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Having laid the foundation for the direction of our study we now begin to deal with the individual texts in order to share with our reader how the original Jewish Masoretic Texts of Scripture were altered into what we have today which goes unnoticed by the vast majority of Christendom. It is these "altered and corrupted" texts that are mistakenly used by Christians to reinforce their various religious beliefs about Jesus, when in fact, many such beliefs can be shown to be pure fantasy when such corrupted texts are isolated and investigated as to both their true origin and the reasons for their change in the first place. It is important to both understand these changes of the Jewish Scriptures because they impact upon whether Jesus can be viewed as the Hebrew Messiah as even as God. If one is able to emotionally detach himself from such "explosive" studies then after completing such a very difficult study one should come to the conclusion that it is impossible to "say" with certainty that anyone is or is not the Messiah of Israel for the simple fact that when one sees what the true Jewish Prophecies are and how they have been manipulated by the writers of the LXX as well as the Christian Old Testaments that come from it then one has no recourse to truthfully say under God that His Word has been corrupted and that the fulfillments of the prophecies yet remain. This problem is magnified with the writing of the NT as these same "corrupted" passages are applied to the life of Jesus by various authors and groups in order to present each's unique interpretation of the man Jesus. Having said that then the "truth" about this man yet remains a mystery.
It is important for the Christian to understand that Judaism has no fear of these "altered-texts," because they can all be shown to be erroneous proofs for many of Christianity's doctrines. They texts which I will share with you are all completely spurious and you the reader will see this as we study. After such comparative study you, like I, will set bewildered as to how I, a child of God, could have been so deceived. I am constantly asked by so many readers: "How could God set by and let this happen, how could He allow His Word to be changed and people believe a lie?" The answer is rather simple. God gives mankind free will to either obey or disobey Him; to alter or protect His revelation. You and I have the ability to go beyond the minimum pabulum passed off as "spiritual meat" in our churches today because our hunger for God is such that the minimum "bible 101" does not satisfy our hearts, let alone our heads. It is those who decide that they want more of God and who draw closer to Him that seem to stumble onto this information. It has been done for centuries. Basically the closer the closer we draw closer to God the more truth we see.
In the following articles, we shall analyze, one by one, the primary Hebrew Bible verses utilized by mainline Christian pastors and teachers that are "supposed" to point to Jesus and confirm his Messiahship. In so doing we will submit such verses to critical analysis: linguistical, cultural, historical, etc. In so doing you will learn how the these verses from the Jewish Bible have been misused and you will see how such misuse of these texts was done purposefully by those who gave us both the Old and the New Testament let alone our printed Christian Bibles. Previously, you were shown that Jesus did not function as the Messiah and that the Messianic expectations remain unfulfilled. We have illuminated Hebraic Messianism based on the Scriptures and demonstrated that Jesus' ministry was devoid of any Messianic achievement. As a ex-Pastor I wish I did not have to say that but as a man of God who is dedicated to truth I can say nothing else having seen the evidence for myself. And now we complete our study with a survey of the fallacy of Christianity when they claim proof-texts as pointers to Jesus, when such texts as understood in their Jewish context, point neither to him or have anything to do with him. Verses can always be misquoted, mistranslated, and lifted out of context to provide a meaning other than which was originally intended by the speaker or author, but such I believe does great damage to the message originally intended for the hearer. Either the Prophets spoke of Jesus or they didn't. I want the truth. You should want the truth. I want the Bible Jesus read and was familiar with and not one altered because of the misdirected pursuits of religious zealots which have strayed from the faith once given to the saints. I will try to explain each of these passages within traditional Judaism as Jesus would have both understood and believed them. If it was good enough for Jesus then it should be good enough for you and me. Once seeing them in this perspective then it is easy for the reader to know both in his head and his heart if God ever intended such passages to refer to Jesus or not. Again I stress the fact that with such corruption of the Jewish Scriptures we cannot trust anything unless it is scrupulously compared line upon line and precept upon precept with the Jewish Bible. Only then can we see the "present" truth that Jesus knew and try to understand the Messianic events or their lack of. Only then can we look to the New Testament and see the Jewish Jesus and at the same time spot the "counterfeit" Jesus for both dot the pages of the New Testament. The most important thing is discernment of the difference between the two, and in so doing, try to understand Jesus' connection to the Messianic events of the first century and their failure to materialize. Having done so it is my hope that both Jews and non-Jews will recognize the "spin" of the Christian Old and New Testaments and realize that the truth about Jesus remains yet a mystery and that events that occurred precluded him or anyone from emerging as the Messiah of Israel. But to twist the Holy Word of God to promote "this" or "that" group's theological positions and attach them to Jesus when the passages never said such is an insult to Jesus and an abomination to God.
The deception of the Essenes was very clever. If you could not read Hebrew you were not aware that changes were made to the Jewish Scriptures when they translated them into Greek. Within a generation another whole younger generation would grow up "hearing" these altered "passages," and not having access to the Hebrew to verify if they were so, would like you and me lean to the tendency to accept what you hear in faith because it came for others who we esteemed spiritual leaders or authorities. Within a generation the minds of the hearers would be filled with "memorized" stories and passages from the Greek Bible; all the while never knowing that the Hebrew passages from which they were taken never said such things. Within a generation we have the beginning of the changing of the "Messianic revelation" that was originally given to the Holy men of old. Ideas totally foreign to the Hebrew Prophets were now given "Prophetic authority" since they are now found written among the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures which were cleverly altered on purpose by the Essenes of Alexandria, Egypt.
Answer for yourself: And who was to know any different except the spiritual authorities who were connected with such a ruse in the first place? Consequently the Essenes would be seen to be custodians of "mysteries" and "Divine revelation" and their influence soars. Their "Book" made them winners and promoted their unique brand of solar-myths. If you think I am kidding I challenge you to spend some time at the following website which will convince you without question that what I say is true:
http://paganizingfaithofyeshua.netfirms.com/
We need to understand the genius at work among these Essenes. Mistranslate the Jewish Scriptures to make them validate your personal "unorthodox" Jewish theology and now you have a book from God that says "your right" when the many religious sects around you, even other Jews, disagree with some or many of your religious tenants. This is exactly what the Essenes of Alexandria, Egypt, did in the second century before Jesus was born. If again you doubt this could have happened I challenge you to get a copy of the LXX (Septuagint) and read the introduction of this Bible for yourself and you will find that the numerous quotes of the scholars that show discuss it's many errors and exposes what a poor translation of the Jewish Scriptures it really is. Comfort and persuasion came to the Essenes in the promotion of their unusual and unique spiritual beliefs by the fact that they now had a "Divine Book and Revelation" that proves them and their spiritual interpretations and doctrines were Divinely sanctioned by God, the Creator no less, when their opponents lack such Divine testimony and such a Divine Book. You win! This story is the story of the Essenes of Alexandria, Egypt, because we must look to them for the original corruption of the Jewish Scriptures. These ideas are not only found there but later we find the "same theology" at Qumran and in Acts 6 we see these same Essene "priests" convert to the Jesus Movement and now Jesus is recast in these same "altered beliefs." These beliefs end up in the oral traditions of Jesus and later find their way onto the pages of the New Testament.
Ironically both Judaism and Christianity revere the same Hebrew Bible, the "Old Testament" of the Christians, as God's revealed word. The problem is that those who buy, love, and cherish their Christian Bibles never know that their Old Testament within it reads very different than the Jewish Old Testament in specific places; those places seeming to deal with Messianic beliefs! That is to be expected and understandable since it was in these unique places in the Hebrew texts where the Essene's used their syncretistic neo-pagan theology to fashion a "new" revelation from God and advance their solar-myths with Divine sanction. And few knew it so; especially if you could not read the Hebrew to see such alterations and changes for yourself. Lacking such skills you were relegated to listening to the accounts from such a "revised" translation, and if you were lucky enough to read Greek, then these errors were only reinforced and you never knew otherwise. You fell victim to reading the "translation" as if it were done correctly and you never doubted you did not have an accurate translation, let alone a "purposefully corrupted" one. Your spiritual leader would not lead you wrong, would he? In few words the Essenes grafted into the Jewish concept of a Davidic Messiah other current religious beliefs connected with solar and astral-worship which were prevalent not only in Alexandria, Egypt, but many of the neighboring nations. In fact, the roots of these solar-myths go to the very origin of Egypt where they lived!Basically is was just a more current version of Osiris worship! These were blended into the texts in various places that originally spoke of the Davidic Messiah which was to come. We find basically that a human anointed by God becomes God in such "scriptural creationism." As if that is not enough such an "anointed" as sent from God now mimics the sun-godmen of the Gentile nations and ends up crucified in the Heavens before the foundation of the world. Now recall that this was over 200 years before the birth of Jesus and these "Scriptural manipulations" were NEVER intended to point to him. The changes affected only the "Messianic concept" whereby no longer was God working though His "anointed;" God in the form of a virgin-born man was to come in the same fashion and mode as we find in common in astral and sun-worship among almost all of the non-Jewish nations of the world. This is simply explained since mankind saw the same things in the "heavens" and every nation personified such sightings as if they were literal stores with literal heroes. Almost every nation had their sun-godman and the similarities among them are astounding. Of course you need to read about this and see it for yourself and the two websites listed above provide you the materials and bibliographies necessary to do so.
Within the pages of our Christian Old Testaments we find such "astral-alterations" and "solar-corruptions" reading just like the verses before and after them, and without prior knowledge of what to look for one reads over such passages thinking that they were given by God through the Jewish Prophets. One reads such "alterations and mistranslations" never knowing that it was not written exactly the same way by the original Prophet of God in the Hebrew Scriptures. You are set up and deceived when reading such documents because you unquestioningly believe you have a faithful translation and have no reason to doubt it. The irony of the whole situation is seen in that this same Bible basically belongs to both mother and daughter religions. However, the verses are often divergent when compared between the Jewish and Christian Old Testaments. This being the fact, then it is very easy to see how the same book can be interpreted so differently by a Jew or a Christian let alone. This fact alone tells us why both sides have widely divergent beliefs about the Messiah. No wonder the Jews don't believe in the "Christian Messiah!" Their Bible does not predict one; rather, it has always said the same things concerning a "Jewish Messiah."
You see your religious belief system all depends on the Bible you use...the Christian one or the one Jesus read...the Jewish one
Never suspecting you have a forgery there is no need to get a "better" one. For me, if the Jewish Scriptures predated all others, and if the Greek was to come from them, then I EXPECT to have a faithful translation of them and not a "doctored" version because of some theological whim of some Essenes some 2000 years ago whom had already departed significantly from Biblical Judaism as seen from not only history, but their secular writings as well. I don't want to believe a lie! And God knows I surely don't want to be involved in sun-worship and idolatry and not know it until I die!
Answer for yourself: Have you ever taken a list of "Messianic prophecies" and compared them with the identical passages from the Stone Edition Tanakh or the JPS Jewish translation and with your KJV Old Testament and with the quotes in the New Testament taken from them? What will you do when you see I am right and that you have put your faith in corrupted translations?
What you don't know that you need to is that the earliest Greek Fathers of the Church will be educated at the "New York City" of their day and the "then" theological capital of the world.
Answer for yourself: What do you think that city was named? No, it was not Rome, it was Alexandria, Egypt, the home of the world's largest Library under the supervision of the Essenes who corrupted the Jewish Bible in the first place. Not being able to read Hebrew the Greek fathers found a "similar" revelation in the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures that they had already known since growing up with variations of sun-worship. And after all, they were told it was "God's Book." Sound familiar? Thus, as time would go on, these concepts were applied to Jesus and the authority to do so was the Greek translation of the Jewish Bible. You must also know that they most likely never knew either that they did not have a "correct translation."
Answer for yourself: But did all the early Fathers of the Church not know how to read Hebrew? No, some would and we need look no further than Clement of Rome who was the first Bishop of the Roman Church. It will stagger you to find out that he NEVER quoted from the Greek translation of the Old Testament but ALWAYS used the Jewish Masoretic Text for his quotes, since being Jewish, he knew how to read the Hebrew and knew for certain which text was "corrupted." It also goes without saying not every "believer" in the Messiah at that early date thought Jesus "God." One only need look to Jerome who was commissioned by Rome to come up with a Latin translation of the Old Testament, and not being able to used the Greek because of its many error (Jerome could read Hebrew), was constrained to use the Hebrew text for his translation since he knew the terrible unreliability of the Greek text.
Being sold the wrong theology about the Jewish translation into Greek only fueled later tampering with the text by the Early Fathers who tried "to prove" an already accepted "theology." Not only was the New Testament added to the "Old Testament" by Christianity, but passages of Judaism's Bible, when taken out of their original context, are twisted and given meanings which presumably would make them foreshadow the coming of Jesus Christ! This is simply done by "proof-texting" where events from the life of Jesus or oral traditions about him are compared with similar events of the Old Testament, and when something appears similar then it is made into a "prophecy" about Jesus and given the authority of the Prophet who wrote the original passage. Thus we find Hebrew Scripture is interpreted, on purpose, as prophetic announcements of events in the New Testament and is made to look as if was "written" to be fulfilled prophecy. Events are written and even "added" to the life of Jesus as found in the New Testament with the intention of becoming and showing fulfillment of passages in the Hebrew Bible. Truly natural events are found alongside contrived ones as well as events of doubtful authenticity. They are mixed in the New Testament to achieve the desired results of the emerging Church.
Of course, other Hebrew Bible verses, those which give evidence of the eternal nature of Judaism, are ignored or overthrown, using Christianity's viewpoint. Judaism's interpretation of passages is based on meaningfulness in context of God as known and continually revealed in Scripture! Verses are read and understood with connected relevance. God's word is seen as significant, purposeful, and unchangeable. Every word, every detail, every passage is comprehended and expounded within Judaism, and Judaism is certain that the Hebrew Bible has nothing at all to say about astral interpretation of Jesus Christ but only the Hebrew Messiah. The problem for us is determining if Jesus fulfilled the Jewish Scriptures or is made to look like he did in the corrupted OT and NT which come from the altered LXX, Needless to say this cannot be proven by "emotion" alone but by sound Scriptural exegesis where every passage is compared: line for line and precept for precept like the Prophet instructs.
If Christianity had nothing to do with Judaism's Bible, we would have nothing to say about Christianity's errors or truths. It simply would be another religion, which we would respect for approaching God. But, when Christianity grew from Jewish roots, it took along the Jewish Bible and has taught that their "unique manipulation of it as well as its own special interpretation of it" is inspired and inerrant. Because of both of these events we must deal with this issue with both wisdom, intelligence, and facts. You will find that such Gentile fathers, as well as the Essene apocalytpic fraction of Biblical Judaism, misrepresented the Holy Scriptures' meaning, tore down Judaism's legitimacy, and presented itself as the "New Israel." Therefore, we have a need, even an obligation to God and to ourselves, to explain the errors of Christianity when it uses the Hebrew Bible to lay forth its claims. What is Judaism's concern, and what should be the concern of every "thinking" Christian, is Christianity's transformation of the Hebrew Messiah into the Christ of Christianity and its use of Biblical verses as proof-texts to that end!
I don't wish to devote the huge amounts of space necessary to explain each of these "literary" manipulations of the Jewish text; however, I will list them by category for your inspection. In the following articles on this website we will see for ourselves how this was done as we investigate passage after passage and see for ourselves how these literary manipulations were carried out.
SCRIPTURES WERE TAKEN COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTEXT
They are taken out of context, so that the authentic, original meaning is lost and isolated ways of interpreting them emerge which are devoid of any in-place connection.
TWISTED MEANING
They Jewish passages are read into and misunderstood, so that a new meaning results instead of the meaning which is appropriate for the situation as written.
FORCED CONNECTION
The passages, and their intended meanings are often unnaturally described and contrived to point to Jesus in spite of the fact that the original author or writer never intended such passages to point to him.
MISTRANSLATIONS
They are simply translated wrong; either purposefully or innocently; but the fact remains the same in that the "translation" from these Jewish Scriptures has lost its original meaning.
MISQUOTATIONS
The Jewish passages from the Jewish Masoretic text are simply quoted wrong. Most of this is purposeful deception.
"SO THAT IT BE FULFILLED"
They Jewish Scriptures and passages are connected to created events or "created writings" of such events in the New Testament which explicitly state that the events were made to occur "so that it be fulfilled." Needless to say all of the above types of Scriptural manipulations come into play here. Many times we find events known from the life of Jesus which were proof-texted back into the Old Testament, and when finding things similar, these events from the life of Jesus were made into "fulfilled" prophecies by the manipulation of the Jewish texts with one or more of the manipulative literary techniques described above. I challenge you to study out in-depth beginning with Matt. 1 all of the "thus being fulfilled" passages and compare the Old Testament reference as to linguistics, syntax, context, history, culture, etc., and them compare them with the New Testament's account and then see for yourself if they really were "fulfilled" as the Holy men of old recorded them or intended them. I have and you need to see it for yourself.
Proof-texts can be understood as such only be someone who knows about Christianity. You have to have an "existing" theology to prove it at all costs. Let say it another way. If you did not know "Christian theology" before hand then you would be hard pressed to find remote similarities to it in the Jewish Scriptures let alone "fulfillments." But being armed with a religious belief system before you are familiar with the Old Testament and how it is to be understood from a Jewish viewpoint, then you approach this Jewish Old Testament with the idea that you will find your unique beliefs within it. With such an approach it is not hard to find "similarities" or "remote similarities" to what you already believe because first of all it is a large book and the human desire to "be right" about such an important issue. This will be shocking but the same can be said if the Christian approached many other religious texts outside of the Jewish Bible. These Jewish texts are not self-explanatory in relation to Christianity, but must be interpreted from their viewpoint. Jews, both before and after the New Testament, see these verses as only within Judaism. Moreover, many Christian scholars admit that they doubt the validity of many of the proof-texts. The reason you don't know this is that you have never taken the time to study this information out for yourself or read any good "honest" scholars who teach on these topics and who don't have a denominational "agenda." The Hebrew Scriptures are clear and comprehensible in Judaic terms to Jews who spend their lives reading and studying them. It seems to me, and common sense dictates, that since the Jewish people and sages were given these Holy revelations in the first place, and since they wrote them down for all posterity, and since they and not the Gentile nations were called to be "a light to the nations," then it seems that they better than non-Jew or Christian are more capable of interpreting their own language and writings than any others.
Answer for yourself: Why would the alleged references to the Christian Christ be so masked and hidden to the very people for whom they were supposedly meant?
Answer for yourself: Is God playing some kind of sick and twisted joke on the Jewish people?
Answer for yourself: Or in reality is there the remotest chance that this sick joke as been played upon the Gentile Christian believer because of the Essenes' desire to trump their religious opponents in Alexandria, Egypt, and later the Gentile's hatred for the Jew? We must never forget both of these issues. The Essenes changed the texts for "theological" reasons, but coupled with that, it would be their legacy to instruct non-Jews who would later, with the establishment of the Gentile Church, continue such Scriptural heresy because of their reactionism to Biblical Judaism? (Selah)!
To reply to the Jew's rejection of the Christian Old Testament and "revelation" concerning Jesus is rather simple once you know the facts concerning the competing texts and Bibles. Now you have heard the truth of the matter. "Because of the Jewish people's blindness," as the reason for the Jew's rejection of the Christian Jesus, would be expected only from those who have been taught this defamation and are themselves lacking in open-mindedness and who fail to take the challenge to see if these things as said in this article are "true." I have done the research "well" I assure you. It is fool proof. Facts don't lie! Faith alone in untruth does! Assuredly, God would have made His teaching clear in the Hebrew Scriptures concerning the coming of a new kind of salvation through vicarious atonement, if this were the truth. If "faith and repentance and obedience" as the means of pleasing God and salvation was to be replaced in the future by the death and resurrection of another then God is highly amiss to leave such an important fact completely out of his revelation to the Jewish people who again are called to be "a light to all other nations." Yet, He did not say one word about this. Nothing is found out of joint, pointing to a Christologic future in the Jewish Masoretic text. Only when we come to the butchered passages in Isaiah can such a case be made and a simple comparison with the Hebrew nullifies such passages quickly. It is a known fact that of all the books altered by the Essenes found at Qumran the book of Isaiah was the "most corrupted." The God of Israel has not disclosed any such thing, nor has He hidden any such thing among His holy words. We know because all Holy Scripture is understood within Judaism, fully understood, within traditional Judaism. It is way past time for the Christian believe to know this.
Jews are able to comprehend Christianity's claims. These claims are not a mystery to them or their scholars who know the true Jewish passages. What is a mystery to them is the Christian's use of proof-text explanations which are wrong. Wrong since they not only come from a corrupted text and Christian Old Testament but twisted and perverted to say "at all costs" that which is necessary to validate the Christian's belief. But there are many today who know better and who possess the true knowledge of both the Jewish Bible and its proper interpretation. It is these informed believers who can recognize the Christian's proof-texts and the explanations that they use when basing their religious beliefs upon the corruption of the Hebrew Bible. Such babble is a poor substitute for revelation and any debate of such is pure foolishness.
It would do the Christian well to realize that the Jewish Holy Scriptures speak only of God as Judaism knows God, and the Messiah, as Judaism knows the Messiah and not as the Essenes and the anti-Semitic early Gentile church would attempt to know him. Keep in mind that my rebuttals are far more acceptable than Christianity's distortions, for in doing so I have not made God's word of naught. His words are eternally true in Judaism, His admonitions, His promises, His attachments, and His purposes. You will find Bet Emet's rebuttals substantial and convincing, for they are based on the traditional Jewish understanding of the Jewish Bible (just like the historical Jesus would have understood and believed). And our understanding makes the holy word of God fit in place properly, naturally, and reasonably.
As a Christian Pastor of many years ago I took the challenge when what I was reading shared with me that my Bible and my understanding of the Jewish passages were wrong. I had to prove my detractors wrong for after all I was a Christian Pastor for God sakes. How could I be wrong? After getting a Tanakh and comparing Messianic passage after passage, first in the Jewish Bible with my Greek LXX and my Christian Old Testament, and they comparing them with those passages in the New Testament as applied to Jesus, I was crushed at what I found. I undertook the most comprehensive study I had ever done in my life; line upon line and precept upon precept. I began to see the many problems those I was reading were referring to. When this study was finished I had to repent of the lies I had cherished as truths. I finally realized that it was not Nicea, but the people of the Book, whom had been given the authority to interpret the Book of God. This comes from Deuteronomy 17:9-10, "And thou shalt come unto the. . judge (of Israel). . . and enquire; - . . and thou shalt observe and do according to all that they inform thee:" Therefore, the Hebrew Bible and its so-called proof-texts are under the jurisdiction of Jewish judges alone, as designated by God.
Answer for yourself: But the LXX is older and the latest Jewish copy of their Scriptures dates to 900 to 1000 A.D. Surely the Jews altered their Bible to counter the early Christian's claims concerning Jesus? That is the argument that has survived for almost 2000 years. But no more. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls we have in our possession copies of not only the LXX found at Qumran but even older copies of the Jewish Masoretic text pre-dating the oldest know copies of the Jewish Bible by 2000 years and they agree 99.9 % with those "supposed corrupted" passages that were done "to refute Jesus." Now we have to completely rethink the value of the Jewish Bible as opposed to the "corrupted LXX."
We are ready now to proceed with the inquiry and rebuttal to the supposed Messianic passages of the Christian's Bible as applied to Jesus. Either they will hold up upon scrutiny or they will not.
