Traditions Versus Law
A Study, by Yac'ob
Deut.12:29-30 " When YHWH your Elohim cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30)take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow after them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not enquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' 31) You shall not worship YHWH your Elohim in that way: for every abomination to YHWH which HE hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. 32) Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it."
As we go through this lesson, we need to harken back to this last verse.
Ex. 20:1-6 And Elohim spoke all these words, saying: 2) "I am YHWH your Elohim. who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3) You shall have no other gods before ME. 4) You shall not make for yourselves any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5) For I, YHWH your Elohim, am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate ME, 6) but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love ME and keep MY Commandments."
This theme of a jealous Elohim is repeated several times throughout the books of Ex. and Deut. ( Ex. 34: 14; Deut. 4:24; Deut, 5:9; and Deut. 6:15.) Lets look at this last verse in it's context ! Deut.6:14-18 " You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people who are all around you. 15) "(for YHWH your Elohim is a jealous Elohim among you) lest the anger of YHWH your Elohim be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. 16) you shall not tempt YHWH your Elohim as you tempted HIM in Massah. 17) You shall diligently keep the Commandments of YHWH your Elohim, HIS testimonies, and HIS statutes which HE has commanded you. 18) And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of YHWH, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land of which YHWH swore to your fathers,"
We live in an age far removed from that time when YHWH dwelt so closely with men. Yet, HE knew that there would come a time when true wisdom would be rare in this world. Although it is not really so rare, if only people would return to reading the Scriptures for themselves and not depend upon others to interpret it for them.
Yahushua Messiah prophesied of a time when false teachers would rise up and deceive many. Matt. 24:5; 11+12 "For many will come in MY name, saying, ' I am the Christ,' and will decieve many. 11) 'Then many false prophets (teachers) will rise up and decieve many, 12) and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold." ( This "lawlessness" is pertaining to the The Law which we read earlier out of Exodus, if you do not have or keep The Law, you are 'lawless'.)
The Apostles themselves were witness to the apostasy that was coming upon the church, and they addressed it often. Jude 4; II Peter 3:17; I Timothy 4:1+2; and II Tim. 2:3+4. This apostasy was also addressed by John in the Revelations. In Rev. 17 we read a prophesy concerning a great harlot, ( in understanding prophesy, it is important that one recognizes cryptic language.) In prophesy, a woman is almost always a representation of a church or congregation. So this harlot represents a false church. We do not have to search to hard to find a church whose doctrines are contradictory to YHWH's Laws. Most churches today are disobedient to at least one of the Commandments. (#4), And if we look at the practices within these churches today we find idolatry (#2). Now, at this point you may ask; "how are the churches practicing idolatry today?" Lets take a look at just 2 of their customs for a better understanding. First we are going to go to the Chamber's Encyclopedia and look up Saturnalia. An ancient Italian festival, instituted, according to the common belief of the ancients, in memory of the happy reign of Saturn...The modern carnival would seem to be only the old pagan saturnalia baptized into Christianity. Although Chamber's does not go into greater detail, notice the last sentence. The Feast of Saturnalia was a celebration of the winter solstice, which occurs Dec. 25. This celebration has deep roots in paganism and actually dates back to the time just after Nimrods death. ( For a clearer picture of this along with reference material, see the booklet; "Fossilized Customs", by Lew White." ) Under the reign of Constantine I, these pagan holidays, which date back thousands of years before Yahushua was born, were adopted as 'Christian' holidays. And since most of his subjects were pagans who were used to practicing this pagan custom, most of it's paraphernalia accompanied it as well. (The X-mass tree, the 'yule' log, evergreen wreaths, and much more are all part of the pagan customs adopted by the Roman Catholic church). Now let's look at another pagan festival which was 'ordained' as 'Christian' by the Roman Catholic church. Easter ! The festival of the resurrection of 'Jesus' Christ, derives probably its Teutonic name from the festival of the goddess 'Ostara', ( Other names for this goddess from other cultures are; Astarte, Eastre, Oster, and other various forms of the name. All referring to the supposed 'Queen of heaven".) Under "popular observances" , Chamber's notes: Many of the popular observances connected with easter are clearly of pagan origin. The goddess Ostara or Eastre seems to have been the personification of the morning and the east..... With her usual policy, the church endeavored to give a 'Christian' significance to such rites as could not be rooted out. Again we find the Roman Catholic church embracing the trappings of a pagan holiday, in order to placate it's pagan 'converts', contrary to Deut.12:30-31. If we look closely into the customs surrounding this pagan festival, we see that it was celebrated with promiscuous sex, as it was a fertility festival. It is interesting to note here that with all the sexual activity going on, and figuring approx. 9 months from this orgy you come to the winter solstice, a time when many children (babies) were sacrificed in the 'bone fires" hence the name 'yule' log. Or better termed "child" log! As stated earlier; It does not take a great deal of research to find the apostate church, and where you find the apostate church you will also find her "daughters", those who have followed her in her abominations.
Back in Yahushua's day , He addressed the Pharisees concerning their self-righteousness, but we can also apply HIS words to the teachings of many churches today. Matt. 15:3 "...Why do you also transgress the Commandments of Elohim because of your traditions?" and Mark 7:6-8 "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honor ME with their lips, but their heart is far from ME. 7) And in vain do they worship ME, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' 8) For laying aside the Commandment of Elohim, you hold the traditions of men..."
Many are the times that I have heard a pastor refer to the keeping of the Commandments as 'legalism', as if that were a great evil, which indeed it can be if one's only reason for obedience is out of fear of judgment. But obedience out of love, is not legalism!! And the fact that most of these same pastors exact a form of legalism upon their own congregations is another matter. How many of them are willing to discontinue meeting on Sunday, yet their Sunday worship is a form of legalism. And then we come to the issue of tithing, many of them preach that you must give your tithes to the church. This is not only legalism, it is also unscriptural as well. Nowhere in the Scriptures are we commanded to give a tithe to 'the church'. But that is another matte altogether.
So in conclusion, what we see is that in the very beginning Elohim commanded us to worship HIM in the way HE dictates. And HE called the ways that the heathen worship an abomination, and tells us not to worship HIM thusly. We have seen that a great apostasy was prophesied to overcome the church, and that this apostasy would continue up to the very end of the age of man. We have isolated the "Harlot " of Revelations and discovered that the wine of her abominations is her embracing of the pagan customs of those civilizations which were pagan. And we have seen that we can identify her "daughters " by their also embracing those same customs which are an abomination to Elohim.
We have been called to be "wise as serpents, but harmless as doves"; we need to study to show ourselves approved, II Tim.2:15. And we need to be continually before the FATHER in prayer and supplication. Asking for wisdom and discernment of HIS Word. May YHWH richly bless those who lay a hold HIS words of truth, blessing them with all discernment of truth and righteousness. May HE pour out upon us HIS set apart spirit, HIS Rauch Ha Qodesh. Omein