Yahusha and His taught ones (the apostles) foretold the apostasy of the faith (belief trust and) in Yahuah. They lived in the time of the apostasy of the Turah (Torah, the instructions given to Moshih, or Moses). The nation of Y'shra'al (Israel) has had a history of walking with Yahuah since the time of Ab'rahaym, Y'tsakheq, and Yaiqob (Abraham, Issac, and Jacob), then the sons of Y'shra'al (Israel, renamed from Jacob) then through its judges and some of its kings. The Scriptures have shown persecution for those that followed the Way as written in the Brit Rishon (also called the Tanakh) and as the faith continued in the Brit Chadasha. After all, the 11+2 tribes of Y'shra'al were split into 2 Houses, who lost Yahuah's favor when they followed other gods and thus rejected His Turah and His prophets. The leaders and people of ancient Y'shra'al (likely dominated by circumcised Edomites) rejected His Son, culminating in the destruction of Y'rush'lam (Jerusalem) and the rebuilt temple in 70 CE. Through His Son, Yahusha (Jesus), the Father is completing His plan to redeem all of His people (native and grafted in) back to Him.
A wise man once wrote:
Men like the opinions to which they have been accustomed from their youth;
they defend them, and shun contrary views;
and this is one of the things that prevents men from finding truth, for they cling to the opinion of habit.
- Guide For The Perplexed, Moses Ben Maimon / Rambam: (1135-1204)
(found on a page of Lew White's Torahzone site)
I had crossed over from being an unbaptized regular attendee of the Jehovah Witnesses faith in august 2013 and am being more complete in my walk with the Father and His Son - Yahuah and Yahusha - day by day.
The Natsarim, shamar (guard/keep/preserve) the Turah of Yahuah
Natsarim is the proper name for those following the Way. Considered a sect of Judaism, the followers of Yahusha were persecuted just as Yahusha was . . . . by the rabbinical system, the Romans, and the Greeks. The Natsarim, and likely other groups such as the Essenes, distanced themselves from the "Jews" of that time that followed the oral Torah and rabbinic traditions and those groups that later called themselves Christians (or had accepted that name, and its Greek influences).
The ancient, narrow path is between the "wide" ditches of Judaism and Christianity. Effectively a remnant surrounded by the "majorities."
Please see the Natsarim page for more details.
Brief overview of history (my view)
James S. Trimm has a nice overview in his blog, How the Church Fathers Invented Christianity of the influence by Ignatius in the late first century. The beginning of subtle changes from Turah-based teachings. Simcha Jacobovici investigated Selling Christianity (2019, 44 min) about the birth of Christianity.
In 321 CE, the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, declared sunday to be the day of rest throughout the whole empire; this was in honor of the sun. With the support of Eusebius of Nicomedia he convened the First Council of Nicaea (wikipedia) in 325 CE to formally establish Christianity with the day of worship on sunday, when to celebrate Easter (the Christian Passover), and 20 other canons (or church laws). Per the wikipedia, it was meant to unify practices by the whole church and "forms the mainstream definition of Christianity for most Christians." The majority of churches in Christianity can trace their doctrine and practices from what was established at this council and from the Nicene Creed. The laws were codified, the Theodosian Code (wikipedia), and enforced on 1 january 439 CE later thus forming the Catholic (or universal) Christianity. The end result was a Christianity centered about sunday worship, Easter, and Christmas, see The Codex Theodosianus: On Religion.
Brad Scott (1953-2020) of WildBranch Ministries has a audio teaching - The History of the Church: on the ROCK or on the rocks? (audio, 1 hr 18 min).
All Christians should know the origin, major influences, and changes/history of their faith structure (religion).
Throughout history people have been "called out" from apostate religions, mainly from the Roman Catholic Church (and its "daughters"), toward a more truer form of obedience (worship). Many individuals and groups were called heretics (the Greek word for sects) by the church. John Foxe wrote his "History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church" in 1554, which is more commonly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs (video, 58 min) and the online Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Many are described in The Pilgrim Church by E. H. Broadbent (1955), such as Priscillian who died in 385, and also Constantine, Simeon, Genesios, Joseph, Zacharias, Baanes, Sembat, and Sergius who all labored from about 650 to 850. Claudius of Turin (? to 827) wrote a lot and was attacked as a heretic. The Paulicians flourished between 650 and 872. In Italy, the Waldensians (wikipedia) were keeping the true beliefs from about 1177 to 1532, The Israel of the Alps - The Story of the Waldenses (2013, 29 min, part 1 of 3 which has an overview of the apostasy), Part 2 (29 min) and Part 3 (29 min). A similar group was the Pasagians (wikipedia, Italy, 11th century to 12th century). Then the Western Schism (wikipedia, 1378-1418) with leaders including John Wycliffe, Jan Huss, and Jerome.
The Protestant Reformation (wikipedia, 1517-1648) with leaders including William Tyndale, Martin Luther, and John Calvin sought to restore the role of Ieosus/Jesus (the) Christ as the Anointed (or Messiah); using the English-Greek name of Yahusha, Also, they kept the day of worship on sunday instead of returning to saturday or the true Shabat (based on the 7th day from the New Moon). The main result of the Protestant Reformation was the King James Bible (1611). Richard Baxter wrote extensively until 1687. John Wesley preached extensively and helped formed groups of Christians in the mid 1700s.
Adullam Films produced The Untold History of the Bible documentary series (which can be found on YouTube) - A Lamp in the Dark: The Untold History of the Bible (2009, 3 hr), Tares Among the Wheat (2012, 2 hr, 40 min), and Bridge to Babylon: Rome, Ecumenism and the Bible (~2016, 2 hr, 51 min). Parts 1 and 2 show how the Roman Catholic Church persecuted the protestant groups and other faiths (such as the Natsarim) and talk about the reformations. All three will likely be removed from YouTube due to copyright issues.
Another reformation, Pentecostalism, began in the late 1700s, to emphasize the Set-apart Spirit (Ruakh haKodash) of Yahuah within believers. It became more widespread in the 1900s, and is still going on today.
In the late 1800s other leaders emerged, such as Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916) and Ellen G. White (1827-1915). Russell formed the Bible Students around many scriptural truths in the 1870s. Joseph Rutherford took control after his death, added more doctrine, and changed the name to Jehovah's witnesses in 1931; see Jehovah's Witnesses. White helped establish the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SDA) in 1863 and was a prophetic leader until her death; they keep the Sabbath on saturday (the 7th day of the calendar week). Leaders then took the SDA toward mainstream Christianity during her later years. Ellen G. White's writings, especially about a healthy lifestyle, are still relevant today. Both religions, however, follow along the broad road of Christianity.
Ellen G. White wrote in The Great Controversy (1858, part of the Conflict of the Ages series):
Wycliff, Huss, Luther, Tyndale, Baxter, Wesley, urged that all doctrines be brought to the test of the Bible and declared that they would renounce everything which it condemned. Against these men [of Yahuah] persecution raged with relentless fury; yet they ceased not to declare the truth. Different periods in the history of the church have each been marked by the development of some special truth, adapted to the necessities of Yahuah's people at that time. Every new truth has made its way against hatred and opposition; those who were blessed with its light were tempted and tried. Yahuah gives a special truth for the people in an emergency. Who dare refuse to publish it? He commands His servants to present the last invitation of mercy to the world. They cannot remain silent, except at the peril of their souls. Yahusha's ambassadors have nothing to do with consequences. They must perform their duty and leave results with Yahuah.
The Great Controversy, Chapter 38 (1911, sacred names substituted), see wikipedia's The Great Controversy (book).
The Hebrew language (wikipedia) was being "revived" in both the written form and spoken form by the late 1800s. Mocher Sfarim Mendele (1846–1917) began the process toward re-establishing a written form, especially after 1886. The spoken form was revived mainly through the efforts of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922) and the emigration and settlement of the Palestine area in 1922 (as a result of the British Mandate for Palestine). The language soon became established when Israel was created in 1948 (when the British Mandate ended and they declared their independence), and is called modern Hebrew. This is nicely summarized in FAQ 5 of Hebrew Word Pics - "Modern Hebrew used Biblical Hebrew roots, Mishnaic (1st century AD spoken) spelling, and Sephardic (15th century AD Jews in Spain and Portugal) pronunciation, and included many sayings and phrase translations inherited from Yiddish (central European mixture)."
Yahuah must have inspired the interest and revival of the (modern) Hebrew language; had the knowledge "died" (similar to Latin and Greek) there would have been no foundation for later increasing knowledge of the Scriptures. However, there are many differences between the modern Hebrew language and the ancient Hebrew language in letter shapes, sounds, and grammar structure. As such, modern Hebrew is not the "pure" lip/language of Zephaniah 3:9 . . . .
Some call the old Hebrew language Aibreet, like Sha’ul ben Yahukhanan on his site, which I've learned a lot from. Aibreet or some other form/derivative of Eber, which is possibly from Strong's H 5680 Ibri or Hebrew (Gen 14:13). YahuahDerek (YouTube) calls the language Yahudyath as in the sign (yath) of the Yahudah people (member of Yasharal). IThaRey calls the language Manakahthey (from origins of hand signs, use discernment if you go to her sites).
However, I believe the word "Hebrew" has been essentially created, to "hide" the fact that Abraham "passed over" or abar (same Gen 14:13) from the Chaldean region to the Canaanite region, and thus adopted the local language. In effect, an invading group. After all, Yahuah promised the land to Abraham's seed and that may have become known. That and the locals seeing how Abraham (and his servants and others with him) prospered among them.
The Interactive Bible summarized the Hebrew language's "death" in 300 BC and its conversion - Extinction and conversion of Hebrew.
Please see the Pure Lip (Language) page for more details.
Two Houses
In the mid to late 1800s there became a realization that there are two Houses - Judah (and Benjamin and some Levites) and the 10 northern tribes of Israel. Some from the tribe of Judah have struggled to stay in the current land of Israel while the other 10 tribes have been scattered throughout the nations. C.A.L. Totten (1851-1908) was quoted:
For example, "I can never be too thankful to the Almighty that in my youth he used the late Professor Wilson to show me the difference between the two houses. The very understanding of this difference is the KEY by which almost the entire Bible becomes intelligible and I cannot state too strongly that the man who has not yet seen that (the house of) Israel of the Scripture is totally distinct from the Jewish people, is yet in the very infancy, the mere alphabet, of Biblical study, and that to this day the meaning of seven-eights of the Bible is shut to his understanding."
See also wikipedia's Two House Theology and view Jim Staley (Passion for Truth) Identity Crisis (video, 2 hr 55 min)
Note, there are two general views of the scattering - British Israelism (as in an overall scattering throughout Europe) and Black Hebrew Israelites (overall scattering toward the North American and South American continent, some of it through the slave trade from east Africa). Both are wikipedia pages.
Shape of the Earth.(spherical)
Beginning in 1849 and more so in 1864, there were writings about the earth being flat - Modern Flat Earthers and Modern Flat Earth Beliefs (wikipedia pages). Which is interesting as many ancient cultures believed the earth was flat, until Aristotle and 330 BC. Personally, I've not researched the shape of the earth - flat or sphere - in a deeper manner. Each model has its own issues, but I believe in a spherical earth.
Obviously, the global flood in Noah's day poses a severe issue for the spherical model.
And so many conspiracies and efforts to mislead the masses for a flat earth model.
Earth's motion (stationary)
In 1885, August Tischner wrote The Fixed Idea of Astronomical Theory which inspired the American geocentric movement (early to mid 1900s). Many places in the Scriptures tells of the sun rising and the sun setting. Since we should believe His word there is scriptural and scientific evidence proving the earth is fixed in space. The moon revolves around the earth and the sun and its planets (including the earth) move about the earth with the apparent motion of the earth revolving around the sun. This is called geocentrism and is clarified at Geocentrism.com. More updated information is at The Association for Biblical Astronomy's Official Geocentricity Website.
The inspired scriptures state much of the motion of the sun, thus I believe in a stationary earth.
Sacred Names
The Sacred Name Movement started in the 1930's. A prominent leader was Clarence O. Dodd, a member of the Church of God (Seventh Day). Many saw the need to use the true name of the Creator and of His Son and to observe the 7 appointed times of Leviticus 23. See the Sacred Name Movement web site [seems down] and religion wiki's Sacred Name Movement.
All of this was timely as the Dead Sea Scrolls, fragments and scrolls of the Hebrew Scriptures, were discovered in caves near the Dead Sea between 1947 and 1956. The Isaiah scroll was the only complete scroll found.
In these last days of increasing knowledge, the internet has enabled information to spread throughout the world. It was commercialized with Internet Service Providers starting in 1989 in the U.S.A, then spreading to other countries. Those spreading truthful teachings have used it, along with those spreading false information. Thus discernment is needed to know those who manifest the fruits of the spirit.
Greater Exodus
Dr. Shmuel Asher taught about a 2nd or Greater Exodus beginning in 1982 and publish The Greater Exodus in 2018 (Amazon author site of 4 books). It seems this is the origin of related teachings, include Monte Judah's Greater Exodus book (2017) and Zachery Bauer's New2Torah Greater Exodus videos (2020).
Hebrew Roots Movement
Then the Hebrew Roots Awakening (or Movement) emerged from it in the mid 1990s, and continued to show the need to observe the Turah and have a lifestyle that honors the Creator. See also wikipedia's Hebrew Roots. The Hebraic Roots Teaching Institute (HRTI) calls this period, Return to the Ancient Paths to "restore us to seeing both the identity and the rightful position of bringing the Hebrew Scriptures back to their proper position in our hearts and lives; teaching us the identity and teachings of Y’shua."
See what HRTI says is YHWH’s Grand Strategy (the bottom portion of their page) of the 3 stages to going back to the ancient path.
Seventh Day Shabat (not the Sabbath)
The current revelation is the Hodesh based Shabat, more commonly called the Lunar Sabbath. The saturday Sabbath is well established by Judaism, and followed by the Seventh Day Adventists, however it is set by man's calendar (gregorian). People have started to follow the Shabat as set by the moon since 1997. Please see the Shabat link on the left for more details.
[brief Levitical to Melchizedek priesthood, maybe Natsarim is the "fulfilling" of the Melchizedek priesthood?]
"About the Time of the End, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the Prophecies,
and insist upon their literal interpretation, in the midst of much clamor and opposition"
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
The HRTI has free Christian Foundational Teachings to help a person develop an appreciation for the Scriptures and how to walk with Yahusha in worshiping His Father, Yahuah. I have enjoyed reading their articles and they are indeed promoting His work around the world. They are active on Facebook.
Two great websites that offer structured studies are World's Last Chance (eCourses, content based on Ellen G. White's teachings) and Hope of Israel Ministries (Bible Course, Hebraic based like HRTI).
Solomon wrote:
Let us hear the conclusion of the entire matter:
fear Elohim and guard His commands, for this applies to all mankind!
For Elohim shall bring every work into right-ruling, including all that is hidden,
whether good or whether evil.
Qoheleth 12:13-14, The Scriptures (1998)
Shabat shalum
May your day of ceasing make you whole and complete
(Jeff Benner, Ancient Hebrew Research Center)
This website is a summary of my research to discern the bits of truth that can be found from various Hebraic Roots teachers and "schools" of thought that are based on the Scriptures. Thus this site will have many page links to various groups and teachers that have added details, useful information, or other resources; likely I will not share the same beliefs of those behind the linked pages. Thus this site will change as links are added, and removed, and as I learn (and apply) in my walk to be more complete in my obedience (worship) of Yahuah and having the belief and trust (faith) of Yahusha haMashiach.
E-mail me at jamclark2012 at gmail . com
Spelling of Hebrew words adapted from Ancient Aibreet (Hebrew) Transliteration and Terminology (pdf), 2012, and
Yahusaf Ruach's Ancient Hebrew "so simple" video (2015, 27 min, on Facebook)
Site created 5 nov 2013, was updated through 29 dec 2014 (per Google revision history on the old site)
Edited, updated july 2021 +