Christianity downplays the significance of Acts

 

Traditional Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders almost unanimously promote the idea that the book of Acts is little more than a record of the earliest history of the “church” or an introduction to the apostle Paul, while down playing its doctrinal significance.  The mere fact that Acts is the most pristine and near-to-date recording of the actual practices, assumptions, and doctrinal beliefs of the very first followers of Yeshua the Messiah is, itself, a fact that should cause it to be looked upon with extreme respect and to be considered THE most valuable of all books in the New Testament.

 

Why do so many people implicitly lessen the importance of studying and mimicking the character and practices of the very first followers of Messiah? Why are people slyly steered away from viewing Acts as the supreme example of doctrinal truth that there is in existence?

 

There are obvious reasons, which you are about to discover.

 

It is rare to find Christian pastors or counterfeit Messianic rabbis who promote Acts as a crucial book which defines or clarifies the most essential foundational principles of the true Messianic (Christian) faith.

​The truth is this:  The Acts of the apostles is the most important of all New Testament writings.  At the very least it is among the most important for reasons which I will identify within this short discussion.

Christianity focuses upon more difficult writings

 

The most common book Christianity labels as foundational is Paul’s epistle to the Romans.  The gospel of John is also considered by most Traditional Christians and Messianics to be foundational.  It is not uncommon to hear Christians boldly state that all one needs to understand the principles of Christianity is John and Romans.  Incidentally, these two most commonly exalted writings of the New Testament are also among the most difficult for a novice to understand.

 

To properly understand John and Romans one must have a substantial knowledge of Torah, including oral Torah, and the Hebraic mind.  I have an article linked to from the previous sentence which proves the legitimacy and importance of oral Torah.

 

Since most Christians and counterfeit Messianics possess little or no knowledge of these necessary ingredients, particularly oral Torah, they are dependent upon their leaders to educate them.  Thus, indoctrination into false teachings and the manipulative power of Christianity's religious leadership are assured.

 

Since very few pastors and counterfeit Messianic rabbis have the necessary background knowledge, they never properly interpret John or Romans – or any of the New Testament actually.  Instead, they continue to generally echo the centuries-old lies of pagan Roman empire instituted Christianity such as the “God in the flesh” idolatry and rejection or, in the case of counterfeit Messianics, faulty interpretation of Torah.

​It is a classic case of the blind leading the blind, and let me repeat that within counterfeit Messianic groups the same problem exist.  Since most Messianic groups or leaders actually originate from Christianity's pagan Roman cesspool, they interpret from exactly the same “basis” as traditional Christian leaders.  That is why I call them “counterfeit” Messianics and do so without apology. Though they claim knowledge of Torah and Hebraic things, they wrongly filter that knowledge through their biased Christianized personal mindset.

I very much disagree with the widespread lessening of importance placed upon Acts and feel a novice believer can easily grasp all basics of salvation and Godly living from the simple and precise information found only in Acts.

 

The reason why Christianity downplays the importance of Acts

 

I often wonder if Christian and counterfeit Messianic leadership’s intentional avoidance of Acts as a foundational writing has an ominous and obvious motive.

 

I question if the motivation behind the refusal by Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders to promote Acts’ clear and precise gospel message is because within the pages of Acts Yeshua is never presented as being God, none who responded to the message ever acknowledged him as God, and, therefore, he clearly is not God.

 

These facts are devastating to the Trinity doctrine or any other doctrine that promotes Yeshua’s deity; thus, in order to perpetuate the false doctrines of the paganized church, Christian and Christianized Messianic leaders (vs. true Monotheistic Messianics) must steer people away from Acts as a source of foundational doctrine.

​Acts is the clearest presentation of the foundational principles of the true faith of and in Yeshua that can be found in the entire New Testament.  No other New Testament writing even comes close.

How often has your pastor or Messianic “rabbi” revealed this fact?  Have they ever?  Acts is the only writing in which you find all of the following:

 

• Entire sermons are recorded to assembled crowds (both Jews and non-Jews) in which the gospel message was presented with the intent of soliciting from the listeners a total embrace of the gospel.  These sermons were presented “from scratch” to individuals with little or no prior understanding of the gospel.  Therefore, the gospel was obviously being presented in a complete redemptive form that was necessary for a full recognition of the foundational doctrines.
• There are also direct appeals to specific individuals to accept the gospel of the Kingdom.
• Presentations to the very highest Jewish spiritual leaders as well as highly placed Romans are recorded in which the apostles put forth the defense of Truth.
• The actions – hearing, believing, repentance, confession, baptism, etc. – of respondents is recorded along with, of course, their understanding of Yeshua.
• The actual day the believers gathered to worship (Sabbath) and hear the gospel is recorded.
• The foundational beliefs of the apostles – most notably Paul – and their unambiguous personal embrace of Torah are clearly shown.  Acts, therefore, provides a basis for understanding the personal beliefs of all Yeshua’s followers, and thus all of their epistles, especially those written by Paul and falsely promoted by most Traditional Christians as teaching against Torah.  Search as you may, it is almost impossible to find any Christian or false Messianic leaders who apply the necessary principle of the “Acts Basis” for their understanding of subsequent epistles or the Gospels.
• The actual “Christology” (the requirements one must accept regarding the person and mission of Yeshua) is recorded.
• In short, there is no other New Testament book that presents all of the above points.  No other!  Others may present in far less clarity some of the points; however, Acts, far and away, is the most explicit and complete foundational presentation of the gospel message in the entire New Testament canon of Scripture. Perhaps of greatest importance, Acts is also the most easily understood.

​For the reasons stated above, Acts is a thorn in the side of those who promote the “God in the flesh” deity of Yeshua, or those who claim that Torah (Law) is abolished.

The only way to avoid the problem is to remove the thorn.  Since they can’t strip it from the New Testament, they do the next best thing.  They redirect the sincere, yet misinformed Christian or Messianic to other more complex writings and diminish the perception of Acts in the minds of their followers – from being the best source of foundational principles of the faith, to a book of simply historic relevance.

 

They persuade sincere Christians and Messianics that an individual must look somewhere other than Acts for foundational doctrines while, at the same time, deceiving these same trusting believers into accepting unexplainable and ridiculous “mysteries” that are impossible to prove.  Similarly, they direct focus to confusing theological discussions of Torah instead of the clearly understood examples in Acts that ALL apostles kept and taught observance of Torah.

​When the “Acts Basis” is used, Yeshua is clearly shown to NOT be God and Torah is clearly shown to be endorsed.I stress again that within the complete presentations and responses recorded in Acts, in which all the points above are included, Yeshua is never presented as being God, none who responded to the message ever acknowledged him as God, and, therefore, he clearly is NOT God!

Acts destroys the idolatrous “God in the flesh” teaching

 

Acts, when properly elevated to the position of doctrinal prominence it deserves, deals a mortal blow to all of the various false doctrines that present Yeshua (Jesus) as God.  It is for this reason leaders of Christianity and counterfeit Messianism hope you never recognize it as the foundational book that it actually is.

 

Here again are the facts that contemporary Christian and counterfeit Messianic leaders hope you never discover!

 

• There is not one single recorded example of conversion in Acts where a follower of Yeshua (Jesus) was told he/she must acknowledge Yeshua is God in order to be saved.  NOT ONE!
• There is not one single recorded example of conversion in Acts where the person being baptized into the TRUE Kingdom faith stated during their conversion that Yeshua is God.  NOT ONE!
• Yet, Traditional Christianity teaches and REQUIRES that a person accept Yeshua is The Creator God.
• Also, the counterfeit Messianic movement, which follows the primary doctrines of its pagan Roman empire Christian mother, teaches and also REQUIRES a person to accept that Yeshua is The Creator God.

 

Why is this?  Why does Traditional Christianity and its Judaic dressed false Messianic daughter make belief in Yeshua as God a fundamental requirement of “salvation”, even though it is nowhere stated as a requirement in ANY conversion examples of Acts?

 

There are numerous examples where someone within the writing of Acts stated their belief in Yeshua as the Son of God or as Messiah, but NEVER – I repeat NEVER – were they asked to state, nor did they state, that they believed Yeshua to be God.  Read the book of Acts if you doubt this.

 

Please let common sense and reasoning of what Scripture clearly says dictate you beliefs. Do not allow yourself to be victimized by unexplainable, blind-faith mysteries that you are told you must accept or you will “go to hell”. Do not be intimidated into a state of spiritual slavery by your church and counterfeit Messianic synagogue leaders.