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/7th 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 1st and 2nd 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?