HERESY in the Hebrew Roots Movement and amongst those who are Torah-Observant Followers of Christ

We live in a day and an age when theological ideas spread easily with the uploading of a video and/or the publishing of a blog post. And with COVID many followers of Christ stopped meeting with other Christians in person, in their churches and have stayed virtual ever since.

This has provided a perfect storm for theologically HETERODOX ideas to spread. Heterodox means ideas that do not conform with the Apostolic faith and practice. Many are "claiming" to be 'Biblical' but their ideas are not what Christ and His Apostles taught the church. Remember, heretics are almost always 'Biblical', in that they use the Bible to support their heretical doctrines, but they are misusing, misunderstanding and misapplying the Scriptures.

This is precisely what the "Hebrew Roots Movement" or those who follow Christ but call themselves "Torah Observant" are doing with the New Testament. In the name of being "Biblical", they are actually violating the teachings of the Apostles. 

Listening today to a well-known Hebrew Roots teaching named Monte Judah, I was appalled by what was truly heretical teaching. I don't use the term heresy or heretic easily and never lightly. But this teacher is teaching such falsehood that I would have to call him a heretic.

Not all of those in the Hebrew Roots Movement are as extreme as he is, but the slope is slippery and tragically, many who start down the road of believing they need to be "Torah Observant", to follow the dietary laws of the Mosaic Covenant (and to keep the Jewish Feast Days as the Law prescribed), end up in greater and greater legalism. Some will ultimately deny the Gospel of Christ. The most extreme cases have converted entirely to Judaism and reject Jesus as Messiah.

The Old Covenant, and all of its dietary laws ENDED with the coming of the New Covenant. Gentiles were never required EVER to follow the dietary laws given to Moses and the Nation of Israel. They weren't required to follow them in the Old Testament and the Apostles, under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reiterated this truth in the New Testament. The Hebrew Roots Movement completely reinterprets and teaches falsely what Acts 10 and 15 teach clearly. The ENTIRE early church was clear on what the Apostles taught the church and you find NOTHING in the early centuries of Christianity of followers of Messiah Jesus following the dietary laws, keeping the Sabbath and/or keeping the Jewish Feasts. 

Don't believe me? Check out my previous post wherein I document from their writings exactly how they lived and the laws that they followed. Hint: it was THE LAW OF CHRIST that the early Christians followed and NOT the Law of Moses!

Link: https://joel2generation.blogspot.com/2023/06/hebrew-rootstorah-observant-modern.html 

What is shocking to me is how entirely ignorant of Church History modern Christians can be! Somebody comes along and says, "the earliest followers of Jesus were Torah-observant, kept the Sabbath and Jewish Feasts" and people just believe what they say. The evidence however contradicts these claims entirely.

Some in the Hebrew Roots Movement deny the doctrine of the Trinity claiming it was a 4th-Century 'invention' by a pagan Roman Catholic church. 

Really? How is it that the early Church leader, Tertullian, who was born in AD160, used the term? Yes, the Church believed and confessed the full Deity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the 2nd Century! Why? Because it is what the Apostles taught the church in the 1st Century!

Hebrew Roots teachers make all sorts of historically inaccurate accusations against the Roman Catholic Church - accusing them of 'inventing Christmas' in the 4th Century which they claim started as a pagan celebration. 

Really? Then why are early Christians marking the birth of Jesus on December 25th as early as the AD221, more than 50 years before the pagans were using it to mark "Sol Invictus" (AD274)??

Again, something I've addressed in a previous blog post: -

Link: https://joel2generation.blogspot.com/2022/11/is-celebrating-christmas-on-december.html

Most of this 'propaganda' originated with a work published in 1853 by a Free Church of Scotland minister named Alexander Hislop. Today's Hebrew Roots Movement uses Hislop's arguments to support their "fantastical" view of Church History. Views that are NOT rooted in historical reality but amount to pure fiction.

Sadly, I run into these arguments ALL THE TIME. The 'evil' Roman Catholic Church gets blamed for everything! The irony is that the Roman Catholic Church didn't even exist in the 4th Century. The church existed all throughout the Roman Empire and far beyond its borders. But the entity that came to be known as the Roman Catholic Church with its particular doctrines is a much later invention (one of course that the Rev. Alexander Hislop would be contending with in the 19th Century).

Be extremely careful to who you listen to when it comes to Church History. Almost everyone has an "agenda" - the Baptist put their spin on Church History, the Cessationists their own, the Augustinian/Calvinists have their own 'version', etc. etc. And yes, the Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and just about every other church tradition will do exactly the same thing.

My suggestion - READ the Early Christian writings for yourself. Did the church in the 4th century (which seems to be the time when all the blame is ascribed) leave out 'hundreds' of books from the Bible? Again, NOT TRUE. The main Councils of the 4th Century had NOTHING to do with the Canon of Scripture; they were about Christology - the Nature and Person of Christ! 

And coming back to the topic/subject of this blog post: 

The earliest Christians... 

• DID NOT FOLLOW Jewish Dietary Laws! 
• DID NOT KEEP THE SATURDAY SABBATH! 
• DID NOT not circumcise their newborn males. 
• DID NOT continue to keep Jewish Old Testament feasts
• DID NOT TITHE 10% (their giving EXCEEDED OT requirements!)

They were all following the New Covenant - and that included those who were Jewish who came to follow Christ as Messiah. Like Peter, they too realized they were no longer under the obligation of keeping the ceremonial aspects of the Mosaic Law (i.e. food laws, feast days). We have evidence of people following the Law in the 2nd and 3rd centuries...but guess who those people were?? Jews who were continuing in Judaism having rejected Jesus as Messiah and were following the rabbis. 

Beware of the leaven (the teaching) of these so-called Hebrew Roots/Torah-Observant followers of Christ. They are poisoning the Gospel message. The Apostle Paul fought against these teachings/tendencies in all of his letters until the day he was martyred. And if you today want to be "contending for the faith delivered once for all to the saints" (Jude 1:3), then REJECT the false teachings and these teachers today.