The Hijacked Faith – The Great Falling Away
By
Rabbi Robert O. Miller
A 30-centimetre by 25-centimetre basketball-sized piece of marble molding fell from the facade over the entrance to the Supreme Court Monday, November 28, 2005, at 9:30 a.m. EST, landing on the steps near visitors waiting to enter the building but no one was hurt. The piece that fell was over the figure of “Authority,” above the inscription, “Equal Justice Under Law” near the peak of the building.
What an allegory. Here is the Super-power of the World with its Supreme Court of the land dispensing moral judgment for the whole world to follow crumbling under the judgment of Divine Authority because the World refuses to come under the jurisdiction of Divine Law – Torah. This is exactly what was prophesied 2,000 years ago would happen in the Time of the End.
“Concerning the coming of our King Messiah YahShua and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the Day of Yahweh has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion (The Great Falling Away) occurs … (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3)”
“Behold, the days come, saith the Sovereign Yahweh, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of Yahweh (Torah) … (Amos 8:11)”
Can you imagine one Sabbath 1800 years ago, after the Liturgy, after the reading of the Torah parsha, the Rabbi gets up to preach his sermon and opens with: “Before we begin, I should let you know that I’ve found the Scriptures to be far too depressing and outdated. I have received a new more motivational revelation. We shall no longer be using the Scriptures solely in our services. And we will be shifting our Sabbath from the 7th day to the 1st day – Sunday for convenience sake. We will be incorporating some of the more popular holidays for the obsolete Holy Days. Also, I’ll be going by the title of Bishop instead of Rabbi but you can call me Father.” As your lower jaw is still in mid-drop he begins reciting a pagan source for his sermon text. This is exactly what happened and what we were warned about.
There are only two schools of thought: “Hebraism (the culture of the Scripture given to Israel) and Hellenism (the culture of Mystery Babylon inherited by Greece and then Rome) – between these two points of influence moves our world. (“The Irrational Man by William Barrett)”
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. (1Timothy 4:1)”
This is one of the major signs of Messiah’s coming and a sign according to Webster’s dictionary is some visible transaction, event, or appearance intended as proof for evidence. So before King Messiah YahShua’s Second Coming a GREAT APOSTASY or a GREAT REBELLION would rise up, or simply put, a FALLING AWAY of many of Yahweh’s people was prophesied to take place. The heralds of this apostasy would be teaching doctrines of devils as they are anointed by seducing spirits; preaching lies as they hypocritically refused to live the truth even though they know what the truth is because their conscience have been seared with a hot iron from the coals of Hell. Meaning, the majority of Israel along with the rest of mankind denounced Yahweh’s truth and turned to a false doctrine which instituted a total abdication of it’s beliefs and formed an idolatrous new faith. This Great Falling Away constitutes an abandonment of the Word unlike anything that has ever happened in the history of the World.
“I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only Son and the end of it like a bitter day. “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Yahweh, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of Yahweh. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it.’ (Amos 8:10-12)”
“For this reason Yahweh sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:11,12)”
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, I also reject you as my priests: because you have ignored the Torah of your Elohim, I also will ignore your children. (Hosea 4:1-6)”
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that observes the Torah, blessed is he. (Proverbs 29:17)”
“They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:10)”
In Matthew 24, our Messiah specifically warns us all about this time. And there are many people still waiting for it to happen. Their eyes have been blinded to all that has happened over the past 2000 years, and in fact, is still happening.
The term “falling away,” or “apostasy” means; to depart from revealed truth, to lead away, seduce, mislead; to defect, to blind the eyes of the people by manipulating the truth; to turn one from the truth by lying signs and wonders – that I like to call “Gee-whizzums!”
“Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. (Revelation 12:12)”
“The first casualty in the art of warfare is the truth (Rudyard Kipling).” This is so true in Spiritual Warfare, as haSatan began immediately to cast aspersions upon the Word of Yahweh in the Garden of Eden, and he has ever since kept attacking the divinely breathed Torah. The purpose of course is to divert people away from the truth. But it has gotten worse in the Time of the End.
Where can the blame for this GREAT APOSTASY lay? “Our shepherds have caused us to go astray (Jeremiah 50:6).” HaSatan once tried to form a compromise with Messiah. He came to the Rebbe YahShua in the Wilderness of Temptation (Matthew 4:1-11), and showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, offered to give the entire world into His hands if He would but acknowledge the supremacy of the Prince of Darkness and merge with him. Messiah was repulsed and rebuked the presumptuous tempter and forced him to depart. But HaSatan has had greater success in presenting the same temptations to man. HaSatan convinced these preachers that if they would slightly paganize their message they would gain more converts. So they incorporated a lie into the truth creating another gospel (god spell). “And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the SECOND DEATH (Revelation 21:8).”
In Rabbi Silas’ brief history of the Netzarim, the Book of Acts, we find the early Messianic Jewish Believers performing great miracles, signs and wonders and preaching the Full Messianic Message of the Kingdom just as Messiah YahShua Himself had done; such as Rabbi Kepha’s powerful Spirit-filled sermon on the Temple Mount for all to hear proclaimed at the rebirth of the Commonwealth of Israel on that first Shavuot (Pentecost) since Messiah ascended, where five thousand people from many different lands throughout the Diaspora heard these words simultaneously, “Repent and be immersed, every one of you, by authority of Messiah YahShua for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)”; and Rabbi Pinchas’s (Philip) immersing Shimon the Magician, the Samarian practitioner of the Babylonian Mystery Cult of “Ba’al Worship”, who was later rebuked by Rabbi Kepha for trying to buy a position of influence in the Messianic Movement; as well as the incredible conversion of Rabbi Sha’ul of Tarsus, from persecutor – to Apostle, and his tireless ministry throughout the Diaspora – from Asia to Europe.
In his first epistle, Rabbi Kepha addressed himself “To Yahweh’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of Yahweh the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Messiah YahShua and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. (1 Peter 1:1-2)”
Rebbe YahShua said that it was to Israel and only to Israel that He came to seek and save.
“[Messiah said] I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. (Matthew 15:24)”
“…the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)”
Rebbe YahShua said that before the restor[ation of] the Kingdom [of] Israel could happen we must preach the Full Messianic Message of the Kingdom to the Majority of the whole world.
“These twelve Rebbe YahShua sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Matthew 10:5-7)”
“…He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Adon, help me. (Matthew 15:24,25)”
“I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will hear to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16)”
We must be like Rabbi Yakkov Ha Tzaddik, the brother of our Messiah: “Yakkov, (was) a servant of Yahweh and of King Messiah YahShua, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations…(James 1:1)”
We must search out the lost sheep from the rest of humanity to save them, for this is the severity of our message, you cannot be saved unless you’re are part of the Commonwealth of Israel. Without your place in the Commonwealth “…you [are] without Messiah, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without Yahweh in the world. (But if you will accept the Kingdom and its King you will receive salvation through the shed blood of our Messiah) But now in Messiah YahShua you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. (Ephesians 2:1-13)”
The history of the Talmidim (disciples) of the one True Faith was the same as those they came to minister to – PERSECUTED & SCATTERED! We were persecuted so we would scatter and we were scattered so we would go into the entire world and seek Israel amongst the nations. By the turn of the second century all twelve original Apostles and Rabbi Sha’ul were all gone most of them martyred.
Let’s go back and see how this Great Falling Away began. In 69 CE at the height of the Great Jewish Revolt, several Roman legions under the command of General Titus surrounded Jerusalem. You can just imagine what the original the Netzarim, Believers in YahShua, headquartered in Jerusalem, \were going through as they remembered the words of Messiah: “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. (Luke 21:20-21)” Seeking refuge in the Wilderness they fled across the Jordan River to the mountainous city of Petra, thus escaping the impending invasion – which culminated in 70 CE with the destruction of the Holy City, the Temple Mount and the Sacred Temple. “…when the people of the [Natzarim] in Jerusalem, having been commanded by an oracle, given by revelation to men there approved, before the war, to depart from the city and to dwell in a certain city of Paraea, namely, Pella (Petra), and when those who believed on [Messiah] had migrated thither from Jerusalem . . .the judgment of [Yahweh] then fell upon the unbelieving Jews in the form of the Roman armies..” (Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, Book 3. v. 2-3). Eusebius goes on to add that all of Palestine (the Rome’s name for the Land of Israel) at that time was completely emptied of Netzarim. (This was a type of Luke 21; to show us the fulfillment that will come in the Great Tribulation. There should be no question where we are to seek refuge during the Time of the End.)
The headquarters remained in fortressed and exiled for more than 25 years at Petra. The Jews, especially the Pharisees, who originally saw us as brothers, resented the Netzarim flight to Petra as an act of betrayal and banned the Netzarim from the synagogue. “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to Yahweh. (John 16:2)”
After the death of the Roman Emperor Domitian in 96 CE, the last surviving apostle Rabbi Yochannan, was released from prison on the isle of Patmos and returned to the mystical city of Sefed. While there he engaged the Rabbis where he continued to preach the True Faith, taking the Full Messianic Message of the Kingdom deep into the heart of mystical Judaism as well as to nearby cities and provinces. He wrote his Messianic account around this time with its more theological and mystical tone. According to the Hasidic Rabbis, one Sabbath morning Rabbi Yochannan ben Sededy went out to pray and he was taken up.
“I was in the Spirit on Yahweh’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet… there before me was a door standing open in heaven. (Revelation 1:10; 4:1)”
Rabbi Yochannan went up but he did not come down. The seven angels brought the message to the seven congregations in Asia. Rather, Rabbi Yochannan received his commission to be one of the two witnesses (Zechariah 4:1-11& Revelation 11:1-4):”You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings. (Revelation 10:11)”
This was the controversy between Rabbi Kepha and the Messiah concerning Rabbi Yochannan.
“Rabbi Kepha turned and saw that the disciple whom Rebbe YahShua loved (Rabbi Yochannan) was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Rebbe YahShua at the Seder and had said, “Sovereign, who is going to betray you?”) When Rabbi Kepha saw him, he asked, ” Sovereign, what about him?” Rebbe YahShua answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Rebbe YahShua did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. (John 21:20-24)”
Before his “catching away” Rabbi Yochannan fellowshipped with a young convert named Polycarp whom he made a disciple and taught the True Faith. “Polycarp also was not only instructed by the apostles, and conversed with many who had seen [Messiah], but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed [overseer] of the [Congregation] of Smyrna … He it was who, coming to Rome in the time of Anicetus” — bishop of Rome around 154 CE — “caused many to turn away from the … heretics to the [assembly of Yahweh], proclaiming that he had received this one and sole truth from the apostles … While at Rome, Polycarp discussed with the Roman bishop the matter of the introduction of the pagan Easter in place of the Passover…For neither could Anicetus (the bishop of Rome) persuade Polycarp not to observe it” — the Passover — Because he had always observed it with [Yochannan], the disciple of our King, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he associated; and neither did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it, who said that he was bound to follow the customs of the presbyters before him” (Quoted from Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, book 5, chap. 24, in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1).
“You have let go of the commands of Yahweh and are holding on to the traditions of men. (Mark 7:8)”
By the Second Century after Messiah ascended, pagan heresies, rituals and doctrines, as Rabbi Sha’ul had warned us about in his letter to the Galatians and as recorded in the Book of Acts, began to overtake the preaching of the true Full Messianic Message of the Kingdom and the practice of the True Faith.
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Messiah and are turning to a different message which is really no message at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Full Messianic Message of Messiah YahShua. But even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a message other and the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:6-8)
“I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. (Acts 20:29)”
Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of the minds of men, “the mystery of iniquity” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous work.
“Do not learn the way of the Heathen (Jeremiah 10:2)”
“For certain men whose condemnation was written aboutlong ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our Yahweh into a license for immorality and deny Messiah YahShua our only Sovereign and King. Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that Yahwehdelivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their first estate—these He has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. (Jude 1:4-6)”
In the Babylonian Mystery Cult, Ba’al Nimrod, was “the opener” of secrets. In the Chaldaic (a dialect of Hebrew) the word for opener was “PETER”! (See Young’s Concordance.) Their prophets were called patres or keys to the secret door and the apostates drew on the wordplay and called them padres, fathers.
An apostate by the name of Anacletus, calling himself a bishop, dedicated the ancient shrine of the pagan Peter Nimrod to the apostle Rabbi Kepha redefining him into a Gentilized Bishop Peter around 80 CE, according to a record in the Liber Pontificalis (i, p. 125).
It was a small jump for Anacletus to convince the drifting, unemployed pagan population of Rome — which was becoming interested in the Babylonian Mysteries — that the shrine at Rome was the site of the burial of the Bishop “Peter” — for had not the Rabbi Kepha been at Babylon! And to cement his authority, he claimed to have been ordained by Rabbi Kepha that he now referred to as Bishop Peter.
Anacletus claimed to be the SOLE SUCCESSOR to Peter and the Babylonian Mystery Cult. He insisted that Rome should be the new headquarters of all the congregations and that they take on the Gentile title of Church first used by the followers of Circe, who in Roman mythology was the daughter of the sun and a sorceress that had the powers for spiritual purification.
“…We have no information whatever about [Rabbi Kepha’s] activity … [in Rome]. That he was in Rome for twenty-five years is third century legend. (“The Early Church”, by Henry Chadwick, page 18)”
There had been a Peter in Rome, one Shimon the Magi or Simon Paeter, the “the Samarian practitioner of the Babylonian Mystery Cult of “Ba’al Worship”, who had been excommunicated from Messianic Movement in Acts 8:20-23. History records Simon’s presence in Rome in 45 CE during the reign of Claudius Caesar. According to Justin Martyr, Simon became as popular in Rome as he had been in Samaria. A statue was erected for him on the Tiber River between the two bridges with this inscription: “Simoni Deo Sancto – Simon the Holy Deity” discovered in 1574.
From his conversion and subsequent backsliding and excommunication by Rabbi Kepha, Simon, considering himself to be a Christian rather than Netzarim and began to subvert the Messianic Movement by perverting the True Full Messianic Message of the Kingdom with his own philosophies, sorceries, false beliefs and esoteric Babylonian Mystery mumbo jumbo.
After his death, a fellow apostate of Simon’s at Antioch referred to as “Menander the Imposter”, continued to spread this heretical, morphadite faith that was no faith at all stealing many from the True Faith.
“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13)”
When the news of the apostate authority of the bishop of Rome spread abroad, many other false teachers saw the advantage of casting in their lot with him “to draw away the disciples after themselves (Acts 20:30). It now became a struggle “to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. (Jude 1:2)”
Local spiritual leaders throughout the Roman Empire yielded to apostate peer pressure or their own power hungry egos, and began to incorporate popular pagan customs and festivals based on the ancient practices of Mystery Babylon into what had been sound doctrine taught to them by the Talmidim (disciples) of the Apostles, creating many perversely morphed religious sects which borrowed our Rebbe YahShua as their mascot renaming Him “Jesus Christ,” even declaring that He was “Messiah”, but were either loosely based or not at all on His teaching.
“For many shall come in my name, saying, I am anointed; and shall deceive many… many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. (Matthew 24:5,11)”
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
“For this reason Yahweh sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:11,12)”
This was the beginning of the apostasy, “The Great Falling Away.”
Forty years after Polycarp, Victor, the Bishop of Rome began his 35-year fight with the leadership of the Netzarim and the congregations in the Empire disfellowshipping whole congregations who kept to or returned to the True Faith. In a letter sent by Polycrates, the disciple of Polycarp, to Bishop Victor he said: “As for us, then, we scrupulously observe the exact day, neither adding nor taking away. For in Asia great luminaries have gone to their rest, who shall rise again in the day of the coming of the King … I speak of Pinchas (Philip), one of the twelve apostles … Yochannan (John), moreover, who reclined on the Sovereign’s bosom … Then there is Polycarp … These all kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month in accordance with the [Full Messianic Message] without ever deviating from it, but keeping to the rule of Faith. And moreover I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, [do] according to the tradition…” (Vol. 8 of the Ante Nicene Fathers, pp. 773-774).
Before the third century, Polycrates, like his mentor Polycarp before him was martyred a True Believer. Boldly dying as boldly as he stood up to Victor when he said: “Better people than I have said: We must obey [Yahweh] rather than men. (“History of The Church,” Eusebius pg 172).”
The Roman emperor Constantine organized the Roman Church and unified its doctrines. “… to bring the diverse judgments formed by all nations respecting the Deity to a condition, as it were, of settled uniformity.” Because Constantine was the best imperial representative of a new type of inclusive paganism, and was the most devout worshiper of the sun as the symbol of the supreme and universal deity the very first thing he did was transfer the day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday. Tertullian said in conflict to this practice: “…if we devote Sunday to rejoicing from a far different reason than sun worship we have some resemblance to those of you who devote the day of Saturn to ease and luxury though they too go far away from Jewish ways (of Sabbath), of which indeed they are ignorant. (Tertullian.9)” Christians were finally forced to accept Sunday as the “Lord’s Day” by the counsel of Laodicea in 364 CE. The Netzarim had no place in a church structure. Constantine ordered the Roman garrisons to hunt the Netzarim especially the Desposyni (YahShua’s immediate family) as outlaws of the State and execute them. Many fled to the far corners of Diaspora, while others yielded to threats and pressure from the majority and turned from the True Faith to “Christianity.” According to Shirley Jackson Case, in her book “The Social Origins of Christianity,” “Christianity as accepted by the Gentile world, was not the original revelation. It represented a change (pp. 72–74).” The Church, from the first was morphed from the Gnostic Babylonian Mystery Cult of Simon Magus, Menander and their followers becoming “drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of YahShua. (Revelation 17:6)”
Messiah warned His disciples that “the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth Yahweh service” (John 16:2). And “… you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:9-13)” Just Remember: LIARS DON’T MAKE IT.
The Encyclopedia Britannica echoes the frustration of people wondering what the true followers of King Messiah YahShua believed: “It is a complicated task to determine the true character and the tenets of any ancient sect, considering that almost all the information that has reached us has come from opponents” (vol 4, pg 119) This is not true about the Netzarim because our own opponents had to admit: “We shall now especially consider heretics who… call themselves Nazarenes; they are mainly… Jews and nothing else. They make use not only of the New Testament, but they also use in a way the Old Testament of the Jews; for they do not forbid the books of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings… so that they are approved of by the Jews, from whom the Nazarenes do not differ in anything, and they profess all the dogmas pertaining to the prescriptions of the Law and to the customs of the Jews, except they believe in [Messiah]…They preach that there is but one [Elohim], and his son [Messiah YahShua]. But they are very learned in the Hebrew language; for they, like the Jews, read the whole Law, then the Prophets…They differ from the Jews because they believe in [Messiah, and from the Christians in that they are to this day bound to the Jewish rites, such as circumcision, the Sabbath, and other ceremonies …Otherwise, this sect of the Nazarenes thrives most vigorously in the state of Berea, in Coele-Syria, in Decapolis, around [Petra], and in Bashan…After they departed from Jerusalem, they made their start from here, as all the disciples dwelt in [Petra], having been admonished by [Messiah to depart Jerusalem and emigrate because of imminent danger (Epiphanius; Panarion 29).” The True Faith was never lost, it is the Faith of the Orthodox Jews with the addition of who Messiah is – YahShua!
Interestingly enough, in 1854, the Presbyterian General Assembly met in Buffalo, New York and this question was presented to them for their decision: “Are [Roman Catholic] baptisms and ordinations valid?” After a heated debate over this question, the majority report of the committee was that all ordinations at the hands of the [Roman Catholic] priests were invalid, because the Roman Catholic Church was no church of Christ, but anti-Christ, and therefore the baptisms and ordinations of such an apostate body are null and void. The minority report went on to say, on the other hand, if they denied the Church of Rome to be a true church of Christ, they unchurched themselves, since they came out of Rome, and received their baptisms and ordinances from her. Finding they could not extricate themselves from the dilemma, they moved to indefinitely postpone the question.”
Martin Luther, the Great Reformer and father of modern Protestant Christianity, wrote in his “Exhortation Against the Jews” of February 15, 1546:”The Book of Esther is dear to the Jews, it is so well in line with their bloody and poisonous sentiment. There is no people under the sun so avid of revenge, so bloodthirsty, believing itself to be God’s people merely in order to strangle and immolate the heathens. Know, Christian, that next to the devil thou has no enemy more cruel, more venomous and violent than a true Jew”.
“These are thieves, brigands who do not eat any food, do not wear on their bodies a single thread, which they have not stolen from us and taken away by the most voracious usuries”.
“Who prevents the Jews from returning to Judea? Nobody….We shall provide them with all the supplies for the journey, only in order to get rid of that disgusting vermin”. This Jew-hatred permeated every part of Christianity and gave birth to Hitler’s Holocaust.
In other words, the Church has never had the whole truth to fall away from. Most wouldn’t know the truth if it hit them in the face. The Church has never “contend[ed] for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” but pretended they had the Faith.
“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (John 4:22)”
“[Yahweh] declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. (Psalm 147:19)”
“…primarily given to [Israel] are the oracles of Yahweh…(Romans 3:2)”
Acts 3:20,21 foretells us, “And [Yahweh] shall send Messiah YahShua, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which Yahweh hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” There will be a “Restitution of ALL THINGS.” But there is no need to restore ALL things if there is no apostasy.
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. (Revelation 2:5)”
I believe we are in the Age of Elijah – the age of the restitution of all things. Many things point to this being the Last Generation of Matthew 24, Judah coming back to the Land, Israel in control of Jerusalem, Ephraim waking up to who he is, and the condition of mankind as in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of Yahweh; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” So no doubt the Time of the End is upon us, just look at Israel and the nations.
In the 1980’s something began to stir in the belly of the beast called the Church. On Sunday morning, April 13, 1986, Rev. Dean Cozzens of Open Church Ministries gave this prophecy: “At the beginning of the twentieth century, when God looked down from heaven at the church, what He saw looked like a giant 747 airliner, but with no engines. He then set out to attach four giant engines of faith and power to the body of the plane, so that the church would have the power to come to Him where He is, up in the realms of glory. Each of these four engines represents one of the four major moves of God’s Spirit ordained for this century: 1) The Pentecostal Movement, 2) The Faith-Healing Movement, 3) The Charismatic Movement, and 4) The Hebrew Movement. All four are sovereignly ordained of God and coordinate and interrelate in His mind. Each successive move builds upon the last, but each has its own distinctives. None are perfect, but they all have something from God to contribute to His plan. The prophecy said that God was now beginning to attach the fourth and final “engine” –the Hebrew Movement…This fourth major move of the Holy Spirit in this century will be every bit as powerful as the previous three, and will bring this final work of God to completion in a final, unified, four-fold thrust of power and glory; it will take us all into the heavenlies to be with Him where He is…Turn and align your thinking more perfectly down My revealed runway of Hebrew thought, the thoughts I revealed through the Hebrew people, and let’s get ready to go to Glory!” We must meet God on His terms, not ours…Many errors were incorporated into the early church in order to please and accommodate the Greek culture, and to escape anti-Hebrew persecutions from the Romans. these early corruptions are what we mean by the Hebrew-to-Greek shift…We must move back to the centerline of God’s truth, but with the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Whether you agree with this prophecy or not is immaterial. It shows that in the 1980’s the Israelites that were in the Church began to wake up to the calling out of Ephraim.
“I will whistle for Ephraim (1 King 19:9-18), and gather the remnant; for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they increased when I sowed them among the nations, and they shall remember me in far countries; and they and their children will live and return. (Zechariah 10:8-9)”
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? …My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. …They shall walk after Yahweh. He will roar like a lion (Taking on the characteristics of Judah). When He roars, then His sons shall come trembling from the west. (Hosea 11:8,10)”
A high percentage of Messianics have come from Pentecostal, or Charismatic background, I believe this is because truly Spirit-filled people will allow the Spirit to lead them in their walk of sanctification and “…when … the Spirit of truth, comes, he … guide(s) you into all truth. He [does] not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (John 16:13)”
“It is Yahweh’s pleasure for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the Torah, and make it honorable.” Everything that Rebbe YahShua taught was from the Torah and He did not teach anything that was not from the Torah. Rebbe YahShua taught Torah! Now, we are instructed to bring Torah to the people of all nations. He told us to teach the nations “to obey everything I have commanded you (My Disciples)” (Matthew 28: 18). And He commanded His disciples to obey the Torah (Matt 5:17-19 & 23:1-2) If we have a Kingdom we have a King and if we have a King we have a Ruler and if we have a Ruler we have rules and what are those rules—–Torah.
“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written aboutlong ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our Yahweh into a license for immorality and deny Messiah YahShua our only Sovereign and King. (Jude 1:2-4)”
“If the statistics are right, the (small proportion of Jews in the world) suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk”.
“His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendour; then faded to dream-stuff and passed away: the Greeks and the Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.”
“The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?” (Mark Twain and first published in HARPER’S magazine, September 1887). The secret Mr. Twain is his Faith.
“…what advantage remains to the Jew? (How is he favored?) Or what is the value or benefit of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, to the Jews were entrusted the oracles (the communications, the intentions, the utterances) of Yahweh. What if some did not believe (in the oracles of Yahweh) and were without faith? Does their unbelief and their lack of faith nullify and make ineffective and void the fidelity of the Faith of Yahweh (to His Word)? By no means! Let Yahweh be found true though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written, ‘That You (Yahweh) may be justified and shown to be upright in what You say, and prevail when You are judged [by sinful men] (Psalm 51:4).’ (Romans 3:1-4)”
“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. (Amos 9:9,10)”
No sooner had this sifting began the Church reversed herself by towing the same old tired lines of opposition about “not being under the law,” or “having liberty in Christ,” or “Jesus fulfilling the law.”
Misquoting Titus, “Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. (Titus 1:14)” You cannot hardly call the Torah a Jewish Fable.
Today, Christians overlook or choose to ignore the positive things said about the Torah in the so-called New Testament. “For in my inner being I delight in Yahweh’s Torah…I myself in my mind am a slave to Yahweh’s Torah ” (Romans 7:22,25).
“We know that the Torah is good if one uses it properly” (I Timothy 1:8).
“Keeping Yahweh’s Commandments is what counts” (ICorinthians7: 19).
In response they just accuse the messenger of “Judaizing,” or “trying to bring people into bondage.”
Isn’t it funny that when a Christian meets a member of a cult like a Mormon or Jehovah Witness, Eastern Religion, pagan or atheist they will take the High Road of dialogue witnessing to them of the error of their belief system inviting them to come in to Christianity that they believe is true. Yet when they approach the Netzarim there is the hostile name-calling, threats of hell, and the dismissing of us as not worth the trouble. It is because we are the most serious threat that Christianity has ever had to deal with.
Christians are starting to boldly speak out against the Faith of Yahweh that they see as a threat: “The Hebrew Roots or Messianic Movement has been gathering strength in these last days. The influence of this Hebrew Roots Movement is quite beyond mere evangelism of Jewish people. Both the Hebrew Roots Movement and the Messianic Jew groups have moved into an influence over Christendom, which is quite astonishing. We view this as another instance of apostasy in the Age of Apostasy which marks the end of the Church Age, and a religious trouble of the pre-Tribulation perilous times in which we live… The Christian Church is not subject to Judaism. The New Testament is higher than the Old Testament, which was a mere shadow of things to come. The New Testament is the New Covenant in Christ’s shed Blood.” (“A Critique of the Hebrew Roots Movement – The Judaizing of the Christian Church – Endtimes Ministries)”
Let me make it clear: “I am not ashamed of the Full Messianic Message, for it is the power of Yahweh for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)”
“But this is how Yahweh fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to Yahweh, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from Yahweh, and that He may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even YahShua. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for Yahweh to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. (Acts 3:18-21)”
There are three key elements in the process of the Restoration:
- “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out ..”
- “So that times of refreshing may come”
- “Until the times of restoration of all things”
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of Yahweh, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Messiah YahShua. Yahweh presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement,through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in YahShua. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of legalistically observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from legalistically observing the law. (Romans 3:23-28)”
The only way the penalty of death can be removed is to repent. Most people think of repentance as a feeling of remorse that causes you to do something about the feeling – that is not repentance! Scriptural repentance is “Teshuvah” which means to turn from your sins and return to at-one-ment with Yahweh, accepting the sacrifice of Messiah YahShua, being immersed and receive the Spirit of Yahweh in rebirth receiving the circumcision of a “new heart” which will ultimately, as one walks down the road of sanctification be born out in the circumcision of the flesh and in observance of Torah.
“Then Samuel spoke to all the House of Israel, saying, ‘If you return to Yahweh with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods (non-Scriptural concepts of deity) and the Ashtoreths (ritualistic decorated trees) from among you, and prepare your hearts for Yahweh, and serve Him only…He will deliver you … (1 Samuel 7:3)”
“But now a righteousness from Yahweh, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify… Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:21,32)”
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!..Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. (Matthew 3:2,8)”
` Yahweh is infilling His “End-time” servants with the prophetic spirit of Elijah with a heart for restoration of all things and commissioning them to prepare the way for the Second Coming of Messiah.
“…ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)”
“…this full Messianic message of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)”
“…Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father, by authority of the Son through the inspiration of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. (Matthew 28:19)”
“Rebbe YahShua answered, Elijah is coming firstand will restore all things. (Matthew 17:11)”
The restoration of all things, as the phrase suggests, is the act of bringing all things back in accordance with its original Faith. “Thus says Yahweh: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh speak, saying, “Yahweh has utterly separated me from His people”; nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.” For thus says Yahweh: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, even to them I will give in My House and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give theman everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to Yahweh, to serve Him, and to love the name of Yahweh, to be His servants– Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant– Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The Sovereign Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him.” (Isaiah 56:1-6)”
This corruption of the church occurred because we got carelessness with the Faith. As it is written: “while men slept, [that] his enemy came and sowed [the] tares (Matthew 13:25)” of apostasy in our midst. “[Yahweh] has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. (Haggai 2:6)’Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:26-27)” Yahweh is not mocked, All the corrupt works and lawless ministries of man will be removed by this shaking and only the True Faith will remain.
I believe this is the “Last Generation” we are apart of this “Times of Refreshing” coming in three stages repentance, refreshing or revival, and the restoration of the True Faith.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)”
Originally written by Rabbi Robert O. Miller on December 12th 2005
(Robert Owen Miller 1957-2021)
