In our last installment of the Culting of Christianity,
we delved into how the Jews and the Christians in the time of Christ used the
Greek version of the Old Testament writings known as the Septuagint.
We pointed out how the Greek Septuagint, translated about 280 BC by 70 Jewish
scribes, was the standard “Bible” of its time. We’ve also
shown how certain New Testament era preachers quoted from the Septuagint, side
by side, with Greek language Occult documents, such as the Gospel of the
Egyptians.
The Gospel of the Egyptians presents the Saviour as Seth,
the third son of Adam, who is described in semi-divine terms. Seth is
supposedly manifested as Jesus – with the Occult document
claiming that Seth “put on” the form of Jesus. Obviously, this is a
wicked mingling of New Testament references concerning Christ,
with Occult statements from the Sethian documents. The Gospel of the
Egyptians is related to another pre-Christian era document known as the Apocalypse
of Adam – which also highlights Seth, but does not
mention Jesus as it was clearly written before His time. It also
has allusions which the scholars see as drawn from the Greek Old Testament, the
Septuagint.
After the time of Christ, and the destruction of Jerusalem,
the literate Jews who survived the Roman onslaught established a colony at Jabneh,
in Judaea. Their scribal leader, Johannan Ben Zakkai, mounted an
early Hebrew Roots movement, and gathered the earliest Hebrew
language manuscripts of the Old Testament. Ben Zakkai and company
made copies of these Hebrew language Old Testament manuscripts, and
successfully sought to persuade Jews in surrounding areas to stop using the
Greek Septuagint, and embrace the Jabneh produced copies of the Hebrew.
The efforts of Johannan Ben Zakkai to return
to the Hebrew language Old Testament was related to the way the popular
Scriptures in Greek were being utilized by ordinary Jews and Gentiles, who
could see the connection between the crucified Christ, and the predictions of
the prophets of Israel. Once again, the case for Jesus of Nazareth
being identified as the Messiah was widely based on the fact that He fulfilled
the many prophecies of the Messiah found in the Old Testament.
“For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables…[as] we have a more sure word of prophecy….For
the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (II Peter 1:16, 19, 21).
As the church of Christ flourished, the Gentiles were called
by the Holy Spirit into communion with God through Christ. Meanwhile, large
numbers of Jews refused to accept the Christian doctrine that they were no
longer the chosen people based on flesh and blood, even though in Christ,
God has established a New Covenant with Israel, redefining an Israelite
(God’s chosen) as one who has been born again in the Spirit:
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
The Good News that Jesus had opened the door
of heaven to all who believe in Him was based upon the Nazarene
fulfilling the promises articulated in the Scriptures – the Greek
language version of the law and prophets – and the Christ rejecting Jews
were unable to effectively resist the powerful Old Testament derived arguments
for the identification of Jesus as the Christ:
“And it shall turn to you for a
testimony. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries
shall not be able to gainsay nor resist” (Luke 21:13, 15).
The Holy Spirit imbued power, which Jesus prophesied
would flow through the true Christians, is seen all over the New Testament. For
example, as the Jews tried to confront young Stephen in the early church, the
Scriptures tell us they were unable to contain the anointing flowing through
him:
“And Stephen, full of faith
and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there
arose certain of the synagogue…disputing with Stephen. And they were
not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake” (Acts
6:8-10).
As large numbers of Jews in Jerusalem had already rejected
the Life found in the resurrected Jesus, the text tells us they
manifested the Spirit of Death which remained, and they again
resorted to murder. Thus, Stephen became the second Christian martyr, following
Jesus to the Father.
“When they heard these things, they
were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being
full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory
of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:54, 55).
After decades of brutal opposition to the truth,
characterized by conspiracy (Acts 9:24), lying (Acts 6:13), public envy (Acts
13:45), blasphemy (Romans 2:24), assault (Acts 17:5), riotous violence (Acts
21:35, 36), and murder (James 5:6, Acts 22:4), the Jewish nation was destroyed
by the Romans in 70 AD. Thus, when Johannan Ben Zakkai made
subtle changes to the Hebrew language scrolls in the Old Testament -- in a
successful effort to disconnect them from their fulfillment in Jesus -- his
Jewish following looked for other literary devices to attack the explosive
faith.
As covered in previous chapters, the school of Judaism in Jabneh
in Northern Judaea which was established in about 90 AD, held Jesus
in monstrous contempt. After scheming to shift Hebrew Old Testament texts to
point Jews away from Jesus, Johannan Ben Zakkai’s successor
Akiva Ben Joseph committed the incredibly blasphemous act of
declaring the false prophet Bar Kochba to be the Saviour in 135
AD.
The Antichrist scribes at Jabneh are the prime
suspects in another fraud traced to the same time period (as well as locale),
and this particular case vividly illustrates the Culting of Christianity.
Modern so called “Messianic Jews” claim the Greeks and early church
figures were Anti-Semites who failed to properly recognize their claim of being
chosen before the LORD. This is, of course, completely false, as the flesh and
blood primacy of physical Israel was done away with at the cross (Romans 9:8).
In a prophetically significant series of moves, in seeking
to re-assert Judaean pre-eminence in the Gospel, these modern apostates are
actually Sequentially Recapitulating the ancient heresy seen in the book
of Acts, where legalistic Jews sought to insert Old Covenant requirements as
part of the New Testament.
“And certain men which came down
from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the
manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1).
Vehemently opposed by Paul and Barnabas, these
“Judaizers” were pushed back time and time again, but the attempt
to mingle the Gospel into a Judaeo-Christian religion went well
beyond obviously heretical teachings, as it was also attempted via literary
means. In this regard, Messianic Jews have sought to claim the book of Matthew
in the Gospels was originally written in Hebrew, then translated into
Greek. Indeed, the widespread Rapture Cult claim that Matthew was
written to the Jews as a way of neutralizing passages that disprove Rapture
Cult claims is derived from this ancient lie.
In the Middle Ages, a Hebrew language version of Matthew,
usually referred to as Shem Tov, was widely distributed. This
pseudepigraphical version of Matthew is actually named Even Bohan
– which means touchstone – but it has been consistently
known by the name of the author it was traced to, a Spanish Jew named Shem
Tov. The Shem Tov Hebrew language “Matthew” shows a
significant dependence on another ancient Hebrew document known as Toledoth
Yeshu.
Confusion has surrounded these documents because a couple of
early Christian writers, who lived long before Shem Tov, mention
a Gospel of Matthew written in Hebrew. The primary source was a Christian
writer from early in the 2nd Century AD known as Papias of
Hierapolis (now in modern day Turkey), who was a contemporary of Johannan
Ben Zakkai. He mentioned a Hebrew version of Matthew, which he claimed he
had heard about from another believer. This led to the “Jewish
fable” (Titus 1:14) that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew. However,
because history shows a large Jewish population existed in Hierapolis shortly
after 100 AD and, as Johannan Ben Zakkai’s Jewish center in
Jabneh supplied the Hebrew scrolls to synagogues throughout the region during
that time, it’s certain there would have been an interaction.
The Shem Tov document, posing as the supposed Hebrew
original version of Matthew, has been traced to a point much later than
Johannan Ben Zakkai’s day, but scholarly analysis shows the
“gospel” document has undergone many revisions over a period of
centuries, and since the Papias writing places a Hebrew Matthew in the
exact time of Johannan Ben Zakkai, there are indications the
Jewish enclave in Jabneh was involved in the fraud.
Earlier, I noted how the literary evidence of the Greek
language Old Testament (the Septuagint) shows changes occurred in the
corresponding Hebrew manuscripts of Isaiah. Among other textual modifications,
we addressed the text regarding the virgin birth. We further showed it was the
Hebrew school in Jabneh which had a custodial role of the Hebrew texts
from about 90 AD up until the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 AD, when the Jewish
leader of Jabneh foolishly named Bar Kochba as the Messiah. As the
virgin birth passage from Isaiah is only quoted in the Greek penned book
of Matthew, and the fraudulent Hebrew version shows a dependence on the
Antichrist Toledoth Yeshu writing which omits the virgin birth,
we deduce Johannan Ben Zakkai was indeed the original culprit who
sought to use the fraudulent Hebrew version of Matthew to plant seeds of
destruction in Christianity.
The Hebrew language Toledoth Yeshu (meaning
the birth of Jesus) is brazenly blasphemous, with vile statements concerning
the LORD. In this slanderous attack, Jesus is depicted as the bastard son of
Mary and a Roman centurion. He is seen as a seducer of women, a sorcerer who
learned witchcraft in Egypt, and a complete liar who was executed by
hanging. Since the 2nd century Christian Papias
mentioned the Egyptian sorcery accusation as well, and he was the sole source
of the Christian notation of a Hebrew language Matthew, this is a solid
connection indicating the nascent Shem Tov and Toledoth
Yeshu, were already in circulation in his day.
In the Toledoth Yeshu’s obvious attempt
to discredit Christianity, a “gardener named Judas” stole the body
of Jesus in order to fraudulently claim He was resurrected. Revealingly, Jesus
was supposedly discovered to be illegitimate by the scribes and priests, and
made to walk “with his head uncovered” as a sign of his shame and
submission to the Pharisees.
As the Toledoth Yeshu was openly blasphemous,
there are internal indications that elements from it were imported into the
phony Shem Tov Hebrew language “gospel” passed off as
having been written by Matthew. Since the forgers who concocted this sinister
work wrote in Hebrew, and showed a particular revulsion for Matthew’s
quotation of Isaiah 7:14 concerning the virgin birth, the pseudo-Matthew has Johannan
Ben Zakkai’s fingerprints all over it.
How revealing then to realize the so called “Sacred
Name” Bibles put forth by supposedly “Messianic” Jewish
Supremacists in our time acknowledge utilizing Shem Tov as a
source manuscript! Further, the similarities between Shem Tov and
the Toledoth Yeshu are so numerous that we’ll only mention
a few salient details.
For instance, Shem Tov’s author shows a
consistent hostility, albeit a subtle one, towards any verse referencing Jesus
as the Christ. Matthew 1:1 has “the generation of Jesus Christ”
whereas Shem Tov repeatedly omits “Christ.” A few verses
later, Matthew’s “birth of Christ” is shortened to the
“birth of Jesus” in Shem Tov. When Jesus prays to the Father
and says “Thy kingdom come,” Shem Tov gives us “may
your kingdom be blessed.”
There are many, many more verses showing the supposed Hebrew
“Matthew” was penned by an enemy of the Gospel, such as in Matthew
12 where Jesus say “in this place is one greater than the temple,”
even as the Toledoth Yeshu linked Shem Tov gives us
“the temple is greater than this.” The genuine Matthew has Jesus
saying He “is betrayed to be crucified” in chapter 12, but Shem
Tov says He was “delivered into the hand of the Jews for the
gallows.”
Since Shem Tov represents an attempt at infiltrating the
New Testament with a false gospel, the writing could hardly claim the Jews had
nothing to do with Christ’s execution, so the apostate author softened
the culpability by changing Mathew 16:12 from “beware…of the
doctrine of the Pharisees” to “beware of the behavior of the
Pharisees.” Perhaps the smoking gun is where Satan says “all
these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me,”
whereas Shem Tov has the Devil saying ”if you bare your
head to me” – the very same statement found in the blasphemous Toledoth
Yeshu.
Once again, the forgery masquerading as the supposed Hebrew
language “original” of Matthew was aimed at a Hebrew audience, in
order to strengthen the Jewish rejection of Jesus, and sharply accelerate the 1st
century Culting of Christianity.
-- James
Lloyd
Next:
Early Christian Translators Were Aware Of The Tampering With The Text
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As we continue to
Eblast our new multi-part series on the discovery of the Old Testament era
Occult source of the pre-tribulation Rapture doctrine, the Christian Media
ministry is still under an all out attack by forces which are seeking to stop
people from reading (or forwarding) our material. This writing addresses
how the Spirits allegorically seen as Antichrist and the False
Prophet penetrated the body of Christ long ago. It further relates the
astonishing Good News of how the LORD of glory has called out a singular body
of people unto Himself – “that in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7). An important look at how the Spirit of Antichrist
functions may be found by Googling the James Lloyd book THE CULTING OF
CHRISTIANITY.
God has revealed the New Testament Gospel has been steadily
leavened, and true discernment in the realm of the Spirit, which is the place
where our lives in Christ continue after our physical existence comes to an
end, is regularly addressed on the James Lloyd broadcast The Apocalypse
Chronicles. Timely installments of the program may be played on demand
at several of our websites.
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