Who Is Truly Led by the Spirit of God? Discerning Truth Amid 45,000 Denominations

Who is truly listening to and moving in the Spirit of God?

Whether it be for a new believer, or for a person who was raised in a believing household but is put off by modern practices of faith, the decision of which path to follow in order to adhere to the faithfulness of the Messiah can be daunting.

There are roughly 45,000 denominations that fall under the “Christian” umbrella. That means that if one wanted to be absolutely certain that they were “in the right”, one would have to sift through nearly fifty thousand “statements of faith” to be certain.

It would be easier, perhaps, to know about them in groups, and how they are classified:

Here is a list of major denominations and their number of adherents as of today:

Roman Catholic Church – ~1.3 billion

Eastern Orthodox Church – ~220 million

Anglican Communion – ~85 million

Protestantism (broad umbrella including many denominations) – ~900 million combined

              Among Protestants, the largest groups include:

              Pentecostalism – ~280 million

              Lutheranism – ~75 million

              Baptists – ~100 million

              Methodists – ~60–80 million

              Reformed (Calvinist/Presbyterian) – ~75 million

              Oriental Orthodox Churches – ~60 million

              Seventh-day Adventists – ~22 million

              Jehovah’s Witnesses – ~8.5 million

              African Initiated Churches (AICs) – ~60–80 million (varies by classification)

Messianic people of every ilk are typically included in the 900 million statistic above, but their numbers are very small comparatively at 1% or less, but growing.

Messianic Jews ~350,000 worldwide

Messianic Gentiles are not specifically counted but generally constitute up to 70% of Messianic Congregations

Hebrew Roots Movement Not specified Over 14,000 fellowships listed; growing presence globally

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) – ~17 million

So, among all those millions of people, who is actually speaking on behalf of God?

The easy answer would be, those who believe and follow the Bible. But of course, all of them would say that they do.

The problem is, when one makes an honest assessment of just the NT scriptures and compares it to the doctrines espoused by many of those organizations, one will find that their doctrines are actually refuted in the NT scriptures!

If we examine all the “letters”, starting with the book of Romans and going to Jude [excluding the book of Hebrews, since it was written to Jews], we will see that all the predominantly gentile congregations of the first century were having the seeds of all the doctrinal issues that still divide the Body of Messiah today.

In most cases, despite containing a kernel of truth, their various bodies of doctrine, as a whole, are seriously flawed.

That does not mean that everyone who follows those congregations is lost; but, it does put the onus on the individual believer to ask questions, to consider the possibility that there is error, and to decide if they are going to make a necessary change if there is error.

We find Yeshua sending seven very personal letters to some of those congregations addressed in the various NT letters in The Revelation, and thus to all congregations throughout history, encouraging congregations to examine themselves, and fix those issues. When one examines those seven letters [Revelation 2 and 3], one finds that all the issues in those seven letters had already been addressed in the other NT letters by: James and all the apostles [Acts 15], Paul in his 13 letters to the congregations [not Hebrews, as he wrote that to Jewish believers in Jerusalem], Peter in his two epistles, James in his one epistle, John in his three, and Jude in his one.

Consider this: those letters had been around for up to 44 years by the time of the Revelation in 90 AD, and probably hundreds of copies had been made of many of them, if not thousands. The congregations had been reading them over and over. But, sadly, it seems that they did not heed their words. Neither did we heed the words of Yeshua in His seven letters.

All of those NT letters were written as a response to bad doctrine and bad behavior in the early Gentile congregations. We are only going to discuss the bad doctrine, as the bad behavior is the result of the bad doctrine, and we will show how every single issue shows a building up to the very fearful warnings of Messiah Himself to all those Gentile congregations in the region of Anatolia west of Galatia,  [Modern day Turkey and Greece]. There were seven letters.

Seven is a very significant number. It means “Rest/Sabbath”, but it also means “Completed”. So, Yeshua, in choosing seven Gentile congregations, is speaking to His ‘whole’ Congregation during The Times of the Gentiles. He is doing so throughout the ages, but people today do not heed those warnings. He is doing so on the Sabbath of Sabbaths, Yom Kippur [The Day of the LORD in verse 1:10]. Many today do not see that the doctrinal issues over which we squabble were already running roughshod over the Gentile congregations in the late first century.

Before Yeshua addressed those congregations, He visited Yokhanan [John the Apostle] and explained that He would take His Spirit away from those congregations. He said that, when He said that He was the one who walks among the seven golden Menorahs. He then explained the mystery of the Menorah very plainly, that a Menorah was a congregation. Then, in chapters 4 and 5, a Menorah is seen burning in front of God’s throne, and we are told that the Menorah [seven lamps] burning in front of God’s throne is the Sevenfold Spirit of God [ or are the seven spirits, translation dependent ].

So, Yeshua was telling the seven congregations that they are each a Menorah, thus having all of God’s Spirit guiding them. But, then He has Yokhanan send letters of compassion and warning to each of them. And in the first letter, the one written to Ephesus, He warns them that if they do not repent of their sins, that He will take their Menorah away from them. And in the last letter, the one to Laodicea, He warns that if they do not repent of their sins, He will spew them out of His mouth. Both of these are fearful warnings of rejection! Yet so few today heed those warnings. If we consider that the first ‘spirit’ on the Menorah seen in Isaiah 11:1-2 is the very spirit of  יהוה , and the last one is the FEAR of  יהוה , there almost seems to be a hint about Him removing His Menorah, and spewing us out of His mouth, on each end of that Menorah!

In our portion Emor [Lev 24:1-5], we are told that there was a lamp that was always to burn on the Menorah in the Temple. It is the middle lamp, the “Tree” of the Menorah, where a Menorah represents an olive tree. The ‘spirit’ on that lamp of that Menorah is “Etzah”, or “counsel”. And in Yeshua’s last letter, He says, “I counsel you to buy of me gold refined in the fire, that you may become rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, so that the shame of your nakedness may not be seen; and anoint your eyes with salve, that you may see.  I rebuke and chasten all those whom I love; be zealous, therefore, and repent.” [3:18-19] So many people of faith today think that ‘grace’ means that Yeshua does not punish us for our sins today. Does that stand to reason? He died for us, and took the punishment of all our sins from birth to death, and He would just overlook our sins after we come to faith? No! Again, He told this congregation that He would spew them out if they do not repent! They are believers! They are saved! They are ‘us’, as His Word is for all of us! The gold is The Word of God, from Yeshua [Psalm 19], and the white raiment is our obedience to all of that Word, whose foundation is the Torah.

The Hebrew congregation in Jerusalem was left out of those seven letters. The book of Hebrews was written to them earlier, as a warning not to grieve overmuch when the Temple is destroyed, which was about to happen. He encouraged them to trust in the new Priesthood that was inaugurated when Yeshua rose from the dead to become our High Priest and to create a new Ministry of reconciliation with God. But, in a thirteen-chapter book to a Messianic Jewish congregation, there is not one warning to them of the issues that were in the predominantly Gentile congregations in all the other epistles of the New Testament.

The rejection of Rabbinic ‘law’ by Messianic Jews brought about rejection from the wider Jewish community, because their failed attempt to circumcise all Gentile believers in Messiah created tension between Messianic Jews and Gentiles, and more tension with the Rabbinic community [It was Jewish “False brothers” (ψευδαδέλφους) that went to Galatia, and not actual Messianic leaders (Gal 2:4) ]. So much so, that after the Temple was destroyed, part of the blame for that destruction was cast on the Messianic community, and so “Birkat HaMinim” was created by Gamliel II, and still exists in Judaic literature and practice today. This curse was written into liturgy specifically to curse the Messianic Jews, and it led to the final expulsion of Messianic Jews from their Rabbinic Synagogues in about 150 A.D. So, for over a century, Messianic Jews and Rabbinic Jews, and ‘regular Jews’, worshipped together in the Synagogues peacefully. After the Temple was destroyed, Messianic Jews began to be marginalized. Finally, we were cast out of the synagogues, as Yeshua predicted, and that enmity is still there today.

It is important to note here that the Jewish believers, in 90 AD, were also already being sidelined and ostracized by the Gentile believers, even the leaders of those Gentile congregations. There was already conflict, and that conflict was over Gentiles not wanting to appear too Jewish, due both to antisemitism on their own part, and fear of persecution along with the wider Jewish community. According to sources like the “Didache”, Ignatius, Pliny the Younger, the “Gospel of Barnabus”, and others, there was infighting over how much Torah to keep; there was fear because Rome could not distinguish between Jews and Messianic believers [christians], there was contention because the gentile believers wanted to move the Sabbath to Sun-day for fear of persecution, [and some of them did, like Justin Martyr] and more. And the scriptures show us the inception of this tension: Paul, a Jew who was teaching Gentiles the Torah and the Jewish customs, actually mentions several people by name who were opposing him and bringing damnation upon themselves: Phygelus and Hermogens are two [2 Tim 1:15], Hymenaus and Philetus are two more [2 Tim 2:17], and Alexander another [2 Tim 4:14-15].

So, what were those errors that were the source of those tensions that finally brought the very real threat of rejection by Yeshua? What were those sins?

If we look at all the letters of James, Paul, Peter, John, and Judah, we find those errors. The following will break them down categorically.

The first issues dealt with by both Paul and James were idolatry and paganism, syncretism, or the mixing of idolatry and paganism into the faith of Yeshua.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul warns the congregation about their former idolatry creeping back into their congregation. He does the same for Galatia.

1 Cor 10:14

” Therefore, my beloved, keep away from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; you are able to judge what I say.  The cup of thanksgiving which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the Blood of Messiah? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the Body of Messiah?  For just as the loaf of bread is one, so we are all one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread.  Behold, [natural] Yisra’el, whose observance is after the flesh; do not those who eat the sacrifices become partakers of the Altar?  What, then, do I say? That the idol is anything, or that the sacrifice to idols is anything? No.  But what the pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God; and I would not have you in fellowship with devils.  You cannot drink the cup of Our Master and the cup of devils; you cannot be partakers of the Table of Our Master and of the table of devils.  Are we trying to provoke Our Master to anger? Are we stronger than He?”

We do not have the details of what exactly they were doing in their congregation in Corinth to warrant his correction. But we do know from history the culture of Corinth. Part of that culture was the sacred meals they would have. The ‘meals’ of Paul’s concern were temple meals; there was a sacrifice to a particular deity, for a ‘sacred meal’. There was ‘spiritual participation’ in their altar. All of these things are seen in overtones of some Christian denominations today. But, what they were actually doing in Corinth is questionable. At the least, they were going to pagan feasts and participating in the meals with the Temples or the Guilds, and also participating in the congregational sacred feasts. Given the later historical disputes, it’s likely they were already incorporating various elements into their congregational practices—and both scattered historical evidence and the legacy they passed on to Catholicism suggest as much.

Galatia seems more plainly to have actually been merging their pagan rituals into their fellowship already, which means Corinth probably was too, as history proves over and over that it happens very quickly. But most people today who read the following verses think that Paul is actually chiding them for keeping Torah.

Gal 4:8-11

“But then, when you did not know God, you served those things which from their nature were not gods.  But now, after you have known God, and, above all, are known of God, you turn again to those weak and poor principles, and you wish again to come under their bondage.  You still observe days, and months, and times, and years.  I am afraid that perhaps I have labored among you in vain.

As stated; most streams of faith interpret that passage to be concerning the Torah. They forget that Paul is a Torah-observant Jew still, and they can’t seem to keep in context that what they are returning to are the principles they followed when they did not know God.

The Galatians were actually “Gauls” who had invaded the area. Their paganism was Celtic, and tribal and seasonal. Thus, the ‘days, weeks, months and times and years’ they were “still” observing were not God’s Holy Days! They are pagan times of observance for ritual, pleasing of the spirit realm, and astrological regularity. And some of those have been woven into the fabric of early and late Christianity!

This may be why James and the Apostles had to warn this area about these issues:

Acts 15:20

“But let us send word to them [believers in Galatia] that they abstain from defilement by sacrifices to idols, and from fornication, and from creatures strangled, and from blood.”

The way the sacrifices in the temples in both regions were prepared left the blood in the meat, for consumption [of the blood]. The Galatians may have found that hard to let go of. They obviously had returned to some of those practices.

Again, there are similarities between these practices and some of today’s ideas of certain streams of thought concerning communion.

The next issue dealt with in all the letters was “antinomianism”, or those Gentile believers who were “against the Torah”. That is certainly the mainstream thought under the christian umbrella today. The letters actually speak very harshly against antinomianism, being “against the Torah”, but most people today walk away thinking that they support antinomianism.

John dealt with the issue briefly, telling the congregations that anyone who is committing sin is breaking the Torah. If breaking the Torah is not an issue, then John would not have addressed this at all.

“Anyone who sins transgresses the Torah: sin is transgression of the Torah“.

Some people read the common translations, ‘sin is transgression of the law/lawlessness’, and they just don’t understand that “a-nomos” is the Greek way to say “outside of Torah” or “opposed to Torah”, which is antinomianism. Antinomianism is transgression of the Torah: sin.

Paul was addressing this issue in Romans 3-8. But, most people who read those chapters, and the book of Galatians, come away thinking exactly the opposite: that Paul believed in antinomianism. Peter warns us about people who twist Paul’s words, to their own destruction, and warns us not to be like them: “You therefore, my beloved, seeing that you know these things beforehand, beware, lest you follow the error of those without Torah, and fall from your own steadfastness.” [2 Peter 3:17, from Aramaic].

In Romans 3, Paul writes that the Torah is what makes us aware, ‘conscious of’ our sins. He writes in verse 20, “for by means of the Torah, sin is known.” If we are so “under grace” that we do not have to concern ourselves with our sins going forward, then why do we need to ‘know sin’, what our sin is? For many, that is what they teach, that grace is so abundant, we do not have to worry about future sin; some say even that they are without sin. They are saying, “without Torah infractions”; where John said that anyone who says he is without sins [Torah infractions] he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. It is antinomian [anti-Torah] believers who say they have no sin.  But Paul finishes his chapter with an overlooked verse: “What, then? Do we nullify the Torah through faith? What profanity! On the contrary, we firmly establish the Torah!” Establish there means to firmly uphold, to support.

Many people walk away from the book of Romans’ chapters 3-7 and decide that God’s Torah, the one given to Moses on the mountain, that is the foundation of all Biblical faith, is “the law of sin and death.” Paul was actually trying to teach about a different “law” brooding in our flesh, the impetus of sin that causes mankind naturally to break the Torah. That is the “law of sin and death”. And Paul proves it when he says very plainly: “What shall we say then? Is the Torah sin? What profanity! I would not have learned the significance of sin except by means of the Torah.” Paul finishes that chapter saying, “For I delight in the Torah of God after the inward man; but I see another ‘law’ in my members, warring against the Torah in my mind, and it makes me a captive to the impetus of sin [sin as a natural ‘law’, like gravity] which is in my members.” Our flesh fights God’s Torah. It is antinomian thought itself that is the law of sin and death. Because, just like Yeshua said, people do not come into the Light [Torah] because their deeds are evil. [John 3:19-21].

The next issue dealt with in the letters of the NT leading up to Revelation is arrogance of Gentiles over Jews:

Rom 11:17

And if some of the [Jewish] branches were cut off, and you, who are a branch of a wild olive tree, have been grafted in their place, and you have become a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree [Messiah], do not boast over the branches. For if you boast, it is not you who sustains the root, but the root sustains you.  Perhaps you may say “the branches were cut off that I might be grafted in their place.”  Well, they were cut off because of their lack of absolute trust, but you exist by absolute trust. Be not high-minded, but fear!  For if God did not spare the natural branches, beware, or He will not spare you!  Consider therefore the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but on you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off!  And even they, if they do not remain in their lack of absolute trust, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them [Jews] in again.  For if you who have been cut from the wild olive tree, which is natural to you, and grafted contrary to your nature into a good olive tree, how much more fruitful would they be, if they were grafted into their own natural olive tree?”

This is the very definition of “Replacement Theology”, where Christians think that they have replaced Israel, and the Jews cannot be saved, God does not hear their prayers, and they are all going to hell. As a Jew, I can assure you that is not the case. He is very merciful to His people, chosen because of the faithfulness of our father, Abraham. Paul warned a heavily gentile congregation in Rome, which he did not found and had not as yet visited, about things he was hearing about them, concerning “Replacement Theology” at its very inception. And they did not listen. Thus, the Congregation in Rome is in risk of being “cut off”. So are many other denominations that are anti-Jewish, and thus Anti-Messiah, since Yeshua is still a Jew, and will reign as a Jewish King on earth for 1,000 years, from Jerusalem.

It is “old testament” scripture that establishes that Israel is the Olive Tree.

“ יהוה  called your [Israel] name a leafy olive tree, fair, with goodly fruit..” Jer 11:16

“His [Israel’s]  branches  shall  spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his fragrance as Lebanon.” Hosea 14:6

Since Messiah has one congregation on the earth, though it is geographically divided and governed locally with Messiah as the head of each [legitimate] congregation, and He called each congregation a Menorah, then the Menorah is the symbol of His Congregation.

The prophet Zechariah reveals to us the association of the Menorah and the olive tree:

“And he said unto me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I have seen, and behold, a Menorah all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes, yes, seven, to the lamps, which are upon the top thereof; and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.”

So, Israel is the Olive Tree, and the source of the OIL of the Menorah, which is the congregation. Of course, we understand that Yeshua’s Jewishness makes HIM the root of the olive tree, and thus the source of the oil, which makes light, and is thus the Spirit of God given through Yeshua, a Jew. And that is what the prophets taught:

“And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow forth out of his roots.  And the Spirit of [Ru’akh]  יהוה  shall rest upon him, the Spirit of [Ru’akh] wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of [Ru’akh] counsel and might , the Spirit of [Ru’akh] knowledge and the Fear of  יהוה  . And his delight shall be in the fear of  יהוה .”  Is 11:1-2

So, Paul is warning Rome that to cast off the Jewish people is to cast off the root, the Jewish Messiah, the ‘richness’ of the Olive Tree. Which means that if they do so, they do not have His Spirit anymore.

Rome is, of course, where the popes rule from today, who defy the above warning and say that they are now Israel, and our Jewish people are done with. As do other of the many thousands of streams of doctrine. But, Paul also warned Ephesus, a city that no longer exists, after having been warned of losing the Menorah. Not only did Yeshua take the Menorah from there, but there is no hint of faith in Messiah there anymore!

Paul told those gentiles the following:

“Therefore, remember that you were Goyim in the flesh from the beginning, and you were called Uncircumcision, differing from that which is called Circumcision, which is the work of the hands in the flesh.  At that time you were without Messiah, being aliens to the customs of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.  But now, through Yeshua The Messiah, you who at one time were far off [from the customs of Israel] are brought near [to the customs of Israel] by the blood of Messiah.” Eph 2:11-13

Paul goes on to say to these Gentiles that in Messiah, Jews and Gentiles are one body, and he changes the analogy from an olive tree to the Temple in Jerusalem, saying the wall that divides the Jews from the Gentiles has been torn down [spiritually; it was still there when this was written]. And the place where Gentiles now gather to worship God, whom they formerly did not know, is Jerusalem’s Temple built by Jews:

“Through Him we both are able to draw near, by one Spirit, to the Father.  Thus from henceforth you are neither strangers nor foreigners, but fellow-citizens with those [already] consecrated, and children of House of God [Jewish Temple]; and you are built upon the foundation of the Apostles [NT] and the Prophets [Torah, OT], Yeshua The Messiah Himself being the cornerstone of the building: and through Him the whole building is fashioned and grows into a Holy Temple [Heikhal] in  יהוה , you also are built up by Him for a Dwelling Place of God through The Ru’akh.” Eph 2:18-22

It is clear that Paul is telling the Gentiles that they are former pagans, and that they have been brought into a better way, and he associates that way with the Jewish people, the covenants, customs, and writings of ancient Israel.

In the book of Galatians, chapter 3, he calls everyone, Jews and Gentiles, the children of Abraham. Abraham is, of course, the patriarch of the Jewish people, and all people of faith are thus heirs of the promise made to him, which manifested to His actual children of the flesh first. Paul says in Romans 15 that gentile people who believe in Yeshua owe a debt to the Jewish people, saying that Gentiles have shared in the spiritual blessing of Israel, so they should share their material blessings with Israel.

All of these things show us that gentiles in the faith should honor the Jewish origin of the faith, the customs and the promises/covenants, and the place of Jews in the Olive Tree. It is not because Jews are better people that this honor should be given, but because of God’s sovereignty in choosing Abraham first, and making a promise to His offspring. Jews are his natural offspring, but they have to be [and are being] grafted back into their tree, and Gentiles are being grafted into their tree, invited into their house, with a Jew, Messiah Yeshua, as its head. The early congregations had to be corrected for veering from this principle, and we will see that Yeshua warned the later congregations as well.

Another category of error in the 1st century congregations is that of false teachers, false prophets who even deny the Body of Messiah.

John and Paul both give very powerful warnings against this problem; in fact, John wrote his gospel very late, for the very purpose of making it very plain that Yeshua is a flesh-and-blood man, who rose from the dead, and is still a flesh-and-bone man who ascended up into the heavens, who now stands at God’s right hand.

Many of today’s denominations deny that fact, though many of their adherents do not realize it. The first, actual ‘catholic pope’, Constantine, hi-jacked the Roman congregations, forbade the nearly 2,000 Jewish Bishops in the empire to attend the first ‘council’, and thus discouraged nearly 1,000 gentile bishops from attending, leaving him about 250 “yes men” to create and certify pagan doctrine in the congregations of the Roman Empire. This was a result of the Gentile congregations ignoring the above warnings on doctrine. [The Peshitta community did not accept this, denying the ‘consubstantiality’ issue, and the heavy-hand of Rome in congregational government]. It is the consubstantiality issue that eventually led Rome actually to deny the flesh and bone body of Yeshua, thus creating a different “Jesus” than the scriptures. If Yeshua is not a risen human being, a man, then we have no Savior who conquered sin for us in a body of flesh. That is the fulfillment of Paul’s and John’s warnings about false prophets and false teachers. It is the very spirit of “antichrist”:

1 Jo 4:1-3

“My beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to find out if they are of God, because many false prophets have appeared in the world.  The Spirit of God [Breath, Ru’akh HaElohim] is known by this: every spirit which declares that Yeshua The Messiah is coming in flesh is from God.  And every spirit which does not declare that Yeshua The Messiah is coming in flesh is not from God, but it is the spirit of the false messiah [anti-christ], of whose coming you have heard and who is even now already in the world.”

The ‘spirit’ that teaches that Yeshua is not a man risen from the dead is the Anti Messiah. God cannot die, yet much of the world teaches that God died on the cross. No. His Son, Yeshua the Nazarene, died on the tree, and bore sin in His Body and soul for our sakes. God cannot do that. The universe would have flown apart.

Col 2:8

“Beware, lest any man mislead you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the teaching of men, after the principles of the world, and not after Messiah.  For in Him is embodied all the fullness of the divine.”

Paul did not say Yeshua is God, but that God’s nature is embodied in His flesh. If that verse means that “Jesus is God,” then so are we, since Paul says we may have the same thing as Yeshua:

“For this cause I bow my knees to The Father of our Master, Yeshua The Messiah, for whom all the family in heaven and in earth is named, to grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit, that Messiah may dwell in your inner man by absolute trust, and in your hearts by love, strengthening your understanding and your foundation, so that you may be able to comprehend with all those being sanctified what is the height, and depth, and length, and breadth, and to know the love of Messiah which surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

So that we can be like Messiah.

But, Peter warns us about people twisting Paul’s words and the other scriptures [OT], which was already happening in about 50-60 A.D., but the prevailing wind of doctrine is anti-Jewish, anti-Hebrew, and bordering on anti-Messiah doctrines. These are the things that began to cause the distance between gentiles and Jews in the first century congregation.

The final category of erroneous doctrine corrected by the NT letters is the distortion of Yeshua’s mission and identity.

From the very first century, the mission and identity of Yeshua the Messiah began to be misunderstood—and even distorted—particularly by Gentile followers who had little grounding in His Jewish context. Before 90 AD, some were already disrobing Yeshua of His Jewish identity and redressing Him in Greek philosophical clothing.

But Yeshua, after rising from the dead—during the Counting of the Omer—taught His Talmidim [disciples] starting with Moshe, then the Prophets, and then the Writings/Psalms, all about Himself. His teaching was grounded in Scripture, in Jewish context, and in truth.

Yet as Gentiles began to join the movement, they brought with them ideas foreign to the Hebrew worldview:

• Greek philosophy crept in, teaching a duality between body and spirit (spirit good, body evil).

• The idea that the soul is inherently immortal, rejecting the resurrection of the body.

• A version of “another Jesus” emerged—one disconnected from Torah, holiness, and the covenantal identity of Israel.

As time passed, these distortions compounded. Catholicism later absorbed many Greek and Egyptian concepts into its theology—purgatory, indulgences, disembodied afterlife beliefs, Trinity, and more. Paul had already warned of this infiltration:

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Messiah.”
(Colossians 2:8)

The Greek word sylagogōn (“takes you captive”) implies enslavement—being carried off as spoil. Paul and the other apostles repeatedly warned about being lured away from the faith once delivered.

A Different Gospel, A Different Spirit

In 2 Corinthians 11:4, Paul adds:

“If someone comes and proclaims another Yeshua whom we have not proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit… or a different gospel… you put up with it!”

The entire New Testament is full of these urgent warnings—especially directed at Gentile believers:

• “Abstain from idolatry, sexual immorality, and blood.”

• “Honor your Jewish roots—do not boast against the natural branches.”

• “Avoid pagan festivals and deception by false apostles.”

• “Flee from lawlessness and cling to the righteousness taught in the Torah.”

• “Beware of another “Jesus”—one disconnected from His Jewish identity and Torah-based mission.”

These aren’t abstract theological points—they’re spiritual life and death. And they all echo in the letters to the congregations in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

---

The Seven Congregations: A Menorah of Warnings

Yeshua gave seven messages to seven congregations in Asia Minor—each corresponding to a branch of the Menorah. Each message identifies both faithfulness and failure, with warnings of judgment or promises of reward.

Let’s look at the major deviations found in these assemblies:

---

The First and Last Lampstand

Yeshua warns Ephesus, the first congregation, that unless they repent, He will remove their menorah (Rev. 2:5). Centuries later, this very city became known for defining doctrines like:

• Mary as the Mother of God

• Yeshua as utterly God, without His full humanity, “consubstantial”, or the same ‘substance’ as the Father: no human body.

Meanwhile, Laodicea, the last congregation, later became the site of a synod in 363–364 AD that banned Sabbath observance—even though many believers were still keeping it. Over time, Sabbath-keepers, many of whom still existed were persecuted and executed.

Why such harsh enforcement—unless the true faith was still alive, still resisting the “other Jesus”?

---

The Menorah and the Spirit

The seven lampstands in Revelation are deeply symbolic. They represent not just the churches, but the Spirit of God—His presence, His holiness, His discernment.

The Ru’akh HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) is not given to excuse us from God’s commands, but to empower us to walk in them. That’s the heart of the Renewed Covenant.

Scriptures That Reveal This:

• Ezekiel 36:26–27 – The Spirit causes obedience to statutes (Torah)

• Jeremiah 31:33 – The Torah is written on our hearts

• Romans 8:3–4 – The Spirit helps fulfill the Torah’s righteous requirement

• Galatians 5 – Spirit-led life produces fruit in harmony with Torah

• John 14:15–26 – The Spirit teaches us to obey Yeshua’s commandments

• 2 Corinthians 3:3 – The Torah is written on hearts, fulfilling the covenant

---

The Menorah of the Torah, Prophets, and Messiah

---

A Final Plea

Yeshua’s words to Laodicea still echo today:

“I stand at the door and knock…”

The Spirit is precious. His presence is tied to obedience, faithfulness, and truth. We are not sanctified by emotion or charisma, but by Torah-aligned lives prepared for the indwelling of His Presence, His Breath, His “Ru’akh”.

“If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Ru’akh HaKodesh to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13)

Let’s return to the true Yeshua.

Let’s seek His Spirit, not another.

Let’s desire His holiness, not the wisdom of men.

Let’s guard the light on the menorah—and never let it go out.