When I started writing my Essays for Yokhanah.com my purpose was primarily spiritual, even religious, for I’ll always respond that I’m a born-again Christian, even though I don’t like the mentality of many Christians today, their politics and their blindness to Evil. They disagree with my attempts to be all-inclusive when it comes to the many religions of Planet Earth, even validating and respecting pagans. (Note: The Archangel Mika’el respected HaSatan as an equal as they fought for the body of Moses, but the Goodness of G-D always wins.) One of my favorite discoveries was found at the Miracle of the Virgin Mary appearing at Medugorje, Yugoslavia, which is now Bosnia-Herzegovina, in 1981, for when asked who was the most righteous person in their town, the Holy Ghost of Yeshua’s mother named a Muslim woman.
Respect for the beliefs of others is important, for it leads to understanding and compassion in the acceptance of G-D’s LOVE, that which is made manifest in the Brotherly Love exemplified by Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus). Yet hatred for Jews is experiencing a resurgence in America as in past centuries, the dark days of ignorance, intolerance, and a need to fear. How can this be when Jesus was so saturated in Torah that he clarified its fruits? Socially, it’s different, but the Jewish religion itself hasn’t changed much since those three days Yeshua spent with the rabbis, cohen and Elders of the Temple, and no doubt even the Cohen HaGadol heard this twelve-year old male giving spontaneous bar mitzvah as he spoke the Truths of H-S (Havah-Simon) WORD.
Luke 2 is usually read at Christmas to tell the story of Yeshua’s birth and dedication in the Temple eight days later, where he was blessed by two who were given a great Gift, knowledge of Meshiakh coming to save them. All details were researched and recorded by the scholar/doctor named Luke, whose father was Greek, the only one of the four Gospel writers who didn’t know Yeshua personally. To be noted later, Constantine picked December 25 as the day to celebrate our Messiah’s birth, but I believe it was Kha’nukah, for he’s the Light to the world, honored in finality on the eighth day. Matthew told the story of the slaughter of male infants in Beit Lekhem and the family’s flight to Egypt, but nothing is written of Yeshua’s childhood until his twelfth year as described above in the Temple of his circumcision, then for seventeen more years our Bible tells nothing about him.
Over 600 years later, the Great Prophet Muhammad wrote in Qur’an that Yeshua spoke from the crib and as a child, he molded a bird of clay then breathed upon it so that it flew away, stories he no doubt heard during his travels as a merchant. The name of Yeshua (Isa) is written in Qur’an no fewer than 89 times, with accompanying verses, Muhammad stating that belief in Yeshua was a “straight path to Paradise,” and adding that anyone who didn’t believe in him should “watch out for severe punishment.” (Qur’an 3:56) Much about Yeshua is in Surah III, including the Immaculate Conception in verse 47, and throughout Qur’an Muhammed ordered study of Torah and the Gospels.
More than anything found in our Bible, Yeshua’s words and deeds are most important to us if we consider ourselves good Christians, for he asks that we follow the Ten Commandments, understanding their extended meanings as Matthew collected for his Sermon on the Mount, and live our lives with Love foremost in our hearts, in service to everyone who needs us. His humble yet self-confident Service to all, even washing the feet of his talmideem (disciples) on his last night with them, provided miracles every day, even raising the dead to life numerous times. He had no sense for sin, but he knew the sinful thoughts of others, “reading” their hearts, yet he refused to condemn, being full of empathy and forgiveness. Other than his talmideem, he spent more time with sinners than anyone, saying that righteous people didn’t need him. Yeshua instructs that we don’t judge others, for we’re all sinners, even the best of us, and G-D’s Universal Karma deals with us as individuals.
The Gospel writers wrote all they could remember, the earliest manuscript believed to be the Book of Matthew, written around 60 AD, for they had expected Yeshua to quickly return for them in his Second Coming. Each man was literate in Hebrew, especially Paul (Rav Sha’ul) who as a high-ranking Pharisee approved the death of Stefan, but the first known copies of their books were written in Greek. They told of their experiences with him, the miracles and messages, events being confused only in time frame, not content, and emphasizing the verbal gems he left for them, to love their fellow Man as they loved themselves. John wrote that if everything Yeshua said and did were written down, it would fill all of the books that existed.
In 325 AD Emperor Constantine authorized a Council to be held at Nicaea, and the books of the New Testament were agreed upon, with 23 questionable texts eliminated. Few of those exist today, and even the Septuagint is from original Greek or Latin texts, and therefore is included in our English Catholic Bible. One of the Council at Nicaea’s main objectives was to remove as many references to Judaism as possible, to reject its theology and separate into a new religion as Gentile as possible. They painted and molded images of holy ones, unwittingly violating G-D’s Second Great Commandment, and they reset days of commemoration, particularly his birth and death, to correlate with pagan holidays. They changed Shabbat, that holy Seventh Day, but honored the first day for his Resurrection. For over a thousand years, many translations of the Bible were composed, most in Greek or Latin, but the first English translation was by John Wycliffe in 1382. William Tyndale wrote his Bible in 1535.
The popular King James version of the Bible was translated into English in 1611 by the Bishops of the Church of England (Anglican, Episcopal) and named in honor of King James I, who abandoned the Roman Catholicism of his Stuart bloodline and adopted his Tudor cousins’ faith. There are a few discrepancies from other translations, such as, we read John 3:16 as “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life.” However, one Hebrew word apparently was misinterpreted as John’s manuscript (or copy) was translated from Greek, for the word for “only-begotten” is understood by Hebrew scholars as “unique” and set apart from other Human Beings. There was no one named James in any Bible before 1611, for the King James version writers renamed every Jacob in their New Testament to honor their king, and subsequent translators have kept the name James.
Most important to me is Yeshua’s message to us in John 12:47-48, that in the End of Days (Akhareet HaMyeem) there will be many who don’t believe in him, but that he Spoke a WORD so they, too, may be saved. I believe that Yeshua Spoke the WORD seven times as the Seven Spirits of G-D Who were sent to live on Earth among us (Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6), being ONE and the same Soul in Presence, Power and Knowledge. Messiah Yeshua was G-D in flesh, although made a “little lower than the Angels,” Alpha to Omega the First to Seventh and Last Spirit of G-D — Father, Son and Holy Ghost as the Trinity of ONE G-D.