Most believers attend a congregation because or proximity to their home and/or because they have friends they fellowship with.  We overlook small differences in beliefs, as long as we all agree on major doctrines.

Soon we realize there is no perfect church. Yeshua has a strong word to 5 of the 7 churches of Revelation – Repent!  This Counsel is given to all the churches except Smyrna and Philadelphia.

So now that we know there is no perfect congregation it comes as no surprise that there are also no perfect leaders/pastors/teachers.

Despite our many differences, God will divide us all into only two groups.  He does not have 30,000 denominations or sects – He only has ONE people of God.

• Wheat and Tares,
• Saved and Unsaved,
• Believers and Unbelievers.

So what makes these people the Saved or the Unsaved?

Does their church affiliation or correct denomination save them?  I think we agree on the fact that Yeshua is not returning only for the congregations of the Messianic/Hebrew Roots congregations, or is He?

What about the (Jewish only) Messianic Groups…. who trace their roots back to the earliest Hebrew Christian Church. The first identifiable congregation made up exclusively of Jews who had converted to Christianity was established in the United Kingdom in 1813. A group of 41 Jewish Christians established an association called “Beni Abraham.”  The first Hebrew Christian church was established in New York in 1885. Does being Jewish save them?

What about the Seventh Day Adventists/7^th Day Church of God.… who trace their history back to the Millerites of the 1840’s? Are they Orthodox enough and will their Sabbath keeping and kosher diet save them?

What about the Seventh Day Baptists….who trace their history to their persecution under Cromwell for holding on to the Sabbath.  The first recorded SDB meeting was held at The Mill Yard Church in London in 1651. Stephen Mumford, a Seventh Day Baptist from England, arrived in Rhode Island in 1665 and is mentioned as an advocate for seventh-day Sabbath in many records of the time. The first SDB church in America was at Newport, Rhode Island, established December 1671. Will Yeshua include the faithful of that group?

What about the 30,000 other denominations/congregations….who trace their roots back to the Lutheran Reformation of 1517 and the various confessions that came from that? What saves them when their Beliefs and Practices do not include the observations and customs of Yeshua and the First Century Jewish believers? Diet, Calendar and Feasts are obvious differences.

• Are they saved by their actions, or by their statement of beliefs?
• What made them saints?
• Or should the question be – Who made them saints?

Acts 10, known as “The Conversion of Cornelius,” could just as well be called “The Conversion of Peter” because of Peter’s real struggle to cross the threshold of a Gentile household.That act alone needed a vision from God given to two men.

An angel appears to Cornelius and he sent 2 servants and 1 soldier to find Peter. Meanwhile, Peter is having his own “Come to God” meeting as 3 times he is commanded to eat, that which was never food.  So he takes 6 other men with him and crosses a Gentile threshold.  Peter’s ethnic prejudices,  were not biblically based, but Jewish custom.

God converts and pours out His Spirit on an uncircumcised Roman and family who is an occupier of the Holy Land. This Gentile was forbidden to enter the Synagogue and the Temple (uncircumcised). Wrong language, Wrong race, Wrong job description, Wrong calendar and no religious observance as it related to Temple sacrifices and synagogue attendance.

So when Peter returns – the church holds a conference and they ask the question that you must decide here and now:

Does God have YOUR permission to call the wrong people and pour His mercy on them?

• Rahab the Harlot.
• Ruth the Moabitess.
• Ninevites – That wicked city
• Naham another Gentile soldier.
• Samarian woman at the well – of questionable repute.
• Zacchaeus – collaborator and thief.
• Thief on the cross.

When you finally allow God to save and adopt those He will as His own….then you will be included in His coming revival and the outpouring of His mercy on all the wrong people.

Two incidents to ponder:

• A  Torah observant Torah scholar – Nicodemus came with a question – How is one born again?
• A Torah observant crowd chanted “Crucify Him” on their Passover Day.

Torah observance was not the saving characteristic there.

When I study the History of the Messianic/Hebrew Roots/ Sabbatarian churches I am ashamed.  We have done nothing to better our world. We cannot point to our participation in the 1^st and 2^nd     Great Awakenings, which started world missions, translated bibles and changed the moral climate of our nation.  Why were all the leaders and congregations Protestant?

• Are we are not gifted the very Truth and light of YHVH’s eternal Torah – that gives Life?
• Are we not commanded to share this Truth will all the world and make disciples of all nations?
• Are we still deciding if God has our permission to save all the wrong people?
• Are we inviting them all to share our Blessings?

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecc 1v 9)

It is impossible to appreciate that scripture without understanding.

We act as if we stumbled on a perfect set of Paleo-Hebrew Dead Sea scrolls and Yeshua led us into the desert like Rav Shaul to explain His Truth to us. Instead, He handed us 2000 years of His faithful working in the mess to bring us to this place. Gratitude should be our starting point.

Church History is made up of debates that have raged for 2000 years. A good understanding of that history will cast light on “new heresies” and explain so many traditions we take for granted despite them having no biblical support.

The sixteenth century alone provides a treasure of soul-stirring narratives. Think of Martin Luther’s bold and daring stand for the gospel against the destructive errors of Rome. Had it not been for that flawed anti-Semite – we would still be sitting in a Latin Mass with no access to a bible – let alone an English one. Consider the faithful witness of the English martyrs who died singing psalms as they were consumed by flames.

The story is messy and bloody and should stir our hearts to do great feats.

Church History is a reminder of God s faithfulness:

Like the psalmist, we must “recount all of God’s wonderful deeds” to remind ourselves that He will never leave us or forsake us (Ps. 9:1; Heb. 13:5).

All of Church History is His-Story. The stories of His faithfulness to the men like George Mueller who fed and clothed 20,000 orphans on prayer alone should encourage us to pray.

God provided us with perfect scriptures to perfectly equip us. The history of the Canon of (both old and new) testaments are in themselves amazing stories. God protected His word against all kinds of attacks.  Tyndale’s translation was the first English Bible to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, the first English one to take advantage of the printing press, and first of the new English Bibles of the Reformation. Tyndale died to give us that access.

Throughout time, God was there providing the tools for the next move of God in the hearts of men.

Church History protects us from error and clarifies previous errors:

Irish philosopher Edmund Burke wisely remarked that “those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” Indeed, without a basic knowledge of church history, individual Christians and churches are prone to repeat the same doctrinal errors and foolish mistakes of former days.

Learning about Adoptionism, Pelagianism, Arianism, Donatism, or Gnosticism will help you see some of those same heresies in the teachings of many modern preachers and teachers. Without studying Church history, these doctrines may seem new and creative.

A study of the revivals will reveal the Revivalism that cropped up where manipulation methods of Finney replaced the authentic work of the Holy Spirit in the pursuit of “converts” rather than conversion.

A study of the Welsh revival will reveal how emotionalism supplanted biblical doctrine. A great move of God was derailed and fell apart very quickly. Unstructured emotional meetings did not nurture or train mature believers or prepare saints for the long road ahead.

As Twain said “The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” A study of history teaches us which traditions are suffocating and need to be avoided and which are so crucial that they must be preserved at all costs. Studying history will open our eyes to traditions we have always assumed were biblical.

Church History humbles us:

Our current generation with pride declares that we are the greatest generation of believers in the history of the world. Rev 3 v 17 – You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’  And you don’t realise that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. A look at history will shame us.

For instance, reading the letters of the Church Father, Ignatius of Antioch (35-108 AD), places our own efforts in perspective. The words of Ignatius to the church in Rome, about his own willingness to die as a martyr, should humble us in the light of the “easy-living” approach of many of today’s Christians: “I am writing to all the Churches and I enjoin all, that I am dying willingly for God’s sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you; do not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching to God. I am God’s wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ.”

Queen Mary ascended the throne of England in 1553. In subsequent years, she had at least two hundred people put to death (often by fire) for their religious convictions. – Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were burned at the stake on October 16, 1555.  Latimer died much more quickly; as the flames quickly rose, Latimer encouraged Ridley, “Be of good comfort, Mr Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.”

The martyrdoms of Ridley, Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer are today commemorated by a Martyrs’ monument in Oxford. The faith they once died for can now be freely practised in the land.

Church History encourages us:

 Hebrews 12 v 2 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

God filled the bible with biographies for many reasons….He wanted us to read them.

In 1563, Englishman John Foxe published his Acts and Monuments to give a universal history of God’s work at building His church. Often called Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, the history has become a Christian classic. There was a time when the Bible and Foxe’s work were the only two books many Christians ever read.

Link to get your free copy – Foxes-Book-of-Martyrs-John-Foxe.pdf

Hebrews 11 v 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets,  who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,  quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—  the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.  These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised….

We put free history books on this site in the hope it would light a fire in your heart to cry “once more into the breach.” Now let us finish the task set before us.