Hello! Welcome to my "Statement of Faith" Website!
Many other "independent Bible research" sites tend to bury or even hide their doctrinal beliefs until they feel they've warmed you up enough so that they're comfortable enough to reveal where they're really going with all their cozy and warm speeches of love, God, grace and salvation. At which time they think it's safe to finally "enlighten" you to their belief that Jesus is really Michael the Archangel, or Melchisedec, or the Father himself come down in human disguise, or even David Koresh!!! Unlike those other folks that bandy about their beliefs like that, I put forth my Statement of Faith (based solely on Scripture) as a "light on a lampstand" in the center of the room. Nothing to hide, nor of which to be ashamed.
You can either love me or hate me (or somewhere in between) for my published, educated biblical doctrinal beliefs; either way, where people stand on this defines those who are for the same Messiah that I follow, or those who are against him. If you fall between the love and the hate, you may be among the many who ask good & thoughtful questions, where we can have meaningful dialogues and, perhaps, even learn from each other. However, those that hate this Statement of Faith right away have already made up their minds. Nevertheless, I welcome any and all debate, unless or until they get ugly -- then I'll ignore them.
There are many that are already like-minded with me because of their own independent studies, who have never even known me before. We are are close to being of one mind because we independently studied and researched the Holy Scriptures diligently until we had common basic beliefs in the truth. I have received e-mail from all over the world (I live in New York, USA), from people with many different backgrounds and affiliations who believe as I do. I am affiliated with no specific group or denomination whatsoever.
There is nothing weird about what I believe the Bible teaches: There is one God. Period. There is one Son of God. Period. The Son is the mediator between God and man. Period. If there is no mediator (or if the Son is God himself thereby eliminating a mediator) we can have no connection with God.
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God and one mediator between
God and men, the man Messiah Yeshua.
The above verse (and many like it) is the crux of the matter. If I have already offended you, I mean no disrespect. If you have the slightest open mind on the topic, please read my article about the trinity (click here).
This site has more than just a teaching purpose, it can also bring like-minded disciples of Messiah together (in cyber space anyway), to help sharpen one other. We are the church. All believers. Our purpose is to edify and encourage one another. Even in a debate, we should encourage one another to study, and to build upon our foundation of faith in the one true God, Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, and the Father of our Lord Messiah Yeshua of Nazareth.
Some pages in this site will be back & forth discussions on almost any topic (from a Scriptural point of view) copied from e-mail exchanges. Some will be thoroughly researched Bible studies. Yet others may be commentaries with opinions, theories, news items, or even pet-peeves!
My e-mail link will allow you to comment on anything you see on this site, or anything you wish to talk about. And perhaps on some future page I will quote you and comment on your comments, questions and/or reprimands (if I get your permission first).
Now let me say that the Statement of Faith is basic, solid, and not much flexibility there. However, anything that I discuss in addition to - or in finer detail of the Statement of Faith, I reserve the right to learn, change and be flexible. That's right. I don't claim to know everything. Surprise! I kept the Statement as simple as possible for this very reason; and only included the doctrines which were imperative to know and communicate. Anything outside of the Statement of Faith is not important enough to divide us. We should be able to exchange ideas and opinions outside, around and on top of the Statement of Faith without dividing us as fellow believers. "Should" is the operative word.
Lastly
for now, nothing is to be sold on this site. Geocities which is the server company
on which I publish this site flashes ads on it, but the ads have nothing to
do with me other than that I chose Geocities as my server because they are
free. The Word specifically states that God's Word is free and the holy
spirit is free.
Fat pastors that teach "tithing"(giving 10 % of your income or more) often leave out the "offerings" from the quote about "tithes and offerings" they get from Mal 3:8. "Offerings" in that verse is the the Hebrew word which in biblical usage always means animal sacrifice. Do a word study on it if you don't believe me. "Tithes and offerings" were a pair in the Old Covenant days. Why have one without the other? Although some teach that "offerings" means to give MORE than 10% of your income to them! It is not surprising that they make up there own definition of the entire Old Testament phrase "tithes and offerings" only when it helps to line their own pockets. They claim that with every Old Testament word or phrase they always go by the Hebrew definition and its biblical usage and context. But, on the words of this phrase they clearly make an exception to their own supposed rule and interpret it their own way. That is why I call these particular pastors FAT pastors because they are more concerned about feeding their fat bellies than they are about feeding the spiritual and intellectual needs of God's flock! I'm not saying that you should not give to whom ever you choose, I'm just saying that these fat pastors are to blame when they teach that you HAVE to give your money because it is God's LAW to give your money to them!
It's extortion and a pyramid scheme which works like this: (do the math) 100 patrons give 10% of their yearly income to Pastor Fatty, which is equivalent to Pastor Fatty raking in TEN TIMES the yearly income of his average patron! And Pastor Fatty pays NO TAX on it all!!! Think about that. His patrons pay tax, sometimes up to about 50% of their yearly income to Uncle Sam, and in addition to that they give Pastor Fatty the "mandatory by law" 10% of it PLUS an extra "offering!!!" So, out of 100 people, he takes much more than 10 times what the average patron does, and he doesn't even have to pay the taxes as a real person in the real world! Figure that he has two cronies "working" with him, he still takes in more than THREE TIMES more than his average patron. And what if he had much more than 100 patrons -- like maybe between 300 to 500? We're talking about a very rich, fat pastor who in my opinion doesn't even work or pay taxes! Forget about the very probable chance that he's teaching false doctrines to boot.
Paul the Apostle said, "Do not give as of necessity..,"(2 Cor 9:7) meaning not to give because you have to, as of "necessity," as a law! Tithing was not included in the letter that the Apostles gave to the Gentiles in the book of Acts when they sent them a very short list of statutes to follow (Acts 15:22-31). Therefore, tithing is not a statute or a law for Christians since the early church in the book of Acts to this very day.
Am I saying
not to give to your favorite church? No! Give everything you have if you want
to! Just make sure you provide for your family first:
1 Tim 5:8
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house,
he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Give to the poor, widow, the fatherless and visit them. To do those things are the most holiest of deeds:
James
1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from
the world.
See also: Gal 2:9-10
So, the Word specifically states that it is a higher priority to take care of your family first. If you don't, you are worse than an unbeliever (take that you who dump your spouse & children because you're not "happy"). Also, according to the Word, it is the second highest priority to give to the poor and visit the widows & the fatherless in their affliction. Those things are a higher priority than giving to the church. Paul took up a collection for the church at Jerusalem, not for the ministers, but for all the poor believers which lived there. Can you see the difference? And he told them that they didn't have to give, he just wanted them to give because they wanted to help. Get the picture?
So, give all you want to the church. Just don't think that it is a law and that if you do it, you are going to be blessed with every material comfort known to man and you don't have to give to anyone else including your own family. That would be exactly backward. Take care of your spouse and kids and elderly parents FIRST, give and visit other people who are afflicted with loss and grief, SECOND, and if you have anything left over and you choose to give to your church, then it's fine, well and good. But, don't be fooled by the false doctrine that whether you tithe or not will make or break you with blessings or curses; as if that is the most important law of all time. It is an Old Covenant law which was not handed down to the New Covenant Church as the verses above plainly show. And there is much more on this subject in Scripture I could show you, but it's best if you read it for yourself.
Well, on that note. Good night and may God keep you.
Peace!
Man of Yahweh