There is a growing movement of people, mostly coming out of christianity, who have recognized that a lot of what they have been taught, and the traditions they have observed and celebrated in the “church,” are based completely on lies and pagan worship.
They understand that, in the early centuries after the New Testament writers had all died, the traditions and observances that were held by the earliest believers were abolished, and were replaced with pagan counterfeits because of the intense hatred the inventors of christianity had for the Jews—even though all the things they threw away belonged to the Father, and not to the Jewish people.
That’s all well and good, but, rather than seeking to know spiritual truth, the Hebrew Roots folks merely trade one cult for another, and the reason is that, just like the christianity they left, they have no spiritual understanding, which comes only from the Holy Spirit. They see only the physical, and have no idea how the physical foreshadow-to-spiritual real substance construct works.
They falsely claim to be “Torah-obedient,” even though they merely pick and choose a small number of the 613 individual mandates in the Torah, and ignore the others, puffing themselves up as being “more righteous” because they are “obeying” the Torah. Problem is, lying is prohibited by the law, and they are actually liars. If one is not obeying all of the laws in the Torah, then he is breaking the Torah, for breaking one is breaking them all (James 2:10).
And, righteousness cannot ever be earned, it can only be imputed. So, no obedience to any laws will ever make someone righteous, let alone “more righteous.” The written law was a physical foreshadow of the Holy Spirit, who is the fulfillment of the law, and He alone imputes Messiah’s righteousness to Yah’s children.
Ask a Hebrew Roots cultist why he isn’t practicing animal sacrifice, and he will likely tell you that it’s because there is no temple, and the Torah demands that animal sacrifice be performed at the temple. Well, in Hebrews 10, we’re told that the Holy Spirit Himself testifies that animal sacrifice is no more because the Passover sacrifice was fulfilled.
THIS is important! The Book of Hebrews was written around 63-64 AD. The temple wasn’t destroyed until 70 AD. So, animal sacrifice wasn’t stopped because there was no temple, which makes their specious claim a lie. Why did Yah allow His physical temple to be destroyed? What is the spiritual real substance of that physical foreshadow? See 1 Corinthians 6:19.
Christianity ignores the physical foreshadows, treating them as irrelevant relics of a bygone era, so it lacks the foundational details of the real substances that are shown in those foreshadows. It also ignores the fact that the Sabbaths are a sign between Yah and His children, and the Sabbaths exist separate from the law.
But, the Hebrew Roots cult ignores that the physical foreshadows are only shadows of the real substance. Thus, rather than understanding how the details of the law represent physical pictures of future revealed spiritual real substances, the cultists merely live in the shadows shown in the OT and reject their true meanings that are revealed in the NT.
For some reason, they can understand that a literal lamb that is cooked and eaten at Passover doesn’t actually take away anyone’s sin, but beyond that, they cannot see that ALL of it was physical foreshadow of future spiritual real substances that have been revealed AFTER the fulfillment of the Passover—the delineating focal point between OLD and NEW.
Anytime one of the cultists tries to tell you that scripture prohibits you from eating pork or shellfish, and they point to Leviticus 11 as the proof, just tell them to read Leviticus 15, and to refrain from any preaching to you until they are following every single detail of the laws found there. That one chapter will usually reveal the rank hypocrisy of the Hebrew Roots cult. They are lost in the shadow, and do not have the real substance, and in scripture, those folks are called “Pharisees.”
Both christianity and the Hebrew Roots cult lack the Spirit of truth and the true doctrines of salvation. The false teachings of both of them will lead to the same tragic place, eternally, for those who are not spiritually freed from the lies they peddle.
Believe in Messiah Yahoshua, confess Him before others, and await the giving of the covenant. Those who receive the covenant are TOLD they are children of Yah. Those who have not been told have no claim to His family. That has nothing to do with works of the law.
For more information: Why Not Hebraic Roots?