What Does it Mean to be a Red Letter Christian?
There are some Political activists calling
themselves Red Letter Christians. I want to say at the beginning, I
believe Christians should not participate in politics.
When I call
myself a Red letter Christian it means I only get my beliefs from the "quotes
of Yashuah". I respect all the scriptures, but I only draw my theology
from "the truth". Yahshuah said he was "the
truth". He said
his words are "spirit". He did not say the words
of Jude, or Peter, or Moses are spirit.
Yes, he quoted from Moses, the psalms, and the prophets, so I respect
what they say and read them to show how they point to Yashuah. But
they are not "the truth".
They point to the truth. I do not draw doctrine from them, although
they do inspire.
Yahshuah never said that all the writings of the NT, or OT,
were the word of
Yah. He alone is "the word of Yah"; the living
word. Yah gave his apostles the Paraclete spirit to help them
remember word for word what he said when they
wrote it down. So
the quotes of Yahshuah are exactly what he said. The living word
spoke and the apostles faithfully recorded what he said.
How Was Yahshuah Different from the Prophets ?
The prophets only had temporary moments when they spoke as oracles, the spirit came to them and then left them. However the Spirit rested and remained on
Yahshuah. The prophets only saw in part. They had glimpses of "the truth", but the whole truth came by Yashuah, the Messiah.
Often Biblians (those who make an idol of the Bible -biblalotry) insist
that because Paul said "All scripture is inspired" that that means all the words
in the
canon are the "words of Yah". Yah cannot contradict himself , but the NT and the OT do contradict. Therefore the whole Bible cannot be the word of Yah.
The Bible Has Errors
I will give only one example. In Acts it says Jacob journeyed to Egypt with 75 souls (Acts 7:14) , but Genesis 46:26 and 66 says there were 70 souls .
Yahshuah did not teach that "all scripture is inspired", in fact he only quoted from 13 books of the OT and spoke only of the writings of Moses, David and the
prophets as "scriptures."
The Dead Sea Scrolls
We are handicapped even in reading the Old Testament for our OT based on 10th Century AD Masoretic copies, is very different from the OT fragments of the
OT found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In other words, our OT appears not to be the one Yahshuah and the Apostles read.
Will Following Only Yahshuah Words Lead me to
Hell?
I often ask people "If I follow the words of Yashuah, my Messiah and Shepherd will I end in hell?" Did he leave his work unfinished? Was his mission incomplete?
Is there something missing in his words? He said "Father I have finished the work." (John 17:4) He said "I have given them he words that you gave me ." (John 17:8)
On the cross he said: "It is finished."
Luke 21:33
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
John 12:49-50
"For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.
"And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."
John 14:10
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
John 12:48
"He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him— the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
John 15:15
"No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends,
for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
John 18:20
"I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet and in secret I have said nothing.
John 5:24
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life,and shall not come into judgment,
but has passed from death into life.
John 7:15-17
The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get
such learning without having studied?" Yashuah answered, "My teaching is not my
own. It comes from
him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do Yah's will,
he will find out whether my teaching comes from Yah or whether I speak
on my own.
John 14:23-24
Yashuah answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me,
he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him
and make Our home
with him. "He who does not love Me does not
keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who
sent Me.
Luke 6:46-49
"But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the
things which I say? "Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does
them, I will show you
whom he is like: "He is like a man building a
house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood
arose, the stream beat vehemently
against that house, and could not
shake it, for it was founded on the rock. "But he who heard and did nothing is
like a man who built a house on the earth
without a
foundation against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of
that house was great."
John 8:31
Then Yashuah said , "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
John 15:7-8
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you
will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. "By this My Father is
glorified, that you bear much
fruit; so you will
be My disciples.
John 15:1-3
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that
it may bear more fruit. "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
John 14:26
"But the Paraclete, the Pure Spirit,
whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring
to your remembrance all things that I said to
you.
Matt 28:18-20
And Yashuah came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me
in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and
lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age."
Apostles or
Apostates?
Some preachers teach that Yah gave other words to the Apostles to finish the
unfinished message of Yahshuah. But often the words of the Apostles contradict
those of Yahshuah.
For
Example
Paul, 2 Peter, Acts and 1John say we are saved by the blood of Yashuah and by his sacrificial death. But Yahshuhah said Yah does not want sacrifice. The only
blood he talked about was the blood of wisdom - his words
(symbolized as blood and flesh -bread and wine). Yahshuah said whoever hears,
believes and obeys
his words will never see death, but will
be like a wise man who built his house on a firm foundation. Salvation is for
the doers. If you would have eternal life
obey his
commandments.
More on Flesh and Blood -The Eucharist
Yahshuah words are bread and wine flesh and blood, -wisdom poured
forth. The Eucharist is about eating, drinking, digesting and turning his words
into energy
(action), it's not about eating flesh and drinking blood. (Ugh!) If you think that Yahshuah's flesh and blood in the Eucharist is real, or smbolical, and you eat it
either literally, or symolically, you are engaging in either ritualistic real cannibalism, or symbolical cannibalism. Either way it is an abomination.
How to be Born Again
It is by obeying his words that we are spirit born. "If you would have eternal life, keep the commandments"..."Whoever loves me keeps my commandments ".
Which Commandments? The Torah Revealed by Moses?
The Law (Torah) was with Yah in the beginning. Yahshuah came to give us the full Torah as it was in the beginning. He did not come to destroy it, but to
established it as it was in the beginning. In fact John 1:1 can be translated as "In the beginning was the Torah and the Torah was with Yah."
If Moses and the prophets had given us the complete view there would have been no reason for Yahshuahto fill it in and establish it. By saying he did not come
to destroy the law, that does not mean that the law as revealed by Moses was good and we should follow it. The law as revealed by Moses was only a shadow.
The law as revealed by Yahshuahis the real Torah and the only Torah we must follow.
Moses and the prophets of course were not without some nuggets of
truth and where they were correct, Yahshuah quoted them, but that does not
mean every
thing they said was correct. Their revelations were only shadows of good things to come.
What About the Early Church Fathers?
The writings of the early church fathers are not scripture. Often they
were writing 100 or 200 years after Yahshuahand are giving us their opinions.
Some of
them were off the beam.
Two Early, highly Esteemed Moonbats
Tertullian for example insisted that women should wear burkas and was a disciple of Montanus who thought he was the incarnation of the Paraclete.
Justin Martyr wrote the first anti-Semitic tracts. He was a Jew-hater and taught
that Moses was a satan.
Please don't build your theology on these men.
Stick with the words of Yashuah.
He said if you love me keep my commandments and I will love you and my father will love you.
The OT is commentary leading to Yahshuah and the
writings of the apostles are commentary pointing back to Yashuah. You can follow
the whole comentary if
you
think that will get you Yah's love.
But
as for me, I'm going to follow only the one
teacher who promises his love, and the Father's love if I do.