 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
It may be surprising to many of you, but the New Testament, that is, the collection of Christian writings that came into existence in the second half of the first century as well as the next two centuries as well, bears abundant witness to the existence of a "Pattern of Worship" which can be traced backwards to Abraham (a non-Jew) and even beyond. For simplicity sake we will often refer to this as "Jewish liturgy" as we can see this "Pattern of Worship" apply not only to the Jewish Messianic congregations but the Gentile Messianic congregations as well which we will later see emerge in Asia Minor!
We at Bet Emet Ministries often get E-Mails asking "how do we find a place to worship today which follows the examples we read about in the Book of Acts?". Sadly there is no good answer for this since traditional-mainline Christianity does NOT follow the "Pattern of Worship" revealed in the Jewish Bible nor really in the New Testament as you will come to see as you study beyond the surface of the stories that we read in the New Testament. You will also come to see that neither does Gentile Christianity follow this "Pattern of Worship" as taught in the true "Apostle's Doctrines" which we should all desire to adopt in our personal lives and worship of God. As you study more into this area of knowledge you can begin to discern a very marked "Pattern of Worship" which you will see reflected by the Jews of the first century which has "roots" that go as far back as Egypt and Sumer. This "Pattern of Worship not only involves special "appointed times of the Creator" but revolve around the equinoxes and solstices; each of which carry special " messages from the Creator which sadly Christianity today has totally lost.
The parallels between Jewish Worship and this "Ancient Pattern" (once you see it) will be startling as Ancient Divine Revelation from God concerning how He is to be loved and worshiped will be revealed for the simplicity which it possessed which tragically today has been lost to most. As you have seen if you have studied in detail our Egyptian-Christian Website then you have seen for yourself the undeniable link between the Jewish nation as the descendants of the Egyptian people. That being so then one should expect that the "roots" of "Jewish Worship" should go back to their Egyptian forefathers as well and we should likewise expect Biblical Judaism to express this same "Pattern of Worship" which likewise their forefathers possessed from the earliest Revelations of God to mankind. You will not be disappointed when you both discern and search for this "Pattern of Worship" and its links to the earliest Revelation given to mankind on this plant as it is there for all discerning readers to behold. What should concern us however is if we can locate this same "Ancient Pattern of Worship" not only in the earliest understanding and worship of mankind of the Creator but if this "Pattern of Worship" can be traced down through history and if this "Pattern" can be found in Biblical Judaism as well as later when the non-Jews were taught throughout the world by men like the Apostles and Paul as we see in the both the "first" and "second Great Commissions. If we can find this same "Ancient Pattern or Worship" taught to the non-Jews, lets say in second century in various "churches" throughout Asia Minor. then the implications for us today are startling in light of the fact that mainline Gentile Christianity has little in common with this "Revealed Pattern of Worship" today. That should give you cause to think if we are not contemporary "Nabads and Abhihus" in our worship of God.
This is a startling revelation in light of our experience today as contemporary Christians whose worship is patterned after little, if any, Jewish liturgy as was our counterparts in the first three-four centuries! Roman Christianity has changed not only the Sabbath but the Biblical Holy Days as well and we as Christians and followers of "the Christ" has been given a completely different religious calendar filled with "rituals" totally foreign to this "Ancient Pattern of Worship". The witness in the New Testament of Jewish liturgy is unfortunately not descriptive. In other words, it tells us that in the time of Jesus and beyond as seen in the Book of Acts, that certain prayers, holy days, observances, rituals, and ceremonies existed, but it does not tell us in detail their composition, true meaning, or how they were practiced. But that does not meant that we cannot know this information today as Judaism as preserved this "Pattern of Worship" for all of mankind today. The New Testament tells us little about the content, structure, and dynamics of such liturgy and that was done on purpose. For example the Greek word for "Passover" (Pecach) is used 30 times in the New Testament and 29 times it is translated the same and we read "Passover" as we should. But in the Book of Acts, the book which expressed the example of the emerging Gentile Christian Church from Biblical Judaism it is not translated as it has been done 29 times before. Instead of "Passover" we find it purposely mistranslated as "Easter" in order to maintain the sun-worship of the Gentiles and their fertility cults. So on purpose we don't see an accurate picture of the Gentile Church observing the Passover historically as we today know they did but instead get a false picture of the Gentile and his worship of God which sadly has survived for over 1900 years at present. This is only the tip of the iceberg when one truly gets involved in such a study.
If you wanted to learn what the realities that are behind the terms, prayers, rituals, observances, and ceremonies recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures and other Jewish writings let alone hinted at in the New Testament then you have only one recourse open to you: you must study hard in order to learn but also to draw your own conclusions as you see this information as yourself. Only by your own study of this "Pattern of Worship" will you be convinced and thereby be fully persuaded that what lies ahead for you is your repentance of the false worship we inherited from antisemitic Rome and your own experience through your own direct participation in such liturgies and observances which is lacking in Christianity today. I encourage you to consult a variety of sources where you can read about the various liturgical rites and texts used in the Jewish worship of God as they follow the "Pattern of Worship" that they have inherited that has its roots in the earliest Revelation of God to mankind that archeologist have found today. But let me caution you and prepare you for such a study. In doing this type of study we stumble at the beginning because we link the words we read to our very own inaccurate personal experiences and the realities that are a part of our very own cultural world, instead of their intended meaning when spoken in their original setting. We must be on our toes to remember our quest is to recover "the faith once given to the Saints".
The apostles and the first readers of the Christian scriptures were in a privileged hermeneutical position: when they read of the synagogue and Sabbath and Passover, they were brought in contact with realities they knew and were familiar with; for example it can be shown that non-Jews, Gentiles, observed "the Passover " long before Moses. Did you catch that? Why? What did they know that you don't? They did it because God has commanded it and later this command is recorded for us in the later Hebrew Scriptures but we miss it since being falsely programmed to think that such things are "Jewish" and does not pertain to the Gentile and non-Jew. It is time to study hard and look for this "Pattern of Worship", not only practiced by the Jews but non-Jews in the Hebrew Scriptures as well. It is time that things we find observed in the Bible which are labeled "Jewish" be re-labeled as they should have been all along and that word is "Biblical". We must be modern day detectives of the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the New Testament in order to find the "nuggets of truth" which sadly today have been obscured by Rome's redaction and forgery of our Christian Old and New Testaments. We must become competent "detectives" of the Bible we inherited in order to discern that the Holy Scriptures instructs us to celebrate and observe certain "appointed times with God" and realize that even if such newly discerned observances are foreign and strange to us that that does not mean we cannot repent and return to God in repentance for only in so doing can we be ASSURED that we are worshiping the Father in Spirit and in Truth.
John 4:24 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (KJV)
Instead of Passover the Gentile church adopted Easter which was totally foreign to the Jewish believers in the first century let alone by them considered an idolatrous expression of pagan worship. The same can be said sadly for the Biblical Feasts and Festivals, rituals and prayers, fasts, etc. And it goes even deeper when we see the wholesale replacement of the religious doctrines cherished by Ancients become little more than "literalized Sun Worship" when Rome gets their hands on it. It is called appropriately Replacement Religion and we know it not today in our Churches thinking our "Book" and our experiences is as it should be and accepted by God. One only needs to think of Nadab and Abihu who were killed by God in their false worship of Him. This is our lesson to learn which few ever hear.
Present-day readers (and those of centuries past) of the Christian scriptures find themselves in the opposite hermeneutical situation: a situation of uneasiness and danger. Uneasiness, because they keep encountering terms now outside their cultural horizon; danger, because they are easily tempted to fill the Jewish words with a content alien to them, a context often 180 degrees opposite their original intended meaning! Such a failure in correct interpretation of the words of our Bibles have lead Christians to mistakenly believe when reading the New Testament that the Jesus described in the New Testament came to replace Jewish worship with a new variant of Christian worship! This phenomena is extremely important because it shows clearly that the New Testament writings can be approached with different and opposite understandings which may be in harmony or out of harmony with those of the religion of Jesus (Judaism). If they are in harmony, the writings reveal hidden yet luminous meanings which those without the proper understanding of the Hebrew behind the English overlook. Such conditions result in one reading the New Testament with a mistaken understanding, thus arriving at the erroneous conclusion of seeing Jesus and his followers replace the faith and religion given to them by God with one that denies the eternal truths and precepts enumerated at Sinai and before.
If then, we are to avoid misinterpreting the liturgical information provided in the New Testament literature, we must have recourse to other sources that are more directly and explicitly Jewish that explain in detail what is only alluded to in the New Testament. This statement explains the series of publications that Bet Emet has recently begun in order to cite some of the many New Testament passages that attest to the existence of Jewish liturgy in early Christianity before changed by Roman paganism. We must reconstruct this Jewish revelation which was taken to Gentile lands in the first through fourth centuries before Constantine at Nicea destroys almost all traces of it. Our studies will contain important documentation concerning implications for the Gentile worshiper of God concerning the liturgy in the Temple and synagogues, the liturgy as seen in the Sabbath, and the liturgy as seen in the celebration and observance of Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Hanukkah, and Yom Kippur. Next we will examine "the prayer" (Shema), and the Lord's prayer. Lastly we will conclude with sources from the Mishnah, the Talmud, and the prayer book (Siddur). Let us not forget that our inquiry is to ascertain and confirm not only the presence of Jewish worship in the early Christian communities in Asia, Minor, both Jewish and Gentile, but to come to an understanding of the worship service as it existed "THEN" in order to model our lives in such worship that was both THEN and can be NOW "in spirit and in truth."
Shalom and Blessings
Craig Lyons M.Div.
Bet Emet Ministries