By guest contributor Chris Sabine
I can hear it now from the Christianese camp, “You can’t make that statement. No, it doesn’t. Nowhere in scripture does it warn against Christianity”. I beg to differ. While you would be correct in a claim that Christianity is not mentioned anywhere in scripture by name, one must remember that it wouldn’t be codified until nearly 300 years after all the New Testament writers had died. Even though the word “Christianity” is not listed, it is very evident that it is in there and warned against due to the substance contained in the warnings and what Christianity is and always has been.
To come to this conclusion, one would have to possess spiritual understanding of the scriptures that can only be provided by the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit cannot and will not have any part in any counterfeit (John 4:24), Christianity lacks the ability to interpret scriptures to see the deeper spiritual meanings as their understanding has not been opened up (Luke 24:45). While reading scripture, one must examine when a passage was written, the context within which it was written, to whom it was written, and the references made. Christianity will largely overlook these important details and lift passages (excerpts/snippets) and use them in ways that were never intended, to back up their misguided false teachings. An example of this is how they use Romans 14:5 which is talking about fasting to back up their claim of Sunday worship which is never ordained in the entirety of scripture.
For this article, we need to understand that the passages of scripture I am discussing were written approximately 60-80 A.D. This would be about 30-50 years after the crucifixion, when the apostles began spreading the Gospel of Yahoshua Messiah. Christianity, as previously mentioned, would not be codified until 325 A.D. at the council of Nicaea by Constantine (pagan, sun/Zeus worshiper, Roman Emperor). While it was not codified in the time of the passages being discussed, the beginnings of it were already taking shape through new believers participating in pagan customs, idolatry, and sexual perversion while departing from the traditions of Yah. This would require the elders of the faith to speak on it in the form of warnings.
One of the first Apostles to warn was Paul. There are currently over 2.6 billion people that would have a big problem with Paul if they only knew that most of the things he warned about in his writings were the very beginnings of what would be Constantine’s new religion, Christianity. Paul was around when Yahoshua Messiah was crucified. He was present, watching, and approved of the stoning of Stephen (commonly known as the first martyr). Now of course he would go through his transformation after an encounter with Yahoshua on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6) and his eyes would be opened by Ananias (Acts 9:10-18). That also indicates his spiritual understanding being opened as well by the Holy Spirit.
He would then meet with the likes of Peter and begin to spread the gospel of Messiah crucified and resurrected along with the traditions of the Father to mostly Gentiles since the physical Jews had rejected Yahoshua and were cut off from Y’Israel. Over a very short period of time, the new believers started to drift from the traditions and fall back into their pagan customs, which introduced teachings contrary to the Gospel. Paul was seeing Matthew 13: 20-22 play out in real time. Paul began warning of this in Romans 16:17-18.
“Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such people are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.”
In case you are wondering, he wouldn’t stop with just this one warning, as he continued on with verses like 2 Thess 2:3, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Titus 1:9-11 just to name a few.
Paul would not be the only one to see the atrocity occurring right in front of them. Peter and Jude would see it as well. Paul gave the most warnings but did it a little more eloquently than what the others would. Paul would also be credited with seeing the big picture as a whole when he called it an “apostacy” (falling away).
Then Peter would warn in very harsh terms in 2 Peter 2 going so far as to compare it to proverbs such as “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” The pagan customs were being introduced, and the greed of the false teachers disgusted him. He minced no words about it calling them “Balaam son of Bezer”. He was not the only one to make this comparison. Jude would make this connection as well (Jude 1:11). Yahoshua Himself expresses His displeasure with Balaam in Revelation 2:14.
“But I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.”
Most Christians will simply overlook this reference and never truly understand who Balaam was. Many know the story of the talking donkey but don’t really get the whole story much less what this comparison is. That would be mainly because Christianity largely ignores the Old Testament and rarely studies it unless it fits their narrative. The story of Balaam is found in Numbers 22-24.
The brief rundown of this character is that Balaam was a prophet that was hired to curse Y’Israel. In other words, he was using the gift that was given to him by Yah for personal gain. However he could not perform this task because Yah intervened and would not allow him to do such a thing. Balak, the king of Moab, got angry that he would not curse Y’Israel so Balaam devised a different way—have Y’Israel bring a curse upon themselves.
So naturally they began to introduce idolatry and sexual immorality into the people of Y’Israel and of course many fell into this trap. Indeed, they brought a curse upon themselves in the form of a plague that killed 24,000 Jews. What is worth noting is that this occurred in the land of Moab, which was the final stop before entering the promised land.
Now back to my point . . .
So, what would happen next? That would be the death of all the New Testament writers and the codification of Christianity. This introduced more pagan idolotry into the mix by observing only pagan holy days straight from Babylon and removing the Father’s ordained days. They would change the names in scripture from Jewish names to Greco-Roman names. They introduced popes, which would take the place of emperors at the fall of the traditional Roman Empire, which would become the “spiritual head” of Christianity (it didn’t fall, it rebranded).
They began to call themselves “the church”, a name derived from Circe, the pagan sun god’s daughter known for her witchcraft and sexual promiscuity. They would change the message of salvation from believing in Yahoshua Messiah, confessing Him before others, then receiving the Holy Spirit to a salvation based on man’s decision alone effectively removing the only source that can give it.
Peter and Jude making the reference to Balaam is eye opening. They were seeing personal gain come into play along with idolatry being introduced. That sounds a lot like your Joel Osteens, Billy Grahams, Jimmy Swaggarts, 700 Clubs, TBN Networks, Benny Hinns, etc. It also looks a lot like the world’s popes, bishops, cardinals, the Vatican, and churches. The only difference being that Balaam did have a gift given by Yah to perform the task at hand, even though he was forbidden to do so; whereas, Christianity as a whole has the spiritual awareness of a fence post, due to its lack of illumination that only the Holy Spirit can provide. However, like Balaam, they put “stumbling blocks” in the path to the promised land.
So, to answer whether I can “make that statement” or not . . .
Yes, I can make that statement when we see all the different idols in Christianity and the observance of all the pagan holy days and not a single one of the Father’s ordained days. Yes, I can make that statement when we see so-called preachers asking/begging for money and flying around on private jets, always driving new cars and living a lavish lifestyle. Yes, I can say that when we see the “church” taking up sums of money and putting on what amounts to a rock concert for their SUNday false worship. Keep in mind that Peter and Jude said it first, and Paul called it an apostacy.
I do warn that time is running short. Currently on Yah’s prophetic calendar, we are in the land of Moab about to enter the promised land. The only way to get there is to step away from the error of Balaam, get out of Babylon, and turn to TRUTH (John 4:24) while it is still possible. Believe in Yahoshua Messiah, confess Him before others (endure in belief), and await the giving of the new covenant which is the eternal seal of the Holy Spirit.
For more information: Why I Am No Longer a Christian