Christianity is a Jewish religion

[Neubill]

My apologies for the length of this initial post.

Our faith started out Jewish. Today, very little remains of our 1st Century Apostolic Messianic faith.

We are Apostolic and our Apostolic patriarchs (Simon The Zealot, Thaddeus, Bartholomew, James of Alpheus, Thomas, Matthew, Phillip, Andrew, James, John, and Peter) and matriarchs (Martha, Mary, Mary Magdalene) were all Jews. They read Jewish Scriptures, the ones which identified the qualifications of Messiah. Their Messiah is a Jew, who lived in a Jewish land among Jewish people immersed in Jewish culture who worshiped a Jewish God. Even the Messiah's Name, Yeshua, is thoroughly Jewish, a name which means Salvation.

Yeshua, who many of us know better as Jesus, didn't come to create a new religion. Christianity started out as a sect within greater Judaism. The problem arose when Gentiles came into the fold, and afterwards, Judaism stopped recognizing The Nazarene sect. As Gentile Believers eventually outnumbered Jewish Believers, the sect began to gradually lose its Jewish identity as a result of numerous events. The Nazarene sect, which was also known as Ha-Derek (The Way), would suffer ultimately from a complete divorce from her Jewish roots in Jesus at the hands of Constantine and the Council of Nicea, the very people who would provide the foundation for the infamous doctrine of the trinity.

Looking at our Apostolic faith in the 21st Century, most people are amazed to find that they keep more of G-d's Torah than they realize. Granted, many Apostolics won't think twice about scarfing down a ham and cheese sandwich before heading off for Monday night prayer, and while no one should condemn a person for choices in food, at what point do we start considering how our Apostolic Forefathers (and mothers...) would have done things if they walked amongst us? I point this out for one reason: we call ourselves Disciples. Disciples imitate their Master. Jesus kept the Law, and so did His Disciples. If they did it, we should as well.

Let me be clear on something: I am not an advocate for taking on the yoke of observing the Judaism practiced today, which is called Rabbinic Judaism. However, I will state that if our Apostolic forefathers observed the Festival of Booths, we should construct a booth (Sukkah in Hebrew) and observe the festival as well, at the appropriate time. If they kept Kosher (while refraining from judging those don't...), then we should. If they removed the leaven from their homes and refrained from eating leaven for seven days, so should we. And while it's perfectly fine to worship on the first day of the week, it still remains that if they observed the Fourth Commandment and kept the Seventh day as Holy, then so should we,... if we're disciples of Yeshua.

Observing Torah will not save anyone, just like going to church every Sunday won't save anyone. Observing Torah is a sign of obedience, just like living a Godly lifestyle is a sign of obedience. One of the things which exists in Christianity today is when a Gentile chooses to observe a particular part of the law. The response from most Christians is the same: "Brother (or sister), you've gone back 'under the Law.'" And of course, being under the Law is wrong, right? To be under the Law is not what most people think it is.

The common thought is that when a person performs a function of the Law, that person is under the Law. This is a misconception. When a person says, "I don't need the blood of Jesus. I have the Torah, and if I keep the commandments of G-d, my place in the world to come is secure," this person is under the Law. A person who relies on his/her strict obedience to the Law apart from the work Yeshua performed at Calvary is under the Law. To be in a place apart from Yeshua is not a good place to be. For this person it's Torah all the way.

Let's contrast this with a person who obeys and keeps Torah, and trusts in the salvific work of Yeshua through His death, burial, and resurrection. This type of person recognizes Salvation to come from Calvary first and foremost, not from Torah, yet this person who remains obedient to G-d's Torah is not under the Law. For this person, Yeshua comes before Torah.

Most people who keep Torah will keep it the way its done in 21st Century Rabbinic Judaism. While some of what they do is correct, a Believer who chooses to observe Torah should only keep it in the context of Messiah. Plain and simple, if Yeshua didn't do it, we shouldn't. An example is the ritual of the washing of hands. It's not in the Torah, but it's a big part of Rabbinic Judaism, and since it's not in the Torah, a Torah-observant disciple of Yeshua is not bound to observe this well-meaning but non-essential ritual.

Rabbinic Judaism prohibits eating meat with dairy, based on the thrice mentioned prohibition of seething a kid in it's mother's milk. A Torah-observant disciple of Yeshua looks in the Torah and does not find G-d prohibiting mixing meat with dairy. For the Torah-observant disciple of Yeshua, G-d doesn't take issue with eating cheese on a hamburger, but about eating cheese on a ham sandwich.

Men hijacked the Church and forced her to be divorced from her Jewish roots, but G-d is restoring the 1st Century Apostolic Church. He began by pouring out His Spirit again in the 20th Century, and now people speak in tongues in the 21 Century like they did in the 1st Century. G-d continued His restoration through the revelation of the Acts 2:38 message. Now that the process of regeneration is known again to the Church, G-d's restorative work continues as the following is taking place as we speak:

G-d will reconcile The Church to her Jewish roots.
G-d will reconcile The Church to the Jewish people.
G-d will reconcile the Jewish people to her Messiah.
G-d will reconcile Messiah to the world.

When these reconciliations come to fullness, two biblical prophecies will come to pass:

1. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD.
2. All will recognize that The LORD is One and His Name One.

The Apostolic sect of Christianity has been part of G-d's restoration so far. What every Christian should know is this: according to the prophet Zachariah, everyone will observe Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Everyone, and that includes Bubba the Bible Thumper who says, "I'm not under the Law. I'm under Grace." I love Bubba and I believe that one day, Bubba will see that Grace and Law are not in opposition to each other.

Yeshua kept the Torah and showed His disciples how to keep Torah. Among the things He taught His disciples, two of them were: be great in the Kingdom by keeping Torah and teach others to do the same. Paul kept Torah, right up to the day his head was removed. As Paul exhorts us to imitate him as He imitates Messiah, I exhort my Apostolic family to take a fresh look at the Bible that Yeshua and His Disciples read: the Torah.

And thanks for reading!