Beware of the Deadly Leaven of the Pharisees as Jesus warned. The Deadly Leaven of False Doctrine.

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 12^th 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."

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.

I HAVE BEEN TOLD GOD COMMANDS CHRISTIANS TODAY TO OBSERVE THE JEWISH PASSOVER. IS THAT TRUE?

A short blog with a short answer....No Christians Do Not. 

New Covenant Christians have the sacrifice and shed blood of Jesus Christ as their passover. It was done once for all by the Son of God on the cross. All you need to do is accept Him as your savior, be baptized in the name of the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, and you will receive  the Holy Spirit.  Salvation is through Grace and Faith in Christ, not through laws.

Christ fulfilled and ended the requirements of the Old Covenant completely  (Colossians 2:14, Ephesians 2:15).  Jesus explained what He did in Luke 24:44 to His disciples after His crucifixion and resurrection from the dead. In this He explains what he told them earlier in Matthew 5:17-18, that He came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to Fulfill them, which He did. In Matthew 11:13 Christ also explained that the Law and the Prophets were only prophecy until John the Baptist, until, not afterward.

There is no requirement to keep the Old Testament Festivals or any of the other commandments contained in statutes and ordinances  including the upcoming Passover and Days  of Unleavened Bread.

Today the fulfillment of the Commandments of our Lord is the Christian requirement. He commanded us to, "Love one another as I have Loved You." John 15:10 " If you keep My commandments you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."

His Father's commandments that he kept  and the ones that He commanded us to keep are not entirely the same. They are different as He says.  In verse 12 Christ gives us His commandments, "that you love one another as I have loved you." Christ repeats the same commandment in verse 17. 

Christ gave the commandment to us in John 13:43, 14:15,21. "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." said Jesus. 

What about a communion service with the symbols of the new covenant recorded in Luke 22, Matthew 26 and Mark 14 with the bread and wine? Once a year or several times, as long as bread and wine are taken in a reverent manner as a memorial of Christs sacrifice. Only in I Corinthians 11:26 is any frequency attached to this ritual of remembrance, and Paul simply states, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. And the occasion is not the Lords Supper being recorded in this passage, only a potluck type meal in this church that experienced a degree of disharmony.

With the Passover being fulfilled on the 15th of Nissan with Christ's death on the cross there is no longer a  reason to observe this event in an old covenant fashion while under the new covenant. Christ was the end of the Law of Moses, the end of the old covenant (Romans 10:4). The date and ritual became obsolete. Heb 8:13, "He has made the first obsolete.

In the New Covenant we fulfill the Whole Law by Loving your neighbor as your self.

However, If you think that is easy, think again. Christ's command not only included treating others as you want to be treated, but goes far beyond that....Christ died for you and for me.