Sophistry

"Wake them up again."
When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.” :
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” :
“The question is:" [said Humpty] "which is to be master - that's all.”
The best way to tell a lie is not to change words but their meaning.
Translations of the ancient texts are not sacred nor always clear nor without flaw. It is the inspired authors who received divine revelation, not the multitude of traitorous and often treacherous translators or misguided theologians and scholars or ministers who have led and misled the people.
Sophistry is the first tool of the “devil” used to deceive the whole world.

The Adventures of Artifice in Languageland

I said to him, I said it plain,

"Then you must wake them up again."
I said it very loud and clear;

I went and shouted in his ear.'

Many people will attempt to hold that the translations of the ancient texts are sacred, clear or without flaw, but it is the inspired authors who received divine revelation, not the multitude of traitorous and treacherous translators or misguided ministers who have led and misled the people.

Sophistry is the first tool of the “devil” used to deceive the whole world under a strong delusion.

Nonsense and Truth

"sensible as a dictionary!"

The Red Queen of Alice in Wonderland said, “You may [call it "nonsense"] if you like, but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!... You should have said, 'It's extremely kind of you to tell me all this' ...”

God inspired the authors of scripture in their hearts and in their minds and if those who read their words are inspired by faith in the same God they should, by His grace, understand the meaning and intent of those men. But the adversary of God's truth will undoubtedly seek to lead men astray, deceiving and deluding man into layers of error about the truth and precepts and meaning of those early authors.

Have we been kept from a full knowledge of the context in which the Bible was written? If we do not clearly understand the language and events surrounding the scriptures then it is easy to create false doctrines and religious delusions about our present salvation in this world and the next.

Though the people at the time of Christ continued to profess the prophets many were actually at enmity with them and brought the people back on the road to bondage and servitude. Doctrines of men created by lies and half truths had caused the people to stray away from the perfect law of liberty and the Kingdom of God. One of the strange, but common errors propagated at that time, was the idea that there was a scriptural need for burning up dead animal in blood sacrifice upon piles of dead stone.

God is spirit and wishes to write the truth upon our heart and your mind in Spirit and in Truth. If you believe in the doctrines of men instead of the Spirit of God and His righteousness, then what you are about to receive may shake the foundations of what you have been taught. The truth is a looking glass that may reveal a world of confusion and lies about what we have come to believe if we are willing to see ourselves as we really are.

The Healers of the Nation

Call to repentance!

We know today that many of the people of Judea at the time of Christ considered animal sacrifice to be nonsense. They were fluent in Hebrew, studied the ancient text, and denounced the idea of ritual blood sacrifice as superstitious nonsense based on fraudulent translations and interpretations of those ancient, but sacred text.

Historians when writing about the citizens of Judea tell of “... a portion of those people called Essenes... above all men devoted to the service of God, not sacrificing living animals, but studying rather to preserve their own minds in a state of holiness and purity.”

The Essenes at the time of Christ prided themselves on their knowledge of the sacred text, but they disagreed with the Pharisees about its meaning.

The Pharisees believed it was an essential requirement by Moses to kill animals by the letting of blood and burn them up, While “The Nazorean [Essene] abhorred all animal sacrifice and rejected, as forgeries and fictions, all Jewish scriptures that encourage such barbaric practices.” Philo's Probus 75, and 80 through 82 all emphasize the Essenes policy of serving God rather than doing animal sacrifice. They still called for a sacrifice of blood but it was their own blood in daily service which they freely gave that they said the scriptures called for. They served God, not with mindless bloody cultic superstitious rituals, but by serving one another in a “Pure religion” of faith, hope, and charity which is love.

“Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27 The word “world” here in James is from the Greek κόσμος [kosmos] defined “an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government.” It is from the Greek word κομίζω [komizo] defined “to care for, take care of, provide for”.

The Greek and Roman at that time used the word kosmos to mean “... the ordered constitution of a state.”

This is of course why Jesus told Pilate that His Kingdom was not a part of his world or constitutional state of the Roman world order. The “world” of Rome and the “world” of the Pharisees both had systems of Qurban or Corban.

Corban means sacrifice and originally meant the freewill offerings given in society for the support of the needs of society. But what the Pharisees had instituted for social welfare Jesus said made “the word of God to none effect.”

The word tradition is also translated ordinance. The Pharisees had statutes passed that brought the people's charitable obligation to society under the control of the government. We see the same accusation in Matthew 15:6, where the Pharisees had established an old age pension fund through the government and “made the commandment of God of none effect by” those same ordinances.

In 78 BC, the Pharisees created a more socialist state for Judea. The government's power to exercise authority over the people increased with the enactment a law concerning the collection of temple tribute. Samuel had called Saul foolish for doing the same thing many years before in 1 Samuel, Chapter 13. The Pharisees thought they had a better idea and offered a new deal to the people.

Cunningly Coerced

The people of society are often cunningly coerced into waiving their rights in the hope of a promise of social benefits at the expense their neighbor, to the detriment of liberty and freedom.

Herod was no different with his promise of a Kingdom of Heaven at-hand. He offered a system of social security through statutory collection of the contributions of the people.

They washed or “baptized” new members. By their consent and submission the people prayed and applied for the benefaction of Herod's grace. As the citizenry incorporated their rights in hope of social and personal gain, what should have been for their welfare became a snare. Herod became a Father to the people of Judea, the Patronus, and the people again returned to Egyptian bondage.

Membership was proved by showing a white stone token with a new registered Hebrew name whenever entering homes for the weekly gatherings or at synagogues or temples to obtain social benefits or aid. These stones were used as a form of national identification. The treasury of the government grew by their compelled annual contributions to supply Herod with the funds“... for his vast building projects, or any subsequent causes.”

Not only were the people drained of their substance, but they also lost the maturing benefit of exercising the responsibility and right to choose. They lost their liberty.

There were many statutes passed into law by the Pharisees which undermined the healing and binding effects of charity which had always been required in God's government.

Their systems of Corban depended on men who called themselves benefactors, but exercised authority one over the other, rather than on faith and charity. It violated the commandment against covetousness and made the word of God to none effect.

He that Serveth

• “For whether [is] greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? [is] not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.” Luke 22:27

It was believed by some that the Essene, or “assaya, which means doctor or healer... are not mentioned anywhere in the New Testament, although their numbers were at least as great as the Sadducees and Pharisees.”

The Essenes did not call themselves Essenes. The word Essene has been so obscure that you will find dozens of opinions as to what it means. Just some of the interpretations are expectant, Asian, pious ones, Fundamental, even king bee. They were not a homogeneous group and were often identified with different forms of the word healer.

They were constantly trying to heal or clean up the life and practices of the nation by leading exemplary lives of serving others. They not only healed physical maladies, but they tried to wash away the delusions of society which made it ill. Their ritual of baptism marked the beginning of a life that was far different than that the baptisms of the Pharisees and Herod the Great.

The discovery of the “Temple Scroll” and “Rule of the Community” simply validated the interpretation of the Essene philosophy, that “to serve” God meant “to heal” our relationship with Him, by doing His will in the service to others. That precept was repeated and exemplified in the teachings and deeds of Christ and His disciples.

They also would not take benefit for themselves from others unless entirely given up by charity.

Their charitable system of welfare stood as a humbling contrast to the “sacrifices” of the Pharisees who had moved from a system of voluntary charity founded in hope and love for one another to a system of sacrifices at the point of the sword of government agents and regulated by the laws of the Sanhedrin in congress.

The Pharisees considered sacrifice at the temple built by Herod to be an essential part of their civil faith and function of God's Kingdom. They compelled the sacrifice of the people in the form of taxation in order to fill the national treasury, from which they provided the benefits of their government and, of course, their own salaries.

Entitlements by government subjects its citizenry to the jurisdictions, world, and will of men like Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, Caesar, and Herod. When the voice of the people elect to pray to such leaders coveting their neighbors' goods through the agency of these authoritarian benefactors it has been called rejection by God.

Altars of Abomination

“And ...We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen [it], saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 7:10,11

The Essenes believed that regular freewill sacrifice was an essential part of the health of a free nation because it strengthened the virtue of the people. They understood the perfect law of liberty required that all offerings in support of the needs of society must be freely given and freely received.

They knew that “children of God” would care about their neighbor's welfare and their rights endowed by the Creator as much as they cared about their own.

Those who had two coats needed to choose to share with those who had none. John the Baptist clearly taught this same precept as he baptized people into the other Kingdom of Heaven at hand.

Herod the Great sought converts to his vision of the “Kingdom of Heaven”. Once you were baptized by Herod's administration you were compelled to give your offerings to support the national social welfare under his exercising authority.

That system had grown under the Hasmonians and Herod the Great. They were the adversaries of the system of faith, hope and charity offered by the Essenes.. Yet, because of their peaceful nature, virtuous character, and charitable kindness they were somewhat immune from violent attacks from the Pharisee.

Some Essenes even endeared themselves to leaders. They had their own gate. Many of what could be called Essene were spread throughout the nation and beyond. The contributions they received were distributed to the needy of society in a network of true charity. The Essene Levites share of the tithing, “which would otherwise have gone to the cultic personnel at the Jerusalem Temple, and part to the general social-welfare fund and the state treasury... was available in its entirety to the Essene union for its own social services."

Even though the Essenes and their supporters were considered by some to be a political party they seldom held high government office for two significant reasons. One, they would not take oaths, and two, they would not exercise authority or compel the offerings of the people or partake of the benefits of such a governemnt.

They knew the Old Testament required that the offerings of the people for the welfare of the nation were only to be by choice. They understood that when the people called for a central leader they were rejecting God.

They knew that Samuel told Saul that his kingdom would not last because he was foolish enough to force the offerings of the people.

Probably more than anyone the Essenes expected the Messiah. To them the Messiah would be a king, unlike Rehaboam, that would set them free.

Redemption

By the time Christ arrived the offerings of the people were forced through statutory ordinances and a citizen could be arrested and punished if they did not make adequate sacrifice, pay the taxes, imposed by an authoritarian government.

This compelled temple tax was enforced by the civil magistrates of Judea. These magistrates were called 'elohiym in the Hebrew or theos in the Greek. Both terms were “applied as deference to magistrates” and in the Bible are commonly translated God or gods, which is why there were gods many.

Man was created by God to be free under His authority. He was given dominion over the earth, but not over other men. Man has been led to freedom under God by Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Man often returns to bondage where other men gain power over him, not to prevent crime, but, to force contributions and service.

This is often lawfully done by offering benefits in exchange for your the right to choose, i.e. Liberty. By coveting these benefits of these authoritarian benefactors we may be made merchandise, i.e. Human resources, damning us to a state of servitude and bondage under their authority instead of the God of Heaven.

When these leaders, professing to be benefactors, become rulers they are able to force the people to contribute to their own agenda and purpose. The power to rule over people has always corrupted even the most humble of souls. It also weakens the people who live by the sword of their government coveting their neighbors' good through the agency of men who become the “ruling judges”, i.e. gods of their lives.

If a government of the people, by the people and for the people is to sustain itself without the forced contributions commonly extracted from subject citizens by rulers like Cain, Nimrod, and Pharaoh who exercise authority one over the other, then they must learn to live by faith, hope, and charity, rather than force, fear, and compliance. John the Baptist and Jesus Christ called this seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Seeking the Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God is the right to be ruled by God. Any thing less that that is having other gods before the God of Heaven. After the Judeans, who received the baptism of Christ's ministers, were put out of the temple system of entitlements,they came together in a virtuous community in living network bound by the “perfect law of liberty”. With the Pharisees' refusing them these government benefits, they were set free from the corresponding obligations of paying into that system.

Those who elected ministers according to the law laid down by Christ and Moses only had to pay what they felt they could pay for the support of the kingdom. If they could not pay all that might be expected they were forgiven. No Christian was dragged into court for failure to contribute to Christian ministers because that policy was contrary to Moses and Christ.

• “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Luke 16:8

Those who learned to forgive and give according to the needs of the Christian community survived and thrived in the hard times that came upon the nation. Many nations have followed the system of forced contributions and benefactors who “exercise authority” but where there is freedom of religion you may choose which God or gods you will serve.

Christ had promised to take the power of the kingdom away from the Pharisees and give it to those who would bear fruit,and His words and redemption were fulfilled when he could appoint that kingdom to those who understood the godly precept of charity and service.

“Redemption is deliverance from the power of an alien dominion and the enjoyment of the resulting freedom. It involves the idea of restoration to one who possesses a more fundamental right or interest. The best example of redemption in the Old Testament was the deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage, from the dominion of the alien power in Egypt.”

Thousand followed the ways of Christ, choosing liberty by providing free will offerings to men they trusted for the care of the widows, orphans, and needy of their society as we see in the book of Acts and described by James as that “pure religion”.

Rome had made its position clear, Jesus was the Christ, the anointed King of Judea.

His appointed ministers could receive the contributions of the people and only they could bring charges of failure to pay to their members, which was of course forbidden by Christ as he retaught the charitable ways of the kingdom of God. In the government of God men were ruled by God and were sustained as a society by charity and faith. The Pharisees continued to try to trump up charges against the Christians, but even their strongest supporters, like Saul, began to abandon their ways of force and followed after the way of Christ.

No Tribute

The Christians paid their tribute to the appointed ministers of Jesus whom they chose and were no longer under the tribute of Rome or the Pharisees. The law of the Pharisees had been nailed to the cross. They were citizens of the government of Jesus and not slothful in strengthening the poor but diligent in their charity and love for one another.

They had been cast out of the social welfare system of Judean government and had formed their own.

The Christian still went to the temple to pay their tribute, but did so to the ministers of Christ. The apostles and the ministers of the people were called benefactors like the leaders of other governments but they did not exercise authority over the people.

“The annual Temple-tribute was allowed to be transported to Jerusalem, and the alienation of these funds by the civil magistrates treated as sacrilege.”

Systems like that of Herod's and what Rome had also become were more common at this point in history and they were also faltering under corruption, over spending, and ever expanding debt, inflation and government cost. Cleopatra and Mark Antony followed by Nero and other Emperors had begun to debase the coins by removing silver content of the Roman denarii. Skyrocketing inflation was the end result.

Although such systems were common enough amongst the gentile nations they did not instill the necessary national virtue of giving and thanksgiving taught by the prophets of the kingdom.

The early Christian community was well-disciplined and organized. While the Roman system of political control and its usurious economy was breaking down. Those who followed Christ were not only jealously persecuted, but they were excluded from the tables of civil welfare.

In about AD 150, Justin the Martyr, hoping to clear the misconceptions and prejudices surrounding Christianity, wrote the Emperor Antoninus Pius in defense of the Christian faith and allegiance to Christ:

• “And the wealthy among us help the needy ... and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.” (Ch. 65-67)

As we saw with ministers like Stephen, we also see the Didache stating:

• “Therefore, elect for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, men who are meek and not lovers of money, true and approved, for they also perform for you the ministry of the prophets and teachers.” Didache 15:1

The nature of these appointments would remain the same for centuries. In the 10th century, drastic reforms were enforced to “unify the liturgy” of the Church. This authoritarian call for unity under a centralized Church had been creeping into societies thinking from the beginning.

Liturgy is defined as “a prescribed form or set of forms for public religious worship.”

It is from the Greek word leitourgi and leitourgos, meaning “public service” and “public servant” respectively. Liturgy was not about singing and vestments and the smoke and mirrors of modern Christendom. It was about the public servants of the kingdom of God operating under the perfect law of liberty in true worship of God by service to the people.

God’s doctrine is summarized in the virtuous application of Love God and His ways with all that you do and actively love your neighbor's rights to his life and liberty as much as you love your own. The Church that comes together according to these ancient may overcome all tyrants, despots, and enemies of freedom and liberty. They can and will inherit the earth.

Rome had once depended upon freewill offerings for both its military and its welfare system. Like the Israelites in the days of foolish Saul, and then Solomon and Rehoboam, they steadily moved to systems of compelled contributions, eventually licensing, regulating, and controlling their temples through civil statutes and authority. Instead of charity they fostered covetousness through the right hand or agency of governmental power. They redistributed wealth, forced the contributions of the people, establish welfare and social benefits in abundance by benefactors who exercised authority. But, even in a time of abundance and affluence, those systems weaken the virtuous character of the people and eat away at the bonds of brotherhood and community to say nothing of their substance.

We see the Bible talking about freewill offerings, sacrifices and condemning forced sacrifices. What are these sacrifices really all about? It was about separating people of vice from those of virtue, the covetous from the charitable, the loving and forgiving from the brute, the faithful from those who rejected God's rule over their lives. One system made us in the image of God and the other made us in the image of the beast. One system was based on liberty and the other was based on bondage.

“Are men the property of the state? Or are they free souls under God?

This same battle continues throughout the world?”

The Invention and Convention of Language

Two major groups at the time of Christ had extremely different opinions of the scripture. They both read from the Old Testament. They both studied the scriptures, understood Hebrew, and sought to follow the teachings and precepts of God. They both disagreed completely over what should be considered clear statements of truth in the Biblical text. One rejected Christ as a matter of public policy, considered Him to be a false teacher, a threat to their system of faith and credit in the government they created for themselves. They continued to do their animal sacrifices, forced contributions, pray in Hebrew, wear their robes, and practice their self righteous rites and rituals. Both claimed the Old Testament was divine in its origins.

The Old Testament was so popular with Christ and Christ's followers, i.e. Christians, that He and they quoted from it constantly. Christ preached the kingdom at hand, was the king of that kingdom according to thousands of people and was proclaimed king by some of the most powerful governments officials of the time.

Christ appointed ambassadors to preach and minister that kingdom and to baptize more people into it. But His ways of liberty and freewill offerings were not the ways of the “world”.

So, what does the Bible really say?

Whose opinion is correct?

Should we consult the Judeans who followed and accepted the ways and sayings of Christ as to what the words of the old text meant or should we ask those who rejected rejected Him?

Do we have the message right today or has the enemy crept in with damnable heresies and strange doctrines that no longer seem strange to us? Have we too been mislead by sophistry and lies, misconceptions and half truths? Is a strong delusion coming or is it already here?

How do we find the truth?

If we are to seek the kingdom and His righteousness there is no stone that should be left unturned. We must explore the source and look at all things anew. We must see with new and humble eyes and seek to understand that God is the same today as he was yesterday. His kingdom and righteousness have never changed.

• “For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:” Isaiah 28:10

Sophistry is the first tool of the adversary. Samuel Johnson, who authored the first English dictionaries, tells us that “Words are the signs of ideas.”

What were the authors of the Bible trying to tell us?

Part of the answer to this historic conundrum may be found in the language itself.

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Altars of stone

• “And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.” Exodus 20:25-26

The Hebrew word rigmah [המגר] is translated into council in Psalms 68, but actually means literally a “heap of stones”, or “gathering of stones”.

It is from the Hebrew word Regem [םגר] which means friend and is the same three letters of ragam [םגר] defined stone.

Both words have as a common origin [בגר] regeb which means a clod (of earth).

Why would the same letters and word for stone also mean friend?

And why would a council of men be represented by the word for a gathering of stones?

The idea that the term for stone might represent a man or that a gathering of stones might compose a living altar of men or a living stone temple should be a readily acceptable metaphor.

• “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:5

Were the altars of clay and stone always meant as metaphors for men who gather for a particular purpose?

Of we read these words in context what are these altars really about and what purpose do they serve?

Was Abraham able to raise an army over night to defeat invaders because the people burned up sheep on altars?

How does that bind people together?

Have we been deceived through Sophistry?

There are several chapters in the book Thy Kingdom Comes that deal with the sacrifices on stone and earth altars. An altar of earth was simply a metaphor for each family being a living altar of earth. The word earth here is from adamah which is also translated “husbandman”. This adamah is the red earth from which Adam was made. The sons of Adam are to be the husbandmen of the earth and commanded to “dress it and keep it”.

In our modern language we may express someone's character as rock solid, or ask what metal a man is made of. No one imagines that someone is actually made of stone or metal. These are simply metaphors.

In Hebrew the four letter word for naked, aruwm(םורע) is also seen as aruwm(םורע) but translated prudent, crafty, subtle.

So what does the word aruwm mean, naked or prudent?

It is from the word ‘aram [עָרַם‎] which is translated subtilty, crafty, prudent, beware, very, and craftiness, but also is translated gathered together and heap.

How do we determine what these words mean if they may have so many different meanings?

Is there a key to understanding the meaning of these words?

Who can tell us?

How can we know?

Have we been left clues to assist us in unraveling the mysteries of language and words written thousands of years ago?

Who will reveal the truth in the written text?

We know the Pharisees did not understand the scriptures correctly, though they were fluent in Hebrew.

Who wrote their dictionaries and defined the terms of their text?

The Hebrew language is full of symbols, metaphors and conceptual imagery. All languages are ways to represent ideas with symbols.

Is there a clue in the symbols that form the words?

Unlike the languages of the West, Hebrew letters have meaning, and those meanings are used to produce the words themselves. This is not possible with any language based upon a phonetic alphabet. Most alphabets, unlike Hebrew, are designed to represent sounds not ideas.

If a clod of clay can be a man and a stone can be a friend and a gathering of stones can be a council of men then what does it mean to build an Altar of stones that are not hewn?

If the stones are men then how would you hew those men?

Does this mean that you shall not regulate or exercise authority over these men who are the servants of the people providing the table of the LORD for your welfare through charity rather than what the Pharaoh had provided in Egypt which was a snare?

What Moses was saying they should not do about steps and hewn stones is the same thing Christ said when he forbid his disciples to be like that form of government. He told us not to make the Fathers of the earth our Benefactors nor eat their dainties served at their tables because Proverbs, Paul and David said they were a trap.

There is rank in the kingdom and even an hierarchy but not one of men ruling over men accept by consent. Christ is clear that your rank in the kingdom is dependent upon your service to others and not upon any authority of man over his fellow man.

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Unscrewing the Inscrutable

A Chinese “logograph” or "ideogram", is a single grapheme which represents a base word, which is a meaningful unit of language. While Chinese characters are often thought of as overly complex, in fact they are all derived from several hundred simple pictographs and ideographs in ways that are usually quite logical. Combinations of these ideographs are used to form more words and ideas.

Trees and forests

The word tree evolved from a single grapheme of a tree to a simpler ideogram that has its origins in the original drawing but is far more abstract.

To write the word representing a woods you simply added another tree.

To express the idea of an entire forest was simply a matter of drawing three tree ideograms.

This same evolution can be seen with words like sun. The final line drawing of the sun was composed of straight lines because of the medium of writing and the economy and simplicity of lines.

Moon

A word like moon may have a crescent shape with a cloud. It may develop legs because it travels across the sky. Again the medium that is used may alter its appearance to the use of straight lines.

To create new words with combinations of ideograms you can take the symbol for the moon and combine the word for sun with it. This produces a picture representing the concept for brightness or light.

The same process may be performed to create other complex symbols from 400 basic graphemes. The symbol for a bird evolved into abstract line drawings.

Combining ideas

Variations could represent different types of birds with a single stroke.

The line drawing for a mountain may be much more abstract, but it had its origins in a very simple and obvious drawing.

If you combined a bird with the symbol for a mountain you can produce new idea or concept. The abstraction and natural reason of the language becomes more obvious with new words like island which is represented by the combination of a mountain and a bird.

This combining of ideas with symbols actually effects our thinking. One consequence of this form of writing is that the pronunciation of the language is not tied to letters. The sound of the words may change drastically over a period of time. Japanese and Chinese writing may be comprehensible to both cultures, but their spoken language bears little or no commonality.

Hebrew uses only a few dozen basic symbols which construct three letter base words. Meanings may become more complex or changed by adding different letters or placing them in different orders within the base word.

The Territory of Babylon

Modern alphabets represent sounds or a combination of sounds to record a previously spoken language. Languages like English and Greek may combine words to form new words, but the letters themselves are only representing sounds, not ideas.

Today's Hebrew is a spoken language that is based upon the old written Hebrew texts. That Hebrew inspired text was composed as a written, not a spoken, language. Its letters have meanings which are combined to form root words and concepts.

The power of words

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is:" [said Humpty] "which is to be master - that's all.”

The Pharisees would not set aside their preconceived notions and failed to recognize the Messiah. Translators of the Hebrew language commonly translate a single word a dozen different ways. This produces hundreds of alternate translations in a single paragraph. Examining the letters may give insight into the language. Understanding the meaning of the letters may give us clues as to what words mean.

Can flesh and blood reveal the truth?

To understand the text we need the rock of divine revelation.

Mean what

What do Hebrew words really mean?

The Hebrew word mizbeach is always translate into the single English word altar. It is a four letter word Mem Zayin Beit Chet (מזבח) from the three letter root word זבח, zabach, meaning to sacrifice or offer. Zabach is composed of the three letters Zayin (ז), Beit (ב), and Chet (ח).

The letter Zayin, identified by some as The Woman of Valor, means a tool, aid, handmaid, precious useful, or of value.

Beit means Purpose, God’s purpose or house.

The Chet, has been called The Life Dynamic, and is said to mean to live and to give life, thanksgiving.

The added letter to form the word mizbeach is Mem. It is the letter representing Water, and can symbolize a fountain or flowing. If it is added to [zabach, זבח] offering, we get the word altar [mizbeach, (מזבח)].

Mizbeach (מזבח) includes the ideas of value going to the house of God in a flowing of freewill sacrifices of thanksgiving. To show how the meaning of letters continues in other words we may look at ZayinBeit, (זב). By itself, its meaning is given or honor of a household.

The letter Dalet (ד) is said to mean Selflessness, Charity, a door or pathway. Add the letter Dalet (ד) to ZayinBeit (זב), and you get the word for to endow, bestow, or gift (זבד). Add a Lamed (ל) instead and you have the word exalt (זבל). Replace Lamed (ל) with the letter Nun (נ) and you have gain (זבנ). Replace the first letter with a Yod (י) you get pure(זבי).

Other combinations produce words like precious, another gold and by replacing a letter of the word the meaning of flow may become cut off. The word baz (זב) meaning to spoil, plunder, prey upon, is same two letters often associated with those words endow, gift or gain but is said to mean booty or spoil. That is because it is from the base word bazaz (זזב) which includes the letter Vav (ו) which is a connecting or word for division. It can represent a veil or a sword.

Many will have difficulty in bringing the meaning of letters together to understand words the same as they have difficulty in comprehending or recognizing metaphors. But the greatest obstacle is our pride which keeps us from seeing how completely we have been deceived.

Words with identical letters are often given different meanings by men a thousand years after Christ. Take the word for the number seven in Hebrew. The word for 7 in English is seven, in German sieben, in Sanskrit sapta, in Greek hepta, in Latin septem, and in ancient Saxon sebums.

The Hebrew word is often represented as Sheba. It only consists of three letters, Shin, Beit, Ayin (עשב). It is identical to several other words which appear in Hebrew concordances and are represented as if they are different words. Here are several entries which are all composed of same three letters:

Strong's Hebrew numbers 07646 through 07652 appear as saba`, sabea‘, soba`, shaba, but all are from ShemBeitAyin (שבע). They are translated seven, satisfy, fill, full, plenty, plenteous, enough, satiate, sufficed, unsatiable, weary, but also swear, charge, oath, adjure, straitly.

Some of these words are distinctly different yet they are using identical Hebrew letters except for the vowels. The problem is there are no vowels in Hebrew. Remember Hebrew was not created to be spoken, only written.

Over 700 years after Jesus was proclaimed king in Judea someone began to create the Masoretic version of the Old Testament. Vowel points were added to the text along with cantillation marks. The people who did this were influenced by what they already believed.

Although they may have attempted to do a good job they interpreted trope and rhetorical schemes. according to their own preconceived notions, concepts and beliefs. Like the Pharisees before them, they may not have known the word and meanings of the Father because they did not know Christ. They may have been under the same delusion of the Pharisees who failed to understand the Old Testament.

As we have seen in the original Hebrew new words could be constructed by adding or changing a letter. If you add the letter Hey, h, to the word ShinBeitAyin (שבע) you get what some write as shib`ah but in the Hebrew there is still only the same four letters (שבעה). This word maybe translated seven things or the seventh item, but with a different set of vowel points the word שֶׁבַע‎, becomes the name Sheba, . With another set of points the translators make ShinBetAyinHey (שבעה) into the word sib`ah, numbered 07653, with the meaning fullness or satisfaction. It also appears as the name Shebah meaning "an oath" 07656, Shebah, or 07655, shib`ah, also translated 'seven', 'seven times', or as 07654 sob`ah it becomes satisfy, enough, full, or sufficiently, or as 07653, sib`ah again, becomes fullness.

ShinBeitAyin can be translated satisfy, fill, full, plenty, enough. It also is translated sware 167 times, and charge, oath, adjure, even straitly. Or it can mean seven or seventh or the name Sheba. It is worthy of note that the Hebrew words from 07646 to 07659 are ShinBeitAyin or contain the letters ShinBeitAyin.

While many of these translations may be similar the word satisfaction and seven are distinctly different words to say nothing of the word for swear and oath. There are many other words that are strikingly different in meaning coming from the same words or letters and if improperly marked or translated they may alter the entire meaning of the text in the mind of the reader. This coupled with the preconceived notions of the student, a false impression or understanding of the meaning of the text may result.

The Septuagint

We cannot mention the Masoretic text without also referencing the Septuagint.

Legend has it that 72 translators working for Ptolemy Philadelphus, produced this oldest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, possibly in Alexandria, c.250 B.C.

The original Hebrew appears to be lost in antiquity, but it also appears evident Jesus and the Apostles quoted from it. And why not if many others were already reading it?

A question remains were their some fundamentally false interpretations included in that work itself that brought about an inverse view of the biblical text between Essene, Pharisee, and Sadducee faction at the time of Christ?

The more people unmoor the symbols of scripture from the intent of the author the more we become lost in the idolatry of our own imagination.

If we read the instructions in Ecclesiastes 11:1 "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." some people might develop a religious ritual of going down to the lake or ocean and casting bread out over the waters. By custom and common usage we know that this is simply a metaphor use to express an idea.

The very next verse we see in Ecclesiastes 11 is verse 2 "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth."

We see the apostles doing the same in Acts 6 when the picked Seven men to wait on tables. One of them became one of the first martyrs recorded in the Bible. You did not think he was just serving at tables did you?

The Church was the entire social welfare for Christians who would not apply to the Benefactors of the gentiles nor the Fathers of the earth.

Inspired writing and reading

If the authors were inspired do we need to be inspired to understand the fulness of their meaning and intent?

Was the Bible written as a substitute to the leading of the Holy Spirit or were the authors merely adding to the tree of knowledge.

Hebrew contains idioms that are semantically motivated by conceptual metaphor, metonymy, and symbolic acts representing ideas and concepts. Knowing these unique the meanings of these forms of expression are often essential in the process of understanding the meaning of the authors. While we can study to get a better understanding the key to understanding inspired scripture is to be inspired by the same spirit when we read the text.

As you examine just a few phrases in the Biblical text note also the alternate possibilities based on the variety of words available to choose from in the English for each Hebrew word.

How can we verify the truth even with an intense study of the available early codex and fragments if we translate Hebrew words into so many different English words?

Besides multiple variations in the translated words we may also observe variations in the original Hebrew words with letters added or deleted from what we see in the original transcript that often go unaccounted for in the translations to any given language.

The mathematical combination of possible translations becomes astronomical with these observed variations. Many words in the Hebrew language can have more than one distinctive meaning. The Hebrew language has also been in the hands of people with their own agendas who think like the Pharisees did at the time of Jesus the Christ for centuries.

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” Attributed to Mark Twain

With our rudimentary knowledge of the language and any concordance we may begin to reexamine the words of the Bible. What you are about to see concerning the text may shatter the Humpty Dumpy mentality that words can mean what you choose them to mean. Or, you may disregard the possibility that you have been deceived and continue to believe a lie.

Alice thought the question is, “can make words mean so many different things.” But Humpty knew that the “The question is: which is to be master - that's all.” In any case the truth shall set you free.

We should look at all things anew. Search to see and understand what God wants us to know. Are these altars with burning animals a conjuring trick to invoke the Holy Spirit and the power of God or were they a practical system of charity with a purpose and a plan which by its nature kept the people free souls under God?

If we stray from the precepts of God, His Way, will we become bound souls under the gods of authoritarian benefactors ruling through the institutions of men?

If we are not willing to see the whole truth and provide for it will we become merchandise, i.e. human resources and curse children?

“Thine eyes shall see the king... Thine heart shall meditate terror... where is the receiver? ... Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive... that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down...” Isaiah 33:17, 20.

Kidneys

Hebrew contains idioms that are semantically motivated by conceptual metaphor, metonymy, and symbolic acts representing ideas and concepts. Knowing these unique the meanings of these forms of expression are often essential in the process of understanding the meaning of the authors. While we can study to get a better understanding the key to understanding inspired scripture is to be inspired by the same spirit when we read the text.

As you examine just a few phrases in the Biblical text note also the alternate possibilities based on the variety of words available to choose from in the English for each Hebrew word.

How can we verify the truth even with an intense study of the available early codex and fragments if we translate Hebrew words into so many different English words?

Besides multiple variations in the translated words we may also observe variations in the original Hebrew words with letters added or deleted from what we see in the original transcript that often go unaccounted for in the translations to any given language.

The mathematical combination of possible translations becomes astronomical with these observed variations. Many words in the Hebrew language can have more than one distinctive meaning. The Hebrew language has also been in the hands of people with their own agendas who think like the Pharisees did at the time of Jesus the Christ for centuries.

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” Attributed to Mark Twain

Kidney - reins and Liver - honor

Is the Leviticus instructions concerning blood sacrifice talking about livers or squeezing out kidney fat before burning up dead animals on altars of clay and stone just to please God in heaven.

The same letters for the word fat(חֶלֶב‎) also mean milk(חֶלֶב‎) and is a metaphor for abundance.

Can the aroma of the burning flesh, wool, and hair of these animals become the "sweet savour" and intoxicating to God? Does God desire gifts, does He desire the wanton destruction of His creation? Or was Moses, like Christ, desiring that your sacrifice bear fruit?

It is the nature and purpose of the sacrifice of the people by the people for the welfare of their nation that provides a "sweet savour"?

God wants you to care for one another through love for one another not through the covetous practices of the world. Saul foolishly forced an offering of the people and lost his kingdom. To provide for the needy of society through force service of the people by men who exercise authority is contrary to Moses and Christ and returns people to the bondage of Egypt.

If you change the definition of words you can change our understanding without changing the original text. Just shifting a definition of a word from sacrifice to kill can begin to alter the entire understanding of any text. To change our vision of the historical context will also change our interpretation. To fail to understand the metaphor and symbolism of a language common to the authors can take us away from understanding their original intent. The very idea that the same word for liver formed with the letters KafBeitDalet(כָּבֵד) also means to honour, glorify, honourable, heavy, harden, glorious, sore, made heavy, chargeable, great, many, heavier, or promote heavy, grievousness but are translated honour in Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16 and rich in Genesis 13:2.

The same letters KafBeitDalet(כָּבֵד) as a noun are also translated heavy, grievousness, or even great number. But as an adjective they are translated as great, grievous, heavy, sore, hard, much, slow, hardened, heavier, laden, or thick should raise concern, if not immediate alarm.

If the word translated kidney is also translated reins how do we know what is being said?

The kidney is an organ while the word reins is defined:

“A means or an instrument by which power is exercised. Often used in the plural: the reins of government.”

With our rudimentary knowledge of the language and any concordance we may begin to reexamine the words of the Bible but we need the Holy Spirit be our guide.

What you are about to see concerning the text may shatter the Humpty Dumpy mentality that words can mean what you choose them to mean. Or, you may disregard the possibility that you have been deceived and continue to believe a lie.

Alice thought the question is, “can you make words mean so many different things.”

But Humpty knew that the “The question is: which is to be master - that's all.”

In any case the truth shall set you free.

We should look at all things anew. Search to see and understand what God wants us to know. Are these altars with burning animals a conjuring trick to invoke the Holy Spirit and the power of God or were they a practical system of charity with a purpose and a plan which by its nature kept the people free souls under God?

If we stray from the precepts of God, His Way, will we become bound souls under the gods of authoritarian benefactors ruling through the institutions of men?

Will we become merchandise, human resources?

“Thine eyes shall see the king... Thine heart shall meditate terror... where is the receiver? ... Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive... that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down...” Isaiah 33:17, 20.

Sin offering

The phrase of the sin offering comes from Strong's 02403 and is said to appear as both chatta’ah or chatta’th, האטח and תאטח [Chet, Tet, Alef, Hey and Chet, Tet, Alef, Tav] and is translated sin 182 times, sin offering 116, punishment 3, purification for sin twice, and purifying, sinful, sinner once each. These words are from chata’ 02398 אטח which is translated sin 188 times, but purify 11 times, cleanse 8 times, sinner 8, committed 6, offended 4, blame and done twice, fault, harm, loss, miss, offender, purge, reconciliation, sinful, trespass once each.

The original two words end in the letter Hey or the letter Tav. These should create different words with at least slightly different meanings in the original language. The translators wield an amazing power of influence.

• HEY, ה , is a letter that includes the idea or concept of physical Expression--Thought, Speech, Action and life in action.

• TAV, ת, is a letter that includes the idea or concept of Impression - The Seal of Creation, the mark of God placed in the forehead of the loyal followers of God. It means faith.

The term "burnt" is from the Hebrew word qatar, רטק, [Kuf, Tet, Reish] given the Strong's number 06999 and translated incense 59 times, and burn 49 times, but also translated offer 3 times, kindle, and offering once each, with 4 other miscellaneous translations. It is said to be a primitive root but is identical to Strong's number 07000, qatar, רטק, and other Strong's numbers 07001 and 07002 which are translated doubts twice, joints once, incense once, and joined once, and given the definitions of to shut in, enclose, join, knot, joint, and even problem.

Another word for burnt offering is `olah, 05930, הלע, which is translated as burnt offering 264 times, burnt sacrifice 21, but also translated ascent and go up. The same word, hle, is also numbered 05929 but translated leaf and branch. Also, הלע, numbered 05927, is translated up 676 times, offer 67, come 22, bring 18, ascend 15, go 12, chew 9 times, offering 8, light 6, increase 4, burn 3, depart 3, put 3, spring, raised, arose, break, exalted twice each and another 33 other miscellaneous ways.

The words upon the altar is from the Hebrew word mizbeach חבזמ [Mem, Zayin, Beit, Chet], given the Strong's number 04196, and is always translated altar. It is from zabach, (חבז), [Zayin, Beit, Chet] Strong's number 02076 and translated sacrifice 85 times, offer 39, kill 5, slay 5, but as Strong's 02077 (חבז), it is said to mean sacrifice and is translated sacrifice 155 times, offerings 6, offer once. It also appears as the name Zebah said to mean “deprived of protection.”

Again the same word is given numerous meanings: offering, kill, sacrifice or even slay and are given different Strong's numbers. We could say that one is used as a verb and the other a noun, but although the word sacrifice can be both verb and noun, slay and kill are normally only verbs.

If the word zabach can mean sacrifice all the time and the word qatar can mean offer rather than burnt, then sacrifice may not always or ever be set on fire or killed, but simply something given as an offering.

Is there more purpose to these offerings than a mindless religious ritual that turn offerings into piles of ashes which are supposed to somehow please God by the stinking smoke rising to the heavens?

As the LORD is from the word translated LORD or Yaweh and is from the Hebrew letters YodHeyVavHey, (הוהי) YHVH said to mean “the Existing One”. It is thought to come from the Hebrew word hayah, (הוה), with the Strong's number 01961, translated was, come to pass, came, has been, were, happened, become, pertained, and better for thee, etc.

The word commanded is from the Hebrew tsavah, (הוצ), [Tzadik, Vav, Hei] with the Strong's number 06680, translated command 514 times, charge 39, commandment 9, but, appoint 5 times, bade 3, order 3, commander once with 4 miscellaneous translations.

Even Moses has the meaning of water. Jesus called himself a well of living water from whom, if we drank, we would never thirst.

Obviously the translators took a great deal of license in composing a translation for us. Are they wrong or are we misled?

By giving a strict meaning to words like burn, slay, kill, or liver, we and our thinking may be taken in a different direction. We should look into our hearts for the righteousness of God and the justice and mercy which He desires to rule over the choice of our sacrifices and offerings.

The next verse we see a similar pattern of numerous different words coming from a single Hebrew word and words in brackets that never existed in the original text. As you see a vast choice of words you could use to produce a translation, make a mental note of just how a phrase or sentence or chapter might be altered or directed by using these alternate choices. There are actually more options than we may readily see.

The ram and rump is a gift

Looking at Leviticus 9:19 “And the fat of the bullock and of the ram, the rump, and that which covereth [the inwards], and the kidneys, and the caul [above] the liver:”

We have seen And the fat explained above.

The phrase of the bullock is from the Hebrew word showr, (שׁוֹר)ShinVavReish, which is given the Strong's number 07794. It is said to be from the Strong's word shuwr, which is numbered 07788, but consists of the same three Hebrew letters ShinVavReish (שׁוֹר) and translated as went and sing once each, but is said to mean “to travel, journey, go”.

In fact, the same three letters in Hebrew are also given several other Strong's numbers, from 07786 to 07794. These words are translated as we see in 07794 as showr into ox 62 times, bullock 12, cow twice, bull and wall once each, but as 07790, shuwr (שׁוֹר)‎, it is said to mean enemy, or as 07791 and 07792 it is again translated wall, while 07789 which is said to be a verb is translated behold 5 times, see 4, look and observe twice, and lay wait, regard, and perceive once each.

The Hebrew word suwr (שׂוּר) with the Strong's number 07787 is said to mean cut, while Strong's 07786, still consisting of the same three Hebrew letters ShinVavReish (שׂוּר) is said to mean: “to be or act as prince, rule, contend, have power, prevail over,” and is translated reign, have power, and made prince, once each.

And of the ram comes from the Hebrew word ayil ליא [Alef, Yod, Lamed], which has the Strong's number 0352, and is translated ram 156 times but also post 21 times, mighty (men) 4 times, trees twice, lintel and oaks once each. It is identical to 0353 and 0354, which are translated strength and hart as in a type of deer called a hart.

It is said to be the same as 193, [Alef, Vav, Lamed] לוא and defined prominence, 1a) body, belly (contemptuous), 1b) nobles, wealthy men, and is translated mighty and strength once each.

The words The rump is from 'alyah הילא [Alef, Lamed, Yod, Hei] and numbered 0451. It is said to be from 0422 'alah הלא [Alef, Lamed, Hei] and is changed by the addition of an Yod in the middle. The word 'alah is said to mean to swear, and is translated swear 4 times, curse and adjure once each.

The word 'alyah' is consistently translated rump 5 times, but it is identical to the word הילא AlefLamedYodHei numbered 452 (which is the name of Elijah), and is supposed to mean “my God is Jehovah" or "Yah is God". Because of the meaning of the letters, it is reasonable to conceptualize the word to mean godly strength or power.

Does the word we see as rump actually mean “my God is Jehovah", who would, of course, be the beneficiary of our offering or sacrifice?

We also see the phrase and that which covereth [the inwards] coming from a single word Mcacceh, הסכמ, numbered 04374, and translated that which covers twice, cover or clothing once each. It is said to be from 03680, kacah meaning to cover, conceal, hide and is identical to 04372 and 04373, which is said to mean covering and valuation or worth. What is the value of burnt flesh to God? Is the sacrifice to please God by the mutilation and conflagration of His creation?

Have we been deceived concerning the precepts of God's sacrifice just as the Pharisees before us? The question is will we let God write His laws upon our minds and our hearts or will we fall prey to the superstitions and religious rituals that bound the pharisees?

Covering Up

Since the Garden, we have had a problem with covering. Even the Levites who were the ministers of the sacrifice were supposed to have the people make their underwear. They were also not to go up by steps lest the people see their nakedness. Nakedness has to do with a lack of authority, and cover has to do with coverture. Making underwear had nothing to do with their fruit of the looms. But again, let us continue.

We have already seen that the word translated kidney is also translated reins, denoting a part of the moral constitution of man and has some connection to his right to choose, which is a gift from God.

As we have seen, the word for liver (כָּבֵד)‎ kabed KafBeitDelat comes from the letters meaning “God's charitable house actualized,” and the word may be translated honor or liver just as the word heart today can mean an organ or an individual's capacity for compassion.

This division of the same word into more than one meaning, and the addition of numerous alternative words to translate that single word into, has left the text open to a great deal of conjecture and speculation by men who are not always as inspired as the original authors.

In Genesis 15:9 we see several words like heifer, she goat, ram, turtledove, young pigeon

"And he said unto him, Take me an heifer <05697> of three years old, and a she goat <05795> of three years old, and a ram <0352> of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

Take the word often translated dove, or in the Hebrew, (יוֹנָה) 'yownah, which is numbered 03123 in Strong's Concordance, and probably is from (יַיִן‎) yayin meaning wine.

The word turtledove <08449 is (תּוֹר‎) towr but here we see (וְתֹ֖ר VavTavReish)>. It is said to probably be from (תּוּר‎) towr or (תּר)‎‎ tor but numbered 08447 defined "circlet, plait, turn... succession, order” and is translated turn, row, border. The word numbered 08447 is said to be from a primitive root numbered 08446 (תּוּר‎) tuwr defined “to seek, search out, spy out, explore.”

The word turtledove is translated turtledove 9 times, but also turtle 5 times. The same three letter word in 1 Chronicles 17:17, when given the Strong's number 08448 (תּוּר)‎ towr, is translated “according to the estate.”

We have to be in an almost hypnotic state to imagine that God wanted people to kill turtledoves and burn them up every time we sinned. Once we accept an idea, it is often difficult to change our thinking. The more bizarre, fantastic, or absurd an idea the more often the tighter its hold on our minds.

This is why the world is in subjection, often defending that bondage with their very lives. One of the great tools of creating this state of confusion is the use of doctrines built around mysteries that are irrational, or are beyond natural comprehension or common sense.

If God never wanted us to kill animals in bloody mutilations, then Christ did not initiate the end of that animal blood sacrifice with His own innocent blood. Can Jewish and Christian scholars be so wrong? The prevarication about animal sacrifice is more pervasive today than it was at the time of Christ. That delusion blocks our understanding of Christ's message to us.

Long before the teachings of Christ, there were written community disciplines that understood the need for and the purpose of freewill offerings in the care of society and the cultivation the social bonds as essential elements of a free society. The were writing that “They shall expiate guilty rebellion and sinful infidelity... without the flesh of burnt offerings and the fat(חֶלֶב‎) of sacrifice, but the offering of the lips in accordance with the Law will be as an agreeable odor of righteousness, and perfection of the way shall be as the voluntary gift of a delectable oblation.” Community Rule 1QS 9.3-5

Philo Judaeus writes, in his Every Good Man is Free 75, in reference to the Essene, “they do not offer animal sacrifice” and they “are men utterly dedicated to the service of God”. They served each other and the nation as Moses intended before the apostacy and sophistry of the Pharisees.

The Essenes held all things in common with no personal estate, like Moses' Levites and the early ministers of the Church, and “thanks to their type of community, goods were at any rate so great that they were the only Jewish organization of their time to be able to afford to include nonmembers in their charitable system.”

Even before the Essenes, Pythagoras, born in 569 BC, lived by similar precepts in Greece. “In Phoenicia he conversed with the prophets who were the descendants of Moses the physiologist, and with many others, as well as the local heirophants.”

As a result, he also forbade those he taught to offer sacrificial victims to God. He said to worship instead only at altars which were “unstained with blood”. He expressed many other ideas uniquely similar to the Essenes on diet, communal living, and renouncing oath taking.

"The Nazorean abhorred all animal sacrifice and rejected, as forgeries and fictions, all Jewish scriptures that encourage such barbaric practices."

"They were the only religious sect in their country and the entire Roman world who opposed the custom of animal sacrifice ... and later was to play such a pivotal role in Jesus’ life and teachings."

Why were they so against blood sacrifice even though they read the Bible and knew the ancient texts?

If they were right and the Pharisees were wrong, then there has been a great deception about what God was calling the people to do in the very scriptures we read today and the doctrines we form.

Modern doctrines have been woven around the idea that Israel was supposed to kill animals upon stones because God needed blood sacrifice.

“For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11.

Sacrifice is giving up what we have been given, which is your life. When you give of that life you give of your own blood. If you are a shepherd it may come in the form of a sheep. If you are a carpenter it may be in the form of your craft. It is not about blood, or burning up. It is about letting go and truly giving up part of your self. It is about unselfish service.

To do this as a society through free will offerings, it will include forgiving that we may be forgiven, or giving that we may be given to. It is about giving up our life for others so that we may have life more abundant.

In the image of God, all you receive and give should be freely given. The welfare of your society should be according to the saying “... freely ye have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8.

Eyes to see and ears to hear, working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, striving to know and do the will of God is our responsibility. There is a standard: it is the Holy Spirit. It is the comforter of God.

“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:5

Men have used the sophistry of language, the complexity of vocabulary to spin delusion, and lead men from the simple truths of God's ways.

Jesus told us to live in the world. Instead of keeping the people free, ministers have delivered them into bondage while they built their temples of dead stone, brick, glass, and wood. The nations of the world are in greater bondage today than that of Egypt. They have returned to the mire because false prophets or pastors have failed to teach the precept upon precept taught by Christ. They do not love their neighbor as themselves nor take care of the daily ministration. They send the people to Benefactors who exercise authority one over the other, opposing Christ's words in Luke 22:25-29.

Where are those who will seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness in Spirit and Truth?

'That's all,' said Humpty Dumpty.

'Good-bye.'

Adventures of Artifice in Languageland
The sophistry of words has deceived man and led him from God.
Sacrifice was meant to bring us closer to Him again.
Where has the sophistry of our sacrifice led us?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/sacrifice.php

The Corban of the Pharisees
It made the word of God to none effect.
Is our Corban making the word of God to none effect today?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/corban.php

The Nicolaitan who God hates?
Because they covet their neighbor's goods
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/nicolaity.php

Baptism, the Ritual and the Jurisdiction
Are Christians repenting and getting baptized or are they just all wet?
http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/baptismjura.php

More detail on the word "sophistry".

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About the author

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  Brother Gregory
  White Rock

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