Some Differences Between Messianic & Traditional Christianity

 

Some Differences Between Messianic and Traditional Christianity
©Mark Pitrone March 2004

What is it that sets a Messianic Believer in Yeshua Messiah apart from a traditional Christian, or a traditional Jew? There are many differences between what a traditional Christian believes and what a Messianic believes, but you will find that these are differences of interpretation of scripture, and therefore differences of doctrine, but that these differences do not affect the salvation of the individual. The differences are not those which ought to sever fellowship.

Both the traditional Christian and the Messianic believe in the inerrancy of the scriptures, they merely interpret the scriptures differently. Where the traditional christian sees Torah as fulfilled completely, the Messianic looks to the words of Yeshua, who said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:17-20.

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The traditional Christian says that Yeshua came to fulfill the law, his work is finished and it is therefore of no consequence to us now. It is fulfilled and therefore abolished. However, to the Messianic this syllogism is faulty. The Messianic says that since the heaven and earth are still here, the law and prophets must not be fulfilled yet, and that Yeshua goes on to say that if a person breaks the least of the commandments and teaches others to do so, that person will be called the least in the kingdom. There is nothing here that says the person who breaks the law is doomed to eternal hellfire, only that he will not have a high standing in the kingdom.Yeshua never said you could break the law with impunity. He never lowered the standard of what is sin and what is not. Sin is and always has been the transgression of the Law of YHWH (1 Jn. 3:4, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.) So how do we know we have sinned? We have transgressed the law. What law, you may ask? There is only one law given to us, the law which was written on tables of stone on Mt. Sinai by the very finger of YHWH.

Is this to say that we must keep the law to be saved? We know that by works of the law is no flesh justified (Rom.3.20, Gal.2.16). Justification is given, not earned. Salvation has always been by grace through faith. Noone was ever saved by keeping the law perfectly. Yeshua, who is the Son of YHWH as well as YHWH the Son, had to do that. Salvation comes by trusting YHWH to perform what he's promised. He promised to provide himself a lamb in Gen. 22.8, and he did, not only a ram in a thicket as a substitute for Isaac, but 2000 years later (I think to the day!) he went to Calvary himself to be a substitute sacrifice for your sins and mine, and not ours only, but for the world (1Jn.2.2). He was and still is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Yeshua's substituionary sacrificial work was complete and is finished. His one sacrifice fulfilled both the Feast of Passover and the Atonement. It brings us justification before the Father when we trust his promise to redeem us. With that justification comes the baptism in the Spirit of YHWH and the adoption as sons into the family of YHWH, the grafting into the commonwealth of Israel, which commonwealth is Messiah. Ephes. 2:11-18, "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."

Do you see what happened there? Jew and Gentile were made one in Messiah. Paul (Rav Sha'ul) starts out here saying things like YE this and WE that, but in v. 14 he changes his tune. He leaves off the 'You/we' of Gentile/Jew and takes on the 'our' of oneness in Messiah. Notice also here that he did not abolish the Torah in general. He abolished the 'enmity, the law of commandments in ordinances.' May I say to you that the ordinances in Tanach, the OT scriptures to which Paul refers here, refer to the laws dealing with the sacrifices for sin. The commandments in statutes, judgements and testimonies are those things by which we are to judge ourselves to see if we've transgressed and are in sin. An excellent book to help explain this is A Digest of the Divine Law by Howard. B Rand, LL.B. There are only 613 laws total in Tanach, and of these roughly half are not applicable today, because there is no Levitical priesthood, Temple or sacrifices.

I believe that if we were to govern ourselves by the commandments in statutes, judgements and testimonies that remain, about 300 in all, we would have no need for the 4 million legislated laws America has on its books, over 80 shelf miles of lawbooks at the Library of Congress, nor 95% of the attorneys we now have. The reason we have all those laws is that we've allowed our society to transgress the law of YHWH. Since we are seemingly incapable of governing ourselves by the few laws given us by our Father, we are doomed to be ruled by tyrants of our choosing from hundreds and thousands of miles away, in the 'corridors of power' in Washington, D.C. It is, always was, and always shall be that YHWH gives us what we want. If we want to be self-governing, all we need do is follow Yeshua, put our feet in his footprints. If we want a tyrannical ruler, all we need do is remove ourselves from doing as he told us. The one follows the other as winter follows autumn, and it is our decision to make.

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Another major difference between most Messianics and traditional Christians is that Messianics celebrate the Feasts of YHWH as we are commanded to do in Lev.23. These feasts are not, as traditional christians say, Jewish Feasts. Look at Lev. 23 and you will see that YHWH commanded that some of these feasts be observed forever. Leviticus 23:1-4, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. 3Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. 4These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons." Does the celebration of these feasts justify anyone? Are we saved by keeping these feasts? No way! We are saved by grace through faith and even the faith is a gift of YHWH (Eph.2.8-9). We celebrate the feasts to remember what YHWH has done for us and what he has promised to do for us.

The traditional Chritians celebrate pagan feasts with 'christianized' titles. Before you shut down your intellect and 'go to the mattresses' (a Sicilian 'Mafia' metaphor for war), read on just a bit further. Let me explain. Christmas and Easter are, were, and always will be pagan in their roots and in their practices. This is a fact, not just conjecture. Christmas was a late 3rd Century to early 4th Century amalgamation of pagan festivals with Christian terminology to try to bring all the pagans in the Roman Empire into the fold of the 'Church'. In 325 CE Constantine, the Emperor, issued the Edict of Toleration, whereby the entire Empire became 'Christian' overnight. While it looked like Christians would now be tolerated by the pagans, what actually happened was that pagan priests were made 'christian' priests and their entire worship system became the 'state religion' of Rome under the guise of Christianity. The persecution of the Church stopped, as long as they tolerated the pagan priests officiating in the churches. Christians had to tolerate paganism in their midst, even as it is today in America.

These pagan priests took their 'child mass' which was a celebration of the birthday of the sun-god, Sol Invictus Mithra, on which day the offering of children to the pagan god Molech, which is another name for Mithra, (a practice that makes partial birth abortion look civilized) took place. These pagans changed the name to 'Christ Mass' and celebrated it as Jesus' birthday. The fact of the matter is that Yeshua was born during the Feast of Tabernacles, which is one of the feasts that will be celebrated forever, even in the new Heaven and new Earth.

Easter has always been the celebration of the fertility of the new planting season and a seeking of favor of the fertility gods. Easter has absolutely nothing to do with Passover, though they are often celebrated near each other on our pagan calendar. Passover is celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Abib barley. Some years this could be a whole month different than Easter. In fact in the year 2003 the possibility exists that Passover will occur before the Vernal equinox. This would put it 33 days prior to Easter. In the year 2001, the Abib was not found untill after Easter, and Passover was in May. Passover really has nothing whatsoever to do with Easter. In the only biblical passage that addresses Easter we see that it was already the days of unleavened bread, or 15-21 Abib, and Herod was planning to hold Peter in jail until after Easter.

And by the way, Yeshua was not resurrected on Sunday morning. He went into the grave for 3 days and 3 nights. How anyone could ever get 72 hours out of Friday evening to Sunday morning is absolutely beyond me. At best that's 37-38 hours, a day and a half, not the 3 days and 3 nights Yeshua himself said he would be in the belly of the earth. I contend that he went in the grave 4th day (Wednesday) evening, just before sundown, and came out 72 hours later, Sabbath evening, just before sundown. He was out of there minutes before the 1st day of the week. The fact that he was not seen until the next morning does not change the fact that he rose on Sabbath late afternoon. So Yeshua was not resurrected on Easter morning.

The point of this is that we have been lied to by the pagan 'church' for almost 2 millennia. It is this pagan 'church' that was responsible for the holocausts and pogroms of history, as it is the tool of Satan. 2 Cor. 11:3-4, 13-15 "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him... 13For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." Look at what YHWH says about compromising with Satan. Deut. 12:29-31, "Even the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; 30Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. 31Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods." Oh! Oh! That just described child mass. We are not to incorporate pagan practices into our worship of the Creator of the universe. Period! Ezekiel 8:5-18, "Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. 6He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. 7And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. 8Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. 9And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. 10So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. 11And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. 13He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. 14Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. (Here is your Lent observance at the time of Easter. Tammuz was the resurrected Nimrod, the son of Semiramis and a ray of sunlight.) 15Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. 16And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. 17Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. 18Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them." Remember that the scriptures are for our admonition, so we won't make the same mistakes Israel made.

Does the fact that we've been lied to all these centuries make us unaccountable to YHWH for our misconduct? Not at all. But he 'winks at' what we don't know if we forsake what we now know to be wrong. Now that you know, all you need do is repent of your transgressions and follow after the truth. You were ignorant, but your heart was right toward him in what you did know. Acts 17:24-31, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 30And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." What's done is done, what's past is past. So now forgetting those things that lie behind, looking forward to things to come, let's press toward the high calling of YHWH in Yeshua Messiah (Phil.3.13-14). Following him, logically, is doing as he does. What did Yeshua do when he walked the earth? He kept Sabbath, celebrated the feasts of YHWH, kept the entire law. He had both an advantage, in that he was YHWH in human flesh, and a disadvantage, in that he had sinful flesh just like ours and the unrelenting attack of the enemy against him. Satan knew that if he could get Yeshua to slip just once, if he could get him, just once, to take his rightful authority without submitting to the Father through his Spirit, the victory was Satan's. But Yeshua was in all points tempted like as we, yet WITHOUT sin! Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

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More to come as time and YHWH permit.

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