John Byer

When the detective conducted his Bible investigation, he was shocked to learn how ignorant, and ill-informed, ‘devout’ Christians are about their religion. For instance, he discovered nobody knew or understood the foundational dogma of Christianity.  Additionally, not a single ‘church-attending, Bible-toting, scripture quoting’ person could accurately explain why their chosen faith exists. These poor souls are truly ‘Lost Sheep.’ They were only capable of spouting the platitudes … learned in Sunday school at an early and impressionable age -- none of which are true. Surprisingly, even the ministers, priests, and chaplains were unable to correctly answer two very simple and elementary questions -- i.e. (1) who was Jesus; and (2) why did he visit earth? … thus confirming the adage about the blind, leading the blind. 

Today, Christianity is only a pretense in the lives of most people. The Reason: If ‘Christians’ don’t even know the underlying rationale (i.e. the basic doctrine) or essence of their adopted faith, then how is it logically possible for them to identify as Christians? In truth, most people only feign a belief in Christianity, since they don’t comprehend the fundamentals of their religion. Neither the clergy nor the laity can factually delineate why Jesus was in Judea. Their common reply is “he came to save us from our sins” a comment which only proves, they haven’t got a clue. Much of the problem can be traced to the ministers and priests because they have intentionally downplayed and dismissed this key topic from their sermons for years. The reason for this neglect: Christianity’s core rationale intertwines with another very sensitive issue they don’t want to discuss. That issue is the Jews, and their direct involvement in the death of Christ. 

The Jews are righteously sensitive about this subject, since they believe the issue has engendered emotional, irrational, anti-Semitic attacks. Historically they are right, because in far too many instances, all Jews have been blamed for the sins which were committed only by a few identified ancient priests. Ever since the diaspora during the first century, the Jews have not been treated kindly by many countries. Due to this history, ministers of late have modified their preaching, and their sermons, about Christ’s death to ensure ‘living’ Jews aren’t blamed for the sin of their ‘dead’ forefathers. They also hope to prevent another holocaust by down-playing the guilt of Jews … but now, they have gone too far … for too long in the other direction, and that in turn, has impaired and diminished an understanding of Christianity’s true gestalt. Thus, to some degree, these deliberate efforts by church officials to minimize Jewish culpability for the death of Jesus … justifies, and even explains, the ignorance of Christians about their faith. Why? Because … the true history and theological underpinnings of the Christian religion are now completely absent from catechisms and sermons. 

As such, most Christians are completely unaware the doctrine contained in the Old Testament was radically changed (i.e. corrupted) about five centuries after Moses. Christians don’t know this salient fact … except, it is the direct cause, and the very reason Christianity came into existence. Unfortunately, this background information has been side-stepped and neglected when discussing the Christian religion. In this regard, even the Christian ministers are probably unaware the Jewish priests had severely corrupted Mosaic dogma. However, their silence on this issue does speak loudly. Either they don’t know, or they have intentionally decided not to discuss the matter of Bible corruption. Nonetheless, it is this false, corrupted version of dogma  proclaimed by the Sadducee Rabbis and priests that precisely divulges why Jesus died and resurrected from the tomb. These Jewish Sadducee’s had re-interpreted the doctrine of Moses (specifically verses in the Book of Genesis), and this is what really explains the underlying, definitive reason for Christ’s presence on Earth. God sent Christ to the Jews in order to correct their false understanding of Mosaic Law. Even so, as the scriptures of Isaiah and Daniel duly testify, the rabbinical corruption of dogma began many centuries before the crucifixion of Jesus. Thus, in this regard, the infamous cast of Jewish priests, Caiaphas and Annas in particular, are innocent since they lived in the first century, and did not create the corruption. They only believed in the false dogma and endorsed it. In any event, Jewish history has been overlooked and is completely absent from the sermons of priests and Christian ministers. As a result, the logic supporting the rationale of the Christian religion has been undermined and profoundly compromised, but it won’t be in this article.     

Regrettably, this state of affairs has resulted in a flock of misguided and lost sheep. So, hopefully the following synopsis will bring understanding to some elusive issues in the Christian faith. First: Christianity did not become a separate, distinct religion until about 95 CE. This date is 60 plus years after Jesus was crucified. Why? Because during those seven decades of intervening years, the people who would eventually become known as Christians were represented by a sect of messianic Jews. It was only after the High Priest booted the ‘followers of Jesus’ out of the synagogues did Christianity take-off and become a new, independent faith. 

And second: Jesus did not come to save ‘all of us,’ or all mankind. Christ only came to “save” the Jews. Why? Because they were the only people who violated the Law of Moses and the covenant established with God. No one else followed Mosaic Law or had a covenant with God, only the Jews. Everyone else was praying to Caesar, Zeus, Dragons, Mars, Jupiter and idols of stone, gold, and silver. If a person is not a Jew, then most likely their ancestors were praying to these idols and false gods. So thank the Jews for knowledge of the true God. In any event, everyone has been misled by the false interpretation of Paul’s verse at First Corinthians 15:3. In this epistle, Paul (a Jew) was corresponding with a synagogue of Jews (i.e. messianic Jews), when he said Jesus died for our sins, and he even qualified his verse with the phrase “according to the scriptures.” Thus, Jesus didn’t die for the sins of people living today because they aren’t committing the sins that the Jews committed 2000 years ago. People today believe they have a soul which will exist after death, something the Jews no longer believed after the Sadducees corrupted Mosaic doctrine. And … Paul was referring to the scriptures of Isaiah and Daniel which only deal with the sins of the Jews, not any person identified as a gentile. However, the Prophet Isaiah (9:1-2) did report the Messiah, or the Prince of Peace, would be a great light in the lives of gentiles (i.e. all non-Jews). The Prophet Daniel (7:14) concurs with Isaiah and both of them have been correct in their prognostications. One third of the world’s population now claims to be Christian. 

And third -- the real reason God sent Christ to earth:                                                            About four or five centuries after Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, the Jews started reinterpreting Mosaic Law and corrupting its true meaning. Then during and after the Greek/ Hellenistic religious persecution in approximately 167-168 BCE under the rule of Antiochus Epiphanes, the corruption was formalized because the Sadducees held the power in Judea. This historical period is not very clear but over time the Jews altered the meaning of Genesis 1:27. This verse reports the Lord made Man, both male and female, in the image of God, and Moses further taught this meant the Jews possessed everlasting spiritual life since they are made in God’s image. They also understood their flesh would perish, and since their souls lived forever, they could be reborn time after time when their souls reincarnated into new and different physical bodies. However, the Sadducees disagreed with this theology. They denied this Mosaic belief and claimed Man lost everlasting life after expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Why? Because Man could no longer eat from the Tree of Life. They further claimed that when death came, the soul dissipated … so there was no life after death (This is a rough summary of Jewish dogma and it is a very short or abbreviated version). Anyway, this Jewish sin (i.e. the corruption of the Mosaic Code (Law) by the Sadducees) is the real reason God sent Christ to earth; it wasn’t because of original sin, or any other sin committed by Man.
 
Then, sometime in the eighth century BCE, the Prophet Isaiah prays and asks God to forgive the sins of the Jews. Why? Because the chosen people had forsaken God and sinfully violated the law of God by praying to idols, a grievous transgression and a willful violation of the First Commandment. They were also committing other sins related to the ordinances -- such as making idols constructed by the hands of men.   Under the rule of the Sadducees, these sins now prevailed since the Jews no longer perceived any meaningful reason or purpose for their earthly existence. They had no hope for the future since Sadducee Priests and Rabbis claimed their souls would dissipate into nothingness at death. Due to this belief, the Jews needed to find a spiritual rationale for living, so they sought refuge and satisfaction in idols. The Jews had sinned in many other ways also, such as the priests corrupting the sacrifices, feast days, and temple operations. God responded to Isaiah and answered his earnest prayers. The Lord advised him in explicit detail that a Messiah would be sent to earth where he would suffer death and then ‘resurrect’ (i.e. prolong his days via Light). God did this solely to demonstrate Man had a soul that lived after the physical death of the human body and it didn’t dissipate like the Sadducees believed. See Isaiah 53.      

Perceiving the same sinful issues with the Jews as Isaiah, the prophet Daniel then   humbles himself in sackcloth and ashes in the sixth century BCE, before he earnestly prays to God for the Jews and the forgiveness of their sins. Gabriel, a messenger from God, responds to Daniel and during his visit advises Daniel the Jews and the City of Jerusalem have 70 Weeks or (490) years. The message also includes an exact timetable for the anointed one’s arrival in Judea and his fulfillment of the Daniel’s vision where he had seen “one like a son of man” rise in the clouds and approach the ancient one (i.e. God). Daniel relates in Chapter 9 of his Book that the ‘anointed one’ would be the sacrifice of God on Passover in 30CE, a prophecy which was precisely fulfilled.  

Thus, when Jesus appeared in Judea, only to be crucified on the exact day given in God’s message to Daniel over 500 years in advance … and then, when Jesus died and resurrected exactly as foretold by Isaiah over 700 years in advance, Jesus Christ proved he was the anointed one of God. But more importantly, via his resurrection to life after lying dead in a tomb for three days, Christ proved the dogma of Moses was correct, since the soul of Jesus did survive death … and the Sadducee belief about Man’s soul was wrong. Christ demonstrated Man’s soul did not dissipate, but lived after the physical body was dead. Then years later, Christ did a follow-up visit with the Apostle John on the Island of Patmos where Jesus appeared in his celestial body and advised John he had everlasting life … once again confirming the doctrine of Moses about Man’s soul to be true and refuting the belief of the Sadducees.  

As spelled out above, Christ was sent to Earth by God for only one single, and specific reason. Jesus came to earth exclusively for the sin of the Jews; the Jews had corrupted the Law of Moses by denying the everlasting life of the human soul. The resurrection of Jesus (the son of Man) demonstrated the human soul does have everlasting life. Christ did not come down from heaven for the sins of gentiles. They didn’t violate Mosaic Law, because at the time, all gentiles (non-Jews) were heathens … they were pagans, and did not understand or believe in the spiritual nature of God or Man. This is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. It is an essential, fundamental building block to understanding the rationale of why Christ died on the cross … and it is something which should never be forgotten. Unfortunately, just a few Christians in the world today, know the truth about their ascribed faith. The meaning, and the significant purpose, of Christianity are not clearly understood if its historical roots and historical context are denied.

Therefore, with this background in mind, one should realize the purpose of Christ’s journey to earth was not to create a new religion, but to demonstrate Man possesses a spiritual body (i.e. a soul) that has everlasting life. In any event, Christians should not get too smug about their proclaimed faith, or themselves, because they have essentially committed the same sin as the Jews. For the first 400 to 500 years of Judaism, there was a belief in reincarnation, but the Jews in time eliminated this belief from Judaic dogma by denying the soul’s everlasting existence. And history, just like clockwork, repeated itself about 560CE, when Theodora, Empress of Rome (The Mother of Harlots at Revelation 17), took control over the Church and finally stamped out reincarnation in the Christian religion. Her actions caused Man to misunderstand the true nature of the soul and its eternal destiny. The rebirth of the human soul was a teaching of Christ (John 3:1-13) for 500 plus years, but it was never reinstated after the demise of Theodora. 

The world would be an entirely different place if people clearly understood they have eternal spiritual life and no sin goes unpunished either in this life, their next life, or a 100 lifetimes from now. There is justice in this world; it just takes time and patience. The rebirth of souls confirms and substantiates the age-old axiom: What goes around comes around. People would more likely follow the Golden Rule (Treat others as he/she expects to be treated) if this religious dogma was resurrected and firmly embedded into the minds of people. 

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