Truthful Liars

In the early part of the 15th Century, if you asked a scientist about the world, he would have told you it was flat.

In the 18th Century if you asked a doctor how to cure diseases he would have told you to bleed the patient.

In the 19th Century, the US Government told the Native American’s they would be relocated and left alone forever.

For many centuries, many Christians have been teaching that Jesus fulfilled the law, thereby doing away with it.

Since the 2nd or 3rd Century Jewish teaching has been that Jesus created a new religion.

All lies. Every single one of them. But they were not told by liars; at least, not people who lied on purpose. They were told by people who believed what they said because this is what they had been taught by their professors and their religious leaders. Who learned it from their professors and religious leaders.

But that doesn’t change the truth that it’s a lie.

Today we all know the Earth is round, ultimately because we can view it from God’s perspective. It’s much easier to see how round the Earth is when you are above it. We also know that diseases are caused by germs because we have microscopes that let us see the teensy tiny little bugs that make us sick. Again, we can see it from God’s perspective.

But we still think that the Old Covenant is for Jews and the New Covenant is for Christians. We still believe, in some circles, that the Jews have been rejected by God because they rejected Yeshua, and we still believe that if you are a Jew and believe Yeshua is the Messiah, then you can’t be a Jew, anymore.

Lies! Untruths! Dreck! In fact, if you collected these various teachings, from both Jews and Christians, you could fertilize a rose garden the size of Texas!

Jesus Christ is NOT a name- it is a bad translation of a worse transliteration.  Here’s the etymology of this made-up name, in a nutshell: Yeshua ha Mashiach means the salvation of the Lord, the Messiah. Jesus was never called “Jesus” when He walked the earth, or for a few centuries after that. His name was, and still is, Yeshua. When the first Gospels were written for distribution, the language of the world was Greek, but there is no Greek word for “God’s Salvation.” It didn’t exist, culturally or religiously, so they made up a word that sounded like Yeshua to identify the person. A word that sounds like another word is a transliteration, and for “Yeshua” it was “Jesu”. Jesu, in and of itself, has no meaning. When the Greek was translated into Latin, Jesu was made into Jesus. Maschiach, the Anointed One, also had no Greek counterpart, so the term Cristos was used. This represented rubbing oil on a shield, which is what the Greek soldiers did to keep their leather shields supple. As with Jesu, when Latinized Cristos became Christ.

We have all been taught that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Messiah, but the truth is that “Jesus Christ” is a false name;  Yeshua ha Mashiach is our Saviour. Yeshua is the name above all names, and the only name that saves.

But don’t blame these people for the way they have misled us, for they have also been misled. The most difficult lie to ferret out is the one from someone who believes what they are saying is the truth. That’s why they are truthful liars. And these lies have become the truth to so many people, and for so long a time, that it is almost impossible for anyone now to accept the truth that they are lies.

So, how do you know the truth from a lie? Well, we know about the earth and about disease because, as I say above, today we can see them from God’s perspective. The logical course to take if you want to know the truth about Yeshua, what He taught, and what and who He is is to see Him from God’s perspective. We all have that ability and that opportunity, because God gave it to us.

It’s called the Tanakh, and (yes, my Jewish non-believing brothers and sisters), the New Covenant,too. Together they make up the entire Bible.

The Tanakh is the God-inspired writings of eye-witness accounts by Jewish men and women of their interactions with God. From Moses writing what God told him to write, to the history of the kings of Israel and Judea, to the warnings of the Prophets, the Megillot (writings, scrolls) of the people who had individual encounters with God and whose story demonstrates God’s influence and power, to the end of Jewish occupation of their Homeland, taken away captive by Babylonia and still waiting for their promised Messiah.  The New Covenant is the God-inspired writings of the eye-witness accounts of Jewish men and women who wrote down the history of their encounters with God, and with one man who proved Himself to be the Messiah through His miraculous works and His resurrection. The same thing is true of both these books- they are God-inspired, they are written by Jews, about Jews, and for Jews. They are about God and His Messiah, and the New Covenant takes up where the Old Covenant left off. Additionally, the New Covenant takes us to the End of Days, just as the Old Covenant did. Except the New is more detailed.

But it is all one story, one beginning and one end; one God, one Messiah, Jews and Gentiles being saved by God’s love and forgiveness. All the same.

God gave us the Torah, God inspired the writings of the rest of the Tanakh, and God inspired the writings of the B’rit Chadashah (Gospels), as well. Jewish men and women, even as children, are taught the New Covenant is a lie, Jesus was Jewish but created a new religion and, thereby, isn’t Jewish anymore, and if you are a Jew and even think about believing in Jesus, you can’t be a Jew.

Christians also teach that Jesus was a Jewish man, but after He was resurrected He did away with the law (Torah) and that it is only for Jews, because they rejected Jesus. There are “right-wing” Christians, called Replacement Theologists, who go as far as to say that God has now rejected the Jews and that they, the Christians, are the “new” Jews, the Israel of God that Shaul talks about in Galatians. They also say that for a Jew to believe in Jesus that person can’t be a Jew, anymore.

Lies. Lies from the very pit of Sheol. Lies designed to keep those seeking the true Messiah from finding Him, and those who think they are saved from really being saved because they do not follow God’s laws and commandments so they can’t produce any fruit.

Look at this from God’s perspective- He gave it to us. It’s called the Bible- the ENTIRE Bible, which is Genesis through Revelations. Even if you don’t believe Jesus (Yeshua) is your Messiah, read about Him. What can it hurt? He lived His life as a Jewish man, He died for all of us, Jews and Gentiles, and His resurrection was as a Jewish man. He never said a single word against the Torah; in truth, He taught from Torah! There was no other scripture, so if He taught from Torah, then it is logical that He supports Torah. I mean, let’s get real, people: Yeshua taught from the Torah, He supported Torah, his Father told Moshe to write the Torah down, Yeshua did His Father’s will (He says that many times) so He had to teach Torah was right and valid. He even says, in Matthew 5:17, he didn’t come to change anything in the Torah.  The other writings, mostly by Shaul (Paul) all uphold and support the Torah, as well. How could any of the disciples or followers of Yeshua teach anything but what Yeshua taught? Didn’t Yeshua say that a student is not greater than his teacher? Therefor, what the students (Talmudim) of Yeshua taught had to be Torah!

John says the Torah became flesh, that Yeshua was the living Torah! How could Yeshua teach against Himself?

That’s why if you want to know the truth, from God’s perspective, you need to read the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelations, and back again. Over and over, and to ask God to lead you with His Ruach (Spirit) to see the truth about Him, His Messiah, and the entire plan of creation.

That’s the only way you can know the real truth.

Don’t accept what anyone tells you, not me, not your Rabbi, not your Pastor or Priest, not no one, not no how. Listen to them, sure- they deserve your respect, but respect for them doesn’t mean you should blindly accept from them.

Truthful liars are everywhere: in your family, in your schools, in your government, in your Shul or Church, and they can be anyone. Anyone at all. The only way you can know the truth is to determine it for yourself. And realize that you may be lying to yourself, even now. These people are lying to themselves, but they don’t realize it.

Yeshua tells us that teachers have an extra responsibility, and that when the blind lead the blind they both fall into a hole. Even worse, He says that those that sin and teach others to sin will be least in the kingdom of heaven. There is a promise in that, since He says they will be least, but still, in heaven. However, if you are taught that Jesus isn’t the Messiah, or that the Torah is just for Jews, or that because you are saved by the blood that is all you need, or that as long as you are a “good” person you go to heaven, then you are not being taught the path to salvation; in truth, you are being led to destruction and eternal damnation.

But, don’t take my word for it. Go ahead- read about it yourself in your Bible. I suppose you have one, somewhere. If not, go to Barnes and Noble and get one. If I may, stay away from the King James version- too anti-Semitic for my tastes. Try to find a Messianic version, like the David Stern “Complete Jewish Bible”, especially if you are Jewish. Get to know who Yeshua is, and forget this “Jesus” guy that is some blond haired, blue-eyed Westernized version of the truth. Get to know the real Messiah, whose name is Yeshua, who was born and died a Jewish man teaching the truth about God’s Word, not creating anything new but simply helping us to understand the true meaning of what God tells us in the Torah.

It was the men that followed behind, not immediately behind, but a few centuries later that screwed it all up. Just like in the book of Judges, those that knew Him not did not follow Him correctly. Except for in the book of Judges, God continually forgave the Jewish people when they did T’Shuvah and called to Him for help, but in the B’rit Chadashah we do not see the salvation come over and over. We see now the final salvation, the one that saves all for all time, and what will happen when God finally drops the other shoe.

They are so alike, the Old and the New Covenants. Both tell of God’s works, both tell of a Messiah, both tell of the forgiveness of God, and both tell that there will be a time when all will be judged and only those that have accepted their Messiah will survive the second death. And they both tell us exactly what to look for to know the Messiah.

For over two Millennia we have constantly screwed this up. The Jews saw God on the mountain and saw His miraculous salvation, from Egypt, from their enemies, and yet they still rebelled and only a remnant followed Him as He said they should. The Jews also saw Yeshua, and many, many thousands of Jews recognized Him because they knew their Torah, they knew the Prophets and they could see the truth. Then “mankind” stepped in, restructuring, retelling , retwisting the truth and now we have how many Christian religions?  Just like what we did with the Old Covenant, we have done with the new one. Really- there is no difference, is there? We screwed them both up the exact same way, by interjecting our own rules and placing God’s mitzvot second to Man’s traditions.

Do you get it yet? You have to make up your own mind, and you can’t do that intelligently by just taking what you have been told as the absolute truth. I mean, really? If what you have been told is true, how can there be so many sides to the same story?

Make a decision, and make it an informed decision. All the information you need is in the entire Bible, so read the whole thing. Half-read is half-informed, and you have too much to risk to go into this half-way.