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It is a tragedy but many of those in positions of power and authority, especially in our churches, work diligently to keep their followers ignorant of Biblical truths. Many of these Biblical truths would challenge existing teachings by mainline denominations, and if followed, would elicit repentance in both methodology or ministry as well as practice of the Christian faith as we know it today. History has proven that ignorance is an essential ingredient in the manipulation and control of people. We truly are sheep led to slaughter because we don't know the truth let alone how to understand this Bible correctly that we cherish!
Ignorance I can understand, but I cannot and will not wink at deception. When speaking of deceiving the people of God I refer to those numerous religious scholars, theologians and church leaders who know the "truth" but allow lies to abound to preserve their "easy" way of life as well as their empires. I will not name names, but you only have to turn on Christian television to see many of whom I speak.
Lies and falsehoods are permitted to linger when they are needed to protect established authorities. Such authorities know for certain that "knowledge is power" and if that knowledge becomes "common knowledge" their kingdoms will crumble. Thus the need for Bet Emet Ministries. We desire for you to know the truths of God's Word in order for you to come to unbiased conclusions regarding both your faith and correct practice of your faith.
Such a correct practice of your faith can come only from a correct translation and understanding of the words of the Bible. Jesus of the New Testament, revealing the "Mind of Christ" to the world was represented as a Jew and he spoke Hebrew and not Greek or English. In the struggle for power, the primary objective of your church has been, most likely, to make sure you agreed with the pastor's interpretation of the Bible, which may or may not be correct. If your pastor has not consulted both a Greek lexicon or dictionary, as well as the Hebrew lexicon, then you cannot be assured you have been given the correct meaning of the Bible as taught by him. In the struggle for power, the primary objective of most churches was for all the congregation to hold exactly the same meaning concerning that particular's church doctrine regardless of the teachings of Jesus on the matter. Many have succeeded marvelously.
For the most part, membership and acceptance in most churches is determined by adherence to creeds of faith. Often this can be also a requirement for salvation. Such churches emphasize "correct beliefs" instead of living a moral and ethical life-style. It might be a shock to them, as well as you, but Jesus would not have adhered to their creeds and would often fall outside of their categories of salvation.
Leaders of such churches usually insist that their members hold the same beliefs and the same definitions of doctrinal words accepted in that congregation. If these accepted meanings are challenged and compared to the religion and words of Jesus, the results could be devastating for the powers that be. The usual manor of dealing with those "trouble makers" who want the real words of Jesus is expulsion from the group or church.
Today we have thousands of different Christian religions. The list is endless and there is little agreement in all points of doctrine between them. In order to find our way through the maze of different Christian religions we must have a "key" to open the doors of truth to the real religion of Jesus. We must become aware of basic principles of finding the truths of God's Word. Such principles involve linguistics. The best assurance for accuracy that one possess is the basic understanding of how words work.
Words are useless if they cannot be understood by the other person. Not only is it paramount to have the correct understanding of the words we use that in our everyday vocabulary, but we needed understanding for everyday words that are receiving new meanings. Since this is often done on an individual basis there is not always a consensus of opinion on every word. It is very common to have various shades of meaning for the same word. In some cases, the shades of meaning may range for almost identical meanings to exact opposite meanings.
New words are continually coming into "being" in the English language, and old ones are continually going out of use and eventually into disuse.
We arrive at a problem that confronts sound Biblical interpretation today. How can we arrive at the older, more correct Biblical meanings of words when they have fallen into disuse? Such disuse of words make them unfamiliar, and because of this, often unpleasing when their meanings are discerned because they contradict established and accepted teachings of the churches of today. But, I ask you who is more correct; Jesus or your church? I hope you do not even have to think about that one.
The meaning of a word is in its use. To accurately understand a word, we must know how it is used. A word derives its meaning from both usage and mutual agreement.
Not surprising, but countless religious battles have been fought over the meaning of a word. New words have been created, old words redefined, and some words even censored and finally forgotten. Knowing this it is imperative we ask ourselves some very important questions:
You protect yourself from errors in interpretation of the Bible by gaining a historical perspective of the person's life as well as obtaining a knowledge of possible changes of the meanings of his words through time and the conditions under which said changes occurred. But possessing a detailed knowledge of the person's culture you become better equipped to understand the laws concerning the speaker's language.
When it comes to understanding the words of the most important figure in Christianity, Jesus, we have only to ask "what did Jesus' words mean to him?" To look these words up in a Webster's Dictionary is foolish and a waste of time. One must use a Greek and Hebrew Lexicon if he ever hopes of ascertaining the truth behind what he reads in his Bible today.
There have been countless interpretations of Jesus' words by an uncountable number of theologians, scholars and religious leaders over the last 2 millennia. But, probably 99% of the people who attempted to explain Jesus' words and message never began their study by asking "The" biggest question of all: "What did Jesus' words mean to him and those people in the first century in Judaism?"
To arrive at the meanings of words as they were understood by Jesus we must follow 4 laws concerning language.
Laws of Language
We define culture as "the composite behavior of a people which is passed on from generation to generation. This behavior is again composed of knowledge, beliefs, laws, morals, religion, customs, concepts, habits, institutions, and any other capabilities of a given people in a given time period."
In the search for the correct and original meanings of the words of Jesus one must acquire a detailed knowledge about Jesus' beliefs, morals, laws, religion, customs, concepts, habits, and institutions of the Jewish people in the land of Israel during the first century of the common ear. Jesus' Jewish culture becomes the primary ruler and standard by which one can accurately test any doctrine or translation of a passage ascribed to Jesus. This is the most accurate test one can use to identify heretical and false teachings. The same standard and rule of thumb can be applied to the words of every book and writer in the Bible.
People instinctively have the tendency to consider their way of life as the best or most correct way. They feel that their life is the standard and should be used to evaluate others. Thus, others are rated by how much they are "alike" or "unlike" ourselves. We are the norm.
We incorrectly believe that the American culture is superior to any culture; past or present. This tendency results in the using of our culture as the yardstick by which we measure all other cultures and people. When other cultures differ from ours, they are not considered "right, good, progressive, superior, or true", but rather "wrong, bad, backward, incorrect, inferior, and in needed of repentance."
If we are unaware that correct understanding of a word is only possible if we project ourselves back into the meaning in the culture when the word and document was written, then our culture becomes the standard for understanding the words of Jesus. You may have not noticed but God did not choose to give mankind His revelation to Gentiles, nor to give it in the English language, let alone in 1994.
For example, most translators chose to translate the Greek word "ekklesia" in Matt. 16:18 as "church". If you are a Protestant American you already have a picture & a host of ideas concerning the concept of the "church". But we make one fatal mistake. We mistakenly assume that our image of the "church" is synonymous with Jesus' concept of the church or synagogue in the first century. His meaning cannot be what ours might be in contemporary Christianity today because Catholic Christianity, from which we get our pictures of the church, was not even created until the 3rd through the 5th century. The same can be said about Protestant Christianity which only began in the sixteenth century. Such later concepts never existed in the "Mind of Christ" and the texts we read in our Bible. The church of today is not the standard, but rather the church of the book of Acts. Have you looked and compared your church, its doctrines, and obedience to the Word of God to the original "pattern" given by God in the first century for both the Jew and non-Jew? Well, maybe you should, and quickly. Such is the beginning of "knowledge" and "wisdom" necessary for one's Souls enlightenment.
We look to the Jewish culture of Jesus for the correct meaning of the Greek word "ekklesia" we quickly discover that it is the Greek word used to translate the Hebrew words "qahal" and "miqra". The English translation for "qahal" would be "community" or "assembly" and the English translation for "miqra" would be "assembly called out to celebrate the appointed times (Biblical Feasts and Festivals) of the Lord." Now let me point out something to you. The Christian Church does not observe nor celebrate the Festivals of the Bible nor the same holy days of God as did the Jews for instance. These "appointed times" with God have connection to the equinoxes and solstices and the Sacred Science of the Old Testament and mystical Judaism, as well as the Mystery Religions, connect the path of the Sun through the Zodiac and the year with the "pattern" for the Souls' evolution on this planet Earth. A hundred books could be written on this subject as well as how the "Jesus Story" in the New Testament is both a picture of the path of the Sun through the Heavens (symbolic for the invisible Living Energy of the God of the cosmos" as well as the evolution of the Soul of man while in his present incarnation. The Jesus or "Krst/Christ", Divine Mind of Christ, has instructed us that he was calling out an assembly of people to celebrate the appointed times (festivals of the Lord).
Answer for yourself: Does your church celebrate Passover, Pentecost, Unleavened Bread, Rosh HaShannah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Channukah, etc.? What have these Festivals to do with the evolution of mankind's Soul? Are they for the Jews's only? If so, then why do the non-Jews in the Hebrew Scriptures keep these same festivals with the Jews? What have we missed due to Rome's antisemitism and fabrication of parts of our Bible that steer us away from Judaism and these Spiritual Truths? If our current Christianity today does not participate in these Biblical Festivals, then what is the reason for their existence since the expressed purpose of being called out by Jesus (the Mind of Christ expressed through the Jewish faith) was for the people of God to meet with God at His appointed times? Why do you go continue to meet with a congregation and assembly when they are meeting for purposes not expressed by "the Christ" as the reason for meeting together in the first place? What are we learning today instead of what we should have been taught" by more gifted teachers? What agenda is there higher than the one expressed through the teachings of "the Christ" which, I might add, were also the central focus of the ancient world religions who also recognized the importance of the Sun and these special "appointed times" with God such as the equinoxes and solstices? Isn't it about time we learned the truth about our Soul and its intended Spiritual evolution and how it is connected to the path of the Sun as did the ancients which came before us? Why is the word for "Passover" correctly interpreted 27 times out of 28 instances in the New Testament except in the book of Acts where it is translated as Easter? Could it be that Rome did not want the non-Jews to discover the truth that all mankind are intended to celebrate and observe the "Passover"? Is they why they altered the word to make it Easter instead of Passover? How much more truth have we lost? Dare we look any deeper?
An accurate translator of the Bible understands both languages and recognizes the various shades of meaning between words. Being careful he guards against projecting his culture into the translation and reproduces the original message in Hebrew or Greek into the closest natural English equivalent. Not only are we at danger from the writer interjecting his culture into the material, but also the reader may project his culture and world into the document. This takes place automatically without premeditation. Regardless of the reasons for it, the original message is never understood. Many have spent their entire lives wanting to live according to the words of the Bible, while in fact they never really understood its message.
An example to prove my point is with the mistaken interpretations surrounding the Sabbath. The Catholic Home Encyclopedia states: "The seventh day of the week in the Jewish calendar, from Friday evening to Saturday evening. The Sabbath no longer has any particular significance in the West except in so far as it is regarded as specially dedicated in honor of our Lady. It was formerly the law that Saturday as well as Friday should be observed as a day of abstinence; the law is now definitely abolished. Among Catholics it is the first day of the week, Sunday." Protestants basically agree with the above definition of the Roman Catholic Church. There are always exceptions to this heresy, like the Seventh Day Adventists, Seventh Day Baptists or Seventh Day Church of God. For what ever reason, Protestantism decided to follow the Roman Catholic definition instead of Jesus' definition of the Sabbath as well as "his custom".
Luke 4:16 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. (KJV)
To this let me add that the same custom was held for the non-Jew by the Jerusalem Council as well when discussing the problem of so many non-Jews turning to God and their responsibility to the Torah:
2 Cor 3:14-15 14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ. 15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read ( Moses is read in the synagogues on the Sabbath), the veil is upon their heart. (KJV)
Let me say that for Jesus and the "Mind of Christ" expressed through Judaism the Sabbath was, is, and forever will be from Friday evening through Saturday evening. It may not have dawned on you yet, as it has not on the majority of the Protestants and Roman Catholics alike, that the commandment to keep the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments! This commandment is given more space for explanation and emphasis than any of the other commandments. This Sabbath commandment carries the same weight as the other nine. Do you or your pastor desire to change "You shall not murder"? Then why change the one about the Sabbath?
If you desire to keep the Sabbath and imitate Jesus as we are commanded, then you must look to Jesus' Jewish culture. It is much more than simply attending a church on Saturday instead of Sunday. Do you know that if you wished to go and worship with Jesus you would have to change your day of worship you now practice to the Sabbath instead of the Day of the Sun? You might say, "well Jesus could change to Sunday." If he did so he would be committing a sin and I wonder what Yahweh would think about that. Are we sinning because we do not keep the Sabbath? Yes we are, so what else in new in the Christian church which broke away from the real religion of Jesus.
The context is that which precedes and or follows any part of a discourse which throws light on its meaning. A word can have both a central & a contextual meaning. The central meaning of a word is the meaning generally understood when the word is given without a context. The contextual meaning is the meaning which is determined by its contextual setting. A good rule of thumb is to read a chapter ahead and following the verse in question as this will do a lot to clarify and bring a better understanding of the verse. Let us look at an example.
Acts 21:20 states "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed and all of them are zealots for the law." It is simple to see that those who "believe" are admirers and zealots for the Torah (law). In other words, the disciples of this Christ in the first century were teaching their fellow Jews a message which caused them to return to the teachings of Torah, the Jewish Bible.
We are in immediate conflict with several foundational doctrines of the modern church when we understand the above scripture in context. One Christian dogma and doctrine declares that "We are no longer under the law" and another states that "The Christian Bible is not the same as the Jewish Bible." These doctrines would have been not only absurd to Jesus, but also heretical.
If you practice these few principles in your Bible study you will quickly discover that many of the teachings of modern Christianity are unrelated to the beliefs held sacred by the New Testament Jesus let alone the Jewish faith. Greek philosophers who came to faith in the God of Israel along with the later Roman Catholic Church redefined numerous key words and then labored to prohibit the use of these words in their original languages.
I would like to share with you a few words whose meanings have been dramatically altered. Changes in these words were necessary in order to validate the Roman authority as the "replacement authority" as well as their "replacement religion" that was to surpass Judaism. Thus Rome ripped from Jerusalem and the Jewish Congregation and its leaders the right to "sit in Moses seat". The "keys to the Kingdom" were given to Jews and not Gentiles (Rom 9:4). Check it out! Where has the Jewish Faith which has survived unbelievable odds let alone Hitler ever been replaced by Roman Christianity in the mind of God? Where? Compare the definitions given by the Catholic Home Encyclopedia with those of both Protestantism and then look at what these same words and religious dogmas meant to a Jew exampled to us as Jesus in the first century to whom we look for the "Mind of God's Christ" expressed through the Jewish Faith. Instead of the "Mind of Christ" in Judaism sadly Christians have unwittingly inherited the mind of Constantine. What a loss!
As we examine these words please keep the following question in mind:
I challenge you to approach your pastors and teachers and find out if they are capable of working with the Greek and Hebrew in their Bibles. If not, I suggest you tell them to begin by getting, as I did, necessary books that help to correctly interpret the Scriptures. Ask them if they know anything about the culture of Jesus and if not suggest that they learn the truth about this "Mind of Christ" expressed through the Jewish faith and not Rome who yet today denies the truths of Judaism.
Answer for yourself: Are you being taught about Jesus' culture in your church?
I suggest you begin to study even if your pastors don't. Get the facts and make sure you are getting the right message God desires you hear every Saturday.
Answer for yourself: Your church does keep Jesus' and God's Sabbaths like His Biblical Holy Days or just the Constantine calendar? Which would you look to if you were seeking to set next to this Jesus the next time you gathered in your assembly? Sorry, not only would you never find him in an assembly on Sunday but never would he attend an Easter service or any of the other Constantine Church Calendar days. God gave all mankind the Biblical Holy Days and this is "forever"!
Things to ponder without a doubt!
