Is it time to cull of the herd?

 

Shalom and greetings in the blessed name of our messiah Yeshua.  For the last few years I have been noticing something very alarming in the messianic movement. I have written a couple of articles addressing this problem over the last few years but I left it up to the reader’s interpretation who was casing this problem. I do believe the time has come to start naming names as this sickness is spreading and killing the flock. It really does sadden my heart to be the one that is doing this as I know it does not come without some backlash to it, but the part that saddens me is that those that have listened to these men will be wounded. After much prayer and consideration I have decided that wounds will heal but a disease must be addressed or it will spread and kill all.

 

I write articles all the time addressing fist one false teaching then another. I believe this to be only treating the symptoms and not the sickness. When I do address issues in the Messianic/Hebrew roots movement I am labeled a sewer of discord. For this reason I have tried to temper my words and the excoriation of the people that are bringing this sickness to the body. I never mention names for this reason. But fighting the teaching is not killing the disease, because the infection has already taken root.

 

I personally walked away from the “church” in 1995, but for a few years I tried to have one foot in and one foot out. In fact for four years I kept it secret from friends and family only mentioning some Hebrew roots type stuff in very small doses. But in 1998 I completely left the Christian church to never return again. There is a whole other story as to this journey but that is not the topic to this article. The only reason I mention it at all is to show that in 2 years I will have been walking in torah for 20 years. So I have seen a lot take place in the faith. Truths that are now just accepted where then just being brought to light.

 

We where growing at rates that could only be attributed to the father. I saw some ministries rise and others fall. There where ministries that had great impact on myself and furthered me in my walk, and others that fell almost as fast as they came on the scene. There are some new ministries on the scene now however that are here for (in my opinion) no other reason then to subvert the faith of believers. Doctrines of demons have crept in and are being taught as truth. I am not only going to address some of these doctrines but the teachers that are teaching them as well.

 

I would like to say first though that the only reason these men are not exposed right away is not because they are so convincing with their rhetoric, but because we are sick. Yes we are Sick as a body and if it is not addressed I believe it will be terminal. We as a body have left our first love becoming seekers of knowledge, more then seekers of truth. Now some will say that knowledge and truth are one and the same. Hopefully by the end of this article we will know the difference between the two.

 

So first let’s talk about three people that have crept in among the sheep. First is Nehemiah Gordon. Nehemiah was not even an afterthought until Michael Rood introduced him to the messianic movement. Now I understand Michaels reasoning for doing so but the fact remains that this was not a good idea, and for me is a pointer in the down fall of A Rood Awakening. Nehemiah is not a messianic; He has no faith or belief in Yeshua as the messiah of Israel. In fact since his arrival on the Messianic scene many believers have denied their faith in Yeshua and converted to the Karaite belief. This is a big one though. We willfully allowed this wolf into our midst for no other reason then to glean what little knowledge he could bring to the table.

 

Since Michael introduced him, his ministry has gone through two very major upheavals, and in my opinion was a decision that lacked wisdom. First was with his long time friend, ministry partner, and A Rood Awakening administrator Jamie Lewis. Now Nehemiah was not directly responsible for this, in fact his name can not be attacked to it anywhere and I'm not going to go into all the gory details. I am just going to say what fellowship does light have with darkness, and when the blind fallow the blind they both fall in the ditch. Scripture is clear that Blindness has come upon many Jews concerning Yeshua so that scripture might be fulfilled. It is not our job to convert Jews or remove the blinders. The father placed them there and he will remove them in his timing.

 

Nehemiah’s claim to fame is that he was supposedly a Translator/scholar that worked on the dead sea scrolls. He is one of the leaders in the Karaite faith. Not to over simplify but basically they reject Talmud and only fallow torah. They do not however embrace Yeshua as the messiah and speak openly against him. They are very anti-missionary in the sense that they try to prove that he was not the messiah but refuse to take a look at the over whelming proof that he was. Yet we see Messianic leaders inviting him to their assemblies to minister to the sheep the father has placed in their care, promoting his books and teaching.

 

This gives the body a false since of security. I mean if the shepherd doesn’t see any danger there, then there must not be any. Right!! (WRONG). By a shepherd doing this he is telling his sheep that this man is safe and that his teachings are safe. Nothing could be further from the truth. And babies in the faith are easily swept away because the shepherd brought him there because he knew something the shepherd did not, so he must be more learned then the shepherd. In a faith where the focus is placed on getting to the truth, why not just fallow this guy instead of the shepherd?

 

Now don’t think I'm saying that there are not some things that Nehemiah knows that you would not benefit from learning. His understanding of the new moon, and the pit falls of Talmud are a couple of them. But I know out right sinners that may know a few things that you might need to know. I don’t ask them into my synagogue to teach my people though. I learn what they have to offer then I take that back to my synagogue myself. I would even be carful as sighting him as a sight reference. That’s how dangerous I believe his core doctrine to be.

 

The next person we have to mention is Keith Johnson. Keith is a Methodist elder/pastor His claim to fame is that he was the Chaplin for the Minnesota Vikings. He has tried to embed himself in the messianic movement but for the most part still teaches and believes as a Methodist minister. Sure he has thrown some Hebrew roots stuff in there since coming into contact with people like Michael Rood and Nehemiah Gordon. He has his masters in divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School I believe in history.

 

He gives the appearance of someone who is intelligent and would be an asset to the messianic movement and he could be. So you say why even bring it up then. The reason is that he Has aligned himself with Nehemiah and has since collaborated on a couple of different things.  But the big one is they claim to have discovered the true name YHVH complete with vowel pointing’s. This is in the face of thousands of scholars who have spent their whole lives searching the scriptures. I mean just think about all the sages, rabbi’s and zealots that have dedicated every waking moment searching every document that had any real historical value to it looking for this one fact.

 

Their findings have been disputed by real Scholars and then rejected. They have unsuccessfully defended them so they could sale one more book. They are Hype men nothing more. I mean Keith is on his FB claiming he was band from Christian television because in his words he was trying to present the two most important Hebrew manuscripts in the world. This is nothing but sensationalism and lies. I can give you the details of why he is no longer on TV but I do not want to step over the line here and get into Lashon Hara. Up until now I am only exposing the falseness of what they are trying to teach and don’t want to get into their personal business.

 

The main grievance I have right now with Keith is that he is falling in lock step in with the black non torah observant community, the media, and the government’s agenda with this Trayvon Martin Vs. George Zimmerman thing. He is on his FB page wearing a hoodie and making inflammatory racial comments. He Justifies it by saying he gets strange looks when he is out in public, “even in his own neighborhood”. Well Keith I am a white Jewish man and I get strange looks when I go walking in my neighborhood. I don’t assume people are looking at me because I’m a white Jewish man. They probably just want to know who is in their neighborhood on foot around their children, and grandchildren. They see some guy with a big ol beard so they look a bit longer because it is out of the norm. Not because they are profiling me, or are raciest.

 

Keith Claims to be a Teacher of Torah yet when it comes to race he forgets everything the Torah says. Like if we are going to Judge someone it must be at the moth of two or three witnesses. Both eye witnesses in this case state that they saw Trayvon on top of George beating him. Yet Keith says this is a racial problem. The police and the FBI have both stated that they do not believe this was racially motivated. But Keith knows better. A jury of sympathetic black and white women found him not guilty and it is still a race issue in his mind. Anyone who can so easily be manipulated to discard the torah should not be in any position that would allow him access to the body of believers. He is just a skilled orator and manipulator trying to make a living off of the sheep. I talked to him about this and rather then repent or try to explain his actions, my comments where deleted.

 

I could set here for hours taking comments that he made on just the two threads he put up himself on this topic but if what I have said here has not compelled you to go look for yourself, or to receive what I have said, I doubt that would do any good ether. I would just say to research what these men claim for your self, and not take anything they say as truth no matter what their claims are. Defiantly do not support them financially until you have verified for yourself their wild claims.

 

I want to say something before I close this out though. After coming to the faith Michael rood was one of the only people out there that had anything of real truth in DVD format. I will say his teaching help me in my walk, and pointed me in the direction that I needed to be pointed to find out the stuff I needed to know, so for that I will always be grateful. I know he has done some things that are very questionable in the minds of many. He has lost more support then these men will probably ever see and bounced back. And the fact is they would in no way be in the public eye the way they are now had it not been for him.

 

The two times Michael has had major Issues was over money and the ministry that the father entrusted to Michael. I talked to Michael and Jamie on the first one, and Glen tried to get me on his side on the second one. I was at the table with Michael and Jamie when Jamie lost his family members in a tragic accident before the whole thing broke down on them. Both men had their points to their arguments and we are not here to hash that out agai, I only make mention of it because money can and will turn the best of friends into mortal enemies. Some have, and still are trying to use him, to further the kingdom they are trying to build for themselves.

 

Ok since we are talking about it. There are some major issues in the movement and hiding it and not talking about it only makes things worse. I have been in this movement going on 20 years and I have seen them come and I have seen them go. There are many Christians trying to co-opt the messianic movement. People like Jim Staley and Perry Stone are two just off the top of my head. They are teaching a straight Christian doctrine but with some cool Hebrew insights. They do not teach complete adherence to Torah and that all scripture and doctrines must line up to the torah first or they are false doctrines. And even when they do their lives do not line up to what they are teaching, they are just teaching it to make themselves look good and bring in more support.

 

We do have people in the messianic movement that should be listened to when they are teaching the message the father gave them. I call it their mountain top messages. Your walk should be between you and the father alone, but he has given these men and women messages that the sheep should listen to. Even though I am included in these people when the others are teaching their message you better believe I am going to be there with my ears open and my mouth shut because it was the father that revealed these things to them. And I don’t care what they have or have not done since the father gave them these messages; the messages themselves are from the father and will continue to be so, your not fallowing the person anyways.

 

If Michael rood is teaching the feast of YHVH I want to hear everything he has to say on that topic. If Batya Wooten is talking about Redeemed Israel and the restoration of Ephraim I am all ears. If Brad Scott is talking about mountain top meaning of Hebrew words yeah I'm there to hear what new truth he has gleaned from this process. And when I am talking about the order of Melchizedek most will say the same. Can we all teach other things and expound upon other truths, of course. But to barrow from Brad these are our mountain top messages. We all teach other things as well. We even teach each others messages as well, maybe not with the same clarity and passion, but we believe it to be truth sent from the father so we teach it.

 

Sure some have had some scandal attached to their name, but I assure you the Lashon Harrah is far worse then actual truth of it. What I'm trying to say is there are real men and women out there that do believe the Torah. They teach the messiah through the torah not a Messiah that is apposed to or against it in any way. They may be flawed but they are not teaching another gospel. We need to quit eating our own and allowing the counterfeits in. If one of these real ones teach something that you do not agree with I assure you they are open for your questions and input. They won’t reply oh you just don’t understand buy my DVD series or book then you will understand.

 

We have become so consumed with knowledge that we have forgotten about truth. We jump around from one teacher to another looking for the latest greatest insight. We have forgotten what brought us to this knowledge in the first place. It was our love for the truth our desire to walk in his truth. Not so we would have knowledge to stand over someone or condemn those that may not be as smart in the word. It was about sharing the truth with people to bring them out of religious bondage, so that they too could walk in unity with the father and his sent one Yeshua.

 

Because we are so consumed with knowledge we have allowed such false doctrines to creep into our midst. Teaching such as your not born again because you don’t say the name right or say it the right way. A reemergence of sun god worship stating a day begins and ends with the rising and setting of the sun. Conjunction Lunar people, full moon lunar people, Lunar Sabbath people. Yeshua is just a prophet teaching, like Muslims believe. Yeshua is just a man and there was no resurrection. The New Testament is irrelevant, Paul is a false apostil. I can go on and on with this stuff and it’s because we have allowed these people to usurp the faith that led us here in our quest for knowledge. If we continue on this path we will fail and just be discounted as some cult religion. The enemy has brought these people into the camp and the father is calling us to be the Phineas’s of our time. To grab our spears and run them through. proverbially of course.

 

There is a very real war being waged on the messianic faith. First the enemy got the church to call it a cult, then he had them embrace parts of it but not the parts that tare down their false religion, Then he got our friends and families to disown us even though we had never given them any reason to think we would fallow a false Elohim. And now he has planted false teachers in our midst, who are trying to commercialize the faith, and make merchandise out of the gospel.

 

Fifteen years ago a Torah Teacher did not have to show up with a suitcase of books, DVD’s, CD’s, shofars and Jewish trinkets to survive. He showed up with the unadulterated word. The people saw the value in what he had to say and gave to support his ministry for no other reason then the hopes that this message would continue to be spread throughout the body. Now you better show up with that stuff to sale or you probably will not be able to make it to you next destination. Where is the love of the truth? What is the value of a soul being pulled from the very fires of hell by this truth? Have we strayed so far away from the truth that we can not see a wolf. Have we gone so far that we too call good evil and evil good? Will we kill the messenger and allow the infiltrators to live?

 

We are at a defining moment in this movement ether we will return to our first love or we will fail. Not all of us because some of us will continue, if we continue alone. But the majority will fall by the wayside, or return to the church and believe what ever biscuit they are serving that night. If you agree then share this. If not then delete it. But what ever you do, do not become complacent.

 

Shalom

James Gillispie