Before We Begin...The Method Of Interpretation Of Jesus As Used On This Website
Everybody wants to go to Heaven. That is without question. If you grew up as a Christian in the Western Hemisphere you have been taught the "path to Heaven" primarily from one source and one source only; namely the New Testament part of the Bible. You most likely grew up listening to doctrine and dogmas as taken from the New Testament being espoused from pulpit to pulpit Sunday after Sunday as your were taught to trust these "New Testament Scriptures" for your path to being "saved" eternally. Many of you repeated the "sinners prayer" and depending upon your various denomination, or lack there of, faithfully followed your spiritual leaders as they led you down the path of Eternal Life as taught from the New Testament. After all, you were most likely taught you have a "new" Covenant no less and the New Testament was living proof to such a Covenant because it came directly from God as holy men of old were moved by the Holy Spirit to convey God's revelation. After all, you were taught that the Apostles and followers of Jesus wrote it. You were taught you had eye-witness accounts written by those who knew Jesus best in the New Testament. The infallibility and inerrancy of the New Testament was explicitly, if not implicitly implied from sermon to sermon.
Most of us take it for granted to have a New Testament and do not bother to know how we got it. We assume that Jesus believed everything in it since we are taught growing up as a Christian that it is God's Word. Few ever consider the possibility that the documents comprising this "New Testament" contradict the Old Testament, Moses, and the Prophets. This inability to recognize the New Testament's contradictions of the Old Testament comes from the fact that we grew up as "New Testament Christians" instead of "Old Testament Christians" first. Had we learned the Jewish Scriptures first, then when reading the New Testament we could more readily spot the "forgeries" and "conflicts" within this New Testament. Therefore one approaches the New Testament with the idea of its "inspiration" already in place long before any serious study is done to verify if such documents are in really "God-breathed". The question concerning the origin of the New Testament or why the New Testament has only twenty seven books, not more and not less, hardly comes to our mind. We never stop to think that Jesus never read a word of it or might not have agreed with all that is written within it, let alone his followers in the first century. Again, we are conditioned to believe that since it has the names of the Apostles attached to the documents that they were the sanctioned authors and by default believe that this was accepted truth way back in the first century by the early church. While all of us are unlikely to think that the New Testament just simply dropped from the sky, we may not realize the long process which took place before those twenty seven books were finally selected. Few Christians have ever given any or little thought as to how these various documents were collected and put into this collection called the New Testament. Looking back at the long process (around three hundred years) which took place to define what belongs to our New Testament, one today usually accepts the New Testament without question. The vast majority of believers never stop to ask: what is the criteria of canonicity? Several criteria have been proposed, among them: apostolic authority (was it written by one of the apostles?), Antiquity (was it written in the first century?), orthodoxy (does it teach apostolic faith?), inspiration (did the writer claim inspiration?). Yet none of the above criteria can judge absolutely the canonicity of particular book. Unless the original manuscript of the book can be found (and be verified) no one can absolutely prove that it was written by those whose names it carries. The sad news is that no original manuscripts actually exist so such knowledge is not readily attained.
Answer for yourself: How do we know that the 27 books we read are genuine, reliable, and really should be included? Are they "books" the early Jewish Church read and venerated that the Gentile Catholic Church excluded? Are some of the books in the current New Testament not considered "inspired" by the earliest church and its surviving testimony? Why are they in there then and what were the reasons for there inclusion?
Again, these are questions many of us who are committed Evangelicals fear to ask and when we search out the subject we often stay as close as possible to our favorite Bible teachers. However there are some surprises about the canon of the New Testament and the authority of the Scriptures that we rarely face. And this reticence prevents us from being completely faithful to the Bible and to what the historical Jesus really believed and taught.
One seems to approach the New Testament as if it is worthy of trust and yet has never checked out the origin of the document itself or the history behind it. Church tradition and its acceptance and promotion of this New Testament is in reality what people trust for their salvation in the final regard and not the facts concerning these documents or the facts concerning their compilation. I used to be like the vast majority of millions of Christians out there who approached the New Testament without question one in these regards. For after all, if it was good enough for mom and dad it was good enough for me. Even after Seminary that was my view; that is until I continued my studies following graduation from Southwestern Theological Seminary when everything changed once I was able to use the Biblical skills I learned to study beyond the "company line."
Jesus wrote no book and did not give any commandment to write down his teaching as testified by the four Gospels. He did not need to; his teachings were those already contained in the Jewish Scriptures. Jesus saw no need for "another book." The one given by YHVH was sufficient and man could not improve upon it. Neither he nor his apostles (including Paul) gave us the list and approved any of the twenty seven New Testament books. They neither used nor introduced the terms Old and New Testaments. Those unbiblical terms were first used by Tertullian (c 170 C.E.). In fact Jesus and the later apostolic teachings were first transmitted and taught orally. What most Christians fail to realize is that when Paul and others mentioned Scripture what they meant exactly is the Old Testament books which were then present. Jesus never conceived the idea of the need for "further" revelation or the need for another "Bible." The "jots" and "titles" were never to pass away and salvation was taught and obtained by the doctrines contained in the Old Testament. Mankind was not without a plan for salvation and no "new" revelation was needed.
I can remember the first Bible (New Testament) I bought as an adult. I entered a Zondervan's Christian Book Store and repeated to the clerk on duty: " I want the most accurate translation you have….I want the Bible closest to what Jesus used." Boy was I naive. Since then I have read hundreds of books by authors and scholars as far back as the eighteenth century. I have been blessed to have at my disposal currently in my library many of these valuable volumes that tell a completely different story concerning this "New Testament" than what is pumped out by various Seminaries, Christian Churches, and Christian medias of our land. The truth and the facts concerning the New Testament are not being brought to the attention of the believers today. These incriminating facts remain hidden on dusty library shelves where few every learn to look or read for that matter.
So we come to the big question. What authority should this document have for the believer today? What role should it have in light of its origin, history, and composition.
To make an honest and personal evaluation of the authority that the New Testament should have for one's religious belief system one needs to equip himself with the facts from the earliest sources and the information available to us today concerning such things like:
Since the normative Christian is not being armed with such "facts" by the church today, one then is relegated to approaching the documents in question armed with little more than the legends and traditions which he has inherited from his Gentile Church history concerning the New Testament; a tradition which I will soon show you is embellished to staggering proportions and far from the actual truth concerning the matters at hand.
Answer for yourself: What will happen upon your death if you have believed in error; believed tradition concerning the New Testament over discernible facts and truths concerning it which not only expose its errors, but could have been made plainly evident to you investing a couple of days reading this web-site or having spent a couple days in a library once you know where to look for this information?
Answer for yourself: Have you ever taken the time to investigate why the Jews and Jewish scholars, Jews like Jesus, don't believe the New Testament? Are there things they know which the Christian Church does not know or won't face because they would rather accept "traditions" instead of reproducible truth?
The bottom line is that the current New Testament "believer" today has little or no idea how he inherited the New Testament or how it was gathered let alone who the real authors of these documents were. I wish I could tell you that it was as simple as opening the front of your New Testament and everything from the names attached to each individual document and the dogmas and doctrines it espoused are true and given by God; let alone believed by Jesus when he walked among us. Yet a little serious personal investigation and a lot of reading concerning the origin of the New Testament will prove such hopes false.
Often we at Bet Emet are not understood when being critical of some, but not all of what the New Testament teaches. The reason we are is that we are armed with the "facts," facts our detractors fail to possess. Many approach our ministry armed with little more than zeal; and zeal is good…if it is harnessed and undergirds truth and not error. We understand such misunderstanding because most of our readers have not had the opportunity to read and study to the level we have over the last 15 years where we discovered much that forced us to make changes in our religious belief system. Simply we found, based upon our studies, that much of the New Testament, especially in doctrinal positions, was a replacement of the actual beliefs of a Rabbi named Yeshua (Jesus) who lived in the first century. This was a planned endeavor without a doubt. Such is the fruit of anti-Semitism regardless if you can see it at this stage of your spiritual development or not. Such is of the same spirit that killed Jesus. A cursory reading of the New Testament does not always provide such an understanding, for most read it as if it is "inspired, infallible, and inerrant" due to the subconscious brainwashing since childhood. Only the diligent student comes to a point in his life where he sees what others seem to miss. Understand that such a false trust and belief in the New Testament by most Christians today is not based upon the reader’s individual study, but rather upon the hearsay he has picked up by listening to others express such trust in the New Testament. The sad fact of the matter is that those who say such things have never done their homework to the depth necessary to see the problems inherent in accepting the New Testament as authoritative for one's faith and practice. The New Testament was never meant to be a replacement book for the Jewish Scriptures, but sadly has become that today for the vast majority of non-Jewish believers in God.
Answer for yourself: Do you believe the above verse?
If you don't then there is no further need for you to continue to read the rest of the web-site.
Thus, according to Isaiah the prophet, if we find doctrines in the New Testament which contradict the Jewish Scriptures...such doctrines are to be understood as fables and lies. To fail to do so contradicts Isaiah the Prophet as well as Moses.
Answer for yourself: Does such doctrinal deviations and contradictions occur in the New Testament? Yes!
Answer for yourself: Should such doctrinal contradictions of the Eternal Word of God as found in the Jewish Scriptures be the impetus for your serious study into the origin and reliability of the New Testament? It sure should!
Answer for yourself: Is it wise to believe that the Holy Spirit led the early Gentile Church Fathers into all truth, and should we trust their collection of writings called the New Testament when they, in many places, contradict Moses, the Prophets, Jesus, and the Bible they used? Maybe you have noticed this yet but your failure to see it does not negate its existence.
We at Bet Emet Ministries, after examining the evidence for ourselves, can no longer believe the New Testament is the product of the Holy Spirit and we offer no man apologies.
You will soon see why we say that if you continue to read. There is much to share with you in this web-site as we begin a serious and in-depth study and examination into the history of the New Testament. Let us begin by looking at some important questions whose answers should have a staggering impact upon what you now currently believe about the New Testament.
Just look realistically at modern Christianity today (Catholic or Protestant). Just look at the conditions of most Christian communities in the world or America. It should not take you long to notice that something is desperately wrong with the fruit of such religious folly.
The Gallop poll tell us that the United States of America is known as the Christian center of the world. In the United States of America there are more Christians, more churches, more priests & preachers, and more money spent promoting Christianity, than any other place in the world. There is a Christian Church on every corner and literally the Christian message on half of the cable channels if you subscribe. The "Gospel" of the New Testament is broadcast continually and it is hard to find one today which has not heard the Christian message hundreds of times. With such saturation by the Church and its preaching of the New Testament, we like Jesus, should expect to find good fruit when we examine our "olive tree".
Answer for yourself: What do we find? The USA is known not for its righteousness, and Godliness, but rather for its huge consumption of illegal and legal mood altering drugs, our clergy molesting our children with their faces blasted across our televisions to the shame of all things holy, our clergy caught with prostitutes or running off with the ministry's funds, alcoholism wide spread let alone promoted on Sunday television as we watch our sports, suicides increasing at staggering proportions among our youth, greed, fraud, immorality, exploding divorce rates, terrific numbers of fatherless children, governmental and political corruption, child abuse, homosexuality, (even among ministers), incest, murder, theft, rape, etc.
Answer for yourself: Why does America today look like Sodom yet there is a church on every corner and the message of the Gentile Church and the New Testament fills the airways of our televisions?
I thought that God overlooks His Word to fulfill it? There sure is a lot of "His Word" being broadcast (or is it really His Word?). Maybe instead of it being God's Word being broadcast as found in the Bible Jesus used we find that it is a collection of words that took 1000 years to be established by the Roman Catholic Church as a "replacement word" & "another Gospel" that nullified the Bible Jesus used and the true message he taught and gave his life for.
Answer for yourself: Could this possibly be a contributing factor to the mess we find ourselves in today in our country today?
Let's get real for a moment. You can tell if the "Standard" you have been given by the Gentile Christian Church is working or not by taking a look at the fruit of our "religious nation."
Answer for yourself: Where is the beef? It has been, and always will be in the Bible Jesus used...the Jewish Scriptures.
Absolutely not! Contained within the pages of our New Testaments are living "pictures" which reveal to us how we as non-Jews are to relate to the God of Israel. However, along with much "life" is "death" from man's additions, deletions, changes, and hidden agendas intended to remove us not only from the Bible Jesus used but his religion as well. You will come to see that the Early Church Fathers never intended the collection of writings to replace the Jewish Scriptures; at least not in the beginning. Every Gentile who came to Christ in the first centuries were called God-Fearers and accepted the yoke of the Torah, and obeyed the Law of Noah as given by the Apostle James (who headed up the Messianic Movement of Jesus) in Jerusalem. I believe that divorcing the church from its Jewish heritage and replacing the Jewish Bible with a New Testament has caused a great many of the problems facing us today. We at Bet Emet Ministries believes that if every Christian would return to the original teachings and Religious Belief System of Jesus that many of our problems, both individually and corporately, would be corrected.
We need to return to our Jewish Roots of the Christian faith and discern those parts of our New Testaments which are placed there with the intent of removing us from the faith (Sinai Religion) of Jesus. We need our New Testaments to accomplish this monumental task. But, we must constantly remember that the words in our New Testament were copied, transmitted, edited, translated, defined canonized by people who had very specific agendas and beliefs; namely to replace the Hebraic Messianic version of Christianity with a purely separated Gentile mixed paganism. Let us never forget that the Roman Catholic model for Protestantism today is a creation of Romans and Gentiles and not of a Jew named Jesus! Let us never forget that our churches of today, unless following a return to the true religion of Jesus, are far off the track. Please consider joining God and people like those of Bet Emet who have dedicated their lives to rediscovering the Jewish Jesus so that we can look at his words and the words of the Bible through Jewish eyes and truly then have "the mind of Christ". If you haven't thought about it, to have the "mind of Christ" is to have the same mind, will, emotions, attitudes, concepts, conduct, and religious dogmas, doctrines, and beliefs of the Jewish man named Jesus. It is a Jewish mindset, a Biblical mindset; not a Greek pagan mindset.
It is not too late if we seriously confront the issues addressed by Bet Emet and others and repent when shown and proven of our errors and mistakes. The first thing one must do is to see if what I have told you is true or not. You cannot do that on emotion alone; only a serious study into the New Testament will provide the answers you seek and deserve.
It is with this intent that I dedicate this web-site to YHVH as we endeavor to return to the faith once given to the saints; the faith of Yeshua build upon the Jewish Scriptures. In the pages that follow I will lay out for you how the Jewish Scriptures were purposely mistranslated 200 years before the birth of Jesus and how such concepts which were added to the Greek translation of the Jewish Bible were later, following the crucifixion of Jesus, applied to him. Such concepts of the Greek-Jews in Alexandria, Egypt, were a synthesis of Pythagorean-Buddhist Essenes. Their corruption of the Jewish Bible in translation introduced false "doctrines and dogmas" into the Holy texts. The fruit of such was the creation of a second religious text which was to become the Bible of the Greek-speaking world. This would serve as the background for all later translations and subsequently be used and quoted in the New Testament. Needless to say this corruption of truth would be assimilated by the Greek philosophers who, being the intellectuals of their day, would later write the documents we have collected today as the writings of the Early Church Fathers. In other words, the corruption of the Jewish Bible Jesus used has come down to us today and we unsuspectingly read our Bibles never knowing that these corruptions are in it not that Jesus never believed such falsehoods. He knew better and it is time that you do as well. Let us begin now a serious study into the canonization of the New Testament and then, and only then, once seeing the information for yourself, will you be able to make an intelligent decision in this matter.
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