Another Example of the Church's Lack of Context Regarding Scripture

I'm seeing these verses used more and more as proof-texts that we can eat unclean foods as Christians. It is only one set of several that have been used. I'll concentrate on this Matthew set only, for this blog entry.

Any bold characters are emphasized by me.

Traditions and Commandments

Matthew 15:1-20 (ESV used):

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”[a] 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word[b] of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8 “‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

[Notes:] The first paragraph of Matt. 15 shows how Yeshua is differentiating the Commandments of God from the Tradition/Commandments of men. What commandment of men are the Pharisees speaking of here? This Rabbinic commandment is described in detail here. BTW, there is no commandment from God for a person to wash their hands before eating. How often have you eaten a meal without washing your hands first? It's been many for me. This is not about hygiene. It is about following rabbinic tradition and commandments concerning ritual hand-washing. Next, Yeshua gives the Pharisees a practical explanation about what goes in your mouth and a spiritual illustration about what comes out of your mouth. And he also explains this to his followers.

What Defiles a Person

10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides.[c] And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?[d] 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

[Notes:] The Church will say Yeshua is stating here a person can eat anything they wish as food because it does not defile a person as it goes in the mouth, through the body, and is expelled. Obviously, when these passages are read in context this is not about clean vs. unclean foods at all, but is contextually about following the commandments of men vs. the Commandments of God. And what are the commandments of God? The instructions found in the Torah! Yeshua does not abrogate a Commandment of God here or anywhere else. To do so would be turning against the Father and it would annul Yeshua's status as our Messiah. Just look at Deut. 13, please.

The Observer

Why Every Christian Should Celebrate Hanukkah

In the dark spirit of the Greeks and Romans, Christianity has ignored Yehovah's biblical holy days and created their own pagan celebrations. They have also ignored the memorial days of the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah. Please enjoy this wonderful story-telling of the Maccabean revolt as laid out by Michael Rood.

I recommend forwarding to 14:35 to skip the show opening and get right to the teaching. If you wish to observe the wine and bread blessing skip to 12:13. The teaching is just after the blessing.

The Observer

The Biblical Model of the Church

As luck would have it, 119 Ministries has just issued a very appropriate video concerning the recent subjects at hand vis a' vis this blog site. It's a wonderful teaching describing the biblical organization of the Church.

The Observer

Errors in the Church 1

Over the years, as my family and I made the transition from Sunday Church goers to Christians following our Jewish Messiah and the Hebrew Roots of the Faith, many doctrinal and dogmatic Church errors have been discovered and abandoned.

I have attempted to make a list of these errors. Several blog entries are needed because of the voluminous data involved.

This compilation is in no way complete, and the commentary provided is by no means all that can and has been said on the various subjects. Nor should one take my commentary as authoritative, as man sees it. After all I am simply a layman describing what I 've learned over the years.

Agree or disagree with the list as you may, but scholars and spirit-guided teachers have studied this much more than I and have stated similar things.

And as always, I am not declaring believers who follow these errors as "lost". God knows, I myself am guilty of many of these errors. It is not for me to judge. All of us believers are on a journey into the arms of the Almighty. We all learn and grow at different rates and in different ways.

Please follow all the links given to appreciate the full teaching.

Error 1. Sunday Worship (Replacement of the Sabbath)

No one can argue with valid history. It was the Constantinian Catholic Church that changed the 7th Day celebration to the 1st Day. It was done with the mighty force and threat of the Roman Empire. Yes, there are examples in the New Testament of the Apostles and Disciples meeting on Sunday. This is still done in modern-day Israel. In Judaism, a discussion will initiate on Shabbat and all will agree to meet again the next day to continue. The context for church error here is Sabbath replacement. Nowhere in the biblical text has the 7th Day Sabbath been replaced by a Sunday Sabbath. The 7th Day Sabbath is a Commandment from Yehovah/Yeshua Himself and cannot be abrogated. Replacing the Seventh Day  alters and destroys meaning for many biblical prophecies. Changing the Sabbath Day makes the prophetic messaging laid out in scripture concerning the Sabbath Millennium meaningless, for example.

How did this change happen to the Church? (click to find out!)

A good teaching on this subject can be found here.

Most Christians do not keep a Sabbath at all, not even Sunday. The Sabbath is not just a day to meet and praise and worship God, it is a day of rest, and a day where none are supposed to work or cause others to work.

Council of Laodicea (click for more info, the Sabbath officially abrogated by man in direct opposition to God!)

BTW, the Council of Laodicea also forbade accepting unleavened bread from Jews thereby destroying one of Yehovah/Yeshua's Holy Days; The Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Roman Catholic Church altering the Ten Commandments (click for more info)

Of particular interest is this changing of the 7th Day Sabbath ("Sabbath" means "7th Day") to the "Lord's Day" (Sunday, the 1st Day). In eschatological study the antichrist will most likely require, by law, the attendance of Church services on Sunday. See Daniel 7:24-26.

BTW, the "Lord's Day" is found nowhere in scripture. It is an invention of man.

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Error 2. Changing Yehovah's Holy Days to Pagan Celebrations

The early Christian Church celebrated the biblical holidays, but eventually replaced the biblical Holy Days with pagan ones. Let's make a short list of the wrong "holy" days:

Christmas, Easter, All Saints Day, Lent, Good Friday.

All of these holidays are pagan and not biblical. Sorry, but that's the truth. In fact, Yehovah/Yeshua warns us not to copy how pagans worship their Gods and do the same for Him. See Deut. 12 and Jeremiah 10. Celebrating these holidays is one of the most un-Christian things one can do! Yet, most Christians refuse to follow God's Word and choose to follow man instead.

Christmas and Easter: History 1, Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, Video 4, History 2. The error of Christmas and Easter have been covered so completely in modern times its a wonder any self-declaring Christian celebrates them, but they still do, determined to follow man.

Council of Nicaea (Establishment of Easter)

Council of Laodicea (Unleavened Bread abrogated)

All Saints Day: Also known as Halloween. History.

Lent: Also known as Tammuz Worship. Did you know that a Sunday morning sunrise service is pagan? See Ezekiel 8:14. Tammuz, the son of Nimrod and Semiramis died in his 40th year on a wild boar hunt, being killed by the boar in some accounts. Other people groups tell a different tale. In the Roman Catholic Church 40 days of depriving oneself of a worldly pleasure and then celebrating Easter dinner by eating ham is cloaked Tammuz worship. ... more. Obviously, the Catholic Church claims other reasons for Lent but this syncretization of pagan and Judeo/Christian beliefs is common for the Catholic Church, the Great Harlot seated on the Dragon. See Rev. 17.

Good Friday: Did you grow up in public school eating fish on Fridays? I did. Did you know this is from pagan god worship? This is Dagon worship. The Catholic Church blended Dagon worship with the concept of Good Friday, saying that Christ was crucified on a Friday. This makes no sense biblically but man's desire to syncretize pagan beliefs with biblical belief runs rampant! Dagon was a different god for different people groups. The Philistines and Chaldeans worshipped him as a fish god. In other cultures he was a weather god, crop god, or a sky god. Ever notice the mitre hats Bishops, Cardinals and Popes wear? Those are fish mouths similar to what a Dagon Priest wears.

The True Holy days:

The Bible lists 7 periods of yearly celebration (the True Holy Days):

Passover (Pesach), Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMotzot), First fruits (Yom HaBikkurim), Pentecost (Shavuot), Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Tabernacles (Feast of Sukkot).

These Holy Days are Feasts of Yehovah, not Jewish Feasts. They are biblical Holy Days, not man's tradition. See Lev. 23.

Please notice: You will discover that both Jews and Christians fall back on man's tradition and turn away from the Bible. This is especially true for Holy Days. Whether Preacher, Priest, or Rabbi, men can't seem to stop themselves from following man.

Also please notice: Rosh Hashanah is not listed. Rosh Hashanah, or "head of the year" is NOT a biblical Holy Day. It is tradition brought back to Israel from the Babylonian captivity. The Hebrew words "Rosh Hashanah" are in the Bible but pertains to the actual head of the new year which occurs approximately 2 months after our pagan/secular January.

Note: The biblical calendar is very different than our secular calendars used today. It is first and foremost an agricultural calendar. The first month, Month 1, or sometimes called Aviv, is based on the ripeness of the barley crop in Jerusalem. The starting date of the calendar year and thus the Holy Days can be different every year. The sighting of the New Moon is also taken into account. (actually the sighting of the first crescent after the New Moon)

What about Hanukah? Yeshua celebrated Hanukah and it's mentioned in John 10:22. It is NOT a biblical Holy Day but is tradition. It's fine to celebrate Hanukah. It is a memorial day and does not change or alter a Holy Day. In fact, it is memorializing biblical history. Read the history of the Maccabean Revolt. The Book of Maccabees is found in the Apocrypha.

See here also.

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3. Splitting Into Many Denominations

Is there more more than one Christian Church? Biblically the answer is no. You can speak of the Church in different ways, of course, the Spiritual Church verses the Physical Church, for example. Did the original Christian Church start as differing denominations? No, it didn't! Was there different thinking on some subjects in the early Church? Yes, of course! The so-called "circumcision party" comes to mind. They argued a believer must be circumcised as soon as he accepted the free gift of Salvation in order to be "saved". How did they reconcile the disagreement? They met as a group and used the biblical text to solve the problem. Was Abraham circumcised immediately upon coming in covenant with Yehovah/Yeshua? No, it was many years later that Abraham was circumcised. Baptism was another disagreement. Was the Thief on the Cross baptized in the faith before he died? No, of course not. Acceptance of the free gift of Salvation and Faith has always been the initial criteria, not the letter of the law. This is true for Jews as well, btw. Here's a wonderful Video explaining the connection between Salvation and Faith.

Were there different congregations? Yes, of course. Many "Churches" in many different cities. They were not separate denominations, however, just congregations in different locations. In fact, the early Church believers were not even called Christians. It wasn't until later they took on that moniker. They were simply known as Jews who believed in the Messiah Yeshua.

Craige McMillan, a writer for WND.com has written a wonderful piece explaining the horror of denominations.

You see, denominations only tell us one thing. Believers have decided to follow after some man's ideas and thinking instead of simply following the best doctrine possible, the Torah! Once again, people following man, not God.

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4. Not Using Scriptural Context

Context is required whether reading, writing, or speaking. If one doesn't know the context of a given subject one can make the details mean anything! It has been said that speaking, writing, and reading without context is propaganda. This is especially true with the biblical text. For example, If I state that I'm not "under the Law (Torah)", it could mean the instructions given in the Torah never applies to me. But in biblical context it actually means the Law (and it's curses for committing sin) does not apply to me because I'm not sinning. As soon as I commit sin, however, I am "under the Law" again.

The Church is very bad at keeping biblical statements in context. They go out of their way to make blanket statements out of context in order to establish man-made doctrine or dogma.

For anything to make sense in the Bible, a whole Bible approach must be used. You cannot say on one hand that instructions in Torah don't apply to Christians, while ignoring other scripture that says it does! The converse is true as well. One cannot say Torah applies to us without being able to show scripture that says it does! In truth, some instructions in Torah don't apply to us at all, while other instructions do.

It's been called, "Sound-bite verse reading", where one reads one or two verses and declares a doctrine based on those two verses. Context must be used as well as whole Bible study of the subject at hand.

Here are a couple of examples of corrected Church doctrine (in context): Vid 1, Vid 2.

An example of how the Church takes liberties with context can be found here.

The Observer

Ezekiel 38-39

With everything happening in Israel now, it's imperative we re-read Ezekiel 38-39. We could be witnessing prophecy unfolding in front of our eyes. If so, the world will know that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is real and fights for them! And the Church will have to alter their mistaken belief in replacement theology!

English Standard Version:

38 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech[a] and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech[b] and Tubal. 4 And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. 5 Persia [Iran], Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you. [Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and more]

7 “Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. 8 After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. [Israel and it's modern-day people]9 You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.

10 “Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11 and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. [Israel and it's modern-day people]13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders[c] will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’

14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? 15 You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. 16 You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. [Rockets?] In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

17 “Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? 18 But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger. 19 For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog[d] on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother. 22 With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. 23 So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

39 “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech[e] and Tubal. 2 And I will turn you about and drive you forward,[f] and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. [Rockets?] 4 You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

7 “And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Behold, it is coming and it will be brought about, declares the Lord God. That is the day of which I have spoken.

9 “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them, shields and bucklers, bow and arrows, clubs[g] and spears; and they will make fires of them for seven years, 10 so that they will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any out of the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons. They will seize the spoil of those who despoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord God.

11 “On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.[h] 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day that I show my glory, declares the Lord God. 14 They will set apart men to travel through the land regularly and bury those travelers remaining on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it. At[i] the end of seven months they will make their search. 15 And when these travel through the land and anyone sees a human bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. 16 (Hamonah[j] is also the name of the city.) Thus shall they cleanse the land.

17 “As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, of bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan. 19 And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. 20 And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors,’ declares the Lord God.

21 “And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. 22 The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. 23 And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.

The Lord Will Restore Israel

²⁵ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶ They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, ²⁷ when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies' lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. ²⁸ Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. [the Greater Exodus?] ²⁹ And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”

Emboldened highlights and bracketed commentary are mine. Most teachers see this battle taking place at the very end or midst of the last 7 years just prior to Yeshua's return, btw, so Ezek. 38-39 may not be this prophetic battle happening today, but it's good to be aware. Maybe it's about Psalm 83?

The Observer