Part Three ... A Hebraic Roots Expose
In Part Three we will be taking a more in-depth look into the sources behind the teaching of the HRM by a report compiled by Barb Aho ...
Dear Tom,
The following is a write-up I have done which proves that the sources used by the Hebrew Roots Movement (Talmud, Mishnah, Midrash, etc.) evolved into and purvey the same occult teachings as the Kabbalah/Zohar.
The Appendix to this report, provided by Vicky Dillen, adds further documentation showing that these sources are in total opposition to Scripture. These are facts of which every follower of the Hebrew Roots view of Christianity should be apprised, but all seem to be totally unaware.
I am so glad you are addressing this subject and will be glad to share any information I have in the future. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to disciples of the H.R. ministries the truths of Christian liberty
expressed in the book of Galatians and lead them out of this movement, which otherwise will eventually deliver them into the dreadful bondage of the Noahide Laws and the global Kabbalist/Freemasonic New World Order.
May God bless you,
Barb Aho
Watch Unto Prayer
timbarbaho@msn.com
http://watch.pair.com/pray.html
THE HEBRAIC ROOTS MOVEMENT
Peter Michas' essay "Is The New Testament Hebrew/Aramaic or Greek?" maintains that the original Gospels were written in Hebrew and/or Aramaic, translated into Greek and are therefore not reliable, especially having passed through successive translations to the English New Testament used by English speaking Christians today.
The solution to this problem, according to Michas, is to turn to the O.T. and Jewish traditions to determine the truth of the New Testament. Peter Michas advocates reliance upon the Jewish Mishnah, Haggadah, Halakah, Talmud and Midrash, along with the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament), as better commentaries on New Testament doctrine than the Greek and English New Testaments themselves, which he claims are inferior translations of the presumed Hebrew/Aramaic originals:
Is The New Testament Hebrew/Aramaic or Greek?
"In summation, since existing New Testament manuscripts are Greek, written to express Hebraic concepts, why be limited to the Greek or English translations when we have Hebrew, now a living language not very different than it was 2000 years ago. The New Testament is in the pattern of the Jewish traditional work of Torah, Mishnah, Haggadah, Halakah, Talmud and Midrash, but inspired by God Himself for the common people. These Hebraic works as well as the Inspired Scriptures were quoted from by Jesus and all the writers of the New Testament.
But even now, to have full comprehension, we must read the scriptures in the proper Hebraic context.
"Most all of the Judaic writings have been preserved for us and now translated into proper English directly from the Hebrew, as well as explained in true Hebraic manner. Therefore, why not go to this material and study ourselves approved before God with full context and understanding?"
JEWISH OR OCCULT SOURCES?
Is the New Testament in the pattern of the Mishnah, Haggadah, Halakah, Talmud and Midrash?
"Jewish traditional work" refers to the oral traditions that were passed through generations as opposed to the written Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. The University of Calgary website of Hebrew scholar, Eliezer Segal, Ph.D., indicates that these oral traditions originated in ancient Babylon and were handed through successive generations until they were compiled in the Kabbalah during the third to twelfth centuries
A.D. or C.E., the Common Era. Some information about the Mishnah, Haggadah, Halakah, Talmud and Midrash, may be obtained from Dr. Segal's website, which is cited in this report along with other authoritative
sources, to give the reader an overview of the origins, history and nature of these sources.
[NOTE: Dr. Segal received his M.A. and Ph.D. in the Talmud Dept. at Hebrew University. He is the recipient of several scholarships and grants in Talmud and Babylonian Midrash studies, has taught the Talmud, Mishnah, Midrash and Rabbinics, published books and articles on the Babylonian Talmud, Midrash,
and Haggadah. Dr. Segal is a lecturer on "Jewish Mysticism," "Halakha, Holidays and History", "On
Completing the Babylonian Talmud," "Ecology and the Environment: Halacha and Reality," "Burned, Banned and Best Seller: The Talmud," "Joseph and Osiris," and other subjects. He has participated in a number of
interfaith dialogues. On his site is also found the full explanation of The Ten Sefirot of the Kabbalah.]
THE MISHNAH
The Mishnah is the early Talmud or the forerunner of the Talmud. To the Mishnah the rabbis later added the
Gemara (rabbinical commentaries). Together these comprise the Talmud. Scholars will claim that the Talmud
is partly a collection of oral traditions given by Moses which had not yet been written down in Jesus' time.
However, Christ condemned the traditions of the Mishnah (early Talmud) and the Scribes and Pharisees who
taught it, because their oral traditions contradicted the teachings of Scripture. The dire warning of Jesus Christ regarding the traditions of men which make null and void the Word of God (Mark 7:1-13) seems to be a
reference to the Mishnah, which was later compiled (c. 200 A.D.) by Rabbi Judah ben Simeon, who presided over Judaism's supreme judiciary and legislative body, the Sanhedrin.
"Mishnah can refer in a general way to the full tradition of the Oral Torah, as formulated by the Rabbis in the first centuries of the Common Era. These traditions could not be written down, but had to be transmitted and learned by word of mouth. This restriction was observed quite scrupulously throughout the eras of the Mishnah and Talmud.
"The Jewish sages whose statements are quoted in the Mishnah are known as Tanna'im* (singular: 'Tanna'), derived from the Aramaic root related to the Hebrew 'ShNH.' The era in which the Mishnah was developed is therefore referred to as the 'Tanna'itic' era."
Who are the Tanna'im?
The Jewish sages referred to as Tanna'im are, in fact, the high initiates of Kabbalah. THE THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY of Mme. H.P. Blavatsky shows the correlation between Tanaim and Kabbalah:
"TANAIM (Heb.). Jewish Initiates, very learned Kabbalists in ancient times. The Talmud
contains sundry legends about them and gives the chief names of them."
"KABALIST. From Q B L H, Kabalah, an unwritten or oral tradition. The kabalist is a student of 'secret science,' one who interprets hidden meaning of the Scriptures with the help of the symbolical Kabala, and explains the real one by these means. The TANAIM were the first kabalists among the Jews; they appeared at Jerusalem about the beginning of the third century before the Christian Era... This secret doctrine is identical with that of the Chaldeans, and includes at the same time much of the Persian wisdom, or 'magic'." (caps added)
"KABALAH (Heb.) The hidden wisdom of the Hebrew Rabbis of the middle ages derived from the secret doctrines concerning divine things and cosmogony, which were combined into a theology after the time of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. All the works that fall under the esoteric category are termed Kabbalistic..."
There appears to be disagreement as to when the oral traditions took on a written form. However, Dr. Segal confirms that the Mishnah was developed and disseminated from a fixed body of teaching that originated in
ancient Babylon (Chaldea):
"Although there are traditions in the Mishnah that claim to go back to the fifth century B.C.E. (the 'Great Assembly'; cf. Nehemiah 8-10), as well as a few additions from as late as the mid-third century, the main body of the Mishnah consists of teachings attributed to authorites from about the middle of the first century, through to the second decade of the third century C.E. This time period witnessed some major historical turning-points for the Jewish nation, such as the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple in 70, and the catastrophic failure of the revolt against Rome under the leadership of Simeon bar Kokhba (or: bar Kuziba) in 135. Because the
Mishnah is a technical work of religious law, these momentous historical events find almost no explicit mention in the Mishnah, even though the very composition of the Mishnah is often viewed as a response to those very events...
"All ancient sources are in agreement that the Mishnah was compiled by Rabbi Judah the 'Prince,' before his death around 217 C.E. On the author see below. It should be emphasized that--contrary to a view that appears in many histories and introductions, and which is based on the writings of medieval Spanish Jewish authorities [ed: see Sephardic Jews below] --this redaction did not involve writing down the traditions, but merely the determining and organizing of a fixed text that was subsequently disseminated by memory. It is clear from the internal evidence of the Talmud that the teachings of the Rabbis continued to be studied orally throughout the Talmudic era, and this continued to be the practice in the Babylonian academies well into the middle ages...
"Rabbi Judah ben Simeon bore the Hebrew title of 'Nasi,' signifying the position of Patriarch, the official political representative of the Jewish people. From an internal Jewish perspective, the Nasi presided over Judaism's supreme judiciary and legislative body, the Sanhedrin. The title had become a hereditary one, almost without interruption, since the days of the revered Hillel the Elder in the first century B.C.E."
THE MISHNAH TORAH
The Jews of Spain who followed Babylonian rather than Palestinian Jewish traditions were exiled to Sepharad, from whence they have been credited with disseminating Cabalism throughout Europe. [See Encarta and Grolier's Encyclopedia entries on the Sephardim below] Amongst the most important Jewish thinkers from the Sephardic tradition was Moses Maimonides:
Eliezer Segal commentary on Moses Maimonides:
"[Moses Maimonides] lived from 1138 to 1204. He spent ten full years compiling the Mishneh Torah, which he continued to revise throughout his lifetime. Moses Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, usually referred to in Hebrew by the acronym "RaMBa"M) was one of the towering figures in medieval intellectual and religious life. In addition to his law code, he excelled in the fields of philosophy, science, medicine, exegesis and communal leadership.
Though born in Spain, in his youth his family fled religious persecution, settling in Egypt...
"Maimonides' Mishneh Torah was intended to be a summary of the entire body of Jewish religious law... It opens with a section on systematic philosophical theology, derived largely from Aristotelian science and metaphysics, which it regards as the most important component of Jewish law. Most other Jewish codes avoided mixing creed and religious law; and Maimonides' interpretation of Jewish religion in terms of Greek ideas aroused much opposition."
In Chapter 10 of the English Translation, Maimonides' Mishnah Torah curses Jesus Christ:
"It is a mitzvah [religious duty; ARC], however, to eradicate Jewish traitors, minnim, and apikorsim, and to cause them to descend to the pit of destruction, since they cause difficulty to the Jews and sway the people away from God, as did Jesus of Nazareth and his students, and Tzadok, Baithos, and their students. May the name of the wicked rot." (p. 184)
THE TALMUD
The Babylonian Talmud is a commentary on the Mishnah composed by Babylonian Jewish sages (Ravs) from the early third to the sixth century. A Jewish sage who was from Babylonia would have been addressed by the
title, 'Rav,' while one who lived in Israel would have been called 'Rabbi.' One portion of the Talmud dealt with folklore, especially magical and medical recipes. The following statement, from TORAH TO KABBALAH by R.C. Musaph-Andriesse, on the primacy of the Babylonian Talmud (T.B.) is representative of Jewish scholarship:
"There are two editions of the Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. Of these two, the Babylonian Talmud is authoritative for Orthodox Judaism, which regards it as divinely inspired... The superiority of the Babylonian Talmud is so great, that when people now talk about the Talmud, they always mean the Babylonian Talmud. The authority of the Babylonian Talmud is also greater than that of the Jerusalem Talmud. In cases of doubt the former is decisive." (pg. 40, New York, Oxford University, Press, 1982)
Quoting Joseph Barclay in SECRET SOCITIES & SUBVERSIVE MOVEMENTS, Nesta Webster has exposed the virulent anti-Christ teachings of the Talmud:
"So also it was the Rabbis who, after hiding from the people the meaning of the sacred tradition at the moment of its fulfillment, afterwards poisoned that same stream for future generations. Abominable calumnies on Christ and Christianity are found not only in the Cabala but in the earlier editions of the Talmud. In these, says Barclay -- "Our Lord and Saviour is 'that's one', 'such an one', 'a fool', 'the leper,' 'The deceiver of Israel,' etc. Efforts are made to prove that he is the son of Joseph Pandira before his marriage with Mary. His miracles are attributed to sorcery, the secret of which He brought in a slit in His flesh out of Egypt. He is said to have been first stoned and then hanged on the eve of the Passover. His disciples are called heretics and opprobrious names. They are accused of immoral practices, and the New Testament is called a sinful book. The references to these subjects manifest the most bitter aversion and hatred."
[Joseph Barclay, The Talmud, pp.38, 39; cf Drach, op. cit I.167] (Omni Publications, 1964, p.18-19)
THE MIDRASH
The Tanna'im, the high initiates of Kabbalah, also compiled The Midrash:
"In some contexts 'Mishnah' is contrasted with 'Midrash.' The latter term denotes Rabbinic teachings that are attached to the text of the Bible, whereas the former term refers to teachings that are organized or formulated independently of Scripture...
"The Mishnah was clearly not designed to encompass the whole of the Oral Torah tradition. The same Rabbis who contributed to it also figured prominently in the Tannai'itic Midrashic collections."
Rabbi Scheinerman's Magical Midrash page also identifies the Midrash as the product of the Tannaitic period:
"In its classical sense, Midrash, which has as its root the Hebrew word darash, meaning 'to seek out,' refers to a body of rabbinic literature made up of anthologies of biblical exegesis and homilies dating from the tannaitic period (70_200 c.e.) through to the Middle Ages. The most well known anthology of midrashim is Midrash Rabbah, which provides a running midrashic commentary to the five books of the Torah, as well as to the 'five scrolls' (Esther, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs)."
The Encyclopedia Judaica defines this method: "Midrash (midrashim:plural) -- 'The method of interpreting scripture to elucidate legal points (midrash Halakkah) or to bring out lessons by stories or homiletics (midrash
Aggadah). Also, the name for a collection of such rabbinic interpretations.'"
Nesta Webster's SECRET SOCIETIES adds:
"... the Jewish Encyclopedia admits that Jewish legends concerning Jesus are found in the Talmud and Midrash and in the life of Jesus (Toledot Yeshu) that originated in the Middle Ages. It is the tendency of all these sources to belittle the person of Jesus by ascribing to Him illegitimate birth, magic, and a shameful death. " [Jewish Encyclopedia, article on Jesus]
The Midrash and midrashic interpretation tend to devalue the literal, historical interpretation of Scripture in favor of private, hidden and even mystical interpretations. For example, Rabbi Scheinerman's Magical
Midrash page states:
"Midrash is subversive as it winds its way between and around stern, stark, seemingly stagnant texts. As Judith Plaskow has stated, 'Jews have traditionally used midrash to broaden or alter the meaning of texts' (in Davidman/Tenenbaum, 80). Midrash assumes that the black letters of scripture as well as the white spaces between them are holy; that the explicitly stated as well as that which can be inferred from the Bible can be manifestations of God's word.
Midrash is a kind of scriptural archaeology, bidding us not to stop at surface appearances but to dig down deeply into the text to uncover hidden riches..."
Midrashic interpretations permit students of Scripture to explore far beyond the safe boundaries of the sacred canon. Apostates such as Unity minister, Rev. J. Ronald Jones, are permitted nearly unlimited license using
midrashim to support their false teachings:
"Midrash requires that anything to be venerated in the present must be connected with sacred moments of Jewish history. It is the accepted way of incorporating timelessness, continuity, and authority into a sacred narrative. Jesus' life was thus connected to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
David, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, '2 Isaiah,' and others. The virgin birth story was made to mirror earlier stories of Zoroaster and Romulus and Remus; and the ascension story was made to mirror earlier stories of the Buddha and Osiris...
"How does a text lose its historical focus? The closing of the canon removes a collection of sacred writings from the temporal process. No subsequent event, world view, conventional wisdom, or cultural value has the power to change the canon. No new writings can be added. Quite the
opposite, new events must be interpreted with the aid of the canon. The canon stands beyond Time as a judge of temporal events.
"Both Jewish and liberal Christian communities agree that the Bible as canon still permits perpetual interpretation. They accept it as normal that there can be an infinite variety of interpretations all 'inspired' by the text.
The goal is to 'search out' the fullness of what was spoken by God. It is only through a process of dialogue within a community of faith that knowledge of
God's revelation grows and becomes the Word of God for the present generation. Visotzky notes:
'There is no one common reading of Scripture that everyone can agree with--and there never has been.'6 When a community of faith insists on a single, normative reading that everyone must 'swear to,' it is on the verge of death as a vital community.
"As a methodology, Midrash tends to minimize the authority of the wording of the text. It places the focus on the reader, and on the personal struggle of the reader to reach an acceptable moral application of the text.
While it is always governed to some degree by the wording of the text, it allows the reader to project his or her inner struggle into the text. This allows for some very powerful and moving interpretations which, to the ordinary user of language, can seem to have very little connection with the text. The great weakness of this method is that it always threatens to replace the text with an outpouring of personal reflection. At its best it requires the presence of mystical insight not given to all readers."