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[1] Ruach HaKodesh is the Hebrew term for the Holy Spirit; literally Spirit, the Holy One. Hebrew words and other unfamiliar or unusual terms will be translated or explained the first time they are used. For definitions and explanations of unfamiliar words and phrases, please consult the Glossary at the end of this document.
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[3] Edward I (1272-1307) banished the Jews from England; on July 18, 1290 (Tisha B’Av in the Jewish calendar, the same as the date on which both Temples were destroyed and on which scores of other atrocities have been committed against the Jews), he issued an edict of expulsion. The Jews had to leave England by November 1, 1290. They were permitted to take their money and personal property, but all of their real estate was turned over to the crown. It was much easier for many to “convert” to Christianity than to face the hardship of expulsion. Many Jews actually converted, while many others only pretended to do so. I have no way of knowing which path my ancestors initially chose, only that from what sketchy records exist they must have been living totally assimilated for at least the past several generations. See Appendix A, “Tisha b’Av and 17 Tammuz” for a list of events associated with these two days. [4] Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. [5] Family or clan. See Glossary. [6] The called-out community of Believers in Messiah; used in this document to refer to the entire Body of Messiah as a whole, as well as to the local congregation. With David Stern, translator of the Complete Jewish Bible quoted above, I prefer this term to the word “church” for reasons that will be discussed in detail later. [7] If you skipped the previous section, you won’t understand what this means. [8] I prefer the term “theological scientist” to “theologian” for the reasons explained in this paragraph. [9] Common Era. I prefer to use CE instead of AD (Ano Domini, or Year of the Lord) and BCE (Before the Common Era) instead of BC (Before Christ) for reasons that will become apparent as you read on. [10] Renewed Covenant or so-called “New Testament.” [11] Yeshua is the Hebrew word for “salvation” and is the Lord’s true name in His native Hebrew language, later corrupted to “Jesus” through faulty translation. Nobody who ever knew Him in the flesh ever addressed Him as “Jesus.” More about this later. [12] Emissaries or ambassadors. The ambassadors from Israel to other countries are called shliachim in Hebrew. The Greek translation of shliachim used in the Brit Chadasha is ajpovstoloß (apostolos), from which we get the word “apostles.” [13] Rav Sha’ul is the original Hebrew for Rabbi Saul of Tarsus, also know as Paul the Apostle. Rav is a shortened form of the Hebrew word Rabbi. Goyim is the Hebrew word for nations and usually refers to gentiles. Marvin R. Wilson in the Foreword to Jesus the Jewish Theologian by Brad H. Young. Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995, p. xvii. I have personally seen versions of this same illustration in the literature of several different denominations. Disciples. The Scriptures make a distinction between Messiah’s Talmidim (Disciples) and Shliachim (Apostles). The Talmidim would include all those who have followed the Messiah from the first century to the present; the term Shliachim refers to those eye-witnesses to the Resurrection who were specifically commissioned and sent by Messiah to be the ambassadors from His Kingdom to the first-century world. Tanakh is an acronym (TNK) for the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible. Please see the Glossary for more information. For more information about non-Jewish people in Judaism, see Tracy R. Rich on the Internet, “Synagogues, Shuls and Temples,” www.jewfaq.org/shul.htm#Gentiles. “One way that the Jewish people resisted the pagan influence of Greece was by maintaining loyalty to the law of[31] Resentment among the Jews to Greek rule in Judea grew steadily, culminating in 167 BCE with the outbreak of a revolt against the Greeks in response to the sacrifice of a pig on the Temple altar by Antiochus Epiphanes. Judah Maccabee defeated Antiochus’ army and liberated Jerusalem in 165 BCE. He purified the Temple and reinstituted the sacrifices. On the 25th of Kislev the Jews inaugurated the Temple and offered up the first sacrifice to the Almighty on the new altar. The inauguration festival for the Temple lasted eight days, and is commemorated as the Festival of Lights, or Chanukah. For more information see Christian Action for Israel, “The Festivals of Hanukkah and Christmas” at www.christianactionforisrael.org/judeochr/hannxmas/macca.html, and read the apocryphal Books of the Maccabees plus Josephus’ Wars of the Jews. We know that the Lord did not give Moshe an additional Oral Torah that he failed to write down, because the Scriptures say that Moshe wrote down all that the Lord commanded, and that the Lord commanded that nothing else be added.“Moshe came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has spoken will we do.’ Moshe wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Yisra'el.” (Exod. 24:3-5) “You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither
shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the mitzvot
[commandments] of the Lord your “Moshe wrote this law [Torah], and delivered it to the
Kohanim [Priests] the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the
Lord, and to all the Zakenim [Elders] of Yisra'el. Moshe commanded them,
saying, ‘At the end of [every] seven years, in the set time of the year of
release, in the feast of booths, when all Yisra'el is come to appear before
the Lord your It would not be possible for the Kohanim and Zakenim of Yisra'el to read all the words of the Torah unless all the words of the Torah were written down to be read. I find it quite incomprehensible how anyone who rejects the concept of spirit beings can at the same time claim to serve a“The fullest description which we have of Cerinthus and his followers is that of Epiphanius (Hćr. XXVIII.), who records a great many traditions as to his life (e.g. that he was one of the false apostles who opposed Paul, and one of the circumcision who rebuked Peter for eating with Cornelius, &c.), and also many details as to his system, some of which are quite contradictory. It is clear, however, that he was Jewish in his training and sympathies, while at the same time possessed of Gnostic tendencies. He represents a position of transition from Judaistic Ebionism to Gnosticism, and may be regarded as the earliest Judaizing Gnostic.” [www.ccel.org/s/schaff/npnf201/htm/ iii.viii.xxviii.htm] Elders. Yeshua’s half-brother. See the earlier note on his name. Peter. John the Beloved. “Gentile,” Jewish Encyclopedia, www.jewishencyclopedia.com, op.cit. Ya`akov. Bible.CrossWalk.com/Commentaries/GillsExpositionoftheBible/gil.cgi? book=ac&chapter=015&verse=021, The New John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible. Ibid. Tracey R. Rich. “The Seven Laws of Noah.” www.jewfaq.org/gentiles.htm#Noah “Gentile,” Jewish Encyclopedia, www.jewishencyclopedia.com, op.cit. CJB, Complete Jewish Bible; NAS, New American Standard Bible; HNV, Hebrew Names Version; YLT, Young’s Literal Translation; NKJV, New King James Version; BBE, The Bible in Basic English. Tzva’ot, hosts or armies. ADONAI-Tzva’ot is usually rendered as LORD of Hosts. “HaShem” is literally “the Name” and refers to the Name that is too Sacred to be pronounced. It is a common Jewish reference to[Source: reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/J/Jamnia.html] High Priest. The Hebrew Bible, or so-called “Old Testament.” “Standing” because they were recited while standing. Aramaic: Son of a Star. Simeon ben Kosiba, the leader of the last and most successful Jewish rebellion against Rome in 132-135 C.E. He died in battle when the rebellion was defeated. Rabbi Akiba believed he was the Moshiach (Messiah). See Appendix D. Moab. For more information see Shira Schoenberg, “The Bar-Kochba Revolt,” Jewish Virtual Library on-line at www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/ revolt1.html. Midrash is a commentary, plural midrashim. In a very real sense, the Apostolic Scriptures are Midrashim on the Tanakh, the entire collection of which would eventually be handed down to us as the B’rit Hadasha. Yochanan, called “John the Beloved” or “John the Revelator,” died ca. 100 CE. See Appendix E, “Canons from Nicea 1, 325 CE.” See Appendix F, “Anti-Semitic Decrees of Constantine and His Successors, High Priests of the Babylon Mystery Religion.” For more information on this subject, see Ralph Woodrow, Babylon Mystery Religion. Riverside, CA: Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, 1966. See also Chapter 12, “Where did the word ‘Church’ Come From?” also posted on the Internet at www.familybible.org/Teaching/Messianic/ church.htm. See also Rick Aharon Chaimberlin’s article, “Anti-Judaism and the Council of Nicea” in the Yasha Net Library on-line at www.yashanet.com/library/ antisem.htm. Woodrow, Ralph. Babylon Mystery Religion. Riverside, CA: Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, 1966, pp. 79, 89-91. “One way that the Jewish people resisted the pagan influence of Greece was by maintaining loyalty to the law of As
every high-school Latin student is taught, December 25 is actually
Saturnalia, the feast day of the Roman sun [140] Some sources claim that Apostamos was a Roman general and that this event occurred just prior to the Bar Kochba revolt. Other sources claim that Apostamos was a general of Antiochus and that this event occurred ca. 168 BCE. Bivin and Blizzard Jr., Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, 1988, pp. 45-78. Ecclesiastical History, III 24, 6. Bivin and Blizzard Jr., op. cit., p. 49, 52. Eric W. Gritsch, “Was Luther an Anti-Semite?” Christian History Magazine, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 38-39. Retranslated from the Spanish by Rabbi Dan. The Westcott and Hort (WH) version of the Greek text (1881), also called the “Critical Text” (CT), formed the basis for many of the pre-World War II English translations. However, Westcott and Hort had only about 1400 manuscript sources to work with compared to over 5000 manuscripts available today. Though the WH was the “standard” critical text for a generation or two, it is no longer considered such by anyone, and has not been for many years. In fact, the only WH-based English Bible translation currently in print that the writer is aware is the New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which cannot really be considered a Bible translation because of glaring theological errors introduced by its editors.The King James and New King James Versions are based on the Textus Receptus (Received Text, or TR) version of the Greek text. The TR was based on only about 20 Byzantine Greek texts which were available in the 1500’s, which many believe were “edited” by the Church in the fourth century. The Majority Text (MT) by Hodges and Farstad is based on the majority reading in the over 5000 Greek manuscripts now available, and contains 1,838 differences when compared to the TR. The main argument in its favor it the number of manuscripts. The “standard” text or texts today are the Nestle or Nestle-Aland text (1st edition, 1898; 27th edition, 1993) and/or the various editions of The Greek New Testament published by the United Bible Societies (1st edition, 1966; 4th edition, 1993). Eberhard Nestle originally used as his text the consensus reading of three editions of the Greek New Testament in his day, Tischendorf, WH, and Weymouth, later substituting Weiss for Weymouth. The UBS editors used WH as their starting point and departed from it as their evaluation of manuscript evidence required. The New American Standard Bible, which I personally consider to be as close as possible to an accurate, literal, English translation, is based on the 23rd edition of the Nestle Greek New Testament, which is recognized and used by most evangelical Bible schools and seminaries as being the most reliable. As the last two editions of Nestle and UBS contain an identical text, we now essentially have a new “received text.” [146] Source: “Hebrew/Aramaic Origin of the New Testament: Textual analysis and scholarship supporting an original Hebrew New Testament.” on the Internet at www.ynca.com/Mini%20Studies/hebrewAramaic.htm; also at www.remnantofyhwh.com/Hebrew%20Origin%20NT.htm, et al. Unnamed author. That this list is from a “Sacred Name” source should not significantly decrease the reliability of the list itself. Source: www.newadvent.org/cathen/11044a.htm “The First Council of Nicea,” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Note that there were absolutely none of the Jewish bishops present. Undoubtedly the ceremonial trappings of Constantine’s office as High Priest (pontifex maximus) of the Babylonian Mystery Religion. Translation taken from Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman P. Tanner, www.ewtn.com/library/councils/nicaea1.htm In 46 BC, when the Roman “Julian calendar” was adopted, December 24th was the shortest day of the year. Therefore, December 25th was the first annual day that daylight began to increase. Thus, the origin of the rebirth, or annual birthday of the Invincible Sun. In accordance with the Julian calendar, the Saturnalia festival [Feast of Saturn] appears to have taken place on December 17, was preceded by the Consualia near December 15, and followed by the Opalia on December 19. These pagan celebrations typically lasted for a week, ending just before the late Roman Imperial Festival for “Sol Invictus” (Invincible Sun) on December 25. In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII caused the current “Gregorian Calendar” to be adopted, in order to eliminate the solar time shift error that was introduced over the time period of 1,629 years by the inaccurate Julian calendar. By December 1582 the shortest day of the year on the Julian calendar had shifted 12 days from December 24, 46 BCE, to Wednesday, December 12, 1582 CE. However, the original December 25 “birth date” was retained for all pagan sun gods by the Saturnalia, Consualia, Opalia, Sol Invictus traditions, which were now incorporated into the Roman Catholic “Twelve Days of Christ-mass.” On the new Roman Catholic Gregorian calendar, the shortest annual day was numerically shifted back 10 days to the December 22, where it remains to this day, while the original order of the seven days of the week remained unchanged. Therefore, Wednesday, December 12, 1582, became Wednesday, December 22, 1582, and the true Sabbath day (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) remained unchanged. [www.sabbatarian.com/ Paganism/RomanEmpire.html] Any Jew who was unable to observe the Passover on the evening of 14 Nisan was permitted to observe it the previous day. Thus Yeshua and his Talmidim observed Passover the night before the Paschal lamb was slain. This text is part of the Internet Jewish History Sourcebook The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.[154] Source: www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jews-romanlaw.html. This text is part of the Internet Jewish History Sourcebook The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history. Heaven-Worshippers were a sect closely allied to Judaism. Held early in the fourth century at Elliberis, or Illiberis, in Spain, a city now in ruins not far from Granada. The exact year in which it was held is a matter of controversy upon which much has been written. Estimates range from 300 to 342.
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