There are many misconceptions, misinterpretations, errors, and even deceptions that are found within Christianity, and one of these deals with the reason why Yeshua was sent by God to do during His life and ministry. God, the Holy One of Israel, sent Yeshua for more reasons than what Christians teach. Christians claim that He came to die to forgive us of our sins and to free us from the Law of God, so that we can live by the Spirit, rather than by the commandments of God, as given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. However, their perception, like many of their doctrines, are like “a fun-house mirror,” they are distortions of what is actually taught within the Scriptures. This is why we need to learn to read the whole Bible for ourselves. Christian ministers only pass on to their congregations the deceptions that they were taught by their teachers, rather than them getting their teachings from the Holy One of Isra’el.
One Reason Why Yeshua Came
One reason why Yeshua came He, Himself, said, was to “proclaim the Kingdom of God.” For example, in Luke 4, we read,
When the day had come, he left and went away to a lonely spot. The people looked for him, came to him and would have kept him from leaving them. But he said to them, “I must announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the other towns too – THIS IS WHY I WAS SENT.” He also spent time preaching in the synagogues of Y’hudah [Judah].” (Luke 4:33, CJB)
Did Yeshua say that He came to do away with “the Law of God by His death,” as Christians teach? No, He said that He came to “announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God.” But what is “the Good News of the Kingdom of God”? Is it that God has begun ruling and reigning over the heavenlies? No, He has been doing this since before the Creation. Is it that God is ruling and reigning over the nations? No, He has been doing this since the beginning. So what is the “Good News of the Kingdom of God”?
The Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven
In the Gospel of Matthew, we read,
When Yeshua heard that Yochanan (John) had been put in prison, he returned to Galil; but he left Natzeret [Nazareth] and came to live in K’far-Nachum [Capernaum], a lake shore town near the boundary between Z’vulun and Naftali…. From that time on, Yeshua began proclaiming, “Turn from your sins to God [i.e., repent], for the Kingdom of heaven is near!” (Matthew 4:12-13, 17, CJB)
Here in the book of Matthew, Yeshua is proclaiming the message, Repent or “Turn from your sins to God,” for [because] “the kingdom of heaven is near!” or in the King James, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” So is this message the same one that we read in Luke, or is this a different message? In six verses later, we read,
Yeshua went all over the Galil teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing people from every kind of disease and sickness. (Matthew 4:23, CJB)
Here we can see that the message of “the kingdom of heaven” is “the Good News of the Kingdom.”
The Good News of the Kingdom of God
But in the Gospel of Mark, we read,
After Yochanan [John] had been arrested, Yeshua came into the Galil proclaiming the Good News from God: “The time has come, God’s Kingdom is near! Turn to God from your sins and believe the Good News!” (Mark 1:14-15, CJB)
When we compare this version with the King James Version, we read,
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus [Yeshua] came into Galilee, preaching THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the KINGDOM OF GOD is at hand: repent ye, and believe THE GOSPEL. (Mark 1:14-15, NKJV; emphasis added)
In comparing these two versions, we can see that in the newer modern versions, like the CJB, NASB, NIV, and others, they have removed the phrase “of the kingdom,” leaving instead, “the Gospel of God.” The concept of “the Kingdom” is critical to “the gospel,” and it should not be deleted.
Christians are divided about these two phrases and what they mean. If we they say, “the gospel,” they are pretty uniform about the meaning of that, but the moment, it says, “the gospel of the kingdom,” uniformity disappears, and there are numerous views and feelings about what this means. Yet “the gospel of the kingdom” was central to everything to what Yeshua did and taught.
“The Kingdom of the Almighty” – “A Third Option”?
But what Christians do not know is that there is a third option, which date back to the Second Temple period, which is “the kingdom of the Almighty.” This third option is used in the Jewish Prayer Book. In the prayer, called “Alenu,” we find that it says, “malchut shaddai,” which is the Hebrew for “kingdom of the Almighty.” So does this refer to “a third kingdom”? No, it is just another alternative to the phrase “kingdom of God.”
So what does all three phrases mean: “the kingdom of God,” “the kingdom of heaven,” and “kingdom of the Almighty”? Many Christians have a distorted understanding of the phrases “the kingdom of God” and “the kingdom of heaven,” because they have removed the writings of the “new covenant Scriptures” from their original contexts, and as a result, they have a distorted view of them. But all three phrases actually trace back to a phrase used by David at the inauguration for Solomon, his son. In 1 Chronicles, we read,
However, ADONAI the God of Isra’el chose me out of my father’s whole family to be king over Isra’el forever; for he chose Y’hudah [Judah] to be the leader; and in the house of Y’hudah [Judah], in the house of my father, and among the sons of my father, it was his pleasure to make me king over all Isra’el; and of all my sons – for ADONAI has given me many sons – he has chosen Shlomo [Solomon] my son to sit on the throne of THE KINGDOM OF ADONAI over Isra’el. (1 Chronicles 28:4-5)
The True Source of the Three Phrases
In this passage, the phrase “the kingdom of ADONAI” is the translation of the Hebrew malkhut Y-H-W-H, and the three phrases – “the kingdom of heaven,” “the kingdom of God,” and “the kingdom of the Almighty” – are all Second Temple equivalents that trace back to this one phrase used by David. Shlomo (Solomon) was the last king to rule and reign over the United Kingdom of Isra’el, and by announcing “Good News of the Kingdom,” Yochanan (John) the Immerser (Baptizer) and Yeshua were announcing God’s plan to begin THE RESTORATION OF ISRA’EL. This was “the gospel of the Kingdom” that was central to what Yeshua did and taught.
During the Babylonian Exile, there were many different words that the Jewish people used as evasive synonyms for God’s sacred covenant name of Y-H-W-H. One of these were “heaven” (Heb. shamayim), so when we use this to replace the sacred covenant name of God, we get malkhut shamayim (“kingdom of heaven”). When we use “God” (Heb. Elohim) to substitute the sacred covenant name of God, we get malkhut Elohim (“kingdom of God”), and when we use “the Almighty” (Heb. Shaddai) to substitute the sacred covenant name of God, we get malkhut Shaddai (“kingdom of the Almighty”). Thus, it is easy to see how this one phrase was used as the source for the three. This was “the gospel” that Yochanan (John), Yeshua and his eighty-two disciples (the Twelve and the Seventy, Luke 10:1), plus Sha’ul Paulus (Paul) taught within the writings of the “New Testament” when we place their writings back within their proper contexts, and interpret them within those contexts.
The True Gospel
The true gospel was not about the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah, but it was about God reconciling Himself with His people Isra’el, and opening the way for them and those from the nations who would attach themselves to Isra’el, God’s One True Bride, to come into intimate relationship with Him, by walking with Him and by keeping His commandments that He gave to Mosheh (Moses) on Mt. Sinai. Yeshua did not add anything to them, nor did He take anything from them, but He elaborated and taught what God actually meant by them. What He called “the Great Commandment” – to love God and to love one another – did not substitute or replace the Ten Commandments given to Isra’el through Mosheh (Moses), but it summarized it. And a summary does not replace what it is summarizing, it just tells you how that person views what he or she is summarizing.
The true message of Yeshua’s early Jewish disciples had TWO PRONGS:
- The ONE Prong was “the gospel of the kingdom of God,” the Good News of God’s Restoration of Isra’el, and
- The SECOND Prong was about the life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua.
For example, in Acts 8, we read,
But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST [Heb. Yeshua HaMoshiach], they were baptized, both men and women. (Acts 8:12, NASB)
Here we can see the two prongs – “The Kingdom of God” (the gospel) and “the name of Yeshua HaMoshiach [Jesus Christ]” – so the person of Yeshua was added to the message of the kingdom that Yeshua and His disciples taught. Another verse where we see this two-prong message was at the end of the book of Acts:
And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, PREACHING THE KINGDOM OF GOD [the gospel], AND TEACHING THOSE THINGS WGICH CONCERN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST [Heb. Yeshua HaMoshiach], with all confidence, no man forbidding him. (Acts 28:30-31, NASB)
Again, we can see the two prongs of their message. These two prongs became so closely associated that these two messages morphed into one, “the gospel of Jesus Christ.” And once the Gentiles (non-Jews) broke away from Israel and the Jewish people after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, “the gospel of the Kingdom,” the Restoration of Isra’el, was likewise dropped, and they only then preached and taught about Yeshua, and began to teach that God had brought an end to the Law and Jewish practice when Yeshua died, which when we examine the verses they cite to prove this and place them back into their proper contexts – the Tanakh, the Second Temple Judaism, and the history of Isra’el – their interpretation ends up having more “holes” than “a spaghetti strainer.” Also, there was another important part of the Gospel of the Kingdom that involved Avraham Aveinu and “the covenant between the pieces.” I will discuss this in my next article. This will explain how the sins of Adam and Chavah (trans. “Eve”) and the rest of humanity tie in with what I am saying here.
BUT WHY THE DISTORTIONS AND ERRORS?
One of the reasons for all Christianity’s misunderstandings is because (1) they have broken away from Isra’el, and (2) they have caused this by their own central doctrine of dividing the Bible into two parts, which they call “Old Testament” and “New Testament.” There is no verse or passage anywhere that uses the term “Old Testament” to mean the first 39 books of the Bible or “New Testament” to mean the last 27 books of the Bible.” It doesn’t matter whether you get a “Christian Bible” or a “Messianic Bible,” they are all divided Bibles, regardless of the versions or translations. Thus, this whole idea is based on nothing more than man-made ideas. The best thing anyone can do is to rip out of their Bibles the dividing pages in their Bibles. The page “Old Testament” usually comes before the book of Bereshith (Genesis) and the page entitled “New Testament” usually comes before the book of Matthew. Just rip them out and throw them away, and see all these writings as dealing with God’s romantic epic between God and His One and Only Bride, Isra’el.
The Greek phrase, palaios diatheke (trans. “Old Testament,” KJV) only appears in 2 Corinthians 3:14 and is not accurately translated. In the more modern translations, it is “Old Covenant.” Actually, a more accurate translation would be “older covenant” or even “ancient covenant.” And if you analyze the chapter, you will see that the phrase is being used to describe the Ten Commandments written on two stone tablets that Mosheh (Moses) carried down from Mt. Sinai. But if we take the time to read the Tanakh, or what Christians erroneously have been taught to call the “Old Testament,” there are actually seven covenants described, but contrary to the appearance, these seven are actually different parts of the One Eternal Covenant. Yes, they have different starting points, but once started, they run simultaneously with those that has already started. There is not one single example in the Tanakh of one covenant replacing another. And according to the Tanakh, there is still one more covenant coming, when Yeshua returns called “b’rit shalom” (the covenant of peace). This means that there is more Bible coming!
The “New Covenant” (Heb. B’rit Chadashah; Gk. kaine diatheke) does not refer to a whole new and different covenant, as Christianity teaches. Instead, it is about God writing His Ten Commandments (aka, Ten Words) upon our hearts and minds (i.e., our guts), and therefore, by writing it upon the inside of us, it becomes an “internal motivator,” rather than an “external motivator,” which is one of the things that changed with the initiation of the “new covenant.” The other thing that changed is that God said that He would put His Spirit in us, as stated by the prophet Yechezk’el (Ezekiel),
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you; I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put MY SPIRIT inside you and CAUSE YOU TO LIVE BY MY LAWS, and RESPECT MY RULINGS and OBEY THEM. [Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 36:26-27, CJB; emphasis added]
So how can Christians who deny the Law of God be “New Testament believers” when they deny the very reason that they were given God’s Spirit, which was to “cause” them to “live by God’s laws, commandments, statutes, etc.,” and to “obey them”? And thus by them taking the last 40% of the Bible – “the New Testament” – out of context and separating it from the rest of Scripture, by saying that the “Old Testament” has been done away, replaced, annulled, etc., rather than using the previous Scriptures to properly interpret and understand the “new covenant scriptures,” they misinterpret, misunderstand, and distort them, bringing in erroneous doctrines and deceptions into what was once “the faith of the saints.”
Christianity – “A Religion of Distorted Views and Deceptions”?
Christians claim that Christianity is just about Yeshua, and that is it, but this is also not true. There are many other things that Christianity teaches beyond the person of Yeshua. Yes, Yeshua was born, lived a Torah-observant life, was immersed in water and then anointed by the Nazarite prophet and Levite Yochanan (John) as the Moshiach (Messiah), He taught and trained disciples about the coming restoration of Isra’el, and His healing and miracles was for the purpose of confirming the truth of this “Good News,” and His was crucified on Passover, buried on the Day of Unleavened Bread, and then rose again on the feast of First Fruits so that the way could be opened for Isra’el and those who attach themselves to Isra’el may be able to develop a personal relationship with the Holy One of Isra’el and be given His Spirit who would then “cause them to walk in obedience to His Torah.” This is a summary of the teachings of the “new covenant Scriptures” when we place them back into their proper contexts.
Do not believe the deceptions and distortions of Christianity who teach you that “the Law has been done away, annulled, or replaced.” They believe that by placing their “faith” or belief solely in His death, burial, and resurrection that this will automatically give them a relationship with God, but they are deceived. It opens the door to a possible relationship, but it does not establish the relationship. We must each establish our relationship with God. But ever since these Gentile (non-Jewish) believers, who were being called “Christians” by others, broke away from Isra’el and developed themselves into their own separate, distinct religion, which they called “Christianity,” they stopped proclaiming the message that Yeshua was sent by God to proclaim, and they began to teach this second prong, rather than “the gospel of the kingdom.”
The True Beginning of Christianity & Its Heresies
I believe that there is proof that Christianity as a distinct and separate religion began close to the beginning of the second century, C.E., after Yochanan (John) “the beloved” died, which was about the same time. This process of separation began sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in 70 C.E., when these Gentile (non-Jewish) believers heard about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in 70 C.E., and they began to see themselves as “the New Israel” and the “New People of God,” and that they now got all of God’s blessings, and the Jews got only God’s curses. This erroneous belief came into these believers from the very pit of Hell, and it is called “Supersessionism” or “Replacement Theology.” And to reaffirm this belief, they also began to teach that the “New Testament” (representing the new Christian faith) has replaced the “Old Testament” (representing Isra’el and the Jewish people). These two heresies are still being taught by much of Christianity.
The rest of Christianity teaches another heresy called “Dispensationalism,” which teaches Isra’el and the Church are two separate distinct people which contradicts the teachings of Scripture:
Neither let the son of the stranger [non-Jews], that has joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, “The LORD has utterly separated me from his people:…Also the son of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, EVERY ONE THAT KEEPS THE SABBATH FROM POLLUTING IT, AND TAKES HOLD OF MY COVENANT; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for MINE HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED AN HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL PEOPLE. The Lord God which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others to him, BESIDES THOSE THAT ARE GATHERED TO HIM. (Isaiah 56:3, 6-8, KJV)
Thus, for Christians to say that God has separated them from the people and nation of Isra’el are speaking deceptions since this teaching opposes the teachings of the Scriptures. But notice that is those who “keep the Sabbath” and “take hold of God’s covenant, His Torah,” that He will “bring to [His] holy mountain, make them joyful in [His] house of prayer.” It will be “their burnt offerings and sacrifices” that “shall be accepted upon [God’s] altar.” Yeshua’s ministry was about “gathering the outcasts of Israel,” as well as gathering “others to him.” Christianity did not continue to proclaim “the gospel of the kingdom” as taught to them by Yeshua (the first prong), but instead, they have replaced it with their teachings of Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection” (the second prong). Thus, by teaching both prongs of the original Jewish movement that Yochanan (John) and Yeshua began, they have changed it to something of their own making. And by so doing, they have stopped being what Yeshua came to begin, and they are no longer teaching us the truth or the true gospel.
The Last Days
They have instead become “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” just as we read in the last chapter of the Didache,
For in the last days the false prophets and corruptors will abound, and THE SHEEP WILL BE TURNED INTO WOLVES, and love will be turned into hate. For as LAWLESSNESS INCREASES, they will hate and persecute and betray one another. And then the deceiver of the world will appear as a son of God and “will perform signs and wonders,” and the earth will be delivered into his hands, and he will commit abominations the likes of which have never happened. Then ALL HUMANKIND will come to the fiery test [the 7-year Tribulation period], and “many will fall away” and perish, but “those who endure” in their faith “will be saved” by the accursed one himself (Gal. 3:13). And “then there will appear the signs” of the truth: first the sign of an opening in heaven, then the sign of the sound of a trumpet, and third, the resurrection of the dead – but not of all, rather as it has been said, “The Lord will come, and all his saints with him.” Then the world “will see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.” (Didache, 15:3-8)
“Wolves” are those who do not keep and practice the commandments of God that He handed down to Mosheh (Moses) on Mt. Sinai. Many churches have opened their doors wide to accepting as part of their church lives sins which calls “abominations.” They do not teach against them, but they not only teach the lie that God accepts these abominable sins, but they also endorse these behaviors. So as we can see from this prophecy, we are most assuredly in “the last days,” and indeed, Christianity is indeed changing “the sheep into wolves” through their anti-Law doctrines. Therefore, we must read and study the Scriptures for ourselves in order any of us to truly learn the truth.
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