The Hebraic 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 Hebraic 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 Hebraic 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 Hebraic 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?"[Note: The
Messengers of Messiah website is no longer on the Internet.]
Peter Michas and other Hebraic 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 Hebraic 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 Hebraic 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 Hebraic 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).
RABBINIC
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 Hebraic 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.
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: The somewhat sanitized edition of
this article 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 Hebraic Roots groups, 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 Hebraic 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)
PART II
RELATED ARTICLES
The
Mark of the Beast: The Six-Pointed Star
The
Semitic New Testament
The
Hebrew Movement: The Fourth Wave
Midrash...The
Camel's Nose
Under
the Law: The Lubavitch Movement & Noahide Laws
The
Deadly Fruit of Kabbalah
The
World Sabbath
The
Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism
The
Lost Tribe of Dan
The
Spirit of Elijah
The
Jew & Israel as the Bible Presents Them
Judaising
the Christian Church
"Tishrei"
Heresy & Israel's True Biblical Position Today
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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