Originally posted on January 11, 2020 @ 8:00 am
In researching the post I made yesterday, scouring the impossible corners of history to discover Roman edicts 2000 years old, I came across this information. When I initially scanned it, not finding what I was searching for, I closed the tab and automatically advanced to the next one. As I reviewed the historical data on the following tab, my heart instructed me to reopen the tab I just closed and read the entire page. The page is difficult to read because it is an entire huge book scanned into a .pdf. Letters are missing from words, the pages are curved in many places, the text is small and super small to print, etc.
But I went back and started reading at the top.
What I read stunned me.
The book THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE is one of the premier historical works of all time. In fact, it is right up there with the Holy Bible in terms of depth of information and clout with historians. I have a degree in history myself, and often get sucked into interesting historical matters. All of my kids groan “not a documentary, dad” when I suggest a movie. I’m a nerd, for sure. And an armed one with the skills to fight. Just sayin’.
What I read was quite powerful from the perspective of being of the Natsarim. We are few, and hated. Even our own families, our wives or husbands, our children, co-workers and former friends often despise us because we do not worship Christianity as the Christians do, but rather we worship Yahuah by obeying His commands. Obedience is worship. Disobedience is sin. One cannot claim that sin is worship. “Are we to glorify God by sinning all the more?”, Paul asked. “May Yahuah forbid it”, he said. The only acceptable form of worship Yahuah accepts is obedience to His Words. Anything else is a lie.
Now, let’s see what broke the Natsarim 1600 years ago…
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
I will comment on parts of this in an italic font
Page 387…when’ numerous and opulent societies were established in the great cities of the empire, in Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, the reverence which Jerusalem had inspired to all the Christian colonies insensibly diminished.- wealth and new and beautiful cities were springing up, much like Ha Shatan promised Yahusha in his attempt to pull Yahusha away from Yahuah. This opulence has an allure to humans. We love wealth and riches. The Christians, a recognized Roman religion, had less reverence for Jerusalem because of the man-made glory of the new cities.
The Jewish converts, (the formers Jews who had accepted Yahusha and obeyed Yahuah through Torah are the “Jewish converts”) or, as they were afterwards called, the Nazarenes,(Nazarenes is an antiquated translation error. The more correct spelling is Natsarim) who had laid the foundations of the church, (the beginning after Yahusha ascended to heaven, then Pentecost and the birth of the church. Paul was the Torah teacher to the gentiles, practiced The Way, and was executed for it.) found themselves overwhelmed by the increasing multitudes, that from all the various religions of Polytheism enlisted under the banner of Christ : and the Gentiles, who, with the approbation (Official approval) of their peculiar apostle (whatever teacher was teaching them at any given time), had rejected the intolerable weight of the Mosaic ceremonies, at length refused to their more scrupulous brethren (refused to the faithful Natsarim) the same toleration (hatred of the Natsarim begins in disobedient Christianity) which at first they had humbly solicited for their own (pagan) practice. The ruin of the temple of the city (Jerusalem), and (ruin) of the public religion of the Jews (Torah obedience), was severely felt by the Nazarenes (Natsarim);
–Ok, so far we see the Natsarim (plural for Natsari) are somewhat fewer in number than perhaps all other religious groups in the Roman Empire. Even people who worshiped multiple gods did so in the name of Yahusha. The gentiles, and that word simply means non-jew, had teachers who obviously taught that obedience to Yahuah was out, was no longer required, and then began attacking the worship of the Natsarim.
as in their manners (the Natsari continued to try and get along with the unfaithful)), though not in their faith (In the Natsari heart, they believed Torah), they maintained so intimate a connection with their impious countrymen, whose misfortunes were attributed by the Pagans to the contempt, and -more justly ascribed by the Christians to the wrath, of the Supreme Deity. The Nazarenes retired from the ruins of Jerusalem * to the little town of Pella beyond the Jordan, where that ancient church languished above sixty years in solitude and obscurity.lg ~h~y still enjoyed the comfort of making frequent and devout Visits to the Holy City, and the hope of being one day restored to those seats which both nature and religion taught them to love as well as to revere.
But at length, under the reign of Hadrian, the desperate fanaticism of the Jews (the Jew hatred of Natsarim – they killed Paul for it) filled up the measure of their calamities; and the Romans, exasperated by their repeated rebellions, exercised the rights of victory with unusual rigor. The emperor founded, under the name of Aelia Capitolina, (changed the name of Jerusalem) a new city of Mount Sion, to which he gave the privileges of a colony; and denouncing the severest penalties against any of the Jewish people who should dare to approach its precincts, he fixed a vigilant garrison of a Roman cohort to enforce the execution of his orders. The Nazarenes (Natsarim) had only one way left to escape the common proscription (proscription made the Natsarim outlaws, forbidden to enter Jerusalem/Aelia Capitolina), and the force of truth was on this occasion arrested by the influence of temporal advantages. They elected (pied-piper) Marcus for their bishop, (a Latin or Greek and surely Catholic) prelate of the race of the Gentiles, and most probably a native either of Italy or of some of the Latin provinces.
The first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem were all circumcised Jews; and the congregation over which they presided united the law of Moses with the doctrine of Christ. Marcus was uncircumcised,
At Marcus’ persuasion, the most considerable part of the congregation renounced the Mosaic law, in the practice of which they had persevered from the beginning, above a century. By this sacrifice of their habits and prejudices (of Torah), they purchased a free admission into the colony of Hadrian, and more firmly cemented their union with the Catholic church. 21
— note here: Reading this I get the sick feeling that Hadrian, arguably the most powerful ruler of Rome who ever lived, was bought off by either the Jews or the Catholics to specifically break the Way. I lean toward the Catholics paying the bribe and the Jews creating the conflicts. But Hadrian expelled ALL Jews from Jerusalem and forbid their re-entry. He made it an exclusive colony, and since the non-Hebrew Natsarim wanted to worship there, they succumbed to pressure and most of them gave in to pied-piper Marcus’ demands to drop Torah obedience. No 7th day sabbath and no 14th Nisan passover were key attack points by Satan, and the Catholics, in blatant rebellion against Yahuah, declared Sun-day the sabbath (and the weekly pagan sun-worship holy day of Mithraism) and the pagan feast of Ishtar (fertility goddess) to be passover, aka “Easter”. — end
“When the name and honors of the church of Jerusalem had been restored to Mount Sion, the crimes of heresy and schism were imputed to the obscure remnant of the Nazarenes (the Natsarim who did not choose rebellion against Yahuah), which refused to accompany their Latin bishop. They still preserved their former habitation of Pella, spread themselves into the villages adjacent to Damascus, and formed an inconsiderable church in the city of Berrea, or, as it is now called, of Aleppo, in Syria. (Horror – this is the very area where the US Army, the Russians and the Syrians have been fighting for years. There are the remnant Natsarim who have followed Yahuah for 2000 years. These are the million+ dead “Christians” who are not allowed to seek refuge in America)
“The name of ‘Nazarenes’ was deemed too honorable for those Christian Jews, and they soon received, from the supposed poverty of their understanding, as well as of their condition, the contemptuous epithet of ‘Ebionites’.23 In a few years after the return of the church of Jerusalem, it became a matter of doubt and controversy; whether a man who sincerely acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, but who still continued to observe the law of Moses, could possibly hope for salvation. (and this is where the lie that if we obey the stated will of Yahuah in Torah we therefore reject the salvation of Yahusha gets its beginning)
END of Section
So you see, the pressure was put on the Natsarim to abandon Torah, to abandon obedience to Yahuah in exchange for admission to Jerusalem, and the abandonment was led by a Bishop named Marcus, an uncircumcised and almost certainly Catholic Bishop. These were mostly Jews who accepted Yahusha as Mashiach, so they held onto Yahusha and abandoned Yahuah by abandoning His commands. All for admittance to Jerusalem and unity with the Catholic Church. You can be sure that the Catholics were the drivers in all of this.
Keep Torah (“Instructions”) because it is the Word of Yahuah. Sin is disobedience of the Instructions. Easter is a pagan festival and December 25th is the celebration of the birth of Horus.
From the On-line News Organization The Guardian…
“The Sumerian goddess Inanna, or Ishtar, was hung naked on a stake, and was subsequently resurrected and ascended from the underworld. One of the oldest resurrection myths is Egyptian Horus. Born on 25 December, Horus and his damaged eye became symbols of life and rebirth. Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism
To conclude – Natsarism, that of being Natsari, or keeping Torah and submitting to Yahusha – was hated from the beginning by the Jews and then by the Catholics. Its almost funny, except it isn’t. We are the only group of people on earth that Satan specifically comes to destroy. Obviously, Natsarim are the elect, the most precious of all who follow Yahusha. We do seek to worship Yahuah, and obedience to His Torah (Torah Notes – The Truth) is the path of obedient worship.
If you are Natsari, you are in the most loved and hated band of believers in history. Hated by the enemies of Yahuah, and loved by the Creator. Specifically targeted by Ha Shatan, and specifically called by Yahuah. If you are not yet Natsari, ask Yahuah to show you the Truth. Learn what words mean, words that you think you already understand mean powerfully different things in Hebrew usage. Very important.