How Today's 'Traditional' Church System DENOUNCES

The LORD's 'MESSIAHSHIP'!

God says that if anyone comes and teaches ANYTHING other than what He taught throughout the Torah; to be aware, because He would allow prophets to come at us with real works and real wonders to TEST us to see if they would be able to seduce us away from HIM:

Deut. 13:1-5; If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

God commands such a deceiver to be put out of our camp for good, for the sin of snaring His children by using His Name, in order to introduce them to another god; NOT the God who created heaven and earth and delivered us out of Egypt (sin’s bondage). The Messiah came to prove and confirm that He was EVERYTHING that was prophesied of Him since Creation. The traditional Church system professes that God came to earth as the Messiah to move us away from the teaching of His laws and commandments (the Torah). If that be so, then, in accordance with God’s own Word, He can NOT be the true Messiah. Such apostasy must be what the Messiah had in mind while talking to an end-time Church of Pergamos, for putting a stumbling block before the children of Israel; God’s people who believe in the Messiah: Rev. 2:14: But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. This leaflet doesn't have space to quote the Balaam Scriptures, but I’ll list a few of the references: Num. 22-25 & 31; Jg. 2; 1 Kg. 18; 2 Kg. 17; 2 Pet. 2:15; Jude. 1:11.

The same cunning principles that Balaam used to cause the Israelites to stumble are used today by traditional preachers to cause Messianic believers to stumble by teaching, as divine doctrine, that the Messiah came to do away with the very laws and commandments that He instituted, obeyed, and taught in order to prove that He was the Messiah of which God prophesied through Moses and all the Prophets. He commanded us to keep them, as He set by example. Let's see how these doctrines stack up against the TEST prophecy of Deut. 13.

Today’s traditional Church doctrines were passed down by early anti-Jew Church fathers who, in an attempt to make void the LORD’S Sabbaths and Passover, labelled God’s commandments as burdensome and unbearable Jewish laws; which they claim the Messiah took with Himself to the tree. In truth, what He took to the tree was our death penalty for our transgressing of the law. According to the Scriptures the Messiah did not do away with any of God’s laws. Neither did His apostles who followed after Him. Rather, you will find that He and all the writers of the New Testament books use these very prophecies and teachings to confirm and prove that He was the promised MESSIAH of Genesis 3:15, of which Moses and all the prophets have testified and written.

These Church traditions require commandment keeping, but they are NOT the commandments of the eternal God of heaven and earth, but the commandments of their own man-made anti-Jew doctrines, namely from pagan gods. Let's read what the unchanging God—Messiah (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8; James 1:17) testified regarding HIS laws: Mat. 5:17-18; Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For 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. Mat. 19:17; ....if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. John 14:15; If ye love me, keep my commandments. The traditional preachers teach that we can't keep God’s commandments, wherefore He (as Messiah) kept them for us, and then abolished them. If that be so, why then did John inspire believers to keep them, many decades after the crucifixion: 1 John 2:3; And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 3:22; And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments... 5:2-3; By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Paul spoke well of, and kept God's commandments and laws: 1 Cor. 7:19; Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. And he says why he honours and obeys them: Rom. 2:13; ....the doers of the law shall be justified. 7:12; Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. After the Pharisees falsely accused Paul of condemning the law of Moses (Acts 21:21-27), Luke recorded that Paul kept the law: Acts 21:24; ....but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. Decades after the crucifixion, this same Paul who according to the traditional anti-law preachers taught against keeping God’s commandments, went through the purification rituals of Num. chapter 6. Was Paul a hypocrite? Not according to 1 Cor. 11:1-2; Gal. 1:11-12.

In the argument which the Pharisees put forth (John chapters 5-9), they told the Lord, who offered them freedom, that they believed that He was the Messiah, but since Abraham was their father, they were already free. The Messiah said if they were Abraham's children they would do his deeds, not try to kill Him for telling the truth. They reasoned, if Abraham isn’t good enough, God was their Father; to which He replied, if that be so they would know and love Him; at which point He told them that they were doing the deeds of their father the devil; the father of murder and lies (John 8:44). Decades after the crucifixion, John was inspired to write about these lies: 1 John 2:4; He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

The Messiah said that since they had not believed Moses who prophesied and wrote of Him (John 5:46-47), nor obeyed him (John 7:19), that therefore they now COULD NOT believe Him. In plain words; if they had believed and obeyed the law of Moses, instead of their own traditions, they would have recognized Him as the fulfillment of a critical portion of God’s prophesied salvation plan. (Read also 2 Cor. 3:14-4:4; Rom. 9:31-10:4; Heb. 4:2). If the Messiah came to change God’s commandments and laws as the traditional anti-law preachers say that He did, this would have been His opportunity to tell them that in order to be saved they would have to forsake Moses' teachings, which hinge entirely on God's commandments, statutes, and laws (Mat. 22:40); which He did NOT abolish, but rather came to MAGNIFY (Mat. chapters 5-7; Isa. 42:21)!! He denounced the Pharisees by telling them how, and by which means they were forsaking God's commandments: Mark 7:7, 9; Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. …Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

He said MANY commandment-breakers would do WONDERS in His Name, to deceive people with: Mat. 7:22; Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? To which He would reply: verse:23; … I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity [lawlessness]. John defines lawlessness: 1 John 3:4; ....for sin is the transgression of the law (also Mat. 5:19; James 2:9-11). He’s confirming that the prophecies of Deut. 12:28-13:5 are coming to pass, and according to these testimonies, any change that He would have made to the laws, commandments, statutes, or the food laws of the Torah would have disqualified His position to be the true Redeeming Messiah! So, if He made ANY changes to His commandments and laws such as are taught by traditional preachers, then the Pharisees would have been right for labelling Him a false prophet and deceiver; and as such did the right thing, in accordance with God’s Word, for having Him crucified!! Fortunately, that’s NOT the case.

The Messiah warned us very vividly that many would deceive us by using His Name; just like God warned us about in Deuteronomy 13. He does not mean that the deceiver will declare to be the Messiah, but that they will preach in HIS name, saying He is the Messiah, in order to make people believe that they are preaching the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God, but in reality teaching of, and worshipping another messiah (one who abolished HIS commandments): Mat. 24:4-5; ....Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Using HIS Name in this way, to snare His people, is violating the third commandment (Exod. 20:7; Deut 5:11). Traditional Christians claim that we all worship the only one Messiah. Thanks be to God for inspiring Paul to warn us against exactly such apostasy: 2 Cor. 11:4; For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus.... Obviously, people were already preaching another messiah in Paul’s time.

Scriptures show that God's commandments are what He measures us against, to see if we love HIM with all our heart, soul, and mind. He put an extraordinary emphasis on the fourth commandment, which is the LORD'S Sabbath commandment; a TEST commandment. He made a special PERPETUAL covenant regarding His Sabbaths (Exod. 31:13-18), which would be an EVERLASTING SIGN between Him and His people. The Messiah kept God's Sabbath, and His Holy Days; as also did His disciples still many decades later.

The Church fathers have misrepresented the first commandment as: Exod. 20:3; Thou shalt have no other gods before me. They leave out the preceding verse: Exod. 20:2; I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. This verse identifies which God we are to serve and obey, as also does the fourth commandment. Thus, the traditionalists hold one accountable to the blood of the Messiah for following His example; like obeying God's commandments, especially the first and the fourth ones which identify which [G]god[s] you serve; the TEST and SIGN. God's Word instructs us to follow Him: 1 John 2:6; He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Ironically, to this Church system, following the commandments of the Messiah instead of their traditions is sin! This system has replaced the LORD'S Sabbath (Exod. 20:8-11; Lev. 23:2-4; Deut. 5:12-15; Mat. 12:8; Mark 2:28) with the sun-god's Sunday (Ezek. 8:16), and God's Holy Days (Lev. 23) with pagan holidays (Jer. 10:1-5; Gal. 4:10), like New Years, Lent, Easter, Christmas, etc.

The Messiah left one very sure and unmistakable testimony to prove once for all, that He was the true Messiah. He said that He would be in the grave for three days and three nights: Matt. 12:39-40; … there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. This would remove all doubt, to prove whether He was the Messiah which He proclaimed to be, or not. Pounding off the LORD'S Passover for the pagan Easter testifies that the crucified One was NOT the true Messiah, because according to the Easter tradition He was in the grave only one day and two nights (more details on this topic in Tract 6E). Thus, Easter observance forfeits the blessings which we receive from observing the LORD'S Passover.

In the final days as described in the book of Revelation, His Saints are the ones that KEEP God's commandments, AND the Messiah’s faith: Rev. 12:17; And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 14:12; Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 22:14; Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Read also Isa. 56).

Do these testimonies suggest that God's commandments are not to be obeyed to be able to enter into His Kingdom? You be the judge! My heart cries out for this matter, and I believe that this issue deserves our honest, prayerful, and unbiased study. So be it

!!!!!!! GOD BLESS !!!!!!!

Scriptures are from KJV. Words in [ ] within Scripture quotes added by me. All Emphasis mine.

Tract 2e. 2010, Rev 2011, 2012. http://corniebanman.com, 780-928-3679.