Posted on 10/06/2020 4:17:34 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”(Galatians 2:21)
There is a rapidly growing movement, which springs out of Orthodox Judaism, Apostate Messianic Christianity, and other streams of neo Judaistic sects within and on the fringes of Christianity, which is called the Noahide movement.
It is not new, of course, in fact it predates the coming of Jesus our Lord, into this world.
The problem it addresses is for those who are not Jewish, and who do not seek to fully convert to Judaism, but yet who are attracted to the Torah, and the Synagogue. Can they be ‘saved’ ? Can they be made right with God?
The Synagogue has an answer, as does the church.
According to the Rabbis, those Gentiles who want to be made Righteous, and to seek to live a Righteous life, are pointed to the Seven Noahide Laws. Supposedly , if they prescribe to those seven (categories of) laws, they will be granted the designation, “The Righteous among the Gentiles” and will share in the Messianic blessings at the end of the Age.
This concept is ancient, we see shades of this in the Gospels and book of Acts, when we see terms such as “God fearers” and “Proselytes”, among those who heard Paul preach in synagogues. Even the council in Acts 15 attempted to deal with a similar problem, “What to do with the Gentile converts…put them under the Mosaic system? …Or do we consider them full members of the congregation upon new birth?”.
They were given a brief list of prohibitions of some of the more outrageous practices which heathenism was rife with, but not as “Righteousness”. Righteousness came by Jesus, not law, Moses or otherwise.
“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”(Acts 15:19-22)
The “Noahide laws” are designated thus, because of the acknowledgment that all men are direct descendants of Noah and his Sons, therefore there must of necessity be a law binding on them, as opposed to the 613 laws which apply to the Jews, according to Orthodox judaism.
The laws are thus,
The Seven Laws of Noah include
prohibitions against worshipping idols,
cursing God,
murder,
adultery and sexual immorality,
theft, eating flesh torn from a living animal,
as well as the obligation to establish courts of justice.
I have no problem with any of those laws, in and of themselves. They would all be included pretty much in the law of God as revealed in the Old Covenant and the NEW Covenant as well, the Law of Christ.
My concerns,(and many others) stem from the fact that a good many former Christians, including quite a few evangelical ministers, are jettisoning Christianity entirely, and subscribing to either the Torah, (under the instruction of Rabbis), or to the Noachide “community”.
The following is typical of the bitterness and hatred for Christianity which the Noahide movement if teeming with,
To reject something is to pretty much admit that it exists. This is the case when dealing with people who ask the question: “have you rejected the messiah?” Perhaps the better question can be posed back: “So, you bought into the lie of a false messiah?” (warning: if you ask someone that, they’ll get angry)The issue at hand is whether the Tanach truly speaks of a long-prophesied, virgin-birthed, “son” of God, born of himself, accomplish little except to be willingly killed for supposed atonement for all mankind, failed to complete any real messianic prophecies but will come back (soon) in order to do so, and perhaps (maybe) rapture some people away at some point.
We are seeing an increasing number of testimonials, on the freedom of beauty of walking away from the world of Evangelical Christianity, and “going Torah”, by various degrees, from wearing a skullcap, to reading the Talmud and sages as well as the Hebrew Bible, to keeping Jewish Feasts, Sabbaths and in some cases, coming to a point of repudiation of the cross, the blood, the Christian understanding of Key OldTestament passages such as Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22.
These Testimonials borrow heavily from the fervor of born again evangelicalism, people are speaking of being “Born Again, again” by repudiating Jesus. They are trying to make it seem so fresh and alive, and novel.
I notice they don’t often come out and say “I repudiate Jesus Christ”, instead many use euphemisms, such referring to “the JC man”.
People are seeking righteousness itself by subscribing to these Noahide laws, and of course powerful Rabbis such as Tovia Singer are conferring upon these apostates who are drawn to Torah and the Noahide movement, the title of “Righteous Gentiles”.
The very first heresy to attack the church was the Judaizing heresy which Peter and Paul had to face, and which has inspired the book of Hebrews and the book of Galatians in particular. Salvation by law, or even Spirituality by Law, are both errors, which the gospel speaks to. “By the Works of the Law shall no flesh be justified in His Sight, for by the Law is the Knowledge of Sin…if Righteousness could come by Law, then Christ died in vain…”. Who knew we would be facing it again in these last days?
Much of this is a reaction against the shallow, lawless, easy believism culture of the modern Evangelical church. Very few modern churches even refer to the “Old Testament” in their teaching and preaching , leaving a huge gap in the knowledge of the congregation.
Others go in the other ditch, virtually worshipping everything considered “Jewish”, skull caps, insisting on “Yeshua”, over “Jesus”, Shofar blowing for spiritual effect, special ceremonies of women lighting sabbath candles, Jewish feast days, and so forth. There are many false teachers such as Michael Rood who market their “Jewish” background, wrapping themselves in Prayer mantles, but denying the Deity of Jesus.
Christians already have a Law, the Law of Messiah. We also happen to have a Righteousness, it is “In Christ” and was purchased for us by our Lord and Savior on the cross. It is no small thing to repudiate these sacred gifts, but many former evangelical, born again Christians are doing so as though it is merely the next step in their “Spirituality”.
I find this whole phenomenon heartbreaking. God help us to pull some back from the fire…
Noahide placemarker
A very interesting read
Bookmark
We knew some people who were into this. They seemed kind of nuts.
Minor splinter groups who don’t read the Bible. I don’t see this gaining much traction.
Sounds like an antidote to Jews for Jesus.
It appears I have been a Noahide all along without even knowing it. I keep the seven laws, but I have managed to do that without denying Christ.
In your previous post, you have the testimony of a man who could no longer stand the emphases of his evangelical church. There is such a thing as a bad church. The solution to that problem is to find a good church, not to go completely off the rails. I have been there, so I know it can be done. They are free to go off the rails, but I think they are abandoning the truth for something that is, ultimately, counterfeit.
Works for righteousness is losing game, so says God. Jesus Paid it all, once. And now sits at the Right Hand of the Throne of God, interceding for us ( who believe in Him and His efficacious sacrifice for sin and Righteousness before God).
All else is insult and paganism.
Sorry, but that’s the way it is. You can believe that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, but it aint so, and your believing it doesn’t change the fact.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him has life, and he who does not does not have life....
Exactly.
The ones I knew observed Saturday sabbath and all all the Jewish holidays.
I can’t remember if they ate kosher.
Lots of works.
Here’s another oddity. I remember him telling me their pastor got a vasectomy and for some reason everyone in church knew about it.
A bunch of men suddenly got fixed.
Then the pastor decided for a reversal and what do you know, suddenly all the men got reversals too. See, kind of nuts.
If the Jewish folk, that hold only Torah as the Word of God, would notice the pattern of ‘comeback kids’ in Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses; they would also know that Messiah makes two appearances. His first was in the weakness of the flesh (though he never sinned, he suffered). His second appearance will be in great power and authority.
As far back as I can remember, “Righteous Gentiles” were those people (Mostly Christian Believers) who sheltered or saved Jewish People during the Holocaust. The Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, seems to agree with me, as they have planted a lovely arboretum of Carob trees, each one dedicated to a “Righteous Gentile” who fits this description. Raoul Wallenberg, Oskar Schindler, and Corrie Ten Boom all have trees named after them, as many others.
I’ve been there. I have seen them. I am not making this up. THESE are the “Righteous Gentiles”.
It is inappropriate for any new group to appropriate that title, in my humble opinion. It is a sacred appellation.
When you hear a Christian say, "I'm not under the Law", They have jettisoned the Old Testament thinking They no longer have to follow the 10 Commandments and it's OK with God. That means you can abort babies, and sodomize men, and lie, and steal, and worship other gods, without consequence. Does any serious Christian really believe that? In Matthew 5, Jesus clearly states that not one jot or tittle will fade from the Law for eternity.
Mat 5:17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Mat 5:18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Then you have others say that Paul said the advent of Jesus and His sacrifice was the "end of the Law".
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The "end" of the Law just means the Law was there to bring you to Christ. The end just means the "goal" of the Law was to show how you need Jesus because the Law will never make you righteous even though the Law is Righteous.
So what Law did Jesus relieve His believers from? It was the Law of "sin and death". If and when you sin, if you belong to Christ you will no longer automatically die and go to hell. But Scripture is plain that you MUST REPENT, and God is quick to forgive. You still belong to God, but there may be punishment if you won't repent. You can't be pried from His hand, but Scripture says you may be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:47 And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
So these people that want to follow the Noahide Laws are being fooled into thinking they are righteous, even if they deny Jesus. Jesus is the only way to the Father. There is no other way. There is nothing wrong with following the 10 Commandments as a Gentile, but Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Even an open sinner that confesses Jesus will be saved, but God is NOT a communist and you will sit at the very distant end of the Feast Table.
Churches that preach "grace" are usually the ones that get these principles wrong. We have grace, but it's when we repent for what we've done. People say grace is free, but Jesus paid a high price for your grace. If you know Jesus doesn't want you to commit adultery, do you really believe you can get away with watching porn all day and no consequence is coming your way? One "stripe" might be your wife or her husband will find out.
The reason Jesus had to die was because none, no not one, could follow all the Laws perfectly. (pay attention here Catholics). Jesus died to save His own mother because she was blessed among women but wasn't perfect. The blood of Jesus save everyone that believes in Him and confesses Him with their mouth. This "Noahide" thingy just sounds like more liberal claptrap to ease away from dedication to Jesus. Living under any laws doesn't save you, but you know what God wanted from us by looking at the Laws God gave His people on Mt Sinai.
If you tell a bald face lie and claim Christ, you have just put another stripe on Christ's back. You have driven a nail a little deeper into His wrist. If you think God overlooks that, you need to check your salvation.
It's my understanding that the Noahide Laws are just things expected of the Flood survivors after God killed all the Nephilim Giants and their progeny. The line of Ham and Canaan were cursed after the Flood and Nimrod was the first Nephilim after the Flood. (Septuagint) The altered DNA had survived the Flood. They were witches, sorcerers, drank blood, and were cannibals. People were vegetarians until God gave permission to eat cooked animals.
Gen 9:3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.
Gen 9:4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
Num 13:32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.
Almost every Law that speaks of "abominations" has to do with practices of the Nephilim. American Indians had legends about giants that could chase down a buffalo, tear his hind leg off while running, and eat it raw in the prairie.
Every religion looks nuts to someone who isn't in it.
Any committed Christian keeps those laws without knowing them , an you are right about bad church
Yes, but “faith without works is dead”. I certainly do not believe in a works based religion, but we are to do some works...not for our salvation, though, but as a result of it.
OK, I’ll change the word nuts to the word unbiblical
Christianity is unbiblical to a Jew.
Amen. Witness, acts of charity. Etc. Carry on.
We ought to do good deeds to and for others as a result of our conversion, not to earn it.
But this movement is people who claim to be Christians but practice Judaism. Basically they are neither
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