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We all like prophecy but there is some that nails to the wall the distortions of Christian theology regarding atonement. Let me show you.
Answer for yourself: If indeed Jesus came as the final sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world, why do The Holy Scriptures proclaim that the Third Temple will be built and sacrifices resumed during the Messianic era?
The vast majority of average Christians are completely ignorant of these prophecies, as they have been cleverly hidden by their editors of the Scriptures they read. Notice the clear teachings of The Holy Scriptures regarding this:
"Even those I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." (Isaiah 56:7)
"From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones will bring My offerings." (Zephaniah 3:10)
"All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth will minister to you; they will go up with acceptance on My altar, and I shall glorify My glorious house." (Isaiah 60:7)
"And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever." (Ezekiel 37:26)
"And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to [YHWH] offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to [YHWH], as in the days of old and as in former years." (Malachi 3:3-4)
Answer for yourself: Convinced yet? Loot at the future atonement connected to this Third Temple and what does this have to say about Jesus' death as a "final atonement" for anything?
(Ezekiel 45:17) "And it shall be the princes part to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the libations...to make the atonement for the house of Israel."
Apparently, if you have been paying attention, Jesus' death and supposed sacrifice did not make atonement for the sins of all the world if we are to believe Acts 21, James, Paul, the Sacrificial System, and the Prophets (only "unintentional sins" were atoned by blood...remember?).
Answer for yourself: If the death of Jesus had atoned for all sins for all time, why will atonement need to be made during the messianic era? Christian ministers usually stumble badly over this one. This should make you want to know just what and when is this "Messianic Era" we hear so much about but never seems to come. But that is a whole other study.
So, it is evident that in spite of the huge amount of teaching that is in agreement in the Hebrew Scriptures Christianity continually claims that only through bloodshed can atonement be made. This fact also show that Christians and Christian teachers who teach such things are not only ignorant of the Hebrew Scriptures but are unfamiliar with how compassionate and merciful the Holy One of Israel really is. Sometimes, God forgives us simply because He is kind, loving, compassionate and merciful. Even when we don't seek our Creator appropriately, He has the ability to reach out to us with love and forgive us:
"Who is a [Elohiym] like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy." (Micah 7:18)
"Their heart was not steadfast toward Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant. But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity...remembering that they were but flesh." (Psalms 78:36-39)
"You have not brought Me the sheep of your burnt offerings...or the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened Me with your sins...Nevertheless, I will wipe out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins." (Isaiah 43:23-25)
Answer for yourself: So, let me ask you: "How familiar are you with the Hebrew Prophets"?
Answer for yourself: Have you ever tried to validate the Christian atonement message by comparing it with what the Prophets said in the Hebrew Scriptures?
Answer for yourself: If Christianity claims that one must be covered by the shed blood of the Messiah in order to make atonement for his sins is valid, why cannot this claim not be validated by the writings of the Prophets? Why does not Judaism teach this since, after all, it is their Messiah to begin with and not Rome's?
Time and time again, the writings of the prophets emphasize prayer and repentance as the method to atone for sins. Let me give the reader a challenge and you can call me or email me the answer if you can find one. I challenge any Christian to produce a scripture from The Holy Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish Bible that teaches us that we must believe in the atoning blood of a Messiah in order to obtain salvation. What the prophets teach us is that our own obedience to the laws of Israel's God combined with sincere repentance and prayer for forgiveness along with righteous deeds of charity and love will atone for sin if done with the proper attitude of humility.
"That every man will turn from his evil way, then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin." (Jeremiah 36:3)
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to [YHWH], and He will have compassion on him; and to our [Elohiym]. for He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)
"And 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." (II Chronicles 7:14).
"But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has practiced he shall live...When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life...Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you (Ezekiel 18:21- 22,27,30).
"By loving kindness and truth iniquity is atoned for..." (Proverbs 16:6). "If you return to [Elohiym] you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent...then you will delight in [Elohiym]..." (Job 22:23-27).
Clearly, the central teaching of The Holy Scriptures that we must break away from our sinful past and sincerely repent. This is the only way to restore our relationship with the Holy One of Israel. If one strays from the path set forth by the laws of the God of Israel, one must repent and return to the path. This is how forgiveness is obtained. I have shown you that when reading these texts without understanding of the Sacrificial System that the reader misses the fact that when sacrifices were offered, they in and of themselves did not effect atonement but were but a "picture" of the prior repentance of the sinner and the resulting condition of his Soul long before the animal was ever killed. The sacrifice was part of the process; it helped bring them to the core of atonement, which is achieved by repentance.
Isaiah chapter one is critical that we understand it correctly. Many Christians read verses 10-15 and believes that God hates their scarifies and rituals and the texts, without proper interpretation, might appear as such
Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies; I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.”
God begins by saying: "You rulers of Sodom . . . you people of Gomorrah".
Answer for yourself: What is God saying here? God is obviously trying to get the attention of the leaders and people of Judah, by associating them with two cities synonymous with sin and judgment.
God asks these leaders and people a question: "what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?".
That is what these articles are all about. I am asking the reader the same question: "What is the purpose and heart behind the Sacrificial System? Was it substitutionary atonement as Christianity teaches or repentance of the Soul and a return to the Torah?".
Even in the midst of their rebellion, Judah continued its religious ceremony and ritual. They continued the sacrifices, they continued the burnt offerings, they continued offering the fat of fed cattle, they continued burning incense, they continued their assemblies and their sacred meetings - and God was sick of them all! They continued to "go to church" and it became a habit of sort. Now watch what God says and wee how the Lord describes His reaction to these religious formalities: I have had enough . . . bring no more futile sacrifices . . . an abomination to Me . . . I cannot endure . . . My soul hates . . . they are a trouble to Me . . . I am weary of bearing them."
What a sobering thought! We can offer God all kinds of religious rituals and ceremonies, all kinds of religious service, and God may hate it and consider it an abomination and we never know! We have fallen into the same trap. As Christians we, like Judah, have been taught by our religious leaders that the answer is in perfect attendance to religious ceremonies and “church attendance” and a few dollars in the offering. But if our hearts are not changed, and humbled, and surrendered to the Lord, it makes no difference. Without the right heart, God hated their religious ceremony and service as he does ours. Just killing animals and "trusting in the blood" without a change of heart was fatal and God was warning them about this here in Isaiah chapter 1. "When you spread out your hands" (a posture of prayer in that ancient culture where one prayed with heads bowed and hands folded where one prayed with the face turned towards heaven and the hands spread out to heaven), receives God's response that “I will hide my eyes from you . . . I will not hear.”
Answer for yourself: With all this blood offered and atonement offering being offered by the thousands why was God angry with these sacrifices He had commanded of them in the first place and why is He hiding his eyes from these people and their leaders? What was missing if anything with the blood sacrifices that had worked before? Was it something to do with the condition of the sinner?
Verses 16-20 offer us the clues we need. The Lord offers a cure. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword”; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
There you have it. What was missing was "their free will to repent" so that when the blood was placed on the altar it was to accurately represent "a repentant Soul" and not a Soul that continued in wrong-doing but yet went through the motions of the religious formalism and ritual as was his habit to which he was so accustomed. "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean . . . Learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow" paints us a picture describing the corruption of Judah’s leaders and people and their bad treatment of one another. Many centuries later, the apostle John would repeat Isaiah’s message: If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (1 John 4:20). The leaders and people of Judah wanted to say they loved God by their religious ceremonies and attendance of religious formalities, but the Lord cared more about how they treated other people, especially the weak (the fatherless . . . the widow). This goes to the very heart of the perversion of the tithe which is rampant in Christianity today.
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord: The Lord God invites His people to come reason with Him. What He offers us isn’t just offered because He is “bigger” than us and has the right to dictate whatever terms please Him. God’s direction for us is reasonable. It is smart. It is the best way to live and that way is life and Soul while lives a life of repentance. True reason will drive any honest man to the most humble adoration and submission towards God. But Israel, like us so often, was not repentant. God thus says, using in Hebrew an antithetical parallelism: "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow". This is so often misunderstood for what we rally have here is a contrast between two opposing views; God's view who see the people's sins as "scarlet" while they yet maintain that they are "white as snow". We have the repeat of this contrast in the next clause: God again views the people's sins "red as crimson" but yet the people mistakenly consider this sins before God "white as wool". God wins all contrasts and divergence of opinions.
The Lord offers a repentant, humbled Judah true and complete cleansing from sin but only if they repent of their evil ways and do something about their lives. Repentance is in order and a return to the Torah is warranted. Thus God said that there is something that only they can do for themselves and not anything that another can do for them. There is not substitution for their atonement but repentance only:
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean . . . Learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow".
Notice that God commands mankind in the "middle voice"; you have to "wash yourself", you have to "clean yourself", you have to "teach yourself to learn to do good", you have to "teach yourself to seek justice", you have to "learn to discern right and wrong and begin yourself to rebuke the oppressor", you have to begin to "defend" the fatherless yourself, you have to begin to "plead for the poor and the widows and orphans" yourself. This is true repentance from a selfish life when your focus has only been yourself and other "God wants your rich" sermons.
Now you understand why God rebukes and speaks so harshly about the Sacrificial System once you see that the picture of the blood and Soul of the slain animal was not a true picture of Soul of the sinner who had brought his sacrifices but failed to repent of his sin prior to coming to the Temple. All the slain animals and all the blood in the world from these animals could never be a true picture of the Soul of man had it never repented. Thus God was angry with the non-repentant sinner killing senselessly all these animals never being a picture of the innocent Soul of the animal in the process. That is why Isaiah chapter one rebukes these people who killed animals at the Temple but failed to bring with them a repentant heart before God!
Answer for yourself: What is repentance? Returning to God by forsaking our evil ways which are all the ways in which we violate the Positive and Negative Commandments in our Covenants with God; either the Mosaic Covenant for the Jew and the Noahide Covenant for the "non-Jew" and praying for forgiveness.
Ok, it now seems much simpler. One will tend to read the Ten Commandments and say to most of them "I don't do that" and feel that he is right with God. There is another Big, Big , Big Problem.
Matt 22:29 29 ...Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures,...(KJV)
The Rabbis best of all know how to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures on 4 levels. Just reading them in English is not good enough for so much is lost in the translation even if translated correctly. What I uncovered in my studies over these early years of my Pastorate is that so much of my normative and tradition Christian religious belief system were in violation of so many of these Ten Categories and the subsets of interpretations of them as given by the Rabbis. Our "Jesus Theology" alone renders us as blasphemers and idolators and we only begin there. The way we tithe in our Christian Churches makes us robbers of God as we give money to our Pastors who use these gifts in any way that they see fit. As if that is not enough we are defined by these same Commandments when we give our tithes to others who misuse them as equal to murderers according to the Rabbis because the Rabbis interpret such misuse of the tithe the withholding of life from others and such is murder in their eye and the eyes of God. And the sad fact is that we never hear this and die and enter into the Presence of God thinking as we were taught as traditional Christians that we are "accepted" with God because of our "Jesus theology" only to find out our whole lives as first-pew setters we are in reality "idolators, blasphemers, robbers, and murderers" and never knew it. We might not have killed with a gun but failing to observe the Law of God regarding our finances and tithe properly is tantamount to violating "thou shall not kill" and we do this daily by holding back "life" from others while we build bigger ministries to preach the wrong "good news" and selfish-false gospel that no Jew like this Jesus would ever teach or preach. It is time somebody really sounded an alarm in Zion instead of turning up the music. And we can begin with the truth about atonement.
Now you are beginning to see why the prophets were constantly correcting the Israelite people for relying on blood sacrifices as the essential element of atonement instead of repentance and obedience to God's Eternal laws. Isaiah 1:11-18 is a perfect case in point above.
"The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord." (Proverbs 15:8).
Answer for yourself: What is the meaning of "wicked" in the above verse?
7563 rasha`- wicked, criminal
Answer for yourself: What is sin? Let us let the New Testament define that?
I Jn 3:4 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (KJV)
So the idea I want you to get is that if you don't know the Jewish faith, the faith of the Revelation of God through this Jewish Christ, then you cannot be certain if what you are being taught in Gentile Christianity is the truth or not! Read that statement again. You will find that the more you study Judaism and these Ten Categories of Laws broken down for us in 613 separate Laws and Commandments (66 belong to the "non-Jew") and the proper interpretation of each one of them that multiple and multiple Christian dogmas and doctrines are frightful and horrific violations of these Laws of Moses and Noah thus rendering the "believer" of such Christian dogmas and doctrines and those who follow them and act them out in various behaviors and conducts in their lives apostates from the "faith which was once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). Bet Emet Ministries is a voice truly crying out in the wilderness of Christian apostasy today.
"To do justice and righteousness is more acceptable to [YHWH] than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:3)
Answer for yourself: What is "justice"?
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon: word for "justice":
6666 tsedaqah- justice, righteousness
Answer for yourself: Did the Scripture tell us to "believe something" for salvation or to "do something for salvation"? Is "salvation" and "atonement" connected? Notice if you will that these verse said "do" righteousness if more important than sacrifice? Do you remember what God just said in Isaiah 1?
"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean . . . Learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow"
Answer for yourself: Did you notice it connects "salvation" with "doing" and in particular "doing law" and connects this with "ethics" and "righteous acts" along with "salvation"? Could this be what the Book of Revelation says:
Rev 20:12 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (KJV)
Answer for yourself: As shown in this article and others if Christian dogmas and doctrines (atonement for example) can be shown "not" to be the "truth" then can the same Christian doctrines be defined as "righteous"? No.
Answer for yourself: Could it just be that when we allow the Rabbis to define each of these Commandments and Laws for us and learn which ones are in our Covenant with God as "non-Jews" then we can know for certain just what God has commanded of us and what He expects out of us along with what our "religious belief system" ought to be? And when these Laws and Commandments, rightfully interpreted by the Rabbis, can be shown to be violated by cherished Christian religious beliefs in our Churches are we to repent and turn from such error when it can be shown that so many of these "Christian Beliefs" as taught about Jesus, or the tithe for example, are in violation of these very Laws that reflect God's "justice" and "righteousness"? Yes we are as hard as it might be since being so highly indoctrinated with error since childhood having learned the wrong faith. These Laws of God forbid traditional Jesus Christology (Jesus is God theology and trinitarianism) taught in almost all Christian churches today. These Laws forbid the worship outside the "Pattern of Worship" given by God whereby all people, both Jew and "non-Jew", observe the same appointed times and Festivals of God. These Law are opportunities for us to "do" what the Hebrew Scriptures call "righteous acts" which God Himself defined as " Absolutes"! Only in this way can we be assured that our "works" are righteous and acceptable by God since it is God who is doing the "defining". We can tithe our whole lives for example and never give according to God's Law. We might have emptied our bank accounts and built a Pastor's dream but the Kingdom of Heaven received nothing from us. We might have trusted in Christian atonement only to wake up dead and find out we have no personal atonement for our lives for we sought not repentance thinking some "godman" of Rome's invention paid our sin debt for us when in fact this is not possible as we have shown repeatedly in these articles. We might have heard preaching our whole lives never knowing that is was error "knowing not the Hebrew Scriptures" and be unprepared for the judgment. This should wake the dead as the consequences of such folly championed by a Christianity today that wants to keep its people "dumbed-down" to its true Jewish Roots.
"For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6).
"Has [YHWH] as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken more than the fat of rams." (I Samuel 15:22)
"With what shall I come to [YHWH], and bow myself before the [Elohiym] on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does [YHWH] take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does [YHWH] require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:6-8)
Answer for yourself: Do you now begin to see what the very wise king Solomon was trying to explain in 1 Kings 8, when he said that even though the Israelite people may not always have access to the sacrifices and the Priesthood, they would always have access to the Holy One of Israel? Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived by gift of the God of Israel, understood that repentance and one's life, his Soul to God given in obedience to God's Laws, and not blood is the Scriptural form of atonement.
Notice if you will that there is no mention of a cross or a dead messiah in King Solomon’s prophetic message as to how Israel is to acquire forgiveness of their sins. Surely if the Messiah was to come as part of God' plan and shed his life for the forgiveness of sin and provide Eternal Life for all then Solomon, the wisest man on earth, would have mentioned it to someone. The text is plain; only the contrite and repentant prayer of the remorseful sinner can bring about a complete atonement. Although King Solomon’s timeless message stands out as a theological impossibility in Christian terms, it remains the centerpiece of the Judaism's system of atonement throughout its long and bitter exile. Thus we have a paradox of the greatest extreme between the Jewish and Christian understanding of atonement.
If and when you ever get the courage to study the "Jesus Story" and delve into Gnosticism and Comparative Religion and Astronomy then the nails are hammered with an Eternal thud into the casket of Christian aberrant theology. It is here you find these solar gods dying and rising and you will learn to expect this as they are personifications of "the Sun" which is the Energy we see that gives all creation life. The Sun, not God, but a symbol of the whole of the Universe and Cosmos which is this God who emanates life to all things, was the pattern for all later personifications of this Intelligent Energy which is expressed to us in cycles of birth, life, death and rebirth like this Sun. The stories of these Sungods are almost all identical and parallel the "Jesus Story" from beginning to end. Not unique to them is that fact since being personifications of the Sun and this Intelligent Energy we call God they all "poured out their blood" for mankind that mankind might live and have life abundantly; easily seen when you study is that this "red blood poured out for us" is the bright sunlight at the Sun's death at sunset only to return at sunrise in a new birth. This is the blood of the gods that we read about in stories personified today to which we have lost the "keys" necessary to interpret their meanings correctly. Once you see the parallel of the "Jesus Story" and his shed blood being replayed over and over again for some 10,000 years beginning with Osiris and Horus and on and on down through history then you come to understand that something is wrong with our "unique historical Jesus" and his crucifixion which again is the way most of these Solar gods all died. To attach forgiveness of our personal sin and affronts to God and His Torah to some "sunset and sunrise" to which is true meaning is long forgotten is utter foolishness of the highest degree. No wonder the Jewish nation will not accept this Christian "Jesus Story".
Rom 9:4-5 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, ...(KJV)
Is is Israel and Judaism that have the true Holy Scriptures not forged and faked like those in Christianity, it is Israel and Judaism that have the Biblical tradition, it is Israel and Judaism that have the manifestations of God's glory and power in history, it is Israel and Judaism that have God's Holy Law, Commandments, and Torah, it is Israel and Judaism that was given the Tabernacle and Temple and the service and worship before God and the commission to teach the world these Divine Truths, and it is Israel and Judaism that have been given the promises of God as well as having the Fathers of the true faith. It is Israel and Judaism that have been given the truth about atonement.
Answer for yourself: And what were the Gentiles given represented very adequately by Rome?
Eph 2:11-12 11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: (KJV)
Amazingly, these Gentiles who are called by Paul "aliens" and "strangers" from all that Israel and Judaism possessed above and who are yet called in the first century strangers from the Covenants of God and who also have "no hope" without Israel and their revelation of God and who stand before the Creator as being "without God in the world" are incredibly today to be believed to have usurped Israel and Judaism and reinterpreted Judaism from beginning to end and in so doing have given the world a completely alternate and contrasting method of atonement. Even more incredible it is these same Gentiles who are familiar with the Sun pouring out its energy and its "blood" for the salvation of mankind who will in a little more than a hundred years begin to attach this same allegory of "the pouring out of the blood of the god and his dying and rising" to a supposed historical person and in so doing usurp thousands of years of Divine Revelations that not only can be found all the way back to Ancient Egypt some 10,000 years but have the overlapping Divine understanding that man's way to God is through living the Laws of God and repentance when he fails. The Ancients understood that God commands of man to life a life in harmony (ma'at) in the whole of he Cosmos whereby man patterns his life after the Laws of God seen operating above his head and round his life in Nature. This is the witness of both Heaven and Earth to the Laws of God in the Cosmos; Laws that when obeyed bring peace and manifest love. Repentance was for them as it will be later for Israel the key to restoring one' right relationship with God when one strays in sin. Such is the teaching of the Ancients and the teaching of the Laws of Moses and Noah and the backbone of the Sacrificial System and the atonement that it pictured for all.
Lastly, let us remember the story of Jonah who went to Gentiles. He was sent to the evil city of Ninevah to warn them of their impending destruction. Jonah does not come into the city and tell the people that unless they begin offering sacrifices they are doomed. He does not tell them that unless they accept on faith that the shed blood of Israel's Messiah will atone for their sins they are lost. No! He warns them to repent.
Answer for yourself: What did they do? Did they say: "Hey, the theology about Jesus is not created yet?" No. These Gentiles did what all men know in their hearts to do since God's Laws are first found among the Gentiles and not the Jews. Their response to his warnings is: they fast, pray, and turn from their evil ways and repent and return back to God's laws that restore harmony between man and God and man and other mankind. And they were "saved" and they obtained "atonement" before God which was witnessed by their safety and "salvation" from God's judgment. Now let us look at the text.
Answer for yourself: What is God's response to their repentance?
"When [Elohiym] saw their deeds that they turned from their wicked way, then [Elohiym] relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them, and He did not do it." (Jonah 3:10).
Answer for yourself: Another case in point is good to examine now. How did Daniel advise king Nebuchadnezzar to atone for his sins?
"Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you:
Redeem your sins by doing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor." (Daniel 4:27).
Answer for yourself: What did these man of old know that we as Christians do not today? They knew God's true atonement resides inside man, it is His Soul that repents when in error and in so doing restores God's favor and life to his life. This is the ONLY atonement ever given man by the Creator.
We have seen in earlier articles the subject of the "sin sacrifice" and we have touched on heavily "repentance" and "charity" and "righteous deeds". We must in closing touch on prayer as a form of atonement.
After the ten northern tribes split away from Judah, a civil war prevented most of Israel from Temple worship. The prophet Hosea addressed this situation and instructed the people accordingly: "Return, O Israel, to [YHWH] your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to [YHWH]. Say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, for we will render as bullocks the offerings of our lips'." (Hosea 14:1-2)
We are taught here that we are able to approach our Creator directly with prayer, which is possible at all times and regardless of the size of our bank accounts; and He assures us that sincere prayer can achieve forgiveness for our sins:
Ps 51:14-17 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (KJV)
Ps 69:30-31 30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. 31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. (KJV)
Ps 86:5-6 5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. 6 Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. (KJV)
2 Chr 6:21 21 Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive. (KJV)
The Holy Scriptures of Israel are very clear. Prayer, a humble attitude, and above all, sincere heartfelt repentance is what the Holy One of Israel requires of His people in order to atone for sins. No doubt He knew thousands of years in advance that there would come a time when some would wrongly rely on the blood of a deified human sacrifice to vicariously replace obedience to His laws. It is evident to anyone with eyes to see that a comparison between The Holy Scriptures of Israel and the Greek Ne Testament to 'Baal' will reveal two entirely different religions. One is dedicated to the One True Eternal One of Israel; the other is dedicated to just another of many mythological savior gods of the Babylonian mysteries that are long forgotten to be but personifications of the movement of the orbs of Heaven. Now, interestingly, when you study these movements of the orbs you find the most incredible revelation of the Soul, its birth, its life, its challenges, its failures; its death, and its rebirth. Note the connection to the Soul almost everywhere; not only in atonement, but in blood, the sungods, the movement of the orbs of Heaven. God is teaching us everywhere about this Divine Life which we are and His intended growth of this Divine Life in this physical realm in which we live. This is what makes the study of "the Christ", this Divine Life, this Divine Soul in us, so exciting. Sure its hard because we have to "unlearn" before we can really "learn" the truth. But it can be done.
Right now I will close with a letter from one of the hundreds of E-mails I get daily. This one I hope speaks to you for I understand a voice crying in the wilderness of Christianity today with the message I bring is not popular and is often dangerous. But truth is truth. Now read this and then we close this study on atonement. But remember this is all about the Soul which is the Divine Christ in each of us. The problem is that we also a supposed "literal-historical Christ" of Rome's making that has blurred the true understanding of the Christ. Now the letter:
"Dear Pastor Lyons, I have now made my way through your Gnostic and Egyptian web sites and am now reading the astrology site. This is just fantastic! Sir, you have given my Biblical and Historical studies direction and understanding. Your love of God and compassion for the human race just shines all through your writings. THANK YOU for your gift. You warned me in the beginning that this was not a quick study. Sir, it's a lifetime study and I pray that I'm up to the task! As a lay student of history, nothing I have ever read has so fascinated me, enriching my life and most importantly my spiritual understanding. Words can not express my gratitude. Please let me know how I can acquire your study CD as mentioned in your article on the famous quote of St Augustine."
This gentleman finally "saw it". He was able to wade through all the Roman lies and mistranslations and textual forgeries and misrepresentation of the Jewish Messiah by Rome and see that the Divine Truths that the Ancient Religion given mankind in the beginning of time has been changed by Rome in the 3rd century to where it almost unrecognizable today without a teacher who can provide the "keys" to get to the truth behind the "Jesus Story" that we have inherited and swallowed "hook, line, and sinker". This reader was able to not only see how the Soul actually worked in obtaining atonement and see how the "Jesus Story" is but a personification of this Soul in matter and a human body as an "example" for us to follow but he also saw the role of repentance so crucial to obtaining this atonement when we fail God's Laws. He was able over time to study through the truth about "the Christ" and the Roman transfiguration of this "Christ" and he did so by coming to terms with the "Mystical Christ" of Gnosticism and the "Mythological Karast/Christ of Egyptian Religion of some 10,000 years ago. He was able to see for himself that Judaism carries these Divine Truths yet today like no other religion in the world and it should as you will come to see is such studies that it is these Jews of the Bible who are biologically the children and offspring of Egypt who kept and revered these Divine Laws in the first place and who taught atonement right in the beginning of time. Sad to say but such study reveals the sorry state to which Christianity has fallen at the hands of the antisemitic Gentile Church for the last 1,700 years since it is they who have tried to destroy this Ancient Divine understanding of the Divine Realm imparted to mankind by the Creator in the beginning of our existence.
I hope that time will come when Israel's true messiah will appear and usher in an era of peace when all nations will believe in and seek to worship the one true Holy One of Israel of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But this day will never come because some Celestial pilgrim will descend upon this planet in some sort of a "return"; it will only come when the truths of Judaism and all other religions which teach this same truth covers this world.
Hab 2:14 14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. (KJV)
At that time, the expounders of Christianity will deeply repent of the day when they not only Jews but all mankind to break the first commandment and worship another (Jesus) besides the Holy One of Israel and gave the world a false atonement theology that kept from them the important role of repentance and thereby ill-equipped them for their day of death and their judgment by God.