June 23, 2017 SnyderTalk: Faith and Religion aren’t the Same Thing

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says Yahweh Sabaoth. (Zechariah 4: 6)

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Faith and Religion aren’t the Same Thing

Faith and religion aren’t the same thing and religion is not a substitute for faith.

Yahweh demands faith first.  He made that clear when He ratified the Covenant with Abraham.  Yahweh demands obedience, too, but it is the kind of obedience that stems from faith in Him.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Well, it’s not.

Yahweh’s first Commandment is “I am Yahweh your Elohim.  You shall have no other Elohim before Me.”  Within days of giving the Children of Israel that command, they told Aaron to make a Golden Calf for them to worship.

Some people see only the disobedience angle.  The Children of Israel disobeyed Yahweh by worshiping a Golden Calf at the foot of Mount Sinai.  The lack of faith angle is more difficult to see, but it is more important because faith comes from the heart.

Lack of faith in Yahweh motivated the Children of Israel to insist that Aaron make a Golden Calf.  The fact that Aaron did it is evidence that he lacked faith in Yahweh, too.  Aaron should have calmed their fears by telling them that they could trust Yahweh even though they were afraid.

The Children of Israel were humans.  They were afraid because Moses had ascended Mount Sinai to meet with Yahweh.  In his absence, their fear grew.  After a few days, they decided that they needed to act, and they did what they had seen the Egyptians doing: they worshipped cattle.

Yahweh was furious.  He told Moses to stand aside so that He could annihilate all of them.  Moses interceded on their behalf and persuaded Yahweh to change His mind.

It took 40 years for the Children of Israel to travel from Egypt to the Promised Land.  That trip should have taken 2 weeks at most, but because they lacked faith in Him, Yahweh would not allow them to enter.

The problem started when Moses sent a group of spies into the Promised Land to scope it out.  When the spies returned, they told their brothers and sisters that they were not strong enough to confront the people inhabiting the land.

The Children of Israel believed the spies and decided that they should not do what Yahweh had told them to do, namely to take control of the Promised Land.  That was more evidence that they didn’t have faith in Yahweh.  Only Joshua and Caleb believed Yahweh, and they were the only two adults traveling with the group who Yahweh allowed to enter the Promised Land.  Even Moses and Aaron were not allowed to enter because of unfaithful acts.

Fast forward about 1400 years, and the hard part comes into focus.  When Yahweh manifested Himself as the Messiah to take upon Himself the penalty for our sins so that we can be with Him for eternity, He did not create a new religion.  He was simply doing what He had told the prophets He would do.  In essence, He was renewing the Covenant that He made with Abraham.

This is the really hard part, and it’s something that will take a little getting used to.  True Christianity isn’t a religion at all.  It’s Judaic through-and-through.  Christianity, the religion, didn’t come into existence until about 300 years after the Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection.  Since that time, it has diverged from Judaism so much that most people today who call themselves Christians don’t have any idea that Yahweh grafted His faithful followers into the Judaic tree.

In other words, true believers are Jewish.  That’s what the apostle Paul was talking about when he said, “But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree [some of the Children of Israel] have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in.  So now you also receive the blessing Elohim has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of Elohim’s special olive tree.” (Romans 11: 17 paraphrased from the New Living Translation)

It will take faith in Yahweh to understand this message even though that’s what the Bible says.  For about 1700 years, people have taught that true Christianity is different from Judaism, but it’s not.  It’s Judaic to the root.  Stated another way, if Christianity is not Judaic, it’s a false religion, and people who practice it are making the same mistake that the Children of Israel made when they told Aaron to make a Golden Calf for them to worship.

It boils down to faith.  It’s the same faith that Abraham had.  It’s the same faith that Yahweh told the prophets about.  It’s a faith that is based on our willingness to accept the fact that Yahweh fulfilled His promise to redeem and save us by becoming a Man and taking the penalty of our sins on Himself.

The bottom line: true Christianity is not a religion.  It’s Judaic.

Please read Must Jewish People Convert to Christianity to be Saved?  In the book, I explain why Jewish people should not convert to contemporary Christianity.  All they need to do is exercise faith in Yahweh.  That means they need to accept the promise that Yahweh made to them to redeem and save them through the Messiah’s blood sacrifice.  That’s the same faith that Gentiles must have to be saved.

The book is available in three formats: paperback, eBook, and PDF format.  Click on the titles below to access the version you want:

Switching Gears

Yahweh said this to Moses about the Children of Israel:

“I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people.  Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.” (Deuteronomy 9:13-14)

Moses pleaded with Yahweh, and He relented but Yahweh was right.  The Children of Israel are a stubborn people.

This is what Yahweh told Ezekiel:

“When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy Name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of Yahweh; yet they have come out of His land.’  But I had concern for My holy Name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.” (Ezekiel 36:20-21)

See “‘Devastating’ survey shows huge loss of Israel support among Jewish college students”.

That’s an example of the stubbornness Yahweh told Moses about.  It’s also an example of the Children of Israel profaning Yahweh’s Name with their actions.

Israel has opened her arms to any Jewish person on the face of the planet, yet many of them act like Balaam.  Do you think they imagine that there are no consequences?

Thankfully, Yahweh will fulfill all of His promises no matter what because of who He is.  He will do nothing that profanes His holy Name.  I fear for anyone who stands in His way. That’s not a safe place to be.

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“If My people who are called by My Name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7: 14)

Change that Yahweh calls “good” begins in the hearts of believers—people who are recognizable because they are different.

We are different because we belong to Him and are called by His Name.  We are Yahweh’s people, His followers.

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His Name is Yahweh, the website, is a companion of the book His Name is Yahweh.

To download His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition for free in PDF format, click on the title below:

His Name is Yahweh has been downloaded and shared in congregations all over the world. Please take advantage of this opportunity to read and share essential information about Yahweh.

You have my permission to copy and print His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition as many times as you want.  Please, don’t sell it.  Give it away.

To purchase His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition in paperback or in eBook, click here.

To see videos that explain the importance of Yahweh’s Name, click here.

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Must Jewish People Convert to Christianity to be Saved? is a book that you will want to read.

In it, you will discover facts that most Christians are unfamiliar with.  It will enlighten you about the true faith of believers dating back to the time of Abraham.

The Messiah didn’t try to create a new religion.  Neither did the apostles nor His followers.  For the most part, the religion that we know today as “Christianity” is either Catholic or an extension of Catholicism.

That’s a serious problem.  Must Jewish People Convert to Christianity to be Saved? explains why.

The book is available in three formats: paperback, eBook, and PDF format.  Click on the titles below to access the version you want:

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SnyderTalk Comment:

I don’t agree with everything Michael Brown says, but he is right about the Jewish roots of true Christianity.

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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)

See “His Name is Yahweh”.

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