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Malachi 1:11, ". . . my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, . . . saith the Lord of hosts."
Answer for yourself: Gentile Christianity has maintained that the "religion of Christianity" is the name made great among the Gentiles. Is this the intended meaning of the passage by Malachi the prophet?
First of all we need to examine the passage in the context in which we find it. In this chapter of Malachi, G-d reprimands the people for imperfect offerings. He sees the heathen, although approaching idols, performing their religious duty purely and laudably. The Rabbis have written that this passage can be interpreted to mean that to the extent Gentiles search for the Divinity they make the name of G-d great. This is exactly what you and I are doing as we are diligently testing every "spirit" to see if it is of G-d. With so much adulteration of the truth over the last 2000 years our task is not easy. But more to the point, to the degree that you diligently study, read, and pray, in your quest for G-d and His truth, then you make the name of G-d great. But as you know, especially if you have studied with us over the last several years, such study does anything but make the name of "Christianity" great. Sadly we must confess that such study does just the opposite; it exposes Christianity for what it really is....a neo-paganized form of Biblical Judaism which is light years away from what the historical Jesus actually cherished and believed.
In addition to this meaning, we have presented in prior articles the truth about the "Scriptural Messianic Expectations" In fact we saw passages that informs us that Israel will be a light to the nations and that Gentiles will convert to Judaism and the Lord G-d of Israel.
VERSES THAT TELL ISRAEL WILL BE A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS, WHEREBY THE KNOWLEDGE OF G-d WILL FILL THE EARTH
Isaiah 42:1,6, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, . . . and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;"
Isaiah 49:3,6, "And (He) said to me, Thou art my servant, 0 Israel, in whom I will be glorified. . . . I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth."
Isaiah 55:5, ". . . nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy G-d, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee."
Isaiah 60:3-4, "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. . . . thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side."
Habakkuk 2:14, "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
VERSES THAT TELL JUDAISM WILL BE THE ONE WORLDWIDE RELIGION, JERUSALEM WILL BE THE CENTRAL HOLY PLACE FOR ALL PEOPLE, AND GENTILES WILL CONVERT TO THE LORD G-D OF ISRAEL AND SERVE HIM
Psalm 22:27, "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee."
Psalm 102:15,22, "So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord."
Isaiah 2:2, ". . . the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established. . . and all nations shall flow unto it."
Isaiah 14:1, ". . . and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob."
Isaiah 19:21, ". . . and the Egyptians. . . shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it."
Isaiah 45:23, ". . . unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear (to G-d)."
Isaiah 54:5, "For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The G-d of the whole earth shall he be called."
Isaiah 56:6-7, "Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people."
Isaiah 66:18,20,23, ". . . it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations. . . to my holy mountain Jerusalem,. . . from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord."
Jeremiah 3:17, "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. . ."
Jeremiah 16:19, "0 Lord. . . the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit."
Zephaniah 2:11, "The Lord. . . will famish all the G-ds of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen."
Zechariah 2:11, "And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. .
Zechariah 8:22, "Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord."
Zechariah 8:23, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that G-d is with you."
Zechariah 14:9, "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one."
Zechariah 14:16, "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the frost of tabernacles."
Needless to say the above Jewish Scriptures are ignored by almost all of Christianity and this is definitely not the agenda for "Jews for Jesus" nor is it the plan of the Southern Baptists. Yet, the Jewish Scriptures say differently. Either way, Christianity is not in the picture here.
Answer for yourself: How many of you have honestly undertaken an unbiased investigation of the Christian faith and the Christian church? I assume few have. Such a study will take time and you are limited at the start in determining which sources are "best." Too often when one does undertake such a study he is encountered at first with "religious bias" and "religious propaganda" from religious agendas who desire to paint there own perspectives in the best of light. Such study is worthless. Only when we get outside the "Christian box" can we accurately see and evaluate the truth of the matter.
As an ordained Pastor and a Seminary graduate I have earned the right to be critical of the failures of my faith. The following is a concise summary of how unbiased history and scholars view the legacy of the Gentile Christian Church.
The Christian church has left a legacy, a world view, that permeates every aspect of Western society, both secular and religious. It is a legacy that fosters sexism, racism, the intolerance of difference, and the desecration of the natural environment. The Church, throughout much of its history, has demonstrated a disregard for human freedom, dignity, and self-determination. It has attempted to control, contain and confine spirituality, the relationship between an individual and G-d. As a result, Christianity has helped to create a society in which people are alienated not only from each other but also from the divine.
This Christianity called "orthodox Christianity" here-is embedded in the belief in a singular, solely masculine, authoritarian G-d who demands unquestioning obedience and who mercilessly punishes dissent. Orthodox Christians believe that fear is essential to sustain what they perceive to be a divinely ordained hierarchical order in which a celestial G-d reigns singularly at a pinnacle, far removed from the earth and all humankind.
While orthodox Christianity originally represented but one of many sets of early Christian beliefs, it was these Christians who came to wield political power. By adapting their Christianity to appeal to the Roman government, they won unprecedented authority and privilege. Their church became known as the Church. This newly acquired power enabled them to enforce conformity to their practices. Persecuting those who did not conform, however, required the Church to clarify its own doctrine and ideology, to define exactly what was and was not heresy. In doing so, the Church consistently chose tenets and ideologies that best supported its control over the individual and society.
As it took over leadership in Europe and the Roman Empire collapsed, the Church all but wiped out education, technology, science, medicine, history, art and commerce. The Church amassed enormous wealth as the rest of society languished in the dark ages. When dramatic social changes after the turn of the millennium brought an end to the isolation of the era, the Church fought to maintain its supremacy and control. It rallied an increasingly dissident society against perceived enemies, instigating attacks upon Muslims, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Jews. When these crusades failed to subdue dissent, the Church turned its force against European society itself, launching a brutal assault upon southern France and instituting the Inquisition.
The crusades and even the early centuries of the Inquisition did little to teach people a true understanding of orthodox Christianity. It was the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter Reformation that accomplished this. Only during the Reformation did the populace of Europe adopt more than a veneer of Christianity. The Reformation terrified people with threats of the devil and witchcraft. The common perception that the physical world was imbued with G-d's presence and with magic was replaced during the Reformation with a new belief that divine assistance was no longer possible and that the physical world belonged only to the devil. It was a three hundred year holocaust against all who dared believe in divine assistance and magic that finally secured the conversion of Europe to orthodox Christianity. By convincing people that G-d was separate from the physical world, orthodox Christianity "perhaps unwittingly" laid the foundation for the modern world, a world believed to be mechanical and determined, a world in which G-d is at most a remote and impersonal creator. People came to attribute their sense of powerlessness, not so much to their sinful human nature as to their insignificance in such a world. The theories of scientists and philosophers such as Isaac Newton, Rene Descartes and Charles Darwin reinforced orthodox Christian beliefs such as the inevitability of struggle and the necessity for domination. Such beliefs, however, are now proving not only to have serious drawbacks, but also to be scientifically limited.
Orthodox Christianity has also had devastating impact upon humanity's relationship with nature. As people began to believe that G-d was removed from and disdainful of the physical world, they lost their reverence for nature. Holidays, which had helped people integrate the seasons with their lives, were changed into solemn commemorations of biblical events bearing no connection to the earth's cycles. The perception of time changed so that it no longer seemed related to seasonal cycles. Newtonian science seemed to confirm that the earth was no more than the inevitable result of the mechanistic operation of inanimate components; it confirmed that the earth lacked sanctity.
The dark side of Christian history can help us understand the severing of our connection with the sacred. It can teach us of the most insidious and damaging slavery of all: the control of people through dictating and containing their spirituality.
This ignored side of history can illuminate the ideas and beliefs which foster the denigration of human rights, the intolerance of difference, and the desecration of the natural environment. Once recognized, we can prevent such beliefs from ever wreaking such destruction again. When we understand how we have come to be separated from the divine, we can begin to heal not only the scars, but the very alienation itself.
Answer for yourself: Now, do you want to lay this legacy at the feet of Jesus? Would Jesus want to take credit for this or claim this as his "fruit" or legacy? Is this the work of the Holy Spirit?
Needless to say "redactionism" of history has been very successful. Winners write history and that is a shame. For in the doing of such truth is destroyed. The traditional Christian knows little if anything about the real history of the Christian Church. Once equipped with such unbiased knowledge to say that the history of the Christian faith is the fulfillment of Malachi 1:11 makes a mockery of the Jewish Scriptures.
What pains me is the thought of what Jesus would think of this two thousand years of mockery of the truth! By denying evil we do harm. By denying darkness we obscure the light. Over a period of almost two millennia, the Christian Church has oppressed and brutalized millions of individuals in an attempt to control and contain spirituality. It is tragic that our century witnessed the wholesale slaughter of 6 million Jews, but not a word is said of the Church's slaughter of over 18 million "believers" over the last two thousand years who knew the truth and who would not surrender to Rome's religious tyranny. In closing, the name of Christianity sadly is anything but "great" and Jesus would have no part of it!
Bennoah1@verizon.net