Many who came into or grew up in the churches of God that sprang from the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W, Armstrong and now in the many splinter groups led by ministers trained by Him are readying for the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. These Annual festivals are found in Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16. They were commanded observances for the ancient Israelites who had just come out of Egyptian slavery by the delivering hand of God.
You probably were never taught by your ministers that Jesus and later the Apostle Paul condemned this?!? No, neither was I during my 45 year journey through the Churches of God (COG).
The Churches of God teach that observance of the Old Testament Annual Sabbaths, or Feasts, are commanded by God for New Covenant Christians. This doctrine was introduced by Herbert W, Armstrong while he was still and elder in the Sabbath keeping Church of God Seventh Day in Oregon. This was several years before he started the Radio Church of God, later renamed the Worldwide Church of God. From the founding of the Christian Church on Pentecost 31 A.D. to today the true church of God did NOT observe the Old Covenant Laws of Moses. Many writers and Biblical Scholars have written histories of the true church and confirmed this. There are many volumes that are available on the internet that confirm this fact.
The Sabbath Keeping Waldenses, under the leadership of Peter Waldo in the 12th century shunned these Old Testament rituals as Pharisaical and knew they had been ended at the cross (Colossians 2:14). Catholic Church documents confirm this. When the Sabbath keepers were martyred for rejecting the Catholic Church, it was noted that they also rejected Judaism and the law of Moses as Pharisaical. They were being burned at the stake for their belief in salvation by Grace through Faith and nothing else. Rejecting both Judaism and Popish legalism.
Jesus himself taught against this practice. His teachings at the Well of Jacob in Samaria were pivotal in the establishment of the new covenant with Jesus as the mediator. This event is found in the Gospel of John chapter 4:21-24 where Christ taught clearly that the Temple worship ended at that very hour and God must be worshiped in a new way. In spirit and truth, because God is spirit. Jesus said, no longer would worship be with physical rituals in physical temples.
John 4:21-24 (KJV)
21Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (On this mountain referred to Mt. Girazim where a Samaritan Temple once stood that rivaled the Temple in Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time. Both the Samaritans and the Jews worshiped the same true God in Christ’s time, the Samaritans were more strict in many ways than the Jews)
Why then does the ministry of your church contradict Jesus’ own words? Jesus also taught that the Law and the Prophets were only prophetic of Him and the coming of Salvation through Faith.
Matthew 11:13; (KJV)
13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. Not after. This passage is Jesus referring to John the Baptist that prepared the way for Christ to begin His ministry.The law and the prophets came to a sudden end at Christ. Christ was the End of the Law at His crucifixion. Romans 10:4.
What does the Apostle Paul teach about Christians going back to the Law of Moses, and what does Paul say about those who teach Christians they must?
Galatians 5:1-6; (KJV)
1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. 7Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Paul is fighting against Jews who came to the churches in Asia teaching they had to go back to the law of Moses for salvation. This issue was discided by the Apostles of the Jerusalem Church in Acts 15. The law was not required for salvation. Only The Grace of God and our Faith in Christ crucified was required. Anyone going back to the old covenant laws and practices were fallen from grace
I repeat Paul's words, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."
I repeat Paul's words, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."
A very dire warning that your ministers ignore!
While being diligent in removing leavening from your homes you actually bring in another leaven that is far worse as Paul writes in verses 8 and 9; This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 7Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? Paul is clearly telling us that keeping the old law is teaching us to NOT OBEY the truth that he taught the new Christians.
In fact, the True Doctrine of Christ is the opposite of what your ministers teach you! These ministers are blinded by a veil over their minds that Paul writes about. It is there and will remain blinding them until they accept Jesus through Grace exactly as God offered through His Grace and not our works of the law. Notice especially verses13-18.
2 Corinthians 3:1-18, (KJV)
1Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? 2Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 4And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. 12Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
By reading from the Torah, or Law of Moses, and thus teaching Christians that they must observe abolished and obsolete rituals and customs cuts the believer off from Christ and is left fallen from Grace. This was a prophesied stumbling stone to the Jews who loved the fact that they had the Law of Moses. They rejected and murdered the prophesied Messiah because they lacked the Faith to accept Him. But they were in fact blinded by the veil over their understanding. The Churches of God follow this false doctrine of blaspheming the Words of Christ and the Apostles. They do this denying men access to the Kingdom of God and eternal life through faith IN Jesus Christ, Our Only Passover!
Christ has been victorious over sin for us, we ARE the unleavened now. All of these things were fulfilled in Christ as prophesied. It is not the leaven of yeast that the Christian has to fear now, but the deadly spiritual leaven of FALSE DOCTRINE that infests the Churches of God!
Beware of the Deadly Leaven of the Pharisees as Jesus warned. The Deadly Leaven of False Doctrine.
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