of the year
to you." (Shemoth/Exodus 12:2)
"This day you
are going out in the lunation of the tender barley." (Shemoth/Exodus
13:4)
"Watch for the
lunation of the tender barley and do the Passover to YAHWEH your Elohim in
that month of the tender barley." (Devarim/Deuteronomy
16:1)
The lunation (or
month/moonth), in turn, begins with the new or renewed moon.
"It is the
moon that marks the changing seasons, governing the times, their
everlasting sign. From the moon comes the sign for Feast days, a
light that wanes when it completes its course. The renewed
moon (Heb., CHODESH, from CHADASH, meaning RENEWED), as its name suggests,
renews itself; how marvelous it is in this change, a beacon to the hosts on
high, shining in the vault of the heavens. (Ben Sirach 43:6-8,
Intertestament Scriptures)
Now what about a "first-day
Shavuoth" (or Pentecost), which some have went so far as to label a form of
"sun-worship"? Is this true, or are they profaning the things which YHWH
has commanded and set-apart?
"And YHWH
spoke to Moshe saying, Speak to the children of Yisrael and you shall say to
them, 'When you come into the land which I give you and shall reap its
harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your
harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before YHWH for your
acceptance. On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest waves it."
(Wayyiqra/Leveticus 23:9-11)
"And you shall
count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you
brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be
completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then
you shall offer a new grain offering to YHWH." (Wayyiqra/Leveticus
23:15,16)
"Count seven
weeks for yourself. Begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin
to put the sickle to the grain (i.e. firsfruits). And you shall perform
the festival of Shavuot (Penecost) to YHWH your Elohim, according to the
voluntary offering from your hand, which you give as YHWH your Elohim blesses
you." (Devarim/Deuteronomy
16:9,10)
By the same line of
unfounded reasoning which claims that following YHWH's clear-cut commands in
these passages constitutes "sun-worship", one must also conclude that following
YHWH's clear-cut commands in Shemoth/Exodus 20:8-11 is
"worship of saturn/satan"!!! Will we follow the plain-literal PASHAT
of these passages or adhere to the rabbinical and "lunar sabbath"
interpre-twistations instead?
"And if there
arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he shall give you a sign
or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder shall come true, of which he has
spoken, saying, Let us go after other mighty ones which you have not known,
and serve them, do not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of
dreams, for YHWH your Elohim is trying you to know whether you love YHWH your
Elohim with all your heart and with all your being. Walk after YHWH your
Elohim, and fear Him, and GUARD HIS COMMANDS and OBEY HIS VOICE,
and serve Him and cling to Him. And that prophet or dreamer of
dreams is put to death, because he has spoken APOSTASY against YHWH
your Elohim....and made you stray from the way in which YHWH commanded you to
walk. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst.
(Devarim/Deuteronomy 13:1-5)
Sadly, however, some
Messianic teachers have went so far as to claim that
"receiving their (the Karaites) instruction (actually
referring to observance of the Torah-based calendar) is paramount to
denying the faith".
"Brothers, do
not speak against one another. He that speaks against a brother and
judges his brother, speaks against Torah and judges Torah. And if you
judge Torah, you are not a doer of the Torah, but a judge.
THERE IS ONE LAWGIVER and Judge, who is able to save and to
destroy. Who are you to judge another? (Ya'aqob/James
4:11,12)
"Do not judge,
lest you be judged, for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and
with the same measure you use, it shall be measured to you."
(Mattithyahu/Matthew 7:1,2)
So are we Karaites because,
like them, we keep the observational, Torah-based calendar? Or
are we Jewish because, like them, we keep the
seventh day Shabbat? Or better yet, are
we Christians because, like them, we also uphold
the deity of the Messiah???
"I am made all
things to all men......but not being without Torah toward
Elohim, but in subjection to the Torah of Messiah." (Qurintaus Aleph / 1
Corinthians 9:22,21)
We have major concerns regarding the ever closer association of certain
key-Messianic teachers with the Karaites. And while we in no way
doubt these Messianic brothers sincerity, at the same time we see the Karaites
long-term goal -- including Nehemia Gordon and his book, "The Hebrew Yeshua Vs. The Greek Jesus" -- undoubtedly being to lead people to denial of
Yahshua's divinity, and from there to denial of his Messiahship.
WE SIMPLY CANNOT LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HEBREW YAHSHUA FROM ONE
WHO DENIES THAT HE IS THE MESSIAH, even if they do have some
insights into some of his teachings. Just as we have concerns with
Messianics flocking to the Karaites, however, the ever closer association of
certain key-Messianic teachers with the traditional Jewish rabbis
and the Talmud is equally disturbing, for the fact remains that if the
non-believing rabbis were truly YHWH's ordained Torah authorities, then
we would have to do EVERYTHING they say, including the ban on the
pronunciation of the Name, the myriads of halachic restrictions for Shabbat, the
implementation of seperate kitchens for milk and meat, the wearing of
side-locks, naming of months after pagan Babylonian deities, etc. and, of
course, ultimately the rejection of YAHSHUA as Messiah.
To claim that the rabbis are YHWH's appointed
lawgivers, and then repeatedly disobey everything they say except the
calendar, is hopelessly inconsistent.
We cannot, however,
repudiate Judaism's preservation of the written Torah, even as we cannot
repudiate the calendar system in observance among the Karaites, when, in
all respects, it is much truer to the PASHAT interpretation of the Torah which
YAHWEH gave.
"For whom
would he teach knowledge, and whom would He make to understand the
message?.... For it is: command upon command, precept upon precept, line upon
line, here a little, there a little...." (Yeshayahu/Isaiah
28:9,10).
But as for the
majority:
"They would
not hear." (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 28:12b)
"They have all turned aside; They are all together become filthy; No one
is doing what is right, not even one." (Tehillim/Psalms
14:3)
"Howbeit when
He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He
shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak,
and shall show you things to come.... Even the Spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him,
but ye know Him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
(Yahchanan/John 16:13; 14:17)
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