What is the Gospel?

If you ask most Christians “What is the Gospel?” They will say, “Jesus died for my sins and by placing my faith in him as my Lord, and Savior, I am saved, and will go to heaven when I die.” This is the modern Gospel, but is it the Gospel Jesus taught? The Gospel that Jesus taught was very different. He said conform your life to the message I am speaking, and obey my commandments and you will have Zoe life now, and Zoe, life in the father’s Kingdom in the age to come. Zoe life means an unending spirit life.

The modern Gospel stresses “faith”, but the Jesus Gospel was about “doing the truth”.

Just before he left the earth, Jesus (Yahshuah) told his followers to go and teach everything that he had commanded them. “The Gospel” contains commands, parables, narration, and at times the opinions of the Gospel writers. Yahshuah’s Gospel is not found in the Old Testament. It is only found in the four Gospels. The other 23 books of the New Testament are about the Gospel, but they are not “the Gospel”. They are the works of well intentioned men, but they often contradict the words of Jesus and should not be taught as “the Gospel of Jesus.”

S

Inerrant

Lately I was wondering why people say the Bible is inerrant. I exchanged some emails with Robert Hommel and he says it means in the original manuscripts of the Bible there were no errors. But he quickly adds, we no longer have the original manuscripts.

The automatic question is "If we do not have the originals how can we say for certaint that there were no errors? To be honest all we can say is we don't know for certain."

In some churches and seminaries you must confess that you believe the orignals were without errors. Some even accuse me of not being a Christian if I won't state it is true. How can I say a manuscript is without error if I can't see for myself.

What I can see is that no two copies of any of the multiple books found in the Dead Sea caches are identical and some vary widely from eachother. Those are the oldest MSS we have, but they do not inspire one towards inerrancy.

In the final analysis, I say our faith must not be based on the written word but by experiencing first hand the fruits that come from following Yah and Yahshuah.

He said Luk 21:17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.

If people don't hate you wherever you go to proclaim the Gospel, then you are not proclaiming the right gospel.

Swords and Fire

A Blogger in Australia thinks as Christians we are to reorganize the kingdom of the world with swords and fire and side with the poor. He thinks Christians who preach peace are siding with empire and supporting opprssive policial regimes.

As a Christian who preaches peace I contend that I am a threat to empire and I do not side with it but work non-violently against it at all times.

I ask the Australian how can we use swords and fire and still obey the command of Jesus to be as harmless as doves?

The Logos

The Logos

I believe the most important word in the Gospels is Logos.The best way to understand it is to see how the Gospel writers used it in context. I am deliberately not looking at John 1:1 for now because I want to see if all the other verses are in accord, then John 1:1 must be an exception.

Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my Logos, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life

Joh 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my Logos: and the word Logos which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

Luk 8:21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the Logos of God, and do it.

Luk 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my Logos, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

Joh 15:20 Remember the Logos that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my Logos, they will keep yours also.

Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my Logos abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my Logos: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Joh 12:47 And if any man hear my Logos, and believe it not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

Joh 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my Logos , hath one that judgeth him: the Logos that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Joh 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my Logos, he shall never see death.

Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my Logos.

Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my Logos hath no place in you.

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my Logos, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Joh 5:47 But if ye believe not his (Moses’) writings, how shall ye believe my Logos ?

Luk 21:33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my Logos shall not pass away.

Luk 6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my Logos (words), and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: a wise person who built a house upon a rock foundation

Mat 13:18 "Listen, then, and learn what the parable of the sower means. Those who hear the logos of the Kingdom but do not understand it are like the seeds that fell along the path. The Evil One comes and snatches away what was sown in them. The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who receive the logos gladly as soon as they hear it. But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the logos, they give up at once. The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear the logos; but the worries about this life and the love for riches choke the message, and they don't bear fruit. And the seeds sown in the good soil stand for those who hear the logos and understand it: they bear fruit, some as much as one hundred, others sixty, and others thirty." (Mt. 13:18-23)

So far I see these things

• · Jesus said the logos was Yahweh’s words.
• · The logos is words that are spoken and heard.
• · Some reject the words, they refuse to hear or make a place in their hearts for them.
• · The would-be-followers accept them and begin doing what they said to do.
• · However many who start well, cease doing them and fall by the wayside.
• · Nevertheless, those who accept the words and continue doing them have eternal life now.
• · Jesus differentiated between the Logos and himself. He said some will reject him and also the logos and that he would not judge them on the Judgment day but the logos would judge them.

What think ye?

2012 Hoax

For those of you expecting the world to end in 2012 come back here on 2013 and listen to me say I told you so.

It is so preposterous to think that if God would not reveal the date to Jesus or the angels, he would reeal it to a tribe of blood -thirsty Cannibals living in the jungles of Mexico.

The world will not end in 2012. Mark my word.

Baal Shem and Baal Shem Tov

Thanks to Sean for pointing out that I had named Baal Shem Tov as the rabbi connected to the Hebrew version of Matthew.   The correct author is  Ibn Shaprut. Baal Shem means "master of the name" and is used to refer to rabbis who perform miracles. 

The man who authored the Hebrew Matthew lived in 1330 and his gospel is often called Shem Tov the "Good Name."

It is a pretty serious error on my part to confuse these two men  as many people believe the Baal Shem Tov was and is the Messiah. He was born in Poland/Russia Aug. 27th 1700-1770. He is known as the father of the joyful Jewish sect called the  Hasidics, from the word hesed (piety/mercy/love).

Now you can see why my error is so serious and I am glad Sean pointed this error out to me so I can correct it. 

I believe in the truth wherever I find it. I must say that the Hebrew copy that is connected to Ibn Shaprut 1380 in Spain disagrees in many places with our English Matthew, but any serious student of Gospel manuscripts, should read it.

Save me from the Missionaries

 

Over Christmas, 2008, I went to The Dominican Republic in the Caribbean to visit some friends who are independent, self-appointed missionaries. They have been there two years and spent the first year traveling the country with their 2 year old boy looking for the right place to begin their mission. During that year they lived with several missionaries and were very disturbed by what they  saw and heard.

They said all the missionaries live in huge houses and drive new cars, or trucks and live lives far above the level of the Dominican people. This led to a deep discussion about how to do missions.

We began with Yahshuah command, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." (Matthew 28:19). That is the mission and it seems pretty straight forward. Missionaries are to teach. They are teachers. But what are they to teach? Math, science, political science, urban planning, Kung-Fu?

Yahshuah said, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:20)

Did he say teach them all things that Paul taught? No. Did he say teach the book of the Revelation? No. Did he say teach the whole Bible? No. He said teach the things that he taught while he preached in the highways and byways and streets of Israel.

Did he say the focus of missions is to build schools? No, but that's what missionaries do. Did he say to build clinics? No, but that's what missionaries do? Did he say to build roads? No, but that's what missionaries do. Did he say to buy land and erect meeting halls and have church services and take tithes and offerings from the people and  raise funds? No, but that's what missionaries are best at.  Did he say to teach people to fish, develop coops, start businesses, get micro loans, improve their agricultural techniques,  purify their drinking water, improve sanitation practices, form Republics and choose democracy, or socialism etc. etc. No.

The reason that missionaries get involved in all of the above things that they shouldn't be involved in, is because they do not understand the basic gospel of Yahshuah. In Greece, in the third century, the Greek Christians decided the man Yahshuah was God. That led them to move away from the Gospel as found in the 4 books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and to misconceive that every word in the whole Bible came from Yahshuah's mouth. That meant they were required to go forth and teach everything in the Bible. That meant Christianity became wedded to the old Judaism that Yahshuah had come to terminate.  Christianity became hobbled with Jewish  ideas of prosperity and social welfare  and Justice programs and Zoroastrian ideas of eternal torments in hell.. That also meant that Christianity became hobbled with the communal ideas found in the book of Acts and the bizarre millenialism found in the book of the Revelation. It was further mishaped by the substitutionary bloody atonement theory put forth by Paul which tied in with the cult of Milthraism as found among the Roman soldiers . In other words Christianity became a freakish cult of  guilt ridden, fear mongering, welfare working,  police-loving and soldier-loving community developers, politicians, and doomsday whackos.

The second mistake I see is the word go. Yahshuah said go and teach all nations. There is everything nomadic in the word go. The teachers should always be on the move, not sinking roots, not building houses, or meeting halls, not organizing hierarchies.

The modern model of missions is this; a Christian from a rich country raises support and moves to a poor country where he is immediately seen as a wealthy foreigner. He has cargo, lots of it. He buys a large plot of land, begins inviting the desparately poor to meetings. They come because they reason that if they accept this rich foreigner's relgion they too will have cargo.

 Meanwhle the rich foreigner builds a mansion of sorts, has new cars and begins to prosper mightily. Meanwhile the cargo hungry convert gets little of the cargo, grows disillusioned and become an enemy of the rich missionary. The missionary experiences persecution and is firmly convinced it's because he is doing God's will.

I think Yahshuah chose poor fisherman to be his missionaries for a reason. He wanted them  to travel light and fast teaching where ever they found a teachable moment in the street, at a farm, one on one, or as the need for more space became necessary it would be provided. They were not to come as wealthy foreigners. They were not to meddle with the social fabric, they were not trained medical doctors, they were bearers of the greatest gift of all the teachings of Yahshuah.