“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Isaiah 55: 6-7

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Christians Need to Start Thinking for Themselves

This is part of the Messiah’s Sermon on the Mount:

“Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

“For I say to you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5: 17-20)

Those words are so straightforward and simple that they are almost impossible to misinterpret. Even so, preachers read them from their pulpits on Sundays despite the fact that Sunday is not the Sabbath.

Below is the 4^th Commandment:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of Yahweh your Elohim. On it, you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. For that reason, Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20: 8-11)

The irony is mindboggling. Christians observe Yahweh’s Sabbath on the first day of the week instead of the last day of the week as Yahweh commanded, and as a part of their observance, preachers tell their congregations about the Messiah’s clear statement that the Law is still in effect.

How can that be? They are not intellectually challenged people. Few of them ever stop to consider whether what they are doing is right or wrong.

Many times, I have asked preachers about it. Most of the time, they look at me like I am from another planet. If they were completely honest, they would say something like this:

“We do it, because we do it.”

Is it possible to devote your life and career to preaching and miss the importance of any of the Ten Commandments? The answer is “yes”. Truth is, most preachers don’t know why they observe Sabbath on the wrong day. They do it for one reason:

It’s tradition.

A warning to preachers:

Yahweh gave us brains for a reason.

Most preachers who do know the truth don’t want to upset the apple cart by obeying Yahweh. Traditions are hard to break. Many preachers have lost their jobs for even trying to change a tradition, any tradition. Something like a war can break out in a congregation if a preacher suggests adding songs to the service that the parishioners aren’t familiar with already.

The threat of losing a few of the right church members (big givers in particular) is dangerous to a preacher’s job security. Attacking traditions, even fatally flawed ones, can cost them their jobs, and they know it.

In the 300s AD, leaders in the Catholic Church decided to recognize Sunday as the Christian Sabbath for two reasons:

So that it would coincide with the day set aside for Sun god worshipers. It was called “Sun Day”. In modern English, we combine the words and call it “Sunday”.
To distance the Christian church from Jews. What a mistake that was.

Leaders in the Catholic hierarchy openly admit that they made that decision on their own authority. To this day, they believe that Protestants are really Catholics if recognize Sunday as the Sabbath day, because the Catholic church is the only authority for that change. Few Christians know that, but it’s true.

Sunday Sabbath did not come from Yahweh. He has not abrogated any of the Ten Commandments or any of His other laws and commands, and He never will. Therefore,

Sunday Sabbath is the textbook definition of a sacrilege.

The Messiah did not die an horrific death on the cross so that we can thumb our noses in Yahweh’s face. People who call themselves “Christians” need to start thinking for themselves. It is painfully obvious that most preachers are not doing enough thinking. Some of them are afraid. Imagine having to explain to Yahweh that you decided to endorse a lie, because standing for the truth might have cost you something:

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5: 10-12)

Below are 2 simple facts. We know they are true, because Yahweh said so:

Saturday is the Sabbath, not Sunday.
Yahweh’s Law is still in effect, and it will remain in effect until heaven and earth pass away.

People who call themselves “Christians” should not quote Colossians 2: 16 to support their belief that the 4^th Commandment doesn’t matter:

“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.” (Colossians 2: 16)

Yahweh did not give Paul the authority to abrogate any of His commandments and laws, and Paul did not mean that the day on which we observe the Sabbath is irrelevant. Paul was talking about all of the so-called “laws” in Halacha that are related to the Sabbath day. They are man-made laws that are not binding on anyone, Jews or Gentiles. Too few Jewish people know that.

The Messiah was not making small talk during His Sermon on the Mount. The Sabbath day is important, or Yahweh would not have included it in the Ten Commandments. In due course, that statement will be regarded as a self-evident truth.

What is the Significance of the Sabbath?

Yahweh told Ezekiel why He gave us the Sabbath:

“Also, I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, so that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.” (Ezekiel 20: 12)

The Sabbath is a sign. It is supposed to remind us every week who Yahweh is and who we are. He sanctified us. That means He made us holy.

Yahweh told Isaiah what “keeping the Sabbath” means:

“If, because of the Sabbath, you restrain your foot from doing as you wish on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a pleasure, and the holy day of Yahweh honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in Yahweh, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.” (Isaiah 58: 13-14)

It is obvious that the Sabbath is important to Yahweh. It’s Saturday. It’s the day that we are supposed to set aside for Him. It’s the day on which we are supposed to do the things that He wants us to do. Beyond that, there is no set of Sabbath rules that apply to everyone.

The Messiah said,

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2: 27)

The Sabbath is not a rule-ridden, tortuous ordeal that Yahweh forces us to endure each week. Nowhere in the Bible are we told that a preacher is supposed to assume the pulpit and tell us when it is time to stand up, to sit down, to turn around and shake hands with the person behind us, to sing a song, to tithe, and almost everything else that we have become accustomed to in church. Those are man-made traditions.

Each one of us should observe the Sabbath in our own unique way. People who believe that playing church on Sunday is Yahweh’s ideal for the Sabbath have some thinking to do.

Other False Christian Traditions

Lots of Christian traditions violate Yahweh’s Laws and commands. There are too many examples to list them all here, so I will mention just a few:

Our Elohim’s Name is Yahweh. It’s not LORD, the LORD God, the Lord GOD, or LORD of hosts.
God is the name of a pagan deity, but we call Yahweh by that name/title anyway.
Passover and Easter are not the same thing. Yahweh commanded us to celebrate Passover.
Easter is a celebration for the fertility goddess Ishtar. Have you ever wondered what Easter bunnies and Easter eggs have to do with our Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection? The answer is “nothing”.
“Easter” is the correct pronunciation of the name “Ishtar”. Yahweh commanded us to have nothing to do with pagan celebrations and rituals, but most Christian churches celebrate Easter (Ishtar) Sunday every year. It’s the second biggest Sunday on the church calendar. This year Easter Sunday is on April 4. That’s just a few days away. Think about it.
Yahweh commanded us to celebrate Sukkot. It’s also called the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Booths. Few Christians have ever heard of it, because very few preachers ever mention it. Sukkot is not a part of church tradition. Christians who have heard of it probably found it on their own in the Bible, but it didn’t click. They ignored the part where Yahweh said that we are supposed to celebrate Sukkot every year, or maybe they said to themselves, That’s a Jewish thing. It doesn’t apply to me. That’s ludicrous.
The Messiah was born during Sukkot, not in December at the winter solstice. Even so, Christmas celebrations are the highlight of the year in almost every church, despite the fact that it originated as a pagan celebration for the sun god.

I’ll stop there. As I said, the list of false Christian traditions is very long. Again, Christians need to think for themselves, because very few preachers are doing much thinking.

Here is Wisdom

In John’s prophecy in Revelation, he said,

“I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive any of her plagues.’” (Revelation 18: 4)

Come out of what? That is a serious question, especially now.

I’ll repeat the Messiah’s warning:

“For I say to you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5: 20)

Specifically, the Messiah was referring to tradition-bound, ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious leaders in Judea at that time, but He could just as easily have been talking about tradition-bound preachers today. At that time, the notion of a so-called “Christian church” didn’t exist. The Messiah was not trying to start a new religion. Neither were His disciples. They were telling people to return to Yahweh’s word and to abandon the Oral Law, a.k.a., the traditions of the Jews and Halacha. I’m telling you the same thing. See “The Trilogy“.

I’ll repeat: What did John mean when he said, “Come out of her, my people….”?

Jeremiah put it bluntly:

“Come out of her, My people! Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 51: 45)

In John’s revelation, he says that he heard another voice from heaven, but he didn’t say whose voice he heard. Jeremiah is very clear. It is Yahweh’ voice, so we had better pay attention.

Some people say, “We need revival in the church.”

I say, “We need a revolution in the church, and it’s not likely to start with preachers. They have a vested interest in Christian traditions.”

I’ll go one step further. If we have a revolution in the church, revival will quickly follow. The dead wood in the pulpits will be removed if the people in large numbers demand a return to Yahweh.

“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15: 2)

Some preachers will say, “That’s strong language.”

They are right. It is strong language, and that is exactly what most of them need to hear. It needs to be a deafening roar emanating from congregations across America. Then preachers will have to admit that they have been peddling lies, some knowingly out of fear and some out of ignorance and intellectual laziness.

Imagine a preacher standing in front of his congregation and telling them that we don’t have salvation in the name Jesus. That’s the truth, and that is part of what needs to be said.

We have salvation in the Name Yahweh:

“I, even I, am Yahweh. There is no savior besides Me.” (Isaiah 43: 11)
“Everyone who calls on the Name of Yahweh will be saved.” (Joel 2: 32)

It’s not complicated. Anyone can understand it if he or she is willing to accept the fact that Yahweh meant what He said.

Some people will say, “But I love the name Jesus.”

I say, “Fantastic. Name your next child Jesus, but which is more important, the truth or a lie?”

I know where Yahweh stands on that question. The truth is of paramount importance.

By the way, The Messiah’s name at birth was not Jesus. It was Yeshua. It’s an Aramaic name, and it means “Yahweh is our Savior/Deliverer”.

“Yehoshua” is the Hebrew equivalent of Yeshua. It’s translated into English as “Joshua”. So, where did the name “Jesus” come from? The answer is simple. It was made up.

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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”

John 10: 14-18