Paul's Letters Quoted by Untaught, Distorted Christians

By William Riley
Olive Tree Ministries
ot.waxahachie@yahoo.com

Q. Why do Christians continuously quote Paul to back up their views when Paul was through and through a Torah-observant Jew?

A. Peter answered this question in 2 Pet. 3.15-16 when he said that Paul’s letters were hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. Paul kept the Torah commandments, the Sabbath and biblical festivals, ate biblically allowed meat, performed animal sacrifices in the Temple in keeping with a Nazarite vow (Acts 21) and other commandments. He hardly taught what is taught today in Christianity, in fact if he did he would have a false prophet. Every writer of the New Testament was Torah-observant and taught their people to do the same. Remember they were a sect of Judaism in the first century so that tells you they never taught otherwise.

Christian theology about the above mentioned commandments is nothing new. False prophets in the first century were already trying to distort the Torah. But after several hundred years of effort, the false prophets finally succeeded and a new official “faith” emerged out of the Council of Nicea, presided over by a sun-worshipping emperor named Constantine. He said that one of the main reasons for the council was to “root out the last vestiges of Judaism,” and they did. So, far from having “Jewish roots” Christianity would be better known as “Constantinian Christianity” because he was the founding father of much of what is seen today. Paul would hardly recognize the faith today and would have never approved of it and would be highly agitated by the way his words have been perverted.

Q. Were roosters allowed in Jerusalem and if not can you explain Mt. 26.75?

A. Roosters were not allowed in Jerusalem for a variety of reasons, most of which involved Temple purity laws. There are many references to this in Jewish publications, prayer books and the Talmud. In the book by Alfred Edersheim called “The life and times of Jesus the Messiah” on page 844 it also refers to this custom. The term in Hebrew for rooster is “gever” but it also is used for the Temple crier who called the people, the priests and the Levites to the worship service. It was this man Yeshua made reference to when he told Peter that before the “cock” crows, or in other words the Temple crier, he would deny him three times. So, here is what happened. Yeshua has been in a trial all night.

Meanwhile the priests and the Levites wake up and begin to prepare the morning offering, which included a male, unblemished lamb. This trial took place in the very shadow of the Temple. The Temple crier would call out in a loud voice for the priests to take their posts, the Levites to their stations and the men of Israel to stand up (for the people in prayer). This also alerted everyone else that could hear that the morning Tamid (continual) offering was going up on the altar for the people. This was exactly what was happening to the true Lamb. Peter denies him as the city is being alerted that the lamb was getting ready to be offered. See the connection? There is so much more going on than what people see in a movie, with some rooster crowing in the back-round.