We, now, have laid a
historical foundation for putting Sha’ul’s writings back into context of the
Second Temple period Nazarenes. We looked at what the term Nazarene means in
context of protecting and guarding the Torah, and Prophets and Messiah. We
discussed how John the Immerser was the founder of the Nazarenes and mentor of
Yahusha, who then took the role of Leader of the Nazarenes from John. How
Yahusha’s younger brother Yaakov (James the just), took over as Zadok
High Priest after Yahusha’s death and led the Nazarenes in Jerusalem. Then
later, it was Rav Sha’ul who was the outspoken Leader of the Nazarenes, who
played a very significant role in the growth of the Nazarenes going into the
second century which laid the foundation for what defined a Nazarene for
another 500 years. All of them, John/Yahusha/Yaakov/Sha’ul lost their lives for
the cause of the Nazarene. I explained that Sha’ul would not even be considered
a Nazarene if he taught The Pauline Doctrine, nor would he ever rise to the
role of leading the Nazarenes. I explained how important it is to put ourselves
within the language/cultural matrix of that time period what we call today, a
Hebraic Mindset. We simply cannot understand the writings in Scripture outside
of this historical context and Hebraic frame of mind in which the Scriptures
were written.
But what happened to the
Nazarenes? Where did they go and why did they disappear from history? In order
to understand the writing of The Yahushaic Covenant, we must have a basic
understanding of the political parties that existed at that time and what
ultimately became of the Nazarene Sect.
The word Nazarene was
literally stricken from The Talmud and then forbidden among the new religion
formed in Rome called Christianity. The identity of Yahusha as a Nazarene was
hidden by literally twisting the Scriptures to say “Jesus of Nazareth”, instead
of, Yahusha the Nazarene. Another attempt to hide the true identity and beliefs
of the followers of The Branch. These facts concerning the intentional efforts
to destroy from history the name Nazarene and what it stands for has been
proven by modern Scholars. Yet the Christian Church refuses to acknowledge
these truths because to admit them would be to admit they, The Christian
Church, do not follow The Way or the teachings of The Branch who is Yahusha
the Nazarene. The doctrine the Christian Church is founded, The Pauline
Doctrine, is an abomination to Yahuah and contrary to what Yahusha taught, and
literally contradicts the writings of Rav Sha’ul.
We have no concept of what a
Nazarene is because the Christian Church in its pagan establishments and false
teachers of Ba’al do nothing to inform us of the atmosphere in Jerusalem 2000
years ago. There were no such things as Churches, there were Jewish Synagogues
and Ecclesia’s or assemblies of Nazarenes and other sects.
We read of these sects in the
Yahushaic Covenant, and we pretty much just read over them because we are never
told how important it is to know who these sects were and what they believed. We
read of Pharisees and Sadducees and quote “Christians”, which were actually
Nazarenes. Let me explain very simply what these groups were and the role they
played in the language/culture matrix of first century Judea. This is extremely
important for us so that we understand what happened with the Nazarenes and why
they were banished from all sources of knowledge as history was re-written by
the Roman victors of the Roman/Jewish wars and Hellenized Judaism. Then
Christopaganism (the blending of the truth of Yahuah with pagan polytheism
of Hellenism) was born at the Council of Nicaea, and all references to the
Nazarenes in history, and the Talmud were replaced with the term… Christian.
In the first century, at the
time Yahusha lived and died (as the early Nazarenes began to emerge as the
largest sect in Jerusalem, dwarfing the other sects), the people of Israel fell
into one of the following categories. We must understand these sects if we are
to have any understanding of what was going on in the Yahushaic Covenant, as
they are mentioned and major players:
These
were the priests who served in the Temple who viewed themselves as elite and a
higher class. They tried to hold on to the power they once had over the
government under the Mosaic Law. They rejected deliverance from their
oppressors (Rome) by Divine intervention and rejected the idea of a Messiah who
would deliver them. They felt that as priests in the Temple they themselves
would lead humanity and restore Jerusalem to prominence through their moral
authority and the purity of Jewish faith. They also rejected the idea of a
bodily Resurrection.
These
were the Sages that controlled the synagogues throughout the country and
identified with the people. They were a very close fraternity of teachers and
preachers and were very zealous for the preservation of The Torah and were
known as “Teachers of The Law”. Today they would be considered to be Doctorates
in the Law or Lawyers if you will. They were thought of as reformers as they
studied The Law and then applied The Law to everyday life in a very practical
way leading to additions to The Law known as Takkanots. They were the “core” of
Judaism as they controlled the synagogue system in Israel. They were very exact
in their religious lives and were known as exaggerated in their tithe paying,
very ostentatious in their prayers (which means they put on huge displays when
they prayed to impress and attract attention to themselves). The Pharisees were
looking forward to the coming Messiah ben David who would liberate Israel from her
oppressors and establish a Glorious age of peace among all men. They believed
in the Resurrection and the redemption of mankind.
This
group was a very mysterious and secretive group that withdrew from the
synagogues and The Temple into the wilderness. There “mission” was to look for,
find, and protect The Messiah when he arrived. They knew the prophecies in
Daniel and were waiting on the arrival of the Messiah. They split from the rest
of the sects about 150 years before Yahusha was born when the other sects began
working with Rome in the rule and security of Judea. They viewed the Sadducees
as imposters and not true heirs to the Priesthood. The High Priest must come
from the line of Zadok, as prescribed in The Torah. They setup a separate
Temple Service outside Jerusalem in “the wilderness” for the true line of Zadok
Priests after Herod had the last true Zadok High Priest killed, whose name was
Yahusha III the High Priest, who oversaw the rebuilding of the Second Temple. John
the Immerser was the grandson and heir to Yahusha III, and was sent to the
Temple in the wilderness of the Essenes for training. The people in Israel knew
that the High Priest in Herod’s Temple was not the legit High Priest. Herod
simply appointed him after Herod killed Yahuah’s appointed, Zadok Priest
Yahusha III. That is why they went into the wilderness to hear the true High
Priest John teach and perform Temple service, such as Mikveh, in the Jordan
River. The Essenes documented their beliefs in The Dead Sea Scrolls and spoke
of The Great Notsri (or The Great Nazarene) who would be the great
Teacher of Righteousness that would set “the way” straight (or the
Branch). That is why the teachings of John, and then Yahusha, were called
“The Way”.
were
followers of the High Priest John the Immerser, the Fulfillment of the coming Elijah,
who was prophesied to be the greatest Prophet of all (confirmed by Yahusha
who said there was no one greater than John) and the true Teacher of Righteousness.
John was prophesied to be the mentor of the Messiah Yahusha by John’s father,
the Priest Zechariah.
Luke 1:68-79
- Zechariah’s Song
76 And you, my
child, will be called a Prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before YAHUAH
(as the greatest Prophet) to prepare the way
for him (Yahusha) (that
is why we call this path “The Way” because John was the Prophet to whom this
path was given, who then mentored Yahusha in The Way), 77 to give his people the Knowledge of Salvation through the
forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender Mercy of our God, by which
the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in
darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in Spirit; and he lived
in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
Judaism
tells us Moses was the greatest Prophet of all, Christianity tells us Yahusha
was the greatest Prophet of all… John is intentionally left out of the
conversation and the truth hidden. Yahusha, however, claimed John was the
greatest Prophet of all.
Yahuah
spoke through John the great Prophet, giving John the revelations that Yahusha
would later teach as fundamental to his ministry. It was John that originally
taught the revelations of baptism for remission of sin, the physical to Spiritual
meaning of Passover (communion), the role of Satan, the role of Angels
in the Heavenly Hierarchy, the war in the heavenlies, progressive revelation of
Covenants, end time eschatology, and the value of communal living and of course,
it was John who announced Yahusha as The Passover Lamb, anointed him as High
Priest, and told the Nazarenes that Yahusha was Messiah ben Joseph. The
Nazarenes where named after The Branch as they became known as keepers and
preservers of the written Torah and protectors of The Messiah and Prophets. The
majority of Essenes were converted to Nazarenes, followers of Yahusha… either
by John the Immerser or later by Rav Sha’ul, John the Revelator, and Peter. The
Nazarenes quickly grew to the largest sect of them all in the first century.
were
basically the attorneys of their day. They were the glue that held the Jewish
society together and bridged the gap between all the sects. You could say the
Sadducees were a sect, the Pharisees were a fraternity, and the scribes were
the professional class of their day. There were scribes found among all sects. They
served the function of the Supreme Court today. They reviewed every new Takkanoh
or human command of the Sadducees and Pharisees to ensure it was in line with
the written Torah of Yahuah. Their job was to keep every aspect of Jewish life
in line with the Ancient writings given to Moses from Yahuah. Yahusha said this
concerning the scribes:
Matthew
13:52
And he said to
them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of heaven is
like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what
is old.”
In
other words, the scribes had the responsibility of determining if a Takkanoh (human
command) was “new” or if it in fact, conformed to the written Torah of
“old”. If it was “new” it was to be rejected. So, the scribes were a very
important part of the Kingdom.
These
were your freedom fighters to the Jews and terrorist to the Romans. They were
extremely anti-Gentile and believed that Israel had been contaminated by them. They
took up the sword literally to defend The Torah. They came to the forefront
when the son of Herod the Great was defeated in 6 AD and Rome gained control of
Israel and Jerusalem. We know at least two of Yahusha’s disciples, Simon the
Zealot, and Judas the Sicarii, were taken from this sect and it is suggested
that all the disciples were chosen from among the Zealot movement. That may be
why Peter’s first reaction, when Yahusha was arrested, was to lop off the ear
of one of the guards!
These
were the Special Forces or assassins of the Zealot Party. They were ultra-conservative
right wing. Where the Zealots fought Rome on a national level, the Sicarii were
mercenaries and personal assassins who sought out and eliminated the Hellenized
Jewish traitors who sympathized with Rome. There is even evidence that Judas
“Iscariot” was Judas the Sicarii. That is why he was called upon by Yahusha to
carry out the covert mission of betrayal.
Most
those living in Judea at that time were simply peasants. The poor working class
who spread themselves among all various other sects according to who they thought
best sympathized with their needs.
So, these were the players on
the religious/political scene in the first century. These sects (accept the
peasants) only commanded about a few thousand each, except the Zealots, who
numbered in the few hundreds, and then the Sicarii whose numbers were extremely
small. Until Yahusha came and died, the Sect of the Nazarenes ‘out grew them
all in numbers’, eventually, numbering in the tens of thousands
representing a threat to those who controlled The Temple (the Sadducees)
and those who controlled the Synagogues (the Pharisees) and eventually,
to the cults in Rome we know today as Christians.
It was a real mess in the
early first century with the execution of Yahusha, then the stoning of Steven
by the High Priest Jonathan who was then assassinated by the Sicarii for
stoning Steven. Then Annas, the brother of Jonathan, became High Priest and
then he has James the Just (younger brother of Yahusha the Messiah)
assassinated in retaliation for his brother’s death… and so went the power
struggle in Israel right after the Messiah’s death and before the destruction
of The Temple.
Let me give you another example
of how far we have been misled about the life of Yahusha and those who followed
him. Not ONLY were we given a Hellenized version of the Messiah known as the
false demi-god Jesus. Not ONLY were we given a Hellenized version
of Rav Sha’ul known now to us as “Paul the ex-Jew who created
Christianity” (when it was actually the pagan Sun Worshipping
Emperor Constantine who owns that honor). But let’s look at Judas!
We are told that he betrayed
Yahusha and was an enemy of the Messiah in our mistranslated Greek appropriate
Bibles. Judas was actually a Sicarii named Yahudah (Judas is a Hellenized
name). Judas Iscariot is not his “name” at all. He was known as Yahudah
the Sicarii. He was one of those double agents of the extreme right
wing party of Zealots, you know the undercover agents or special forces arm of
the Zealots. He was a trained assassin and a very close and devout follower
of Yahusha. He was so trusted by the group that he watched over the money
purse (yes, the collected money as they taught which is Commanded in
Scripture).
Yahusha literally setup up
his own “betrayal” and could trust that most important task (that was
critical to his Fulfilling his role as Messiah and dying on Passover) to no
one else. No other disciple of Yahusha was qualified or trained to pull
off such a role of “double agent” as was Yahudah the Sicarii. Judas (I’ll
call him that for clarity) did not intentionally betray the Messiah; he
worked with Yahusha to orchestrate the events that would enable him to be
arrested, tried, and Fulfill his role as Passover Lamb!
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Judas-Iscariot
Judas Iscariot, (died c. ad 30), one
of the Twelve Apostles, notorious for betraying Jesus. Judas’ surname is more probably a corruption
of the Latin sicarius (“murderer”
or “assassin”) than an indication of family origin, suggesting that he
would have belonged to the Sicarii, the most radical Jewish group, some of whom
were terrorists.
Yahusha and Judas hatched a
secret plot unknown to the rest of the disciples (to keep them from
interfering in it as Peter did by drawing his sword later in the Garden).
So Yahusha led them to believe that Judas was the enemy and that is how the
writers of the Gospel knew Judas. They had no idea what really happened, so
they portray him in a negative light. Then, of course, they downplay how they
themselves, all to a man, literally betrayed Yahusha ‘themselves’
after his death, and denied even knowing him. Had Judas not killed himself (or
been assassinated himself by the Sicarii, which is what I believe actually
happened, as he was hung and gutted), I’m sure he would have eventually
disclosed what really happened and he would still be known as the devout
follower and very close ally of Yahusha that he really was.
Remember, Judas didn’t do it
for the money, that was how he fooled the Chief Priests into thinking he
rejected Yahusha. He didn’t take the money! He was a Sicarii! He
despised the Hellenized High Priests and Council and was the most radical of
all the disciples about Yahusha. A Sicarii would give his own or take
another life in a heartbeat to preserve what he believed; he would
never sell out for a few pieces of silver! He was simply doing his job; a job
only he was trained and willing to do in service to his master. The pieces of
silver were all part of the deception… as proven when he threw it back in the
faces of the Sanhedrin.
So, this begs the question
“why did he kill himself?” That is a very good question. I don't have the
answer to that and we'll probably never know. He may have, even though it was
what Yahusha wanted him to do, simply have been unable to deal with it once he
saw the extreme torture the Messiah was put through. I doubt Yahusha shared
with him that he would be killed in such a way or even killed at all. Judas
probably was just told he'd be arrested, tried, and found innocent (which is
what happened). I doubt Judas had any idea the innocent verdict would be
overturned in such a dramatic way, Barabbas released, and Yahusha tortured to
death. I suspect once Judas saw what happened he thought something went
terribly wrong and regretted what he had done... or it is very possible he too,
was assassinated by the very Sicarii he belonged to, as he was found hung to
death then slaughtered (something a man cannot do to himself).
I just wanted to show yet
another example of how Rome (the Greeks) rewrote history and how we
today see the Bible through the eyes of Rome. Rome rewrote the events
surrounding Yahusha’s execution putting the blame on the Jews, when it was
really Rome who killed our Messiah with the help of Hellenized Rome appointed
High Priests.
Let’s get back to the history
of the Nazarenes. I want to explain what happened to them and why in only
recent history we know anything about them! When they were, in fact, the true
followers of the Messiah and composed the early “church”. So, for the record,
let me explain the conflict of the first century that spanned all the way into
the fourth century. History that the Christopagan church does not want
you to know.
Pharisees and Sadducees
rejected Yahusha as the Messiah and began writing down the Oral Traditions and
adding to the Torah (bringing the people under a massive yoke of bondage to
human tradition). We see Yahusha rebuke them for this practice:
Matthew 12
4"They tie up heavy yokes and lay them
on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much
as a finger. 5"But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they
broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.…
The Nazarenes, beginning with
John the Immerser, then Yahusha the Branch, then Yaakov the Just, then Sha’ul
the Apostle… all Leaders of the Nazarene sect, confronted the Pharisee’s human
traditions and taught freedom from those human laws (teaching the pure
‘intent’ of the Torah). Yahusha taught the simplicity of Yahuah’s Commands
alone found in the written Torah which are quite easy to follow:
Matthew 11:30
29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from
Me (not the Takkanots of the Pharisees), for I
am gentle and humble in heart (not puffed up with pride and self-absorbed like
the Pharisees), and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 "For My yoke is
easy and My burden is light."
Yahusha was teaching The
Commandments of Yahuah who said keeping Yahuah’s Commands are simply not that
difficult
Deuteronomy 30
11"For this Commandment which I Command you
today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach.
What we know today as Judaism,
is based on what is called, the Babylonian Talmud, which was comprised between
the 3rd-5th Century and is a bloated 6,200-page library
of books full of human laws! This monster set of books was written down around
the same time as the creation of modern day Christianity. This is the
environment in which modern day Rabbinical Judaism evolved. Even today there
are many sects among Judaism.
What we know as modern Judaism evolved from this
conflict between the Nazarenes and the Pharisees.
What we find in the
historical record is the Nazarenes were Yahudim (or Jews) in the Second
Temple period, who accepted Yahusha as the Messiah, rejected the name Jesus and
refused to be called Jews, who interpreted the Mosaic Law outside of the
traditions of the Pharisees and who routinely believed in, called upon, and
pronounced the name Yahuah. Yes, the same division that exists today, also
defined the differences in the first century.
We Nazarenes today are those who
follow (like the True followers of) Yahusha…
·
reject the authority of Rabbinical
Judaism to add to the Word of Yahuah,
·
reject the authority of the Pope
to add to the Word of Yahuah,
·
reject the traditions of men
(namely the Hellenistic Rabbis and the Christian Church),
·
reject the reverent superstitious
stupidity of those who refuse to use the Name of the Creator and Praise His
Holy Name…
·
reject all forms of paganism
specifically the Spirit of the False Messiah known as Incarnation.
… we are modern day
Nazarenes. The battle between the Nazarenes
and Pharisees (or Rabbinical Jews) and the Nazarenes and the Christian
Church of today is no different than what was going on in the early first
century.
Originally (in the early
days after Yahusha’s death) the Nazarenes, Pharisees, and Sadducees all attended
synagogue together. However, this rift between them widened in dispersion (or
Diaspora) after Rome destroyed Jerusalem and dispersed all of them among
the Gentile nations and refused all Jews from entering Jerusalem. There was a
short period of time where all factions (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Nazarenes)
were in relative peace together. However, this didn’t last long.
Writes Ray Pritz, in his book Nazarene Jewish
Christianity,
"On the Jewish side, the
exclusion of the Nazarenes was not nearly so gradual. At the end of the first
century, the birkat ha-minim (curse) was formulated with the sect (of the
Nazarenes) specifically named. This is recorded in both patristic and Jewish sources.
Nonetheless, we have found it possible that there was some limited synagogue
attendance by Nazarenes into the early decades of the second century. In
addition to this, we find continued contact between the two communities in the
form of a polemic (verbal attacks) or dialogue. Such contact should not
surprise us, since the Nazarenes lived in the same geographical areas with
predominantly Jewish communities. However, as the polemic (verbal attacks) and
distrust grew, the separation and isolation from the Jewish community were
increased. Different steps along the way effected this separation: the flight
to Pella, the birkat ha-minim, the refusal of the Nazarenes to recognize and
support Bar Kochba (as the Messiah). By the middle of the second century, the
rift was probably complete" (p. 109).
Let’s look at this curse, read 3 times a day in the
synagogues, known as the Birkat ha-Minim, that was placed directly over
the Nazarenes because they refused the Pharisee’s human traditions
and rejected the yoke of bondage placed over the people. The Nazarenes also
proudly proclaimed the name of The Creator Yahuah and accepted Yahusha as their
Messiah. It was for these reasons the Nazarenes were rejected as “heretics” by
the Pharisees and kicked out of the synagogues (sound familiar?). Heretics
in Hebrew is “mim” which the Pharisees defined as:
"He
who casts off the yoke [of the Law as defined by the Talmud], and he who severs
the Abrahamic covenant (is not circumcised); he who interprets the Torah
against (or outside of) the halakic tradition (the Talmud), and he who pronounces in full the Ineffable
Name—all these have no share in the world to come".
So, all those Gentiles who
accepted the Torah and Messiah were rejected as ‘heretics’ for not being
circumcised when they were born. The original Nazarenes were considered
‘heretics’ because they all interpreted the Torah outside of the Talmud and
spoke the name of Yahuah. During this time, all those
who followed the teaching of the Pharisees who denied the Messiah ben Joseph (Yahusha)
and looked only for the Messiah ben David (the conquering king LEO),
eventually accepted Simon bar Kochba as the Messiah. Simon bar Kochba was a Jew
in the second century who gathered an army to wage war against Rome, and
succeeded in establishing an independent Jewish state for 3 years in AD 130. The
Nazarenes refused to take up arms with and support Simon bar Kochba and
rejected this false messiah where the other factions embraced this man as the
Messiah. This created an unbridgeable rift between the Nazarenes and the other
sects and was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.
The Nazarenes were driven out
of the Synagogues and the Hellenized Rabbinical Jews then placed a curse over
the Nazarenes to be read 3 times a day in the Synagogues called the Birkat
ha Minim which is, “blessings on the heretics”. It was not really a
blessing, it was a curse and a slap in the face directed specifically toward
the Nazarenes. This curse over the Nazarenes read:
"For the apostates let there be no hope.
Let the Nazarene and the heretics be destroyed in a moment. And let them be
blotted out of the Book of Life and not be inscribed together with the righteous.
Blessed art thou, O Lord, who humblest the arrogant"
Well, Yahuah did just that
over the coming centuries and humbled these arrogant Jews, who were so bold as
to speak a curse of the true followers of the Messiah 3 times a day…that it
turned into a curse on their own heads. The true sons of Yahuah, the Nazarenes,
were then cast out as heretics by both the Hellenized Jews and the Hellenized
Christian Church.
Epiphanius, an early
"church father" of the pagan sect known as Christians, wrote of these
"Nazarenes," whom he viewed as Judaizing heretics because they
refused to use the name “Jesus” and denied Incarnation (and kept The Law).
Nevertheless, in Epiphanius writings, we see the definition again of what the
Nazarene truly stood for. We see that the Nazarenes refused to use the name
Jesus or go by the designation of Christian… nor did they keep the name Jews
but called themselves Nazarenes. Epiphanius writes speaking of the Nazarenes:
"These heresies...passing
over the name of Jesus, did not call themselves Iessaians and did not keep the
name Jews; they did not call themselves Christians, but Nazarenes, taking this
name from the place Nazareth. But actually, they remained wholly Jewish and
nothing else. For they use not only the New Testament but also the Old, like
the Jews. For the Legislation and the Prophets and the Scriptures, which are
called the Bible by the Jews, are not rejected by them...They are not at all
mindful of other things but live according to the preaching of the Law as among
the Jews: there is no fault to find with them (as being Jews) apart from the
fact that they have come to believe in Christ. "For they also accept the Resurrection
of the dead and that everything had its origin in God. They proclaim one God
and his Son Jesus Christ. They have a good mastery of the Hebrew language. For
the entire Law and the Prophets and what is called the Scriptures, I mention
the poetical books, Kings, Chronicles, and Esther and all the others, are read
by them in Hebrew, as is the case with the Jews, of course. Only in this
respect they differ from the Jews and Christians: with the Jews, they do not
agree because of their belief in Christ, with the Christians [sic] because they
are trained in The Law, in Circumcision, the Sabbath and other things"
(see Pritz, Nazarene Jewish Christianity, p. 33-34).
So again, we see directly from one of the Christopagan
church fathers that the Nazarenes were well trained in Hebrew. They read and
kept The Torah and Prophets, refused the title “Jews or Christian” and called
themselves Nazarenes, rejected the name Jesus and used Yahusha and openly cried
out to Yahuah by name. They differed from the Jews only is the respect they
accepted Yahusha as the Messiah. They differed from the Christians in the fact
they kept The Law, Sabbaths, and Holy Days of Yahuah and reject the
Christopagan Lawlessness and pagan holidays.
That is why the pagan church in Rome rejected the Nazarenes.
Because they were Jewish in every way and they just accepted Yahusha as the
Messiah. The Pharisaic Rabbinical Jewish Leaders were threatened by the
Nazarenes because they influenced the people to reject their human traditions
and because they accepted Yahusha as the Messiah. This was a direct threat to
their ability to control the people. Epiph-a-nius tells us that ‘a system of
hatred was devised by the Pharisees against the Nazarene followers of Yahusha
to pollute the minds of every generation that followed… all simply because they
accepted Yahusha as their Messiah and rejected the human traditions of the
Pharisees’. Epiph-a-nius writes:
"However, they are very
much HATED by the Jews. For not only the Jewish children cherish hate against
them but the people also stand up in the morning, at noon, and in the evening,
three times a day and they pronounce curses and maledictions over them when
they say their prayers in the synagogues. Three times a day they say: 'May God
curse the Nazarenes.' For they are more hostile against them because they
proclaim as Jews that Jesus is the Christ, which runs counter to those who
still are Jews who did not accept Jesus" (ibid., p. 35).
Epiphanius himself considers the Nazarenes "under a
curse," because of their adherence to The Laws of Yahuah, including the
Sabbath and Holy Days, Passover, and the like. To Epiphanius, they were nothing
more than Jews, although professing the Messiah. He wrote, "for they are
rather Jews and nothing else" (Panarion 29, 9:1, quoted in Pritz' book,
ibid., p. 34).
The Nazarenes, being primarily
Jewish, kept up their Knowledge of Hebrew, and maintained an internal system
of education to teach Hebrew and the Torah to subsequent generations. They
could read the Old Testament, or Tanakh in the original Hebrew,
and probably at least one of the Gospels, the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew. As I
showed earlier in this book, they also denied Incarnation and knew Yahusha to
be born to two human parents and adopted a Son of Yahuah upon Mikveh (exactly
what the Bible teaches). The Nazarenes existed in public view well into the third
century, and were actively engaged in a dialogue -- "heated, no
doubt," says Ray Pritz -- with rabbinic Judaism. Pritz adds that the
Nazarene Jewish Church was "familiar with the developments within Judaism
and rejected the authority of the Pharisaic scholars to interpret Scripture
definitively." Pritz goes on:
"...Nor did they accept
as binding on themselves (or on any Jews) the Oral Law as embodied in the
Mishnah (the first version of the Talmud). These Jewish Christians view Sha’ul
and his mission favorably and evidently even accepted -- in theory at least --
the unity of the Church as composed of both Jewish and Gentile believers in
Christ...And finally, this group had not lost hope that the Jewish people might
yet turn to accept Jesus as the Messiah" (p. 70).
This all brings me back to Rav Sha’ul and his writings. Remember,
I am tracing where the Nazarenes began with the Essenes as John the Immerser
emerged as Elijah, who became the first Nazarene through Yahusha the Nazarene,
then through Sha’ul the Leader of the Nazarenes to the 4th century
when they disappeared from historical view. What we find is their belief system
never changed for 300 years and remained committed to The Torah, the Prophets,
the Messiah and the Holy Days of Yahuah… being the ‘defenders’ of the things of
Yahuah.
I make this point to demonstrate that obviously Rav
Sha’ul, who was their outspoken Leader in the beginning during the first
century, did not change any of these beliefs but rather taught them to all the
assemblies he established.
That is why they continued to believe in The
Torah/Prophets/Messiah and reject Christianity and Hellenized Judaism for the
next 300 years. If Sha’ul their Leader taught The Pauline Doctrine to his
assemblies, this would not be true of the Nazarenes for the next 300 years.
They would not have continued to be defined by the same beliefs held by John
and Yahusha. We would have seen a change in their belief system if Rav Sha’ul,
their early outspoken Leader, taught The Pauline Doctrine and abolished The Law
and the Sabbath and the dietary Laws and so forth. But we see no change
whatsoever in the doctrines of the Nazarenes over a 300-year span. They
began Torah observant Jews who accepted Yahusha as the Messiah, denied
incarnation, defended The Torah (by ‘intent’ not letter) against human
traditions, spoke the name of the Creator in full, and rejected the name Jesus
and the labels Jews or Christians. These attributes defined every Nazarene that
lived then and today, including Rav Sha’ul the Apostle. The Nazarenes eventually went into hiding after the Council
of Nicaea as Constantine put out a death threat to all who did not bow to his
new religion of Christianity. They then faded from the historical record until
about 40 years ago, when Yahuah moved again to reclaim His chosen ones… the
Nazarenes.
It is vital to know the progression of the conflict between
the Nazarenes and the Pharisees and the Nazarenes and the Christians. We must
interpret Sha’ul’s writing in that context. Sha’ul was consistently being
accused of “teaching against the Law” by the Pharisees. That is how it is
presented in our English Bibles. But the fact is, the Pharisees considered
their written Oral Torah, known first as the Mishnah, and now the Talmud
as “the Law” so that is what they were accusing Sha’ul of teaching
against; and they were right! Yahusha and Sha’ul rejected
those traditions in favor of the written Torah as did all Nazarenes before
and after them. Sha’ul was carrying forward the example Yahusha set in
condemning these extra-Torah traditions in Matthew 15:1-20.
Neither Yahusha nor Sha’ul rejected the written Torah which Sha’ul calls “the customs
of our fathers” (Acts 21:24). The Jewish leaders were bearing
false witness against Sha’ul, who openly admitted to being committed to The
Torah, Acts 28:27.
We see in Sha’ul’s letters,
the battle that raged between himself and the Pharisees over The Law vs. the
Talmud. Sha’ul even sympathized with the assembly in Thessalonica, who was
coming under fire from the pagan community around them for rejecting their
pagan rituals, in favor of Yahuah’s Sabbaths and Holy Days. Sha’ul tells them
he and the church in Jerusalem came under fire from their countrymen as well,
and explained why the Jews persecuted the Nazarenes:
I Thess. 2:14-16
For, brothers, you came to be imitators of
Yahuah’s congregations in Judea that are united with the Messiah Yahusha — you
suffered the same things from your countrymen as they did from the Judeans who
15 both killed the King Yahusha and the Prophets, and chased us out of Judea
too. They are displeasing Yahuah and opposing all mankind 16 by trying to keep
us from speaking to the Gentiles.
So, pagan Christians and
Hellenized Jews were trying to keep the Nazarenes from spreading the Gospel to
the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel scattered among the Gentiles as they were
Commanded to do by Yahusha in the Great Commission.
To summarize, the Nazarenes
who followed Rav Sha’ul, their Teacher and Founder of many of their assemblies,
continued to put their faith in The Heavenly Scroll, endorse the entire Old
Testament, keep The Torah, Observe the Sabbaths and Holy Days, go by the sacred
Enoch calendar, speak the full Name of Yahuah and Yahusha, reject Incarnation,
all while rejecting the name Jesus and the labels Christian and Jew. This is
the ‘historical record’ (for all who care to learn) that directly
opposes The Pauline Doctrine. Ray Pritz writes in his book Nazarene
Jewish Christianity that I have been quoting from, a very good book by
the way…
"The
Nazarenes, as Jews, continued to observe certain aspects of Mosaic Law,
including circumcision and the Sabbath, and it was this which brought about
their [eventual] exclusion from the Christian Church. This rejection and
exclusion was, however, gradual" … "There emerges from our
considerations an entity (called Nazarenes), a viable (true) entity of
Law-keeping Christians of Jewish background. These were direct descendants of
the first Jewish believers in Jesus (taught by Rav Sha’ul) .... These Jewish
Christians were called Nazarenes after Jesus, and probably received the title
on the basis of early Christian interpretation of certain Old Testament
passages (e.g. Isa. 11:1) as referring to the Messiah (as the Branch) and
specifically to Jesus himself (as that Branch)"
The continued existence of the Nazarenes can be traced with
reasonable certainty down to the fourth century. That is when they disappeared
from the historical record as they fled for their lives from Constantine’s
newly formed pagan religion of Christianity, who sought them out to put them to
death. Over the next century, the Christian Church would alter, twist, and
falsely teach the writing of Rav Sha’ul into what we know today as, The
Pauline Doctrine. This false doctrine is a total fabricated lie and
complete contradiction of what the Nazarenes, especially Rav Sha’ul, believed.
Again, let me lay the foundation from historical records
what the Leader of the Nazarenes, Rav Sha’ul, believed and taught:
1.
He put his faith in The Heavenly Scroll where the Plan of Salvation is
laid out and Yahuah bears witness of Yahusha
2.
He believed in the written Torah and rejected the human traditions of
Rabbinical Judaism known today as The Talmud.
3.
He believed that Yahusha the Nazarene was the Messiah.
4.
He rejected the labels “Jew and Christian”
5.
He rejected the name Jesus
6.
He rejected the efforts of the Christopagans to drag believers into
Lawlessness and pagan rituals.
7.
He routinely called upon and spoke the full Name of the Creator Yahuah.
8.
He kept and taught his assemblies to keep the Sabbath and Holy Days.
9.
He observed the sacred calendar not the solar calendar.
10. He
rejected Incarnation.
11. He taught
the ‘intent’ of The Law over the letter.
What we find today is a "movement" among almost
all Scholars who are now recognizing that Sha'ul's writings were twisted,
mistranslated, and intentionally altered by Christianity to "do away with
The Law"! Textual Critics, those who compare the modern English
translations with the Greek copies of the original Hebrew scripts, are now
finding many instances where the translators subtracted words and then added
words and phrases to twist Sha’ul’s writings to create The Pauline Doctrine.
We are now learning that The Pauline Doctrine, which is a
total misrepresentation of Sha'ul's work, was promoted during the Reformation
period by the likes of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, etc.... and only now, within
the last 40 years, are Biblical Scholars beginning to realize HOW WRONG THOSE
REFORMERS WERE!!! They, the Reformers, led the Church astray as much so, if not
more than, the Catholic Church they were trying to break free from... it is now
"commonplace" among Scholars (those who care to go back into history
and put themselves into the Language/Cultural Matrix, known as the Hebraic
Mindset), to prove that Sha'ul did not intend to teach against ‘The’ Law,
Feasts, and Sabbaths of the Most High. Let me quote from The Jerusalem
Perspective which is a Christian site of True Scholars where they publish their
work:
Source: ‘The Western Captivity of the Apostle Sha’ul’ by
Jack Poirier columnist for The Jerusalem Perspective.
"No area of modern textual
criticism is more prominent, and theologically momentous, than the developments
that have taken place in the past forty years concerning our understanding of
what the books of Romans and Galatians are all about.
"It is now a commonplace
observation among scholars that Sha’ul’s most basic convictions were
misrepresented by the most dominant streams of Western theology. Although a
more detailed discussion would include a number of lesser figures as well, it
is significant that the principal culprits in the Westernization of Sha’ul
(e.g., Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Karl Barth, et al.) are all deserving of
chapter (on how Sha’ul's was misrepresented in their teachings) in a general
history of the Church. This shows how central the interpretation of Sha’ul is
to the Christian history of ideas. As it goes with Sha’ul, so with the
Church."
And there you have it... Sha'ul's writings were twisted by
the Greek ‘exactly’ as Peter and Sha'ul warned us they would be.
1 Corinthians 1:23
but we preach the Messiah crucified: a
stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks---
Peter knew this too. and warned us to be on our
guard...against Lawlessness. Peter knew the Greeks would twist the writing of
Sha'ul into a Lawless Lie!
2 Peter 3:16-17
He writes the same way in all his letters,
speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are
hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable (Greek)
people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. ---
Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so
that you may not be carried away by the error of the ‘Lawless’ and fall from
your secure position.
