©2011-2026, David E.
Robinson: At the Gates of Yerushalayim Ministries
Lessons from the Wilderness: Special Edition
– Part Two
False Teachers: A
Biblical Perspective [i] [ii] [iii] [iv]
Matthew 7: 15-29
15 j“Beware of false
prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are kravenous wolves. 16 You
will recognize them lby their
fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So,
mevery healthy tree bears
good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy
tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 nEvery tree that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you
will recognize them lby
their fruits. [v]
21 o“Not everyone who psays to me, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ will qenter the
kingdom of heaven, but the one who rdoes
the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 sOn that day tmany
will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not uprophesy
in your name, and cast out demons vin
your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 tAnd then will I declare to
them, ‘I wnever knew
you; xdepart from me, yyou workers of
lawlessness.’
24 z“Everyone then who
hears these words of mine and does them will be like aa wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And
the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house,
but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26 And everyone who
hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like aa foolish man who built
his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods
came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great
was the fall of it.”
28 And when Yeshua
finished these sayings, bthe
crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 cfor he was teaching them
as one who had
authority,
and not as their
scribes. [vi]
RECAP
We left off last time with the roadmap we
would be diving into in Part Two of our study, allow me to recap:
“…Yeshua
viewed these figures as a catastrophic danger to the public. He concluded his
longest public denunciation of them in Matthew 23 with a terrifying rhetorical
question that mirrors the harshness later used by the New Testament
writers: "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape
being condemned to hell?" (Matthew 23:33). Now, to
understand what Yeshua truly meant when he attacked the religious leaders, we
have to strip away 2,000 years of Western church tradition and look directly at
the Second Temple period (approx. 516 BCE – 70 CE)…”
First, A Warning
Before we start, let me remind you of the
methodologies we should use when we are trying to discern false teaching or
doctrine from those who are our teachers. Our tool-bag[vii]
should hold these: doctrinal testing, a method of diagnostic vocabulary
to detect doctrinal deviation with behavioral corruption and manipulative
communication, exegesis, covenantal integrity, believing loyalty, covenantal
obedience, and covenant alignment.
(Please go to the endnotes section in
Part One for a definition of each of these.) [viii]
But let us be honest with one another. Is the
ordinary church goer sitting in the pews going to put in the effort to see
whether or not what they are being taught is true or false?
No. They will not.
Not as long as they believe they are sitting in a country club.
If you are lounging at a resort, you do not
test the tap water, you do not inspect the structural integrity of the roof,
and you do not question the credentials of the person serving you coffee. You
assume unconsciously someone else is handling the safety metrics. You are there
to consume, relax, and go home. This is exactly what happened to us: we took
the ekklesia—the mobilized, wartime governing assembly of the
King—and we downsized it into a peacetime country club. We have completely
forgotten that the first-century ekklesia faced literal execution
simply because their 'believing loyalty' (emunah) to King Yeshua made it
impossible for them to bow to the idols of the Roman Empire.
Even as I write this, there are underground
assemblies across the globe meeting in shadows, risking imprisonment, torture,
and death just to read a single scrap of the raw text. They do not scroll
casually on phones. They do not treat the assembly as a casual weekend hobby.
They understand a reality that Western evangelicalism has spent decades
anesthetizing:
The Holiness of God
is a beautiful, consuming, radioactive fire, and entering His presence is an
act of cosmic consequence.
One day, we all must
bow, and we must fear His Holiness.
This is the warning. Wake up! There rages a
reality of cosmic warfare, one which believers are called to fight – to stand
in the awe of God, to serve, to live in Truth. That is why this series is so
important. Not because I wrote it, but because we need to shatter our sleep,
our illusions and recover the breathtaking terror and beauty of God’s holiness.
The Almighty and His Messiah Yeshua are the two Halves of Holiness. This
is a beautiful, terrifying paradox. God
is so blindingly pure that He incarnated Himself to bleed and die so we could live;
that is the infinite height of His love. But because He is that pure, He will
not be mocked, domesticated, or treated with casual disrespect. His grace is a
rescue rope out of the kingdom of darkness, not a license to remain lukewarm
spectators. Let us not forget Yeshua’s call at the beginning of His ministry (Matthew
4:17, Mark 1:15) was:
“Repent, for
the Kingdom of God is at hand”.
This
was a declaration of war, challenging all that held the world and humankind
hostage. Oh, the duality of Heaven! El Elyon is an ontologically
consuming fire! His very essence and reality of BEING burns with
uncreated, infinite energy that transforms and alters everything it touches,
drawing all to His self with love: also, He cannot coexist with evil or
falsehood. Deuteronomy 4:24 and Hebrews 12:29 both call Him “a consuming fire”.
Even here He is a duality: the אֵ֣שׁ אֹֽכְלָ֔ה
Esh-Oklah, the consuming fire that subdues His enemies, or He is
the
אֵ֥שׁ אֹֽכְלָ֖ה "Consuming Fire”
that softens your heart, changes you. [ix]
The choice is clear: It is either the Terror
or the Beauty. The Terror, so clean, so pure,
nothing corrupt can stand before Him. The Beauty, so holy that
through the Messiah, He legally cleanses us, adopts us, invites us into His
throne room, and before His heavenly Council. So, what will you do? If you are
content with spiritual milk, a soft sermon, and a comfortable seat while the
world burns and the wolves feast, then keep scrolling. Keep treating the
Almighty like a cosmic butler who exists to rubber-stamp your lifestyle. But if
your heart breaks for the truth—if you want to stand with the martyrs who
conquered by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony—then you must
wake up. You must demand solid food. You must look your
pastors in the eye and gently, firmly ask:
'Does the raw text
actually support what you just preached?'
It is time to stop playing church, to dismantle
the country club, and reassemble the ekklesia at the gates of the enemy.
The early ekklesia, the first century ekklesia, was a mobilized,
wartime governing assembly, which gathered as a war council to execute the
legal decrees of heaven and storm the strongholds of cosmic evil. In Matthew 16:15-19,
Yeshua said this:
“15He said to them, “But who do you say
that I am?” 16 Simon
Peter replied, a“You are bthe Christ, cthe Son of dthe living God.” 17 And Jesus answered
him, e“Blessed are you, fSimon Bar-Jonah! For gflesh and blood has not
revealed this to you, hbut
my Father who is in heaven. 18 And
I tell you, iyou are
Peter, and jon this rock2 I will build my church,
and kthe gates of lhell3 shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you mthe
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and nwhatever
you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loosed4 in heaven.”[x]
The time is now.
Today is all we are promised; tomorrow may be too late.
Wake up.
So, we continue.
Are you aware of the gravity of the moment? The
body of Messiah, the ἐκκλησία
the ekklesia, is under assault not only
from without, but from within also. The fruits of false teaching
as
defined by one of our toolbox principles (Behavioral Corruption as
Diagnostic Vocabulary) include: the love of money, sexual sin, arrogance,
hypocrisy, and aberrant theology.[xi]
More subtly, false prophets and teachers carry a “nice” facade. They teach
content that tickles the ears of those who listen, then they adjust what they
teach to accommodate what their
listeners want to hear.[xii]
Preachers must illuminate how false teachers “secretly bring in” [xiii]
doctrine—carrying the idea of a secret agent—leading people to their side to
teach false doctrine. [xiv]
Indeed, James warns us that the testing of
our faith will come and we must remain steadfast and not be “…like [xv]a
wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind…”[xvi]
Paul issues a similar admonishment in Eph. 4:13-14. This is why our core
scripture, Matthew 7:15-23 is so important to aid us in our discernment. The
wolves are clever. They look the part, but their character in the end, will reveal
who they truly are – but by then, the damage has been done. This fruit-bearing
principle (Doctrinal Testing and Covenantal Alignment )—that healthy
trees produce good fruit while diseased trees cannot—establishes that false
teaching and authentic faith are mutually exclusive states (Matt 7:15–23). Preachers should
help congregants understand that the critical heresy threatening the church
concerns who Jesus is, who God truly is, with false teachers “denying the
Sovereign Lord who bought them,” making the crucial doctrinal danger the denial
of Jesus as Sovereign Lord [xvii].
This moves beyond abstract theological debate: apostolic concern centered on
protecting churches from corruption and strife caused by aberrant teachings,
with some weightiest theological formulations in the New Testament being ad hoc
responses to particular doctrinal controversies[xviii].
How then does
false teaching even exist today, given the enormous amount of resources
available to bible readers/students have at their disposal?
The answer to this question revolves around some
very important maxims or characteristics:
1.False
teaching preys on the spiritually immature. (2 Cor. 11:3-4; cf. Gal. 1:6-7)
2. False
teaching can be the product of distorted interpretations of Scripture by those
not firmly established in the truth. (see 2 Pet. 3:16; 2 Pet 2:14)
3. False
teaching grows out of ungodly ambition, ignorance, and conceit. (1 Tim 1:3-7; 6:3-4)
4. False
teaching sometimes stems from a desire for material gain. [xix]
(2 Pet. 2:3; 2 Cor. 2:17; 1Tim 6:4b-5,
10)
5.False
teaching can result from and lead to inappropriate sensuality and sexual
immorality.
(Rom 16:18; 2 Pet.
2:2; Rev. 2:20; cf. 2:14; Jude 16; 2 Tim. 4:3)
6. False
teaching is sometimes attributed to demonic deception.
(1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Cor. 11:13-14; Gal 1:8; 1 John 4:3)
7.False
teachers seek to divide the body of Christ. (Rom 16:17; Titus 3:9-11;
Jude 18-19) [xx]
8. False
teaching can come from apostates and deviant teachers within the church.
(2 Pet. 2:1; Matt. 7:15; Gal. 2:4) (1 Tim 1:3; 2 Tim. 1:15; 2:15-18) [xxi] (1 John 2:19)
Dr. Rhyne R. Putman finishes his list with
this: “…Biblically speaking, “false doctrine” is more than an incorrect
propositional belief about some aspect of Christian doctrine. It is not a
simple interpretive mistake; it is an act of volition that stems from spiritual
immaturity, unbelief, arrogance, and illicit desire…” [xxii]
This brings us to another danger: while we
begin to see the characteristics of false teaching, we still have another issue
to watch for: in any congregation, there are conflicts that come between “…sincere,
faithful believers who are devoted to Christ, Scripture, and the proclamation
of the gospel. Even believers who exhibit the fruit of the Spirit sometimes
come to distinct conclusions regarding the meaning of biblical texts and doctrines…”
[xxiii].
It is here believers should watch out for those causing these divisions that are
contrary to taught doctrine; if such persons appear to be serving their own appetites, and this behavior is seen
to deceive the naive through smooth talk and flattery (Rom 16:17–18), then steps need to
be taken. False teaching as this (the principle of Manipulative
Communication and Spiritual Treason) preys on the spiritually immature, as
we have seen outlined in our list, with believers being vulnerable to being
“tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by
human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes”.
The Apostolic framework treated heresy not as
disagreement but as existential threat: false teachers (and even brethren that
bring in doctrines that are contrary to orthodoxy) posed a
serious threat to the health and unity of the ekklesia from the start, with heresy infesting the ekklesia in her infancy and the threat of false
doctrine being a constant apostolic theme.[xxiv] By training congregations in testing
everything and holding fast what is good (1 Thess 5:19–22), modern teachers
equip believers to function as spiritual sentries protecting covenantal
community integrity.
What was the Apostles cure for this? The
answer to this question goes back to what I referred to in Part One of this
series, where:
“…we
have to strip away 2,000 years of Western church tradition and look directly at
the Second Temple period (approx. 516 BCE – 70 CE)…”
While understanding how
the early ekklesia handled these issues, this becomes the
impasse that, for the modern church, is and has been, a stumbling block. Allow
me to explain. To explain the how and why of the Hebraic mindset would take as
much space as we have already devoted, but I’ll try to narrow it down to as
simple a concept as I can: time.
To the Western mind (or the Greek or
Hellenized mind), we tend to view things along a linear path, that is, as a
concept, a straight line. Not that
anything we do is by nature in a straight path; but rather comes together in a
logical or semi-logical, rational sense.
We tend to go from point “a” to point “b” etc., and except where time is
concerned, this “logical” way of dealing with issues is rarely strayed
from.
Time is the one variable that always seems to
be out of sync with our plans. Take a
construction job as an example: the contractor has a schedule to meet. When he bid the job, he factored into it most
of the variables he could - material, man-power, weather and so on - and made a
best-guess at how long it would take him to complete the project and the costs
involved based upon this reasoned time-line.
All goes smoothly at first; then unexpected delays begin to encroach
upon his schedule. Maybe it is material
deliveries, bad engineering, or a shortage of qualified workers. Maybe it is worse weather than he
anticipated; the bottom line is that his timing is thrown off, and his costs
escalate, and his profits go down. His well-planned
linear schedule goes out the window, and he has to scramble now to salvage his
project. “A” is now followed by “D” and
“B” has to wait on “C”; he has to find time to make it all work out and time is
the variable that the western mind has a problem dealing with. Let’s look at a typical timeline:
Figure 1 Timeline depicting BC era.[xxv]
Time is always seen in a linear progression
to the Western or Greek mind. To the
Hebrew mind, time is better expressed as this:
The oval represents what time means to the
Hebrew or semantic mind, that it goes beyond what we consider a beginning and
an end. Time exists within the circle, or
oval, yet outside of the constraints of time is YHVH. For the Greek mind, the concept of time
begins and ends, even if infinity is taken into consideration. To the Hebrew mind, YHVH sets the boundary of
time, and He alone exists outside of time, seeing the end from the beginning,
and able to interact within the scope of time at His will and pleasure. YHVH is the measure of time; He is the
mindset of the Jew, of the Hebraic mind.
The Greek mindset consists of logic and reason; the Hebraic mind rests on
YHVH…
Concerning reason, those whose view consists
of YHVH’s view say:
“…We do not forgo the use of reason; but we
know in our own troubled context that our best reason has around it -- in, with
and under it -- gifts of the "otherness" that make for newness. Our
technological achievements require and permit us to learn again what the
community of faith has known -- and trusted -- from the outset: there is
something outside our controlled management of reality which must be heeded. Sometimes
that something turns out to be a miracle of new life…”[xxvi]
While we in the west have tended to view the God
of history as one who sits on the side lines, watching but not interacting, the
Hebraic mind has a different view of YHVH.
This mindset of the Church, this “side-line God” has hurt our
interpretations and our grasp of the New and Old Testaments. While each Testament has its own strengths
(and possible “weaknesses”, depending on how we choose to view them), it is as Rolf
P. Knierim (Professor and Theologian of Old Testament Studies) says:
“…the New Testament’s legacy consists not
only of its unsurpassable advantages (in
theology) but also (in terms of
interpretation of YHVH’s will and purpose) of the deprivation of the vision
of God’s presence and involvement in the totality of reality by neglecting
this presence and involvement in God’s indefinitely ongoing old and imperfect
world…” (parenthesis mine, DER)[xxvii]
What Professor Knierim is saying in this essay
is that while the New Testament focuses upon what Messiah has done in the
creation of the “new man”. While this has in its message the “…unsurpassable
advantages…”, it also, in the Western mind, tends to overshadow the message of
the Tanakh, and by doing so, we miss
out on the identity and splendor of YHVH Almighty. The Western/Greek mindset has seemed to be
concerned with the building of the “Church”, and not the building of the
“Kingdom of YHVH”. And to this end
Ravenhill said:
“…What
God wants is not to fill up empty pews. He is not concerned about filling empty
churches; He is concerned about filling empty hearts. And empty lives, and
empty eyes that have no vision; Empty hearts that have no passion, And empty
wills that have no purpose…”[xxviii]
So, we see at work the two different views;
two views that should be one, as seen through the eyes of Messiah and the
Father but clouded by the vision of man. YHVH is not linear; He exists outside
of all that we know or shall ever know. How
do we, even in an eternity to be spent with Him, how do we come to know the
vastness of His riches, of His mercy, of His love? The Hebraic mindset concerns itself with this
problem, by delving deep into these “hidden” things of YHVH, by plumbing the
depths as best as we can, not concerned with the building of a denomination or
of congregations, but of a kingdom that rests upon the shoulders of He who was,
Who is and Shall ever be. This is truly
the vision we seek, one outside of what we are comfortable with, one that takes
in the glory of YHVH and His Son. Does all of this make the Hebraic mindset
superior over the Western mindset? If we
approach it to this end, as looking at Scripture through YHVH’s eyes in the
context of the old way, the answer would be “Yes, kind of, maybe…I don’t know.”
What I do know is this: all of man’s ways are
inferior to that of YHVH’s. I know that
this is an understatement, but we must be careful of not holding up one train
of thought over the other, at the expense of the commonality that we should be
sharing – the love of YHVH for all of us and from all, our love for YHVH; not
for a religion or a way of thinking. The
Hebraic Perspective worldview is vitally important in our understanding of
Scripture and our Savior, yet we can find ourselves looking through the lens of
the Hebraic mind and find ourselves loathing our “Christian” brethren for their
alleged blindness, as well as repeating many mistakes of the past and present
in our witness to our Jewish brethren. If
we in the Hebraic Perspective movement aren’t careful, we are at risk (as some
have) of developing an arrogance equal to an elitist mentality, and we then
have become no better than the hypocrites that Messiah chastised in His day. To walk the way of the Master is a fine
balancing act, one that calls us to humility first and as we go forth on our
journey of discovery and sanctification toward holiness. We are also at risk of
falling in love with being “Jewish” instead of being in love with Messiah;
these are all real pitfalls and stumbling blocks that we must walk among on
that narrow path that we are commanded to follow, and it is not a Hebraic path
or a Christian path. It is YHVH’s path –
that should be the sum of our focus.
I hide nothing in where I land on this issue. I
am a Messianic believer; I follow the Messiah of Israel. My, or “our” position
occupies a distinct space within early Messianic (not Christian, I’ll
explain later) thought—one that the apostolic writers themselves navigated
carefully. This being so, we, as followers of Yeshua Ha’Machiach, have the task
of illuminating both our theological legitimacy and addressing the genuine
tensions we face when we interact with any Christian community. Where do we then, as Messianic followers of
Yeshua, stand in this scheme of things?
From our perspective, by trying to understand
the way that Second Temple Era writers and hearers of the original
doctrines that were spoken, we seek to heal the breech that has stood between Christians
and Messianic believers for the last two thousand years. We seek to understand
what they read, saw and heard, from their cultural background and worldview.
Today, we follow Torah for no other reason than to understand God, Yeshua, and
the Ruach Ha’kodesh (the Holy Spirit) as they defined themselves by the
words written in the Tanakh (Old Testament) and the New testament
(the Br’it Hadashah or the New Covenant). We
recognize Yeshua as Messiah, born a Jew, died as a Jew, and is coming back as a
Jew, yet many Christians today, hold that our perspective is false teaching,
even though all we seek is the knowledge of that Second Temple Era Jew espoused
– from that we can gleam from their understanding how to apply 2000 year plus
wisdom in this, the 21st century. The Torah does not replace Messiah - He is
the only way to salvation, we just try to live a lifestyle and worship that is
not foreign to His or the Apostles words, and accept God as our Father, our
Creator, elōhiym עֶליוֹן ’elyon,
the Most High God.
Our position occupies a distinct space from within
early Christian thought—one that the apostolic writers themselves navigated
carefully. It is the Apostolic Precedent for Torah Observance, which we
can define as the historical and behavioral pattern of Yeshua and his
first-century apostles continuing to practice the Sabbath, dietary guidelines,
and biblical feasts as recorded in Luke-Acts. This was further refined for the
“God-Fearers”, the faithful Gentiles that were drawn to the God of Abraham,
Issac, and Jacob. In Acts 15:1-21, the Jerusalem council met to address the
Gentile situation, and rather than abolishing the Law, the assembly established
a foundational ruling for incoming Gentile believers, requiring an immediate
baseline of four prohibitions (abstaining from pollutions of idols, sexual
immorality, things strangled, and blood) while noting they would learn the rest
of Moses progressively in the synagogues every Sabbath.[xxix]
Paul himself maintained observance of Jewish
law (Acts 21:17–26), and he became “as
a Jew” to win Jews, adapting his practice while remaining inwardly free from
legal obligation (1 Cor 9:19–23). This wasn’t
deception—it reflected authentic cultural continuity. Early Christians
clung to Hebrew notions that God is the creator of the material world, that
creation was good, that the Hebrew Bible is genuine revelation, and that the
resurrection of the flesh must be believed.[xxx]
([xxxi])
This is the reason that our commitment is to understanding Scripture through
Second Temple Jewish categories and aligning ourselves with how the earliest
believers themselves operated. [xxxii]
The
Critical Distinction: Salvific Claims vs. Cultural Expression
The apostolic controversy wasn’t about whether
to observe Torah, but about why—and for whom. False teachers
in Paul’s claimed, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of
Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1–29). This made
circumcision salvific [xxxiii].
By contrast, Paul affirmed justification by faith apart from works of the law
yet insisted “we uphold the law” (Rom 3:28–31). And yet, to call
the “Judaizers” false teachers ignores one fact: that they were in fact believers
in Yeshua, but mistaken in their long-held belief that only Jews would be saved.
Their true concern was for the salvation of Paul’s new Gentile believers, while
Paul’s was in defending the sufficiency of Messiah’s death and resurrection. [xxxiv]
The law retained authority and beauty; it
simply couldn’t mediate salvation. Therefore, our framework—Torah as a means to
understand God and Yeshua rather than as a condition for salvation—avoids the
heretical claim that circumcised observance secures redemption. In Messiah
Yeshua then, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but
only faith working through love (Gal 5:1–6).
Now, with all that said, a few paragraphs ago
I mentioned this:
“…My,
our, position occupies a distinct space within early Messianic (not
Christian, I’ll explain later) thought—one that the apostolic writers
themselves navigated carefully…”
Now it is time to explain why Messianic
thought was not Christian thought: the Christian Church didn’t
even exist in the Second Temple Era and wasn’t even on the minds of the
Apostolic writers. What we think of “The Church” today as a modern
institution—with pews, stained glass, and distinct denominational identities
separate from Israel—that entity did not exist when Paul was
writing.
Many scholars argue that the majority of
modern readers do indeed project anachronistic, post-Fourth-Century biases onto
Paul’s letters. By the 4th century, Christianity had legally and theologically
separated from Judaism (becoming the religion of the Roman Empire), and readers
retroactively assumed Paul shared this separation. The truth is that Paul
himself maintained observance of Jewish law (Acts 21:17–26),
and he became “as a Jew” to win Jews, adapting his practice while remaining
inwardly free from legal obligation (1 Cor 9:19–23). This wasn’t deception—it reflected authentic
cultural continuity. The early Christians clung to Hebrew notions that God is
the creator of the material world, that creation was good, that the Hebrew Scriptures
were (and are today) genuine revelation, and that the resurrection of the flesh
must be believed [xxxv]. That
is why our commitment to understanding Scripture through Second Temple Jewish
categories aligns with how the earliest believers themselves operated. The early
believing communities were not unconcerned about distinguishing truth from
error, nor did they lack central theological commitments against unacceptable
teachings; however, the early church exhibited complexity including friendly
rivalry, gracious disagreements over matters of indifference, and variegated
viewpoints that were different but not mutually exclusive [xxxvi].
While I have attempted to
explain the path I have taken, does not mean I hold that my way is the only way
to Messiah – it is simply how I approach Him. We are two halves of worshippers:
Christian and Messianic, and we read the same Scriptures. The “One New Man”
comes when we eliminate the barriers that keep us apart. One of those barriers
is Messianic believers are looked upon as false teachers. If we see the Scripture
through the mindset and worldview of the Apostles, then we are called out and
shunned. Our two groups instead of
being in step with one another, we lock ourselves up in arguments about “Did YHVH
really say that…” and debate endlessly about whose point of view is
correct.
Now some may
say that I do the same with the words I lay out here, that I argue about whose
point of view is right… and I must admit, yes that is correct. The difference is that it isn’t my point of
view I am arguing for, it is YHVH’s. My
opinions matter not, but His are always right and eternal. You see, I come to the word searching for His
intent, His meaning, His revelation. I
am not promoting any opinion of mine own, or at the best I make every effort
not too. When I do give an opinion, I
tell you (that I speak as a man). It was
YHVH who declared this word, it was YHVH who preserved it, and it is YHVH that
reveals it, and He tasks us with the obligation to seek out the truth. If what I say is of my own, discount it! Take not my word for anything for the words
of a man are powerless! Search the
Scriptures to see if these things are true!
If they come from YHVH, then what I put down on this paper will be shown
to be true. If not, then discount
it! In fact, show me where I am wrong,
and I will correct myself, for I am teachable. This is all I ask, that you
search with me for the Truth and be set free.
Messiah Yeshua says He is the truth, the Way, and the Life. if we
discount any of it, we run the chance of discounting the Lord. Let us change our way of seeing, and see with
the eyes of the Incarnate YHVH, the Living Messiah and not argue over whose
interpretation is correct – for only His is…
We have come
along way together – but I had to present to you, dear reader, where I come
from, so that there is no mistake in my intentions. They are not to call any
out, to accuse any of false teaching, or of being or listening to false
prophets. That has never been my aim – my aim is to equip the Body of Messiah
with the tools needed to confront falsehoods as they arise. Trust me, arise
they will. Some because those who speak them have an agenda – one that steers
the faithful from truth. Others may speak falsely out of innocence – they speak
what they know, what they have been taught; some speak because they are
compelled to follow the playbook of denominational preference. We will cover
these in our next installment of this series. I pray that you’ll stay with me
on this journey. I also pray that what you want is Truth, and I am humbled if I
can help you find it.
As I said
though, I am teachable and correctable. If there is error in my words, then
please, I ask you to show me where, because the Word of God is too precious to
me to use it wrongfully, or to speak that which is not backed by Scripture. The
Body must wake up though. The wolves are here; the deceivers are already
hurting the Church – the ekklesia I love. Let’s journey together and
protect the flock.
Till we meet
next time, may elōhiym עֶליוֹן ’elyon,
The Most High God, bless you and keep you.
By
the power of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh and In Yeshua’s name I pray
Amein.
[i] FAIR USE DISCLAIMER: This blog
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Act: “…the fair use of a copyrighted work […] for purposes such as criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom
use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright…” I have
made and will continue to make every effort to stay within all ethical and
moral guidelines in the use of material presented here, and the use of these
materials is solely intended for educational purposes only, and all efforts to
obtain or sustain fair use of non-owned material will be made.
[ii] Author’s note: This site is
for education only and is not affiliated with any institution, organization, or
religious group. It is the sole production of its editor/author. Use of
information from Jewish-themed websites (or any other source material) should
not be construed as these sites endorsing or confirming any thesis introduced
by the author of this epistle. I present the information from their respective
sites for instructional purposes only and/or to aid in the readers
understanding of the subjects discussed.
[iii] Author’s note:
Throughout these studies, I will be using the NET Bible® and the NET Notes®:
within the notes you will see symbols like this: ( א B
Ψ 892* 2427 sys). These are abbreviations used by the NET Bible® for
identifying the principal manuscript evidence that they (authors and
translators of the NET Bible®) used in translating the New Testament. Please go
to https://bible.org/netbible/ and see their section labeled “NET Bible
Principals of Translation” for a more complete explanation on these symbols and
other items pertinent to the way the NET Bible uses them. This is not to say
that the NET® Bible will be our only source of God’s word but will be used as
seen fit.
[iv] Author’s Note:
In these studies, I have used the notes that come along with the passages I
cite from the sources that I cite: these need a bit of a disclaimer though. As
in all things, not everything that is footnoted is something that I necessarily
agree with, especially if it contradicts what I believe pertains to any matters
of the Torah or the commandments of God. I give you the notes as they are
written by the authors of the material I cite from, so that you can see the
information contained within them. It truly is not my place to edit them; if
they state anything that is in opposition to what I teach, then so be it. I
will address these issues if requested. That is not to say I should not
challenge something I believe, in my humble opinion, might contradict the truth
of God’s word; that I will do in the main body of my epistles for that is where
my gentle dissent belongs. Most (but not all) of the differences will come when
I quote from a source that displays a decidedly Western/Greek mindset, as
opposed to a Hebraic perspective. I must be intellectually honest – I am biased
toward the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and His son, Yeshua the Messiah. I
pray then we all can find common ground as we study the Scriptures. Also, some
may be put off by the length or depth of the notes; not everyone has access to
the references I do, therefore I try to include the notes that come with the
material I use, so each can see for themselves the information the originator
has pointedly gleaned. I hope you avail yourselves to these inclusions – they
help us to understand how the material in scripture is laid out – the thought
process of the original writer.
j ch. 24:11, 24; Deut. 13:1–3; Jer.
14:14; 23:16; Mark 13:22; Luke 6:26; Acts 13:6; 2 Pet. 2:1; 1 John 4:1
k Ezek. 22:27; Acts 20:29; [Mic.
3:5; John 10:12]
l Luke 6:43, 44; James 2:18
o Luke 6:46; Rom. 2:13; James 1:22
s ch. 25:11, 12; Luke 13:25–27
u [Num. 24:4; John 11:51; 1 Cor.
13:2]
z For ver. 24–27, see Luke 6:47–49
a ch. 25:2; [Ezek. 13:10–14]
b ch. 13:54; 22:33; Mark 1:22; 6:2;
11:18; Luke 4:32; [Acts 13:12]
[vii] While for this study we are using
using Matthew 7:15–20 as the primary diagnostic framework, all Scripture should
be used when discerning truth (see 2 Tim. 3:16-17 for example).
[viii] See endnotes xx, xxvi, xxvii,
xxviii, xxx, xxxi, xxxiii in endnotes of Part One.
d
Deut. 5:26; Josh. 3:10; Ps. 42:2; Jer. 10:10; Dan. 6:20; Hos. 1:10; Acts 14:15;
2 Cor. 3:3; 1 Tim. 4:10
g
1 Cor. 15:50; Gal. 1:16 (Gk.); Eph. 6:12; Heb. 2:14
h
1 Cor. 2:10; 12:3; [ch. 11:25; John 6:45]
j
Eph. 2:20; Rev. 21:14; [ch. 7:24]
2
The Greek words for Peter and rock sound similar
3
Greek the gates of Hades
m
[Isa. 22:22; Rev. 1:18; 3:7]
n
[ch. 18:18; John 20:23]
4
Or shall have been bound … shall have
been loosed
[xiii] Ibid. “Secretly
bring in” is one word in the Greek and means bring in along side.
[xv] [Isa. 57:20; Eph. 4:14]
[xix] “…This tendency is very apparent
in the modern world, where faith-healing televangelists and prosperity
preachers prey upon the underprivileged to finance their extravagant
lifestyles, but the same kind of greed motivated false prophecy and teaching in
the early church (2 Pet. 2:3)…” WDDPG:EATD pg. 209-210 (see below)
[xx] E. Earle Ellis, “Paul and His
Opponents,” in Christianity, Judaism, and
Other Greco-Roman Cults, Part 1, ed. Jacob Neusner (Leiden: Brill, 1975),
297.[xx]
[xxvi] The Power of Dreams in the Bible by Walter Brueggemann, Columbia
Theological Seminary; The Christian
Century, June 28, 2005, pp.28-31. ©Christian Century Foundation; used by
permission.
[xxvii] Essay, “On Biblical Theology”, by Rolf P. Knierim, reprinted in Reading the Hebrew Bible for a New
Millennium, Volume 1, ©2000 by the Institute for Antiquity and
Christianity, Trinity Press International
[xxviii]
Revival Lecture, by Leonard
Ravenhill, Old Paths Magazine, Edition #10, Greg Gordon editor; magazine archives at:
www.oldpathsmag.com
[xxix] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RaMa97I0AA
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