Nazarene Judaism - The Original Faith Of The Apostles

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Kristiyanos

"And the disciples were first called "Christians" at Antioch." [Sefer Ma’aseh (The Book of Acts) 11:26]

It is commonly taught in Christendom that the original faith of the apostles was called "Christianity" [Kristiyanos]. This is false. The original faith of the apostles was known among the apostles as Nazarene Israel (Two-House Messianic Judaism). We can verify this from the following passages:

Matthew 2:23: "He shall be called a Natsari (Nazarene)"

Acts 4:10: "in the Name of Yashua haMashiach haNatsari (the Nazarene)…."

Acts 24:5: Shaul is accused of being "a ringleader of the Nazarene sect."

Acts 24:14: "According to the Derekh (Way) which they say is a sect,"

Acts 28:22: "For indeed concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere."

The original "sect" of the Nation of Israel that followed Yashua haNatsari (Yashua of Nazareth) was not a separate faith. The Nazarene Israelites still kept the Law and the Prophets, and the same feasts that the rest of the Nation of Israel kept. They kept on being Israelites, except that they believed that the Scriptures had been fulfilled; that Yashua was the first coming of the Mashiach as prophesied at Daniel 9.

But why were the apostles called "Kristiyanos" (Christians) at Ma’aseh (Acts) 11:26?

"And the disciples were first called "Christians" at Antioch."

[Sefer Ma’aseh (The Book of Acts) 11:26]

If we accept the idea that all of Scripture is inspired, then we also must accept the idea that nothing is contained in the Word by mistake. The serious student of the Word will also read the Word carefully, recognizing that many stumbling blocks and snares are hidden there, which the unwise and the unwary may be snared in.

Nazarene Israel was still a Torah-observant faith:

One of the Moshiach's (Messiah’s) more famous (and important) quotations is Matthew 5:17-19:

"Do not think that I came to annul the Law and the Prophets. I did not come to annul, but to fulfill. Truly I say to you, until the heavens and the earth pass away, in no way shall one jot or tittle pass from the Law (Torah) until all comes to pass. Whoever, then, shall break one of these commandments, the least (one of them), and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven."

[Mattithyahu (Matthew) 5:17-19]

The majority of Christendom today does not understand this passage. To the masses of Christianity, the Law was nailed to the Cross at Golgotha. Despite numerous passages in the epistles of the New Covenant (and even in Shaul’s writings) that would indicate that the Law could not have been nailed to the Cross at Golgotha, the Christian Church seems desperate to hang on to this notion that Yashua came to do away with the Law (and those portions of the Prophets that do not reinforce their dogma.)

There is a reason for this, and my goal is to show you, by Scripture, what that reason might be.

Plot of the Adversary

It is sometimes said that Satan would like nothing more than to destroy the Breisheet (Book of Genesis), and the Book of Revelation. The reason for that is that if you don’t know where you have come from, and you don’t know where you are going, you are for all practical purposes lost.

If you don’t know where you came from, and you don’t know where you are going to (and why you are trying to get there), then it is much easier for someone to get you to either turn down some side road that takes you away from the goal; or else it is easy to get you to stand still, perhaps building some comfortable little mud hut along side the Way. For why should you journey to a place that is difficult to get to, if you have no particular reason to go there?

The Protestant Reformation was always a movement with the primary objective of getting back to what the apostles actually did; and if Satan can convince you that you do not need to turn back towards Mount Tsion (Zion), keeping the Law and the Prophets, then he has already achieved this goal.

Broad is the path that leads to destruction:

"Go in through the narrow gate! For wide is the gate and broad is the derekh (way) that leads to destruction, and many are the ones entering in to it. For narrow is the gate, and constricted the Derekh (Way) leading away into Life, and few are those finding it." [Mattithyahu (Matthew) 7:13-14]

Here in His sermon on the Mount at Galil, at the very beginning of His ministry, Yashua is speaking to Israelites. He is not speaking to pork-eating pagan gentiles; but only to the descendants of Ya’akov (Israel). In this exact same sermon at verses 21-23, Yashua tells His followers who those people are that will enter in through the wide gate, along the broad and easy false "way" that leads toward destruction:

"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Adon! Adon!’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but (only) the ones who do the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Adonai (my Master), Adonai, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and in Your Name cast out demons, and in Your Name many works of power we performed?’ And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, those working Torahlessness (lawlessness)!"

Notice then what we have said: Yashua Himself tells us that in the end times there will be a group of people who will approach Him, earnestly confused as to why they are to be excluded from His Kingdom, even though they prophesied in His Name (in this case probably "Jesus;" but not necessarily), and cast out demons in His Name, and did many mighty great works of power in His Name. Even though they called upon His Name (or the pseudo-substitute "Jesus") and showed fruit of salvation, He will reject them, because they worked Lawlessness (they did not keep the Law).

This passage can only refer to one group of people; for there is only one group of people under heaven and on earth that utters His Name, prophecies, casts out demons, and does not keep the Law. That much larger group (that attempts to enter in through the broad gate) is the Christian church: Catholic, Protestant, and otherwise.

Only the Christian church prophecies in His Name, and does many mighty great works of power in His Name, and casts out demons in His Name, but does not keep the Torah (Law).

So this may seem really strange: Here we have Yashua Himself telling us that we need to keep the Law; and yet today we have the Christian churches telling us that we do not need to keep the Law, indirect contradiction of Yashua’s own Words.

How did such a strange situation come to pass?

An apparent paradox

Some people believe that a little more than two hundred years after the American Revolution, the American people understand neither the message of the Constitution, nor the Founding Fathers’ intent behind it.

Americans today do not understand that the Constitution was designed to specifically limit the powers of government, so that it would not become tyrannical; and if government decided to become tyrannical, then the people reserved the right to remove that government from power. However, having become divorced from their Judeo-Christian foundation in America, most people today are taught to believe that the Second Amendment merely provides a man right to serve in the government’s army.

That is not what the Second Amendment says at all. What the Second Amendment provides for is the right of the people to throw off the government’s army, if and when it should become tyrannical.

But if it is fair to say that people today do not understand the Constitution only some two hundred years after it was written, then is it also possible to suppose that some very important and sweeping changes came in to the Faith in the approximately three hundred years in between Yashua’s ministry circa 26-30 CE, and the solidification of the doctrine (or dogma) of the Imperial Church of Rome, in the year 325 CE?

Is it possible that Yeshua’s original intent and meaning got lost?

Where do Christians come from?

The question is, is the original faith of the apostles was a law-keeping, prophet-believing faith, then how did Lawless Christianity get started? How did the original Law-abiding, Sabbath-and-Feast keeping Jerusalem-centered Faith once delivered to the Saints get turned in to the Lawless, Sunday-Ishtar-and-Saturnalia keeping, pagan idolatrous Church?

And here is an even more interesting question: Is it possible that the Lawless, anti-Semitic, Sunday-Ishtar-and-Saturnalia keeping pagan idolatrous Church might even have an important and essential role to play in fulfilling Scripture Prophesy?

Christian scholars have posited the idea that the original faith of the apostles was also legitimately called "Christianity" by their Hellenic counterparts; and that the name "Christian" means the same thing as "Nazarene Israelite." This is obviously wrong, as Christianity considers itself the legitimate replacement of Orthodox Israel, rather than its friend.

Popular wisdom has touted the idea that the original Nazarene Israelite faith was subverted in 321-325 CE, by an imperial Roman emperor named Constantine, who cloaked his native pagan sun-worship with the trappings of the original Nazarene Israelite faith, dressing himself up as a sheep, though in reality he was a wolf, intending to destroy Israel, turning lost and scattered Ephraimites against the Yahudim.

While this close to the truth, I submit to you that in reality, Christianity always was a separate faith, and a separate movement, existing even in the days of Yeshua.

Christianity existed even in Yeshua’s time?

Mark records a curious situation for us, at chapter 9, verses 38-40:

[38] And Yahuchanan (John) answered Him, saying, "Rabbi, we saw someone in Your Name casting out demons, who does not follow us. And we stopped him, because he does not follow us."

[39] But Yashua said, "Do not stop him; for there is no one who shall do a work of power in My Name, yet be able to speak evil of Me quickly. For he who is not against us is for us." [Marqaus (Mark) 9:38-40]

There was a group of people in the time of Yashua’s ministry who did works of power in His Name; but yet the apostles considered that these people were not following Him. How can that possibly be?

Christianity teaches that anyone who "calls upon the Name of Jesus" is already saved. Therefore, Christian "dogma" tells us (contrary to Scripture) that anyone doing a work of power in Jesus’ (or Yashua’s) Name is obviously saved, because they believe on Him, even unto good works; for how could anyone do a work of power in His Name, if they were not saved?

However, Marqaus (Mark) 9:38-40 lets us know that there were people even in Yashua’s day, who did works of power in His Name, and yet were not followers of Him, in spite of the works, and the faith. The reason that they were not followers of Him is that although they believed on Him, and did works of power in His Name, they walked according to a different derekh. They walked a different "way."

Two House Theory and the Kristiyanos:

According to the Two House Theory, both the Northern Kingdom of Ephraim and the Southern Kingdom of Judah were scattered to the four winds. In Breisheet (Genesis) 28:11-15, we see the prophecy of the Dream of Ya'akov's (Jacob’s) Ladder:

[10] And Ya’akov went out from Beer-Sheva and went toward Haran. And he came on a place and stayed the night there, for the sun had gone. And he took stones of the place and placed them at his head; and he lay down in that place. And he dreamed. And behold! A ladder was placed on the earth, its top reaching toward the heavens. And behold! The melachi (angels) of Elohim were going up and down on it!

[13] And behold! YHWH stood above it and said, "I am YHWH, the Elohim of your father Avraham, and the Elohim of Yitzhak (Isaac). The Land on which you are lying, I give it to you, and to your seed. And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you; and (in) your Seed.

[15] And behold! I will be with you and will guard you in every place in which you may go, and will bring you back to this Land. For I will not forsake you until I have surely done that which I have spoken to you." [Breisheet (Genesis) 28:10-15]

The writer of Ivrim (Hebrews), usually believed to be Shaul (Paul), tells us that the Seed is singular, meaning Yashua: Therefore the whole world will be blessed in Yashua the Messiah. This is true.

However, when we check the language carefully we also see another blessing: that all the families of the earth were to be blessed in Ya’akov; and that his seed (meaning his children) were to break forth until the west, the east, the north, and the south, and that the entire world would be blessed not just in his Seed (meaning Yashua), but in him. Note that this is identical to the blessing given to Avraham at Breisheet 12:3:

[3] "And I will bless those who bless you, and curse the one despising you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." [Breisheet (Genesis) 12:3]

Only the Two House Theory tells us how there can be a two-part blessing:

King David united the twelve tribes in the Land; and then because his son Solomon was idolatrous (because of his many wives), Yahuwah split the United Monarchy in two. One of Solomon’s servants, a man named Jeroboam, was given a prophecy through Ahiyah in 1st Kings 11 and 12; that he was to take the northern ten tribes away from Judah, and form a separate monarchy with them. Thus the Israelites were split into two kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

The Ephraimites under Jeroboam set up golden calf worship in Dan and Beit El. They decreed that the Feasts should be held not at Jerusalem, but at Mount Gerizim. They moved the feast dates, and set up golden calf worship in Dan and Beth El. And to top it all off they made priests out of just anyone; and especially not the Levites.

To put it simply, the Ephraimites set up false feast days, false feast sites, and a false Levitical priesthood. They brought idol worship in to the faith. This had been seen as an exact prophetic shadow picture of what would later become the Catholic Christian Church (and the Protestant daughters than spun out of it).

Yahuwah Elohim sent Hoshea (Hosea), Eliyahu (Elijah) and Elisha to the Northern Kingdom of Ephraim (Israel), to turn it back. Yahuwah even did a great miracle for the people at Eliyahu’s showdown with the priests of Ba’al. The people all said, "YHWH, He is Elohim! He is Elohim:" And still the Northern Kingdom refused to turn back.

Because they did not repent of their idol worship, their false feast days, their false feast sites, and their false Levitical priesthood, Yahuwah sent the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser and Sennacherib (and others) to punish Ephraim (Israel). The Assyrians came in and took the idolatrous Ephraimites out of the Land, scattering them throughout Assyria (modern day Syria, and perhaps even Iraq). The Assyrians also came in and took most of the walled cities of Judah into the Dispersion at that time as well. So we can see that really, most of the twelve tribes were taken out of the Land of Israel and dispersed into Assyria at that time.

"Greeks" and "Gentiles"

The Babylonian Talmud was compiled between 300 and 600 CE, but it in turn was originally made up of all kinds of other loose documents, many of which date from the time of Yeshua, and even before. In the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) at Yebamot 17A, we read that the Jews of the Southern Kingdom began to think of the Ephraimites now in the Dispersion not as Israelites, but as "gentiles."

Why? Because in the Jewish mindset, in order to be a Jew one needs to live in the Land, speak Hebrew, and keep the Torah. If one does not live in the Land, speak Hebrew, and keep the Torah zealously, then in the Jewish mind, one does not qualify as being a Jew. Thus it is even to this day, where the Jews in the Land do not hold the Jews in America (or in the other nations) in high regard. Certainly this was the attitude in Yashua’s day (the Second Temple period) as well.

We also know from the prophecy of Jacob’s ladder that the dispersed Ephraimites and Jews would not have stuck around Assyria; but that Jacob’s children (the Jews and Israelites/Ephraimites) must have gone every which way, fulfilling the prophecies to Avraham and Ya’akov that all the tribes of the earth would have their literal genetic heritage. Scholars also see certain pieces of archaeological and historical evidence that suggest that while the scattered Ephraimites and Jews went everywhere (in fulfillment of the Promise given at the time of Jacob’s Ladder) that some of Ephraim (or Israel) also moved north and west as a group.

In the Two House paradigm, we can see that the Northern Ten Tribes moved to the lands that would later form the Protestant Reformation, throwing off the shackles and fetters of retardant Catholicism, and the associated Roman anti-Semitism.

The Babylonian Exile

What was left of Judah after the Assyrian Dispersion was not that much; and then because they did not give the Land its rest (and were also idolatrous) Yahuwah sent the Babylonians to come take them away, in the days of Nebuchadnezzar.

The Jews that were taken in to the Exile to Babylon stayed in Babylon for approximately seventy years, one year for every seven that they had failed to let the land rest. Then in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, about ten percent of the Jews in Babylon came back to the Land of Israel. Notice, however, that ninety percent of the Jews that were taken in to Exile in Babylon chose to stay out in the Exile, because life was good for them there. This is much the same way as it is easier for Jews to live in America, than it is for them to live in the Land.

The result was that the vast majority of Ya’akov’s children were scattered out in to the world, leavening the whole lump of earth with the righteous leaven of Jacob. Thus every family in all the earth was blessed in Ya’akov (genetically); and then they were ready to receive the blessing of Ya’akov’s Seed (meaning Yashua.)

Why was it necessary to scatter the seed of Ya’akov unto all the far corners of the earth? It is because that just as Salvation was of the Jews, Salvation was only ever promised to the children of Israel.

See the kindness and sharpness of Elohim: He scattered the children of Israel, so that the entire world might have the opportunity to receive Salvation (Hebrew: Yeshua or Yesha) through the Seed of Israel (Yeshua haNatsari).

Christian Confusion:

By scattering the righteous seed of Jacob out in to the world like seed, the Promise of Salvation by Grace through Faith that Leads to Obedience could be extended to the whole world, should they choose to accept it, and obey. But notice that in contrast to the Platonic ideal, the Hebraic ideal assumes that true Faith only exists when the believing ones change their lives, out of fear.

Hebrews Eleven teaches us that true Faith requires obedience:

[4] By faith Hevel (Abel) offered a greater sacrifice than Kayin (Cain)….

[7] Being divinely warned about the things not yet having been see, moved with fear, by faith Noach (Noah) prepared an ark….

[8] Having been called out by faith, Avraham obeyed to go forth….

The proof of these Hebrews’ faith was in the pudding of their actions.

But unlike the law-abiding faith once delivered to the Saints, the Christian church teaches that obedience to the Sovereign’s Voice (and His Teaching) is not a necessary part of salvation. They teach that "all a man has to do is to just to ‘believe’ and say ‘Halleluyah!’ Now the Law is nailed to the Cross! Jesus died to set me free from obedience to the Law that He Himself gave to Moses, and which He said would never pass away!"

What the Nazarene actually taught was that observance to the Law was a critical part of the belief. In Yashua’s Second Temple Period Judaic mind, if you did not obey, then you did not really have faith.

Why? It was because if you actually had faith then you would actually obey, because you would be in fear of the punishment of the Living El, if you did not.

[24] You see, then, that a man is justified out of works, and not out of faith only.

[25] But in the same way Rahab the harlot was also justified out of works, having received the messengers, and sending them out by another way.

[26] For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. [Ya’akov (James) 2:24-26]

And this is the Love: That we keep His Commandments

The Christian misunderstands Ya’akov’s (James’) words, just as they misunderstood the need to be Hebraic. The Church tells us that these good works consist only of doing good works towards your neighbor, "loving" and being a "nice" person in a generalized sense, and coming to Church (usually on the wrong day), and observing Saturnalia (Christmas) and Ishtar (Easter) as "Holy" days.

Certainly reverence and loving one’s neighbor is an essential part of walking as Yashua walked: But is there not more to it than that? Or why else is it written?

[38] And Yahuchanan (John) answered Him, saying, "Rabbi, we saw someone in Your Name casting out demons, who does not follow us. And we stopped him, because he does not follow us."

[39] But Yashua said, "Do not stop him; for there is no one who shall do a work of power in My Name, yet be able to speak evil of Me quickly. For he who is not against us is for us." [Marqaus (Mark) 9:38-40]

The reason that Yahuwah raised up a separate entity called Christianity was as a stumbling block, and a deception to those that are not faithful to combine the good works and the Torah observance with the Love. And the other reason that Yahuwah chose to make the deception a lawless, Torahless one, is that human beings don’t like obeying our Sovereign’s Laws. We have seen this pattern since the days of the Gan Eden. If you tell someone that they can be given the gift of eternal life without having to obey any rules, they like it. Only the spiritually diligent will ask questions; and therefore HaSatan has just effectively sidelined the vast majority of Christendom (perhaps some ninety percent); those who do not continue to ask, seek, and knock.

When the Imperial Roman Legions conquered and annexed their new and neighboring lands, it was much easier for them to propagate lawless Imperial Catholicism, than it would have been for them to try to spread the law-abiding Nazarene Israelite faith; thus the whole world (which had already been blessed through Ya’akov’s descendants) were now blessed in the Seed of Ya’akov (meaning Yeshua) much more easily.

And to sweeten the pot for the Romans, the lawless Christian faith did not prohibit the worship of idols. That meant that a human man could promote himself as a Pope, presenting himself as the "Mouthpiece of God." He even wore a headpiece that reads "Vicarius Philii Dei" ("In the place of the Deity.") And to add up the numbers of the title on the Pope’s headpiece gives a numerical value of 666.

Since the Pope could pretend to be the Deity, sitting in the seat of the Deity as if he were the Deity (see Daniel 7:20-25), he could also ask for the people’s allegiance to him, as if He were the literal heir to Yashua’s authority, here on earth. He could also ask for their tithes, ten percent of everything that they made, which was entirely ironic, as Yashua had been a celibate Nazirite, owning nothing but his clothes.

And just as the Kingdom of Ephraim had set up idols in a false place of worship, honoring false feast days, and making priests out of anyone who was not of the Levitical lineage, so too the Imperial Church of Rome assimilated pagan idolatry and its Luciferic practices into the Church. Then they proceeded to finish stomping out what little was left of the original faith of the apostles, and anyone else who promoted the idea that the Yashua was not a liar: That until heaven and earth passed away, nothing at all would pass from the Law (Matthew 5:17-19).

By definition, religion is "that which binds people together." In order to stamp out the idea of a lateral brotherhood, and to promote the idea of the supremacy of the Papacy and its hierarchy, Rome needed some means of binding the people together into the Emperor. That is why the Roman Catechism (dogma) and the Roman version of the Scripture literally obliterated the second commandment (which prohibits the worship of idols and human men).

But it is important to note that it was not Constantine who brought paganism in to the Church, as some suppose. Paganism always existed in the Church, because the Christians were never followers of Yashua to begin with: Not even in His day.


Rather, Christianity was a deception that was used by Yahuwah to spread the faith of Yashua very rapidly. Then approximately 1260 years after Constantine legitimized the heretical Catholic Christian Faith as the official worship of the Roman Empire (a time, times, and half a time), a monk named Martin Luther saw that what the Imperial Church of Rome taught and propagated was not the same as what the apostles had originally practiced. Pounding nails into wood, he posted his ninety-five "Theses" to the door of the Church in Wittenberg: And the Protestant Reformation had begun.

Now the faithful looked in to the Word, to see what Yashua and the original Nazarene Israelite apostles said to do, rather than just doing what the Pope told them to do. And so first the Lutheran Church was born; and then the Anglican; and then, the Methodist; and then, the Baptist; and the Pentecostal, and the Seventh-Day-Adventist; and the list goes on and on. Now thousands of splinter-sects claim to have re-created the original faith of the apostles; and yet none of them walk as the apostles themselves walked, keeping the Law, and the Prophets.

But at least Ephraim had begun the long, slow journey home. Ephraim had begun to turn their hearts back to the Law that Yeshua Himself had given to Moshe on Mount Sinai in the wilderness.

But what became of Judah?

Most of Judah was taken in to captivity along with the Northern Kingdom at the time of Sennacherib and Tiglath-Pileser. What remained by the time that Nebuchadnezzar took Judah into Babylon was not all that much; and ninety percent of them stayed out in the Babylonian Exile, not returning in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.

But once again, the standard to be called a "Jew" was always to obey the Torah, to live in the Land, and to speak Hebrew. If one did not do all of those things, then the Jews who took pains to live in the Land, to speak Hebrew, and to have a zeal for the Torah were not going to consider that person a "true Jew," as it is this day. Rather, these persons were called "Greeks," a derogatory term for the Hellenized Jews that stayed out in the Babylonian Exile, because the economic conditions were better.

Scripture was basically written by Jews, for Hebrews (Jews and Ephraimites, and those who would graft-in through Yashua). The vocabulary used in Scripture is quite idiomatic at times; and the vernacular is often full of allusion, rather than being completely literal.

Scripture does not concern itself with non-Israelites, except in a very brief or tangential way, as non-Israelites ("gentiles" or goyim) form the back drop for those things that affect the torah-observant, spirit-filled Nation of Israel. You will not be able to properly interpret Scripture if you do not acknowledge this simple, basic fact.

The Jews that returned to the Land of Israel in the Second Temple Period knew that they had been carried away in to Babylon for Torah breaking; and so the remnant that did return was very much zealous for the Law (Torah). These zealots who spoke the Hebrew tongue, who kept the Law of Moses (Torah) zealously, and who lived in Israel’s Promised Land were called "The Jews."

"Hellenists" (or "Greeks") were distinguished from "the Jews" in that while "the Jews" of Scripture were avidly pro-Torah, and the Hebrew language, and were zealous to live in the Land (as evidenced by the fact that they came back to it), the Hellenists were not nearly as zealous as they were. In fact, the Hellenic Jews had only a comparatively mild affinity for the Torah, feeling that Greek was as good a language as Hebrew, and feeling that they were better served by staying out in the Exile than in returning to the Land, because the economic conditions were better.

Just as there are "Reform" Jews today, who pick and choose what of the Torah they feel they want to observe, so too were there "Reform" Jews in the Second Temple Period. Only, they were not called "Reform" Jews at that time; they were called "Greeks" and "Hellenists," which were considered to be derogatory terms. And a close reading of the New Covenant Scripture reveals that the so-called "Greeks" of New Testament Scripture were in fact these very same Hellenized Jews that appeared at Mark 9:38-40, and who first "called" the apostles "Christians" at Antioch (though the apostles called themselves "Nazarenes.")

Who was the "gentile" Cornelius, really?

In Acts Chapter Ten, we read about a Roman Centurion named Cornelius, who was devout towards Elohim, and who did many good things towards the Jewish people, praying continually to Elohim.

Cornelius is given a vision, and is told to send three men to go to Joppa, to find one Shimon Kefa (Simon Peter), and to bring him back to him, to minister the Good News.

Ordinarily a Second Temple Period Jew such as Kefa (Peter) would not have even considered going to meet with Cornelius, since Cornelius was not Jewish. The only reason that Kefa did go to meet with Cornelius was that he was given a vision which he understood to mean that he was not to call any man common, or unclean.

The Church happily misinterprets this vision to mean that we are now permitted to eat pigs and snakes, as if to imply that belief on Yashua caused a radical transformation of one’s digestive system. But this lawless interpretation is false, because Kefa himself tells us in verse 10:28 that the vision meant only that we were not to call any man "common," or "unclean."

Why? It was because the children of the Northern Kingdom of Ephraim (Israel) and the children of the Southern Kingdom of Judah had been scattered to the four winds, in keeping with the promises given at the time of the Dream of the Ladder: Therefore the whole world had been blessed in Jacob’s descendants, and so the whole world was of Israel. And since the whole world was of Israel, now whosoever should turn back to the true worship of YHWH, being grafted back in through Faith in His Son, would be given the gift of Grace that leads to the necessary Obedience that one must have to be properly thought of as an Israelite.

But Kefa does not know all these details. All Kefa knows at the time is that he has been given a vision, and that he is supposed to obey, and go with the three men.

So Kefa follows the three men, and speaks the Good News to Cornelius. Cornelius then believes on Yashua, and receives the infilling of the "Holy Spirit" (the Ruach HaKodesh) even though Cornelius is not of "known" Israelite descent, but is thought of as a "goy" (a gentile). This is the first recorded incident of the Regathering taking place, involving one from "out of the nations" (one of "gentile" descent) being regathered into the commonwealth of Israel through faith in Yashua, the Son of Elohim.

What Actually Happened at Antioch

Then in the very next chapter of Acts we see the same group of people crop up, of whom Yashua spoke before; not to forbid them to heal people of demons, or to do many great works of power in His Name:

[38] And Yahuchanan (John) answered Him, saying, "Rabbi, we saw someone in Your Name casting out demons, who does not follow us. And we stopped him, because he does not follow us."

[39] But Yeshua said, "Do not stop him; for there is no one who shall do a work of power in My Name, yet be able to speak evil of Me quickly. For he who is not against us is for us." [Marqaus (Mark) 9:38-40]

Please read now all of Acts Ten and Eleven, and notice that at the start of Acts Chapter Eleven, Kefa (Peter) is being criticized quite heavily by the other apostles, for having eaten with unclean "gentiles" who do not keep the Law: But then Kefa relates the vision, and how these "gentiles" (actually Ephraimites) were given the gift of the Spirit, the same as he had. The criticism falls silent as it begins to dawn on the apostles that Elohim is beginning the long-awaited regathering process of Israel and Judah, out from among the "gentiles." Then they repented, and praised Elohim.

The very next thing we read is that another party of apostles, who had been speaking the word to Jews only (verse 19) decided to speak the word to some Greek-speaking Jews ("Hellenists" or "Greeks") in a city named Antioch (verse 20). As a result, a great number of the Hellenized ("Greeks") in Antioch came to believe on Yashua as Messiah.

In verse 22, the report of this comes to the disciples in Jerusalem. Curiously, the twelve apostles in Jerusalem do not go to Antioch to see this great thing for themselves, but instead they send out Barnabas. Why they did so is unclear, but one might hypothesize that since the talmidim (apostles) were unlearned men and spoke only Hebrew and Galilean Aramaic, perhaps they decided to send Barnabas, as perhaps Barnabas spoke Greek.

Barnabas gets excited to see all these believing "Greeks" filled with the Ruach HaKadosh (the Holy Spirit), and he sends out to Tarsus for Shaul (Paul), a learned man in the Scripture, who also is able to speak Greek. And then we read something very unusual. We read that the apostles were first called "Kristiyanos" (Christians) at this very same place: Antioch.

And the disciples were first called "Christians" at Antioch.

[Sefer Ma’aseh (The Book of Acts) 11:26]

Now, if we assume that nothing in Scripture is placed their either by accident, or for general pleasure-reading, but is placed there for a definite purpose, then why are we told this? What can be Yahuwah’s reason for telling us this?

It seems reasonable that the unlearned fishermen who became the Nazarene Israelite disciples would have written their letters in the only language that they knew; and that would have been either Hebrew, or the closely related Galilean Aramaic. And indeed, there are a growing number of textual proofs that the Greek texts that we have today must have been derived either from the Aramaic texts, or from lost Hebraic originals. So in this Hebrew narrative of events, it is somehow important for us to be told that the apostles were first called by a Greek name, "Kristiyanos" ("Christians"). Why?

The answer is simple. The Good News was originally preached to the Jewish apostles in Hebrew and/or Aramaic. Then it was given to the "gentile" Cornelius, even though Cornelius obviously had taken the time to learn Hebrew himself, since Kefa (Peter) did not speak goy languages, and we do not read about any interpreter. Further, we read that Cornelius feared Eloah, and was dedicated to the Jewish people, and did many righteous acts towards them. (And indeed, the term "dedicated" may even be a reference to a type of ritual conversion, as exists this day.)

Now see if you can follow this: Since Kefa (Peter) and the other apostles did not speak Roman or Greek (as they did at Antioch), being simple fishermen, they sent the Greek-speaking Barnabas to Antioch, to speak to the Hellenists at Antioch. The Hellenists at Antioch, being "reform" minded, probably did not speak the Hebrew tongue, as did the Nazarene Israelite apostles. Therefore, instead of learning to call the apostles by the appropriate Hebrew term "Nazarenes" (Natsarim), the Hellenized believers at Antioch used a similar Greek term, "Kristiyanos."

Kristiyanos: Still a pagan faith

The term "Nazarene" derives from the root Natsar, meaning "to guard" (Strong’s H#5341). It is from this word that the Hebrew word Notzrim (meaning "Watchman") is used in Jeremiah 31:6:

[6] For there shall be a day when the Watchmen (Notzrim) on Mount Ephraim shall call out, "Arise, and let us go up to Mount Tsion (Zion), to YHWH our Elohim." (Jeremiah 31:6)

Natsar is also the root word from which "Preserved Ones" is derived (Hebrew: Natsiyr, Nun-Tsadee-Yod-Resh, Strong’s H#5336), which is found at Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 49:6:

[6] And He said, "It is too little that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Ya’akov, and to restore the Natsari (preserved ones) of Israel; (therefore) I will also give You for a light to the nations (gentiles), that You may be My Salvation to the end of the earth." [Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 49:6]

In a Word-created world, the sounds of His Words are important. Notice, however, that "Kristiyanos" does not translate to anything in particular in Hebrew. Further, the Greek root of the word probably derives from a false Asian elohim named Krishna. Therefore, some might argue that to call the Messiah Yashua by the term "Christos" or "Christ" is in a sense to equate Him with Krishna.

Like the Romans, the Greeks had no problems adopting false foreign elohim into their pantheon. Therefore a Hellenized Jew "a "Greek" of the New Covenant) might have thought that it was fair to use a Greek term that was derived from an Eastern god (Krishna) to refer to the Messiah; though Second Temple Period Jews such as Kefa and the rest of the apostles would never have done so willingly.

While the Jews of the Second Temple Period were zealous for the Law, and for the Semitic tongues, the Hellenic Jews that stayed out in the Exile had lost their zeal for the Law and the Lashon HaQodesh (Hebrew) literally hundreds of years before Yashua’s First Coming. It would have been nothing to them to translate the New Covenant Scriptures out of the original Hebrew or Galilean Aramaic in to the Greek Language, so as to make it easier for them to read. Indeed, this had already been done with the Tanach (the "Old" Testament Scriptures) many hundreds of years earlier, with the Septuagint; and so the precedent was already set.

As Christianity stomped out and destroyed the remaining Nazarene Israelites, it was the Greek translations of the original texts that would have survived, because these Hellenized "believers" did not believe that the original Hebrew and/or Aramaic was all that important.

The Early Church

Indeed, the word "Church" derives from the Greek word "Circe," the Greek goddess that turned men into pigs. And we know from the writings of the early Church fathers that the Kristiyanos were very different from the Nazarenes, even as early as the time of the destruction of the Temple and the writings of Ignatius (70-105 CE).

After the Temple was destroyed and the Nazarenes scattered to Pella, the Kristiyanos began to grow and multiply much faster than the Nazarenes. As the Kristiyanos spread out and won more converts (due to their lawlessness) they began to attack the Nazarenes in writing.

Consider carefully this quote from the early Church father Epiphanius in his work, "Against Heresies" (Adversus Haereses):

"The Nazarenes do not differ in any essential thing from them [i.e. Orthodox Jews], since they practice the custom and doctrines prescribed by Jewish law; except that they believe in Christ. They believe in the resurrection of the dead and that the universe was created by God. They preach that God is One and that Jesus Christ is his Son.

"They are very learned in the Hebrew language. They read the Law…. Therefore they differ … from the true Christians because they fulfill till now [such] Jewish rites as the circumcision, Sabbath, and others."

In other words, while the apostles, Peter, Paul, John, James, Matthew and all the other close followers of Yashua, practiced the customs and doctrines prescribed by Jewish law, and were attached to the Hebrew language, read the Law of Moses, kept the Circumcision, Sabbath, and others, the early Kristiyanos Church fathers called them "heretics."

Imagine calling Kefa, Ya’akov, Yahuchanan, and Shaul heretics! That is what the early Christian Church "Fathers" did (call no man "Father.")

Consider also the quote by the early Church "Father" M. Simon:

"They (Nazarenes) are characterized essentially by their tenacious attachment to [the] Jewish observances. If [the Nazarenes] became heretics in the eyes of the Mother Church, it is simply because they remained fixed on outmoded positions. They well represent, though Epiphanius is energetically refusing to admit it, the very direct descendants of the primitive community, of which our author knows that it was designated by the Jews by the same name, of ‘Nazarenes’." (M. Simon, Church Father)

Consider too the quote from the early Church "Father" Ignatius (of Antioch):

"But if anyone shall preach the Jewish Law unto you, hearken not unto him; for it is better to receive the (lawless) doctrine of Christ from one that has been (previously) circumcised, than (Nazarene) Judaism from one that has not (been circumcised)."

As the Torahless (lawless) Kristiyanos waxed and the observant Nazarenes waned, finally the death-knell was given, when the Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as the State religion of Rome, and prescribed severe penalties (and even death) for anyone observing the Sabbath, the Law, the Hebrew language, or any other Jewish thing.

"Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, honoring rather The Lord’s (Ha-Ba’al’s) Day (the "sun" day) by resting, if possible, as Christians. However, if any be found Judaizing, let them be shut out from Christ."

The Imperial Catholic Christian Church of Rome

Council of Laodicea under Emperor Constantine

Canon 29, 336 AD.

The error of Replacement Theology

Christians believe that Yashua came to do away with the Jews, and to replace them with the gentiles. This is patently false. What Yashua did was to begin the regathering process of the descendants of Israel, who had been scattered out into the world, so as to leaven the whole lump.

Yet YHWH promised in several places that He would bring all twelve tribes of Israel back to the Land; and that He would not leave them, nor forsake them, until He had done all that He had said (Genesis 28:15).

Foreigners were always allowed to join the Nation of Israel: That was nothing new. Just as Ruth, Rahab, Bathsheba and Na’amah grafted in to the royal lineage, those from out of the nations could always join the Nation of Israel, provided that they kept the whole Torah. They had to put all their old, non-transcendent and idolatrous ways behind them, learn to speak Hebrew, and become like the rest of Israel’s children: That was not new. The only thing new was the means of grafting-in: Through faith in Yashua.

The Christian church also drastically misunderstands the Jerusalem Council at Acts Chapter Fifteen, saying that the apostles ruled that the Law and the circumcision no longer applied to the gentiles; but only to the Jews. This is false. The question at hand was how to allow the returning Ephraimites to come back to the Nation of Israel through salvation by faith unto grace, but then to make sure that it led (over time) to obedience.

Restated, the question was, "If Yahuwah is going to bring back all of the lost and scattered Ephraimites and Jews by giving them His Spirit, then how are we to lead them back in to full Torah observance, in such a way that they do not get overloaded?" This question is further addressed in Acts Chapter Fifteen.

Acts Chapter Fifteen: The Jerusalem Council

The Hellenized Christians have misinterpreted Acts Chapter Fifteen to mean that the Law and the circumcision are done away with; and that people can now eat anything they want. This, however, is precisely the kind of conclusion that you might expect a "Greek" (Hellenized) Jew to draw: That the Land, the Language and the Law don’t really matter.

The actual meaning of Acts Chapter Fifteen is somewhat different.

Acts Chapter Fifteen starts out with a passage that tells us that some of the brothers, Pharisees by training (like Shaul), had come down from Judea to Antioch. Once they arrived in Antioch they told the newly returning converts that in order to be saved, one had to be circumcised, "according to the practice of Moshe."

The "Practice of Moshe" was the same then as it is today: First you learn the whole of the Torah, and then you do the whole of the Torah. You become physically circumcised, thereby saving yourself by the work of your own hands. This, however was contrary to the manner in which Avraham was saved at Breisheet (Genesis) Chapter 17, where Avraham first received the blessing of the Covenant with Elohim, and then was told to go circumcise his children as an outward sign of that covenant.

However, when the Jerusalem Council rules that the returning "gentiles" (Ephraimites) need not be circumcised "according to the practice of Moshe," they think to themselves in typical Hellenic fashion, "You see! The Law of Moses is done away with! Jesus came to nail the Law to the Cross! Halleluyah!"

In his own mind, the Christian reader has already decided that he does not want to have to get circumcised; and therefore he conveniently misinterprets this passage so as to "say" what he wants it to say. Then his pastor supports him in this. Just put your money in the plate, please.

When the Pharisees were arguing that the newly returning converts must be circumcised "according to the practice of Moshe," they were arguing that a man could not be saved as Avraham was: by faith. They were suggesting that a man could not be saved in an uncircumcised condition; but that in order to be saved one had to follow a specific legal procedure that the Jews carried out in that day (much as it is done still, to this day.)

The apostles decided that this was a false premise; not just because of Avraham, but also because of what had just happened with Cornelius, as well as what had just happened in Antioch.

The apostles knew that salvation was a free gift, and not the result of the work of men’s hands. From the very beginning (Genesis), circumcision was only what a man did to show his faith in Yahuwah, obeying the commandment to circumcise the foreskin of his penis, thereby signaling his subjection of his flesh to the Father in heaven.

The apostles were not about to let the Pharisees from Judea tell the newly returning gentiles that salvation was through the work of men’s hands (which was the doctrine of "The Circumcision," as it is referred to in the New Covenant.) When the apostles argued against the "manner of Moshe," they were not arguing against the Law, but against the idea that a man could save himself by the work of his own hands.

We also know from historical records (specifically Epiphanius) that the Nazarenes kept the circumcision, and the Law, and the Prophets. Therefore, the rest of Acts Chapter Fifteen is only an account of the apostles’ decision as to how to bring the returning "gentile" and "Greek" "converts" (actually reverts) back in to full Torah observance, but without overloading them.

In verse 21, Ya’akov (James) suggests that since the Torah is preached in every city since ancient times, that if the newly returning converts will only abstain from four things at the start (adultery, idolatry, non-kosher meats, and blood) then they can go to the synagogues every Shabbat, where the Torah of Moshe has been preached since ancient times. Since they abstain from the four abominations that defile the Shabbat dining table (adultery, idolatry, non-kosher meats, and blood) they are now free to learn the rest of the Torah at their own pace. Thus what is really a passage describing how to bring the newly returning converts in to full Torah observance has been misused by the Kristiyanos to justify their un-Scriptural position that the Law and the Prophets have been done away with, contrary to the very Words of Yashua.

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