The
Hebrew Roots Movement
Not
giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men,
that
turn from the truth. Titus 1:14
This report was written
to demonstrate that the sources used by the Hebrew Roots Movement (Talmud,
Mishnah, Midrash, Halakah and Haggada) evolved into and purvey the same
occult teachings as the Kabbalah/Zohar, the preeminent compendium of Jewish
mysticism. Schools of Kabbalah generally require a knowledge of these Rabbinic
sources:
"But the Scripture
alone can not show the meanings within. Rabbinic hermeneutics could find
a wealth of meaning in the subtlest details of the text, a characteristic
that Kabbalistic writing took over. To be able to deal with Kabbalistic
texts, and at least be conversant with the literary forms they take, and
the references they make to material which their authors assumed 'everyone'
would know, the student should at a minimum be at least marginally familiar
with the following items...the Talmud (Mishnah and Gemara)...The Midrash...
The Siddu, or Prayerbook... Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak)... and Rambam
(Rabbi Moses ben Maimon or Maimonides)."
That these sources are
stepping stones to the occult is a fact of which every student of the Hebrew
Roots view of Christianity should be apprised, but all seem to be totally
unaware. It is our prayer that the Holy Spirit will reveal to disciples
of the Hebrew Roots organizations the truths of Christian liberty expressed
in the book of Galatians and lead them out of this movement, which otherwise
will eventually deliver them into the Luciferic initiation, the dreadful
bondage of the Noahide Laws and the global Kabbalist/Freemasonic New World
Order.
The Divine
Inspiration of Scripture
Peter Michas of Messengers
of Messiah Ministries maintains that the original Gospels were written
in Hebrew and/or Aramaic, translated into Greek and are therefore unreliable,
especially having passed through successive translations to the English
New Testament used by English-speaking Christians today. The solution to
this problem, according to Michas, is to turn to the Old Testament and
Jewish traditions to determine the truth of the New Testament. Peter Michas
advocates reliance upon the Jewish Mishnah, Haggadah, Halakah, Talmud and
Midrash, along with the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament),
as better commentaries on New Testament doctrine than the Greek and English
New Testaments themselves, which he claims are inferior translations of
the presumed Hebrew/Aramaic originals:
Is
The New Testament Hebrew/Aramaic or Greek?
"In summation,
since existing New Testament manuscripts are Greek, written to express
Hebraic concepts, why be limited to the Greek or English translations when
we have Hebrew, now a living language not very different than it was 2000
years ago. The New Testament is in the pattern of the Jewish traditional
work of Torah, Mishnah, Haggadah, Halakah, Talmud and Midrash, but inspired
by God Himself for the common people. These Hebraic works as well as the
Inspired Scriptures were quoted from by Jesus and all the writers of the
New Testament. But even now, to have full comprehension, we must read the
scriptures in the proper Hebraic context.
"Most all of
the Judaic writings have been preserved for us and now translated into
proper English directly from the Hebrew, as well as explained in true Hebraic
manner. Therefore, why not go to this material and study ourselves approved
before God with full context and understanding?"
Peter Michas and other
Hebrew Roots organizations have connections and conduct seminars with a
non-Christian, Jesus-Seminar type of institution called the Jerusalem School
of Synoptic Research. A book published in 1984 by David Bivin (Director
of the JSSR) and Roy Blizzard has formed the basis of much Hebrew Roots'
doctrine. The following excerpts from Understanding The Difficult Words
Of Jesus represent the JSSR viewpoint on the lack of originality of
the Greek New Testament:
"Why
are the words of Jesus that we find in the Synoptic Gospels so difficult
to understand? The answer is that the original gospel that formed the basis
for the Synoptic Gospels was first communicated, not in Greek, but in the
Hebrew language. In spite of this, today's modern translations are all
based upon a Greek text, derived from a still earlier Greek text, which
is itself a translation of an original Hebrew Life of Jesus. This means
that we are reading an English translation of a text which is in itself
a translation. Since the Synoptic Gospels are derived from an original
Hebrew text, we are constantly bumping into Hebrew expressions or idioms
which are often meaningless in Greek, or in translations from the Greek.
1.
"Our
reasons for writing this book are not only to show that the original gospel
was communicated in the Hebrew language; but to show that the entire New
Testament can only be understood from a Hebrew perspective. 2.
"It
cannot be overemphasised, that the key to an understanding of the New Testament
is a fluent knowledge of Hebrew and an intimate acquaintance with Jewish
history, culture, and Rabbinic Literature." 3.
The Jerusalem School of
Synoptic Research, a "consortium of Jewish and Christian scholars," is
non-committal regarding the divinity of Jesus Christ, identifying Him only
as being "like other Jewish sages of that time":
"The Jerusalem
School of Synoptic Research is a consortium of Jewish and Christian scholars
who are examining the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) within
the context of the language, land and culture in which Jesus lived. Their
work confirms that Jesus was an organic part of the diverse social and
religious landscape of Second Temple-period Judaism. He, like other Jewish
sages of that time, taught in Hebrew and used specialized teaching methods
to teach foundational Jewish theological concepts such as the kingdom of
heaven, God's abundant grace, loving God and loving one's fellow man."
Which
Greek Text?
It becomes apparent
that one root of the Hebrew Roots movement, as well as the JSSR, is denial
of the divine inspiration of Scripture. However, neither Peter Michas nor
the scholars of the JSSR specify whether the Greek text in question is
the Textus Receptus or the Westcott-Hort New Greek Text. Many Christians
do not know that there exist two radically different Greek texts based
on different families of manuscripts and displaying over 6,000 variations,
many of these in verses containing doctrine.
The New Greek Text edited
by B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort in 1881 may be the culprit in this quagmire
of deception and the cause of many liberal scholars' rejection of the Divine
inspiration of the New Testament. It is also a reasonable assumption that
the proponents of the Hebrew Roots movement doubt the inspiration of the
Gospels because their Westcott-Hort New Testaments are NOT divinely inspired!
B.F. Westcott and F.J.A.
Hort were themselves practical occultists who determined to replace the
Received Greek Text (Textus Receptus) with the Alexandrian family of Gnostic
manuscripts, which more closely reflected their belief system. The well-documented
facts of the occult associations and dishonorable intentions of these two
Anglican scholars can be found in The Nineteenth Century Occult Revival.
The Life and Letters
of Westcott and Hort reveal the mindset and mischief of the two Anglican
Spiritualists who despised the doctrine of the divine inspiration of Scripture.
There is, however, no evidence of an attempt to corrupt the Scriptures
on the part of Erasmus, whose 2nd edition of the Greek New Testament laid
the foundation for the Protestant Reformation (as opposed to the W-H New
Greek Text which launched the Anglican Apostasy). Quite the contrary, Erasmus
recognized that Jerome's Latin Vulgate was based on Gnostic manuscripts
and chose instead those manuscripts which agreed with the Byzantine Text.
Erasmus' text formed the basis of subsequent Greek editions of the New
Testament by Stephanus, Beza and the Elzivir Brothers. Luther translated
the New Testament into German using Erasmus' second edition.
From Erasmus' Greek
Text came many other translations of the Bible: the Zurich (Swiss) Version
(1529), LeFevre's (French) Bible (1534), the Olivetan (French) Bible (1558),
de Reyna's (Spanish) Bible (1569), the Czech Version (1602), and Diodati's
(Italian) Bible (1607). English Bibles translated from the Greek Text of
Erasmus include the Tyndale Bible (1534), the Coverdale Bible (1535), The
Matthew's Bible (1537), the Great Bible (1539), the Geneva Bible (1560),
the Bishop's Bible (1568), and the Authorised Version (1611).
Rabbinical
Writings
A Christian
Alternative to the New Testament?
Jacob Prasch of Moriel
Ministries seems to accept the Westcott-Hort New Greek Text as authentic,
at least in his unscholarly review of Gail Riplinger's expose, New Age
Bible Versions.
This ambivalence regarding
Bible versions and Greek texts is not unlike the equivocal stance Mr Prasch
takes regarding the JSSR. In another critique he explains, "Why I do not
subscribe to the views of the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research on
Hebrew source documents for the Gospels." [Author's note: This article
was removed from the Moriel website after publication of our expose.] Although
Jacob Prasch does not agree with the "Hebrew Source critical arguments
espoused by David Bivin and Roy Blizzard," he believes their material is
worth considering and has advertised their seminars in Moriel publications.
Moreover, he is generally "in agreement with, or at least sympathetic towards...the
Jerusalem School as a whole, (and) other propositions of scholars associated
with the School":
"From an academic
position, we must separate someone's doctrines from their scholarly arguments...
This... applies to David Bivin and Roy Blizzard, (who have in any event
separated from one another). It is commonly said around Jerusalem that
these men are Campbellites, departing from orthodox evangelicalism, and
have in common doctrinal roots with the "Church of Christ", a sect which
many see as cultic and having a de facto sacramental soteriology. Whatever
their Campbellite inclinations may be, we must only consider their arguments
as arguments without reference to their doctrines or ecclesiology...
"I again wish
to note I have no objections to the arguments of the Jerusalem School being
considered for purely scholarly purposes within an academic format, or
being researched and investigated by Christians with an interest in the
Jewish roots of their faith. Indeed in our own newsletter we have advertised
seminars with David Bivin."
Bivin and Blizzard have
infected many leaders of the Hebraic Roots movement with doubt concerning
the authenticity of the Greek and English New Testaments and these, in
turn, have influenced others to prefer uninspired Hebrew sources as guides
to ascertaining Christian doctrine. As we shall see, the learned adepts
of the Hebrew Roots organizations have become the modern equivalent of
the Judaizers who followed the Apostle Paul from city to city, spying on
the believers' liberty in Christ and perverting the Gospel. When these
Judaizers sought to draw the Galatian churches back to the Judaic system,
Paul gave neither credence to their arguments nor regard to their scholarly
affectations:
...we gave
place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel
might continue with you. But of these who seemed to be somewhat (whatsoever
they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for
they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me. Gal.
2:6
Elsewhere, Scripture admonishes
believers turn away from heretics:
A man that
an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that
he is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. Titus 3:9, 10
Having allowed that the
writings of unregenerate scholars, Rabbinical and otherwise, are admissible
as sources for understanding the New Testament, Mr Prasch promotes the
use of the Jewish traditional literature such as the Midrash, the Rabbinical
commentaries attached the Old Testament text. "An Explanation of Midrash"
offers lip service to the New Testament requirement of comparing Scripture
with Scripture to determine doctrine, however the heavy promotion of Jewish
Rabbinical and other spiritual traditions belies any pretensions Jacob
Prasch may have to Christian orthodoxy. To further the departure from the
orthodox interpretations of Scripture, a straw man is set up -- the Protestant
Reformers -- which Mr Prasch then knocks down, advising students of Scripture
to turn instead to non-believing rabbis for interpretation of the Bible:
"Midrash is
the method of hermeneutics (Biblical interpretation) used by the ancient
rabbis in the time of Jesus and Paul. Midrash incorporates a grammatical-historical
exegesis, vaguely similar to the western models of Biblical interpretation
that the Reformers borrowed from 16th century Humanism, but it sees this
as simply a first step.
"The problem
with the Reformers is that they only went so far. They made rules governing
the application of their grammatical-historical system in order to refute
medieval Roman Catholicism, and many of those rules are still taught in
theological seminaries today.
"One such rule
is this: There are many applications of a Scripture but only one interpretation.
That is total rubbish! The Talmud tells us there are multiple interpretations.
Who did Jesus agree with? The Reformers? Or the other rabbis?... Another
rule of Reformed Hermeneutics says that, if the plain wording of Scripture
makes sense, seek no other sense. Take it at its face value, full stop.
That is also total rubbish!"
Was Jesus Christ in agreement
with the Jewish rabbis? Does not Scripture devote the entirety of Matthew
23 to Jesus' scathing denunciation of those very rabbis and their religious
system based on traditions which contradicted the Word of God?
Then spake
Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the
Pharisees sit in Moses seat; All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe,
that observe and do: but do not ye after their works: for they say, and
do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them
on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of
their fingers.
But all their
works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries,
and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms
at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the
markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. but be not ye called Rabbi:
for one is your Master, even Christ: and all ye are brethren...
But woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that
are entering to go in...
Ye serpents,
ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore,
behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of
them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your
synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come
all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous
Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between
the temple and the altar. (Matt. 23:1-8, 33-35)
It was the descendants
of the Pharisees, the rabbis of the Middle Ages, who put into written form
the oral Midrashic traditions. One example of midrashic interpretation
presented by Jacob Prasch shows the outrageous license taken by the Rabbinical
writers. Students of Kabbalah will recognize the Tree of Life of the Ten
Sefirot, the initiatory path of ascent to the Divine, purveyed through
the midrashic interpretation of the fig tree!
"The fig tree,
midrashically, in Jewish metaphor, represents the Tree of Life that we
see in the garden in Genesis, in Ezekiel 47, and in the Book of Revelation.
So when Jesus told Nathaniel, 'I saw you while you were still under the
fig tree' (John 1:48), He was not simply saying to Nathaniel that He saw
him under a literal fig tree (although He did), He was telling him that
He had seen him from the garden, from the Creation, from the foundation
of the world."
Whilst Jacob Prasch dispenses
with Protestant methods of exegesis, he gives partial acceptance to Theosophy,
the Kabbalist/Rosicrucian system of discovering and developing the divine
powers in man:
"Some of the
Early Church Fathers believed that what was best in Greek theosophy, for
example the monotheistic ideas of Plato and Socrates, helped to prepare
the Greek world for the coming of Jesus, in the same way that the Torah
(the Old Testament) prepared the Jewish world. Up to a point, that is a
fair statement.
"Theosophy
= Any philosophy which attempts to establish direct contact with the divine
principle in order to gain spiritual insight. There is a Greek (Hellenistic)
way of thinking and there is a Hebrew (Hebraic) way of thinking. Paul used
both. When Paul spoke to the Jews he used the Hebrew way of thinking, but
in Athens when he was preaching the gospel to the Areopagites (Acts 17:22-31),
he used the Greek way of thinking. Jews seek a sign, Greeks seek wisdom.
There is validity in both, if they are used biblically."
[Author's note: A revised
edition of an Explanation of Midrash which now appears on the Moriel website
omits the definition of Theosophy.]
Theosophy is always occult
wisdom, to be avoided like the plague according to Deuteronomy 18:9-11.
Madame H.P. Blavatsky's Theosophical Glossary defines theosophy as the
wisdom-religion of the Rosicrucians:
"Theosophia
(Gr.). Wisdom-religion, or 'Divine Wisdom'. The substratum and basis of
all the world-religions and philosophies, taught and practised by a few
elect ever since man became a thinking being. In its practical bearing,
Theosophy is purely divine ethics; the definitions in dictionaries are
pure nonsense, based on religious prejudice and ignorance of the true spirit
of the early Rosicrucians and mediaeval philosophers who called themselves
Theosophists."
HEBRAIC
ROOTS:
Jewish
or Occult Sources?
Is the New Testament
in the pattern of the Mishnah, Haggadah, Halakah, Talmud and Midrash, as
Peter Michas teaches? "Jewish traditional work" refers to the oral traditions
that were passed through successive generations as opposed to the written
Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. University of Calgary
Hebrew scholar, Eliezer Segal, Ph.D., indicates that
much of the Jewish oral tradition originated in ancient Babylon and was
passed through successive generations until compiled in written form during
the third to twelfth centuries A.D. Some information about the Mishnah,
Haggadah, Halakah, Talmud and Midrash, may be obtained from Dr. Segal's
website, which is cited in this report along with other authoritative sources,
to give the reader an overview of the origins, history and nature of these
sources.
[NOTE: Dr. Segal received
his M.A. and Ph.D. in the Talmud Dept. at Hebrew University. He is the
recipient of several scholarships and grants in Talmud and Babylonian Midrash
studies, has taught the Talmud, Mishnah, Midrash and Rabbinics, published
books and articles on the Babylonian Talmud, Midrash, and Haggadah. Dr.
Segal is a lecturer on "Jewish Mysticism," "Halakha, Holidays and History",
"On Completing the Babylonian Talmud," "Ecology and the Environment: Halacha
and Reality," "Burned, Banned and Best Seller: The Talmud," "Joseph and
Osiris," and other subjects. He has participated in a number of interfaith
dialogues. On his site is also found a full explanation of The Ten Sefirot
of the Kabbalah.]
The Mishnah
The Mishnah is the early
Talmud or the forerunner of the Talmud. To the Mishnah the rabbis later
added the Gemara (Rabbinical commentaries). Together these comprise the
Talmud. Scholars will claim that the Talmud is partly a collection of oral
traditions given by Moses which had not yet been written down in Jesus'
time. However, Christ condemned the traditions of the Mishnah (early Talmud)
and the Scribes and Pharisees who taught it, because their oral traditions
contradicted the teachings of Scripture. The severe warnings of Jesus Christ
regarding the traditions of men which make null and void the Word of God
(Matt. 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-13) are a reference to the Mishnah:
Then the Pharisees
and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition
of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
He answered
and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it
is written, THIS PEOPLE HONOURETH ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THIER HEART IS
FAR FROM ME. HOWBEIT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING FOR DOCTRINES
THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold
the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such
like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment
of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. (Mk. 7:5-9)
The Mishnah
was later compiled (c. 200 A.D.) by Rabbi Judah ben Simeon, who presided
over Judaism's supreme judiciary and legislative body, the Sanhedrin.
"Mishnah can
refer in a general way to the full tradition of the Oral Torah, as formulated
by the Rabbis in the first centuries of the Common Era. These traditions
could not be written down, but had to be transmitted and learned by word
of mouth. This restriction was observed quite scrupulously throughout the
eras of the Mishnah and Talmud.
"The Jewish
sages whose statements are quoted in the Mishnah are known as Tanna'im*
(singular: 'Tanna'), derived from the Aramaic root related to the Hebrew
'ShNH.' The era in which the Mishnah was developed is therefore referred
to as the 'Tanna'itic' era."
Who are the Tanna'im?
The Jewish sages referred
to as Tanna'im are, in fact, the high initiates of Kabbalah. The Theosophical
Glossary of H.P. Blavatsky shows the correlation between Tanaim and Kabbalah:
"TANAIM (Heb.).
Jewish Initiates, very learned Kabbalists in ancient times. The Talmud
contains sundry legends about them and gives the chief names of them.
"KABALIST.
From Q B L H, Kabalah, an unwritten or oral tradition. The kabalist is
a student of 'secret science,' one who interprets hidden meaning of the
Scriptures with the help of the symbolical Kabala, and explains the real
one by these means. The TANAIM were the first kabalists among the Jews;
they appeared at Jerusalem about the beginning of the third century before
the Christian Era... This secret doctrine is identical with that of the
Chaldeans, and includes at the same time much of the Persian wisdom, or
'magic'. (caps added)
"KABALAH (Heb.)
The hidden wisdom of the Hebrew Rabbis of the middle ages derived from
the secret doctrines concerning divine things and cosmogony, which were
combined into a theology after the time of the captivity of the Jews in
Babylon. All the works that fall under the esoteric category are termed
Kabbalistic..."
There appears to be disagreement
as to precisely when the oral traditions took on a written form. However,
Dr. Segal confirms that the Mishnah was developed and disseminated from
a fixed body of teaching that originated in ancient Babylon (Chaldea):
"Although there
are traditions in the Mishnah that claim to go back to the fifth century
B.C.E. (the 'Great Assembly'; cf. Nehemiah 8-10), as well as a few additions
from as late as the mid-third century, the main body of the Mishnah consists
of teachings attributed to authorites from about the middle of the first
century, through to the second decade of the third century C.E. This time
period witnessed some major historical turning-points for the Jewish nation,
such as the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple in 70, and the catastrophic
failure of the revolt against Rome under the leadership of Simeon bar Kokhba
(or: bar Kuziba) in 135. Because the Mishnah is a technical work of religious
law, these momentous historical events find almost no explicit mention
in the Mishnah, even though the very composition of the Mishnah is often
viewed as a response to those very events...
"All ancient
sources are in agreement that the Mishnah was compiled by Rabbi Judah the
'Prince,' before his death around 217 C.E. ... It should be emphasized
that--contrary to a view that appears in many histories and introductions,
and which is based on the writings of medieval Spanish Jewish authorities
[ed: see Sephardic Jews below] --this redaction did not involve writing
down the traditions, but merely the determining and organizing of a fixed
text that was subsequently disseminated by memory. It is clear from the
internal evidence of the Talmud that the teachings of the Rabbis continued
to be studied orally throughout the Talmudic era, and this continued to
be the practice in the Babylonian academies well into the middle ages...
"Rabbi Judah
ben Simeon bore the Hebrew title of 'Nasi,' signifying the position of
Patriarch, the official political representative of the Jewish people.
From an internal Jewish perspective, the Nasi presided over Judaism's supreme
judiciary and legislative body, the Sanhedrin. The title had become a hereditary
one, almost without interruption, since the days of the revered Hillel
the Elder in the first century B.C.E."
The
Mishnah Torah
The Jews of Spain who
followed Babylonian rather than Palestinian Jewish traditions were exiled
to Sepharad, whence they have been credited with disseminating Cabalism
throughout Europe. [See Encarta and Grolier's Encyclopedia entries on the
Sephardim below] Amongst the most important Jewish thinkers of the Sephardic
tradition was Moses Maimonides, who compiled the Mishneh Torah:
Eliezer Segal, Ph.D.,
U. of Calgary Commentary on Maimonides:
"[Moses Maimonides]
lived from 1138 to 1204. He spent ten full years compiling the Mishneh
Torah, which he continued to revise throughout his lifetime. Moses Maimonides
(Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, usually referred to in Hebrew by the acronym "RaMBa"M)
was one of the towering figures in medieval intellectual and religious
life. In addition to his law code, he excelled in the fields of philosophy,
science, medicine, exegesis and communal leadership. Though born in Spain,
in his youth his family fled religious persecution, settling in Egypt...
"Maimonides'
Mishneh Torah was intended to be a summary of the entire body of Jewish
religious law... It opens with a section on systematic philosophical theology,
derived largely from Aristotelian science and metaphysics, which it regards
as the most important component of Jewish law. Most other Jewish codes
avoided mixing creed and religious law; and Maimonides' interpretation
of Jewish religion in terms of Greek ideas aroused much opposition."
In Chapter 10 of the English
Translation, Maimonides' Mishnah Torah curses Jesus Christ:
"It is a mitzvah
[religious duty; ARC], however, to eradicate Jewish traitors, minnim, and
apikorsim, and to cause them to descend to the pit of destruction, since
they cause difficulty to the Jews and sway the people away from God, as
did Jesus of Nazareth and his students, and Tzadok, Baithos, and their
students. MAY THE NAME OF THE WICKED ROT." (p. 184) [caps added]
The Jewish publisher's
commentary accompanying the preceding statement of Maimonides states that
Jesus was an example of a min (plural: minnim). The commentary also states
that the students of Tzadok were defined as those Jews who deny the truth
of the Talmud and who uphold only the written law (i.e. the Old Testament).
The Midrash
The Tanna'im, the high
initiates of Kabbalah, also compiled the Midrash:
"In some contexts
'Mishnah' is contrasted with 'Midrash.' The latter term denotes Rabbinic
teachings that are attached to the text of the Bible, whereas the former
term refers to teachings that are organized or formulated independently
of Scripture...
"The Mishnah
was clearly not designed to encompass the whole of the Oral Torah tradition.
The same Rabbis who contributed to it also figured prominently in the Tannai'itic
Midrashic collections."
Rabbi Scheinerman's Magical
Midrash page identifies the Midrash as the product of the Tannaitic period:
"In its classical
sense, Midrash, which has as its root the Hebrew word darash, meaning 'to
seek out,' refers to a body of rabbinic literature made up of anthologies
of biblical exegesis and homilies dating from the tannaitic period (70-200
c.e.) through to the Middle Ages. The most well known anthology of midrashim
is Midrash Rabbah, which provides a running midrashic commentary to the
five books of the Torah, as well as to the 'five scrolls' (Esther, Ruth,
Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs)."
The Encyclopedia Judaica
defines this method of interpreting Scripture: "Midrash (midrashim:plural)
-- 'The method of interpreting scripture to elucidate legal points (midrash
Halakkah) or to bring out lessons by stories or homiletics (midrash Aggadah).
Also, the name for a collection of such rabbinic interpretations.'"
Nesta Webster's Secret
Societies and Subversive Movements adds:
"... the Jewish
Encyclopedia admits that Jewish legends concerning Jesus are found in the
Talmud and Midrash and in the life of Jesus (Toledot Yeshu) that originated
in the Middle Ages. It is the tendency of all these sources to belittle
the person of Jesus by ascribing to Him illegitimate birth, magic, and
a shameful death." [Jewish Encyclopedia, article on Jesus]
The Midrash and midrashic
interpretation tend to devalue the literal, historical interpretation of
Scripture in favor of private, hidden and even mystical interpretations.
For example, Rabbi Scheinerman's Magical Midrash page states:
"Midrash is
subversive as it winds its way between and around stern, stark, seemingly
stagnant texts. As Judith Plaskow has stated, 'Jews have traditionally
used midrash to broaden or alter the meaning of texts' (in Davidman/Tenenbaum,
80). Midrash assumes that the black letters of scripture as well as the
white spaces between them are holy; that the explicitly stated as well
as that which can be inferred from the Bible can be manifestations of God's
word. Midrash is a kind of scriptural archaeology, bidding us not to stop
at surface appearances but to dig down deeply into the text to uncover
hidden riches..."
Midrashic interpretations
permit students of Scripture to explore far beyond the safe boundaries
of the sacred canon. Apostates such as Unity minister Rev. J. Ronald Jones,
are permitted nearly unlimited license using midrashim to support their
false teachings:
Sacred Jewish
history = Zoroaster, Buddha & Osiris?
"Midrash requires
that anything to be venerated in the present must be connected with sacred
moments of Jewish history. It is the accepted way of incorporating timelessness,
continuity, and authority into a sacred narrative. Jesus' life was thus
connected to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha,
'2 Isaiah,' and others. The virgin birth story was made to mirror earlier
stories of Zoroaster and Romulus and Remus; and the ascension story was
made to mirror earlier stories of the Buddha and Osiris..."
Midrash rejects orthodox
interpretation of Scripture ~
"How does a text lose
its historical focus? The closing of the canon removes a collection of
sacred writings from the temporal process. No subsequent event, world view,
conventional wisdom, or cultural value has the power to change the canon.
No new writings can be added. Quite the opposite, new events must be interpreted
with the aid of the canon. The canon stands beyond Time as a judge of temporal
events."
"Both Jewish
and liberal Christian communities agree that the Bible as canon still permits
perpetual interpretation. They accept it as normal that there can be an
infinite variety of interpretations all 'inspired' by the text. The goal
is to 'search out' the fullness of what was spoken by God. It is only through
a process of dialogue within a community of faith that knowledge of God's
revelation grows and becomes the Word of God for the present generation.
Visotzky notes: 'There is no one common reading of Scripture that everyone
can agree with--and there never has been.'6 When a community of faith insists
on a single, normative reading that everyone must 'swear to,' it is on
the verge of death as a vital community."
Midrash minimizes authority
of the Biblical text ~
"As a methodology, Midrash
tends to minimize the authority of the wording of the text. It places the
focus on the reader, and on the personal struggle of the reader to reach
an acceptable moral application of the text. While it is always governed
to some degree by the wording of the text, it allows the reader to project
his or her inner struggle into the text. This allows for some very powerful
and moving interpretations which, to the ordinary user of language, can
seem to have very little connection with the text. The great weakness of
this method is that it always threatens to replace the text with an outpouring
of personal reflection. At its best it requires the presence of mystical
insight not given to all readers."
The
Talmud
The Babylonian Talmud
is a commentary on the Mishnah composed by Babylonian Jewish sages (Ravs)
from the early third to the sixth century. A Jewish sage who was from Babylonia
would have been addressed by the title, 'Rav,' while one who lived in Israel
would have been called 'Rabbi.' One portion of the Talmud dealt with folklore,
especially magical and medical recipes. The following statement, from TORAH
TO KABBALAH by R.C. Musaph-Andriesse, on the primacy of the Babylonian
Talmud (T.B.) is representative of Jewish scholarship:
"There are
two editions of the Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud.
Of these two, the Babylonian Talmud is authoritative for Orthodox Judaism,
which regards it as divinely inspired... The superiority of the Babylonian
Talmud is so great, that when people now talk about the Talmud, they always
mean the Babylonian Talmud. The authority of the Babylonian Talmud is also
greater than that of the Jerusalem Talmud. In cases of doubt the former
is decisive." (pg. 40, New York, Oxford University, Press, 1982)
According to Secret
Societies and Subversive Movements, the Talmud and the Kabbalah were
derived from Jewish oral traditions which were accorded the same authority
of the Mosaic Law:
"According
to Fabre d'Olivet, Moses, who 'was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians'
drew from the Egyptian mysteries a part of the oral tradition which was
handed down through the leaders of the Israelites...That such an oral tradition,
distinct from the written word embodied in the Pentateuch, did descend
from Moses and that it was later committed to writing in the Talmud and
the Cabala is the opinion of many Jewish writers. [According to the Jewish
view God had given Moses on Mt. Sinai alike the oral and the written Law,
that is, the Law with all its interpretations and applications --Alfred
Edersheim]" (Omni Publications, 1964, p.6.)
From the Talmud the Rabbis
developed the Zohar, the preeminent book of the Cabala, as documented extensively
in Webster's Secret Societies and also in the Jewish Encyclopedia:
"... Monsieur
Paul Vulliaud, in his exhaustive work on the Cabala recently published,1.
says that its date has been placed as early as the sixth century before
Christ and as late as the tenth century A.D., but that it is at any rate
older than the Talmud is shown by the fact that in the Talmud the Rabbis
are described as studying it for magical purposes.2.
The Sepher Yetzirah is also said to be the work referred to in the Koran
under the name of the "Book of Abraham". 3.
"The immense
compilation known as the Sepher-Ha- Zohar, Book of Light, is ... of greater
importance to the study of Cabalistic philosophy. According to the Zohar
itself, the "Mysteries of Wisdom" were imparted to Adam by God whilst he
was still in the Garden of Eden, in the form of a book delivered by the
angel Razael. From Adam the book passed on to Seth ... Enoch... Noah ...
Abraham, and later to Moses, one of its principal exponents.4.
Other Jewish writers declare... that Moses received it for the first time
on Mt. Sinai. . . to the Seventy Elders...to David and Solomon ...Ezra
...Nehemiah and finally to the Rabbis of the early Christian era 5.
"...Until this
date the Zohar had remained a purely oral tradition ... written down by
the disciples of Simon ben Jochai. The Talmud relates that for 12 years
the Rabbi Simon and his son Eliezer concealed themselves in a cavern, where
sitting in the sand up to their necks, they meditated on the sacred law
and were frequently visited by the prophet Elias.6.
In this way, Jewish legend adds, the great book of the Zohar was composed
and committed to writing by the Rabbis' son Eliezer and his secretary Rabbi
Abba. 7.
The fact is
that the main ideas of the Zohar find confirmation in the Talmud. As the
Jewish Encyclopedia observes, 'the Cabala, is not really in opposition
to the Talmud,' and 'many Talmudic Jews have supported and contributed
to it.' Adolphe Franch does not hesitate to describe it as "the heart and
life of Judaism." (Webster, p. 9)
"The greater
number of the most eminent rabbis of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
believed firmly in the sacredness of the Zohar and of the infallibility
of it's teaching." (Jewish Encyclopedia, article on Cabala)
Jesus
Christ in the Talmud
Quoting Joseph Barclay,
Nesta Webster exposed the virulent anti-Christ teachings of the Talmud:
"So also it
was the Rabbis who, after hiding from the people the meaning of the sacred
tradition at the moment of its fulfillment, afterwards poisoned that same
stream for future generations. Abominable calumnies on Christ and Christianity
are found not only in the Cabala but in the earlier editions of the Talmud.
In these, says Barclay --
"Our Lord and
Saviour is 'that one', 'such an one', 'a fool', 'the leper,' 'The deceiver
of Israel,' etc. Efforts are made to prove that he is the son of Joseph
Pandira before his marriage with Mary. His miracles are attributed to sorcery,
the secret of which He brought in a slit in His flesh out of Egypt. He
is said to have been first stoned and then hanged on the eve of the Passover.
His disciples are called heretics and opprobrious names. They are accused
of immoral practices, and the New Testament is called a sinful book. The
references to these subjects manifest the most bitter aversion and hatred.
[Joseph Barclay, The Talmud, pp.38, 39; cf Drach, op. cit I.167] (Omni
Publications, 1964, p.18-19)"
"... the Jewish Encyclopedia
admits that Jewish legends concerning Jesus are found in the Talmud and
Midrash and in the life of Jesus (Toledot Yeshu) that originated in the
Middle Ages. It is the tendency of all these sources to belittle the person
of Jesus by ascribing to Him illegitimate birth, magic, and a shameful
death. [Jewish Encyclopedia, article on Jesus] (Webster, p. 20)
[Another name for "Toledot
Yeshu" is Sepher Toldoth Jehoshua (Zohar).]
"... A subtler
device for discrediting Christianity and undermining belief in the divine
character of our Lord has been adopted ... who set out to prove that He
belonged to the sect of the Essenes, ... Thus Jewish historian Graetz declares
that Jesus simply appropriated to himself the essential features of Essenism...
So after representing Christ as a magician in the Toledot Yeshu and the
Talmud, Jewish traditions seeks to explain His miraculous works as those
of a mere healer -- an idea that we shall find descending right through
the secrets of societies to this day ... if the miracles of Christ were
simply due to a knowledge of natural laws and His doctrines were the outcome
of a sect, the whole theory of His divine power and mission falls to the
ground ... (Webster. p. 23)
"... Madam
Blavatsky's writings, on the person of Christ... 'For me, Jesus Christ,
that is to say the Man-God of the Christians, copy of the Avatars of all
countries, of the Hindu Chrishna as of the Egyptian Horus, was never a
historical personage.' Hence the story of His life was merely an allegory
founded on the existence of the "a personage named Jehoshua born at Lud."
But elsewhere she asserted that Jesus may have lived during the Christian
era or a century earlier 'as the Sepher Toldoth Jehoshua indicates.' And
Madame Blavatsky went on to say of the savants who deny the historical
value of this legend, that they --...either lie or talk nonsense. It is
our Masters who affirms it. If the history of Jehoshua or Jesus Ben Pandera
is false, then the whole of the Talmud, the whole of the Jewish canon law,
is false. It was the disciple of Jehoshua ben Parachai, the fifth President
of the Sanhedrin since Ezra, who re-wrote the Bible. ...This story is much
truer than that of the New Testament, of which history does not say a word.
(Webster, p. 299)
"...the Toledot
Yeshu relates with the most indecent details that Miriam, a hairdresser
of Bethlehem,(4) affianced to a young man named Jochanan,
was seduced by a libertine, Joseph Panther or Pandira, and gave birth to
a son whom she named Johosuah or Jeschu. According to the Talmudic authors
of the Sota and the Sanhedrim, Jeschu was taken during his boyhood to Egypt,
where he was initiated into the secrets doctrines of the priests, and on
his return to Palestine gave himself up to the practice of magic.(5)
The Toledot Yeshu, however, goes on to say that on reaching manhood, Jeschu
learnt the secret of his illegitimacy, on account of which he was driven
out of the Synagogue and took refuge for a time in Galilee. Now, there
was in the Temple a stone on which was engraved the Tetragrammaton [YHWH]
or Schem Hamphorasch, that is to say, the Ineffable Name of God; this stone
had been found by King David when the foundations of the Temple were being
prepared and was deposited by him in the Holy of Holies. Jeschu, knowing
this, came from Galilee and, penetrating into the Holy of Holies, read
the Ineffable name, which he transcribed on to a piece of whom parchment
and concealed in an incision under his skin. By this means he was able
to work miracles and to persuade the people that he was the son of God
foretold by Isaiah. With the aid of Judas, the Sages of the Synagogue,
succeeding in capturing Jeschu, who was then lead before the Great and
Little Sanhedrin, by whom he was condemned to be stoned to death and finally
hanged" Such is the story of Christ according to the Jewish Kabbalists
... (Webster. p. 21)
We mention at this point
that the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research, whose pseudo-research determines
the aberrant doctrine of Hebrew Roots organizations endorses a "Life of
Jesus" (Toledot Yeshu) written in Hebrew:
"Why are the
words of Jesus that we find in the Synoptic Gospels so difficult to understand?
The answer is that the original gospel that formed the basis for the Synoptic
Gospels was first communicated, not in Greek, but in the Hebrew language.
In spite of this, today's modern translations are all based upon a Greek
text, derived from a still earlier Greek text, which is itself a translation
of an original Hebrew Life of Jesus." [David Bivin (Dir. JSSR) & Roy
Blizzard, "Understanding The Difficult Words Of Jesus", 1984 (pp.19, 20;
pp.2,3, 1994 ed.)]
The
Haggadah
Technically, "the Haggada(h)"
is a liturgical manual used in the Jewish Passover Seder. The information
on The History of Haggadah web site indicates that it was also developed
by the Ravs in Babylonia in the Middle ages. These are not ancient documents,
but were developed during the same period as the Kabbalah.
The History
of the Haggadah
"The word Haggadah
comes from the Torah command - 'And you shall tell (v'Higadeta) your children
on that day...' Although the minimal fulfillment of this mitzvah is a simple
recounting of the going out of Egypt and explaining a few of the Pesach
symbols, proper fulfillment requires much more.
"Over the centuries
additions have been made to the Haggadah to enhance this mitzvah. Many
of these additions gained such wide acceptance that they became part of
the Haggadah. One of those additions is the Chad Gadya. Another is 'Dayeinu.'
Rav Saadia Gaon (882 CE - 942 CE) included neither in his Haggadah, although
he did recognize the existence of Dayeinu. Neither Rashi (1040-1105) nor
Maimonides (1135-1204) included Chad Gadya in their versions of the Haggadah,
although Rashi did include Dayeinu...
"The metamorphosis
of the Haggadah concluded in the late middle ages, aided by the invention
of the Printing Press, which enabled the basic Ashkenazic version which
had been endorsed by the Ari z'l to be accepted even in Sephardic communities.
The text is based upon the Haggadah of Rav Amram Gaon, who headed the Babylonian
Yeshiva of Sura between 856-876 CE. This text was endorsed by Rashi. Rav
Amram's Haggadah concluded with the after blessing on the fourth cup of
wine. It did not include 'Chasal Siddur Pesach'."
The Ashkenazi and Sephardic
communities represent two mystical traditions that have developed within
Judaism. This explains why an Haggadah is found on the New Age Sirius Community
web site which displays the Sephiroth - Tree of Life (path of occult initiation)
and a link to The Way of the Kabbalah.
Essential to a study
of the Kabbalistic traditions is historical background on the origins and
theology of both communities. Ashkenazic Jews originated in France, Germany,
and Eastern Europe. Sephardic Jews lived in Spain, Portugal, North Africa
and the Middle East. The Encyclopedia of Religion describes Ashkenazik
Hasidism, which emerged from Germany in the late 12th C., as a form of
Jewish mysticism.
Ashkenazik
Hasidim
"The German-Jewish
pietists built their own understanding of hasid, or 'pietist,' upon the
cumulative foundation of earlier meanings but moved in new directions as
well. Their worldview was grounded in the idea that God's will is only
partial revealed in the words of the Pentateuch, or the Torah, given to
the prophet Moses at Mount Sinai. God's will requires of the truly faithful
and punctilious Jew, that is, of the hasid, a search for a hidden and infinitely
demanding additional torah, which God encoded in the words of scripture...
"Along with
Maimonidean religious philosophy, theosophical mysticism, or Qabbalah,
and the scholastic legal achievement of the glossators of the Talmud, German-Jewish
pietism permanently reshaped classical Judaism into traditional Judaism,
which lasted down to the modern period... Their writings about manipulating
the divine name in the form of permutations of the Hebrew alphabet to achieve
mystical and magical goal, decidedly influenced later Jewish mysticism
in Spain." (Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. I, p.458)
Sephardic
Jews
The Sephardic Jews are
descendants of the large Jewish community living in Spain and Portugal
in the Middle Ages. Following the Muslim invasion of the Iberian peninsula
in the 8th century, the Roman Catholic Church allied with the monarchies
of Europe sought to regain hegemony of Spain and Portugal. Jews had allied
with the Moslem invaders and infiltrated the orders of Roman Catholicism
to subvert the Church/State government and to purvey their occult practices
throughout Christendom. These Judaizers were forced in 1391 and thereafter
to be baptized or face exile or death and the Spanish Inquisition was instituted
to try heretics and traitors. In 1492, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand
of Aragon who occupied the Spanish throne forcibly expelled the Sephardic
Jews, who are credited with disseminating Cabalism throughout Europe. The
Urantia Book Fellowship notes the prominence in Spain of Moses Maimonides:
"The greatest
figure in Spanish Judaism was the philosopher, talmudist, and physician,
Maimonides (1135-1204). He attempted to harmonize Judaism with the philosophy
of Aristotle."
The Encarta Concise Encyclopedia
entry "Cabala" identifies its origins in Spain and France:
"Cabala, generically,
Jewish mysticism in all its forms; specifically, the esoteric theosophy
that crystallized in 13th-century Spain and Provence, France, around Sefer
Ha-Zohar (The Book of Splendor), referred to as the Zohar. Cabala's roots
are in Hellenistic astral mysticism, in which the adept, through meditation
and the use of magic formulas, journeys ecstatically through and beyond
the seven astral spheres. Medieval Spanish Cabala, the most important form
of Jewish mysticism, is more concerned with esoteric knowledge about the
nature of the divine world and its hidden connections with the world of
creation.
"According
to the Zohar, above and beyond all human contemplation is God as he is
in himself, the unknowable, immutable En Sof (Infinite). Zoharic theosophy
concentrates on ten sefirot (realms or planes) as symbols of the inner
life and processes of the Godhead. Because they are also archetypes for
everything in the world of creation, understanding their workings can illuminate
the inner workings of the cosmos and of history. This cosmic aspect was
dramatically developed in 16th-century Lurianic Cabala, which arose in
response to the cataclysmic experience of Jewish exiles expelled from Iberia
in the 1490s, and which projected that experience onto the divine world."
The extent of the dispersion
is documented by Groliers' Encyclopedia, which also confirms the Sephardim
as followers of the occult traditions of ancient Babylon:
"The Sephardim
are those Jews who follow the liturgy and customs developed by the Jews
of medieval Spain and Portugal. The name comes from Sepharad, a place of
exile mentioned in Obadiah 20 and early identified with Iberia. Unlike
the Ashkenazim, those Jews who settled in German lands, the Sephardim followed
Babylonian rather than Palestinian Jewish traditions. They also developed
their own language, Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, a blend of medieval Castilian,
Hebrew, Arabic, and other elements. There is a considerable body of Ladino
literature.
"After the
expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492) and Portugal (1497) many Sephardim
formed communities in the lands of the Ottoman Empire--the Balkans, North
Africa, and the Middle East. Others remained in Iberia, nominally converting
to Christianity. Vilified as Marranos ('pigs'), they were subject to continuing
persecution, and most eventually left to form communities in northwestern
Europe -- Amsterdam became a particularly important center. Sephardic traditions
were largely adopted by local Jewish groups in the Middle East and North
Africa; hence, today the term Sephardim is loosely applied to all Jews
native to those areas. Among important Jewish thinkers from the Sephardic
tradition are Solomon ibn Gabirol, Moses Maimonides, and Baruch Spinoza."
Queen Isabella was evidently
reluctant to expel the Jews until the ritual murder of a young child occurred
in 1490 at the hands of certain Cabalists. A noteworthy book by Bernard
Lazare, himself a Jew, addresses such charges of Cabalistic ritual murder:
"To this general
belief are added the suspicions, often justified, against the Jews addicted
to magical practices. Actually, in the Middle Ages, the Jew was considered
by the people as the magician par excellence; one find many formula of
exorcism in the Talmud, and the Talmudic and Cabbalistic demonology is
very complicated. Now one knows the position that blood always occupies
in the operations of sorcery. In Chaldean magic it had a very great importance...
Now, it is very probable, even certain, that Jewish magicians must have
sacrificed children; hence the origin of the legend of ritual sacrifice."
(L'Antisemitisme, Vol. II, 1934, p. 215)
According to "The Inquisition
Reexamined" by Carey J. Winters, the Zohar provided theological justification
for such crimes:
"German scholar
Dr. Erich Bischoff finds authorization for Ritual Murder in the Thikunne
Zohar (Edition Berdiwetsch), a book of cabbalistic theosophy. The passage
reads: 'Furthermore, there is a commandment pertaining to the killing of
strangers, who are like beasts. This killing has to be done in the lawful
method. Those who do not ascribe themselves to the Jewish religious law
must be offered up as sacrifices to the High God.'
"The La Guardia
case did not exist in isolation; there had been earlier convictions of
ritual murder..." [RealCatholicism, 11/98]
The Talmud, upon which
the Zohar is based, also justifies the murder of Gentiles:
"Sanhedrin
57a. When a Jew murders a Gentile ("Cuthean"), there will be no death penalty.
What a Jew steals from a Gentile he may keep.
"Talmud Minor
Tractates. Soferim 15, Rule 10. This is the saying of Rabbi Simon ben Yohai:
Tob shebe goyyim harog ('Even the best of the Gentiles should all be killed')."
Nor was ritual murder the
invention of medieval Cabalists. The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, declared
the outrage of a holy God against the practice of child sacrifice which
their ancestors adopted from the heathen nations:
But draw near
hither, ye sons of a sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.
Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth,
and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of
falsehood. Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying
the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks? (Isaiah 57:3-5)
[See also: II Kings
16:3; II Chr. 28:3; II Kings 23:10 Jer. 7:31; 19:5; 32:35; Ezek. 16:20,21;
20:26,31; 23:37,39; Ps. 106:37,38]
The
Noahide Laws
There is, at present,
a worldwide movement with many points of entry (Lubavitcher Movement, Nazarene
Movement, Hebraic Roots/Messianic Movement, Latter Rain/Roman Catholic
Year of Jubilee) to bring all of mankind under the Old Testament Law. These
trendy movements to adopt the customs and feasts of the Mosaic Covenant
are effectively laying the groundwork to mobilize the Church for Jay Gary's
call to "experience the Jubilee" Year in AD 2000 and be "reconciled to
our spiritual roots." Jay Gary wrote in The Star of 2000:
"The annual
calendar of Israel was built around three major festivals: Passover, Pentecost
and Tabernacles... The Year of Jubilee encompassed these three festivals,
only raised to a higher power ...Then, as well as today, Jesus calls us
to experience His jubilee... It's time to blow the ancient trumpet. It's
time to be reconciled to our spiritual roots." (pp.84-5)
This massive movement also
seems to be leading toward the global establishment of the Noahide Laws
(already U.S. law), for which disobedience the penalty is beheading (Rev.
20:4) The Encyclopedia of Judaism lists these seven universal laws and
indicates their binding nature on all Gentiles:
"Full-page
ads in the New York Times and other newspapers have proclaimed: ‘All nations
of the world: Fulfill the 7 universal Noahide Laws given to you in the
Torah of Moses.’... One additional element of greater severity is that
violation of any one of the seven laws subjects the Noahide to capital
punishment by decapitation. (Sanh. 57A)"
The Encyclopedia of Judaism
identifies the Babylonian Talmud (T.B.) as the source of "The Noachide
Laws."
According to
Maimonides, acceptance -- on the basis of the Bible -- of the seven universal
precepts means that any such righteous Gentile is numbered with 'the pious
ones among the nations of the world...deserving a share in the world to
come' (Tosef. Sanh 13.2)
(1) Civil justice
[the duty to establish a legal system];
(2) Prohibition of
blasphemy [which includes the bearing of false witness];
(3) The abandonment
of idolatry;
(4) The prohibition
of incest [including adultery and other sexual offenses];
(5) The prohibition
of murder;
(6) Also that of theft;
(7) The law against
eating flesh [a limb] cut from a living animal [ie., cruelty in any shape
or form] (T.B. Sanh. 56A)
Hebrew scholar, Eliezer
Segal, documents that the Babylonian Talmud (T.B.) is a commentary on the
Mishnah composed by Babylonian Jewish sages (Ravs) from the early third
to the sixth century. Although it is claimed by the Lubavitch, Nazarene
and Hebraic Roots Movements that the source of the 7 Noahide Laws is the
Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy), the evidence of history proves that the Talmud
and Mishnah are derived from Babylonian traditions that Jesus said contradicted
and nullified the teaching of Scripture. Likewise, the "root" of the Hebrew
Roots Movement is not the written Torah given to Moses, but rather the
occult traditions adopted from the mystery religions of ancient Babylon.
* * *
Then came (Jesus')
disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended,
after they heard this saying?
But he answered
and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall
be ROOTED up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind, and if
the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. (Matt. 15:12,13)
Footnotes:
1. David Bivin and Roy
Blizzard, The Difficult Words of Jesus, 1984, reprinted in 1994 and 1995,
pp. 19,20 (pp. 2,3 in 1994 edition)
2. Ibid. p 19-20 (pages
2 and 3 in 1994 edition)
3. Ibid. p.22 (p.4
1994 edition)
THE TALMUD
1. Paul Vulliaud, La
Kabbale Juive: historie et doctrine, 2 vols. (Emile Nourry, 62 Rue des
Ecoles, Paris, 1923)...."
2. "Rab Hanina and
Rab Oschaya were seated on the eve of every Sabbath studying the Sepher
Ietsirah; they created a three-year old heifer and ate it." -- Talmud treatise
Sanhedrim, folio 65.
3. Koran, Sura LXXXVII.
10.
4. Zohar, section Bereschith,
folio 55, and section Lekh-Lekha, folio 76 (De Pauly's translation, Vol.
I. pp.431, 446).
5. Adolphe Franck,
La Kabbale, p. 39; J.P. Stehelin, The Traditions of the Jews, I. 145 (1748).
6. Adolphe Franck,
op. cit., p. 68, quoting Talmud treatise Sabbath, folio 34; Dr, Christian
Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, p. 85; Drach, De l'Harmonie entre l'Eglise et la
Synagogue, I. 457
7. Adolphe Franck,
op. cit., p. 69.
JESUS CHRIST IN THE
TALMUD
(4) cf. Baring -Gould,
op.cit., quoting Talmud, treatise Sabbath, folio 104, (S. Baring-Gould,
The Counter Gospels, 1874)
(5) Ibid.,p.55, quoting
Talmud, treatise Sahhedrim,folio 107, and Sota,
folio 47; Eliphas Levi,
La Science des Esprits, pp.32,33.
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