The Natural Congregation of Yahweh is what the secular world, modern traditional 'Christians',

and the modern 'Jews', would phrase as, "The Natural Church of God"

Biblical Writings - Books and Related Terminology:

Mishna

 The Mishna was oral tradition and not committed to writing until the 2nd century. It comes from the Hebrew mishneth, meaning repetition. It was a codification of Jewish law, originating independently in Babylonia and Palestine and began seeping into Jewish life about 200 BC. The Sadducees fought it and the Pharisees defended it. The Sadducees would argue like our present day fundamentalists that Yahweh's word is so plainly revealed in Scripture that no man could interpret away the plain meaning of the text. The Pharisees argued the opposite, saying that explanation was needed and the Torah was not given to the priest exclusively. 

It was forbidden to write down any Mishna, it had to be memorized, and therefore became known as the Oral Law. There were two schools of Mishna, the Shammai and Hillel.  TOP ^

The Septuagint - LXX

 The Septuagint, or LXX is the Hebrew Scriptures in Greek. The Jews of Alexandria who made the translation a century before Yah'shua, included 7 books which are not in the Palestinian Canon or in the Protestant Bible. A book written by Jews was destined to make a great impact on the Greco-Roman world considering the effect that Jewish theology began to have on Greek philosophy and literature. The translation of the Old Covenant turned out to be a great piece of Greek literature, notwithstanding its inherent, and deliberate mis-translations.

The Septuagint project was undertaken for the gratification of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who wished to have a specimen of the Bible in the great Alexandrian library. Ptolemy Philadelphus is called by moderns as the first apostle of the gentiles. For the first time the heathen of every land were enabled to read and judge for themselves of all that Moses delivered. Ptolemy sent to the High Priest in Jerusalem asking for six Hebrew scholars from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to be sent to Egypt to translate the scriptures. When 70 scholars arrived in Egypt each translator was shut up in separate cells by pairs in 36 cells, where they might work alone. For 70 days not a word was heard from the 70 scholars. When compared all were found to be identical.

Septuagint means of seventy, therefore the habit of calling it the "LXX". For Judaism the Septuagint became the strong bond uniting all Greek-speaking Jews of the dispersion. It was a best seller which found its way into more pagan than Jewish homes. It was the conquering word that spread Jewish humanism and philosophy to the Greeks and Romans. Through reading the Septuagint, many Gentiles became converts to Judaism. The people were already familiar with the Old Covenant. When Yah'shua came they were prepared for the Israelite message. Finally, the Septuagint was the first Bible of the early Israelite congregation. The Septuagint had given the Hellenists a Bible in the universal language of the New Covenant world. In the fullness of time, when the great message came, a language was prepared to receive it.  Only recently, have we as Israelites, been blessed with the resources to correct the original errors.  TOP ^

Colossians

The Epistle of Colossians is a letter of Paul to the Natural Congregation at Colossae. The word means punishment or correction. The letters to the Colossians, Philippians, Ephesians, and to Philemon all appear with Paul in chains. 

Paul had never visited Colossae. Still in a prison in Rome he was not able to visit the congegation in Collossae but he could send a letter. There was no postal service in those days but Paul could send it to them by one of his helpers, Tychicus, who was also to conduct the slave Oneismus back to his master Philemon.

Tychicus takes three letters from Paul, the letter to Philemon and the ones to the congregations at Ephesus and Colossae, from Rome about AD 62. The occasion of the letter to the Colossians was the intelligence brought him by Epaphras respecting the internal state of the congregation, which apparently he himself had not visited. The ascetic and formal practices of legalism were becoming evident at Colossae. This epistle was sent because of some difficulties which arose among the Colossians, probably from false teachers, in consequence of which they sent to the apostle. The scope of the epistle is to show, that all hope of man's redemption is founded on the Messiah, in whom alone are all complete fullness, perfections, and sufficiency. 

The Colossians are cautioned against the devices of judaizing teachers, and also against the notions of carnal wisdom, and human tradition. In the first two chapters the apostle tells them what they must believe, and in the two last what they must do; the doctrine of faith, and the precepts of life for salvation. TOP ^

Galatians

 The Gospel that was first preached in Jerusalem was carried by Hebrews, Greek speaking evangelists to Samaria, the seacoast Palestinian towns and as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. At Antioch, something new happened - the Lord Yah’shua the Messiah was preached to the Greeks also. Under the ministrations of Paul and Barnabas the new religion was then taken to the Roman province of Galatia. Here opposition of the Hebrews made the apostles declare: " now we turn unto the Gentiles," from here, the story is largely that of the spread of Gentile converts to the New Covenant Israelite faith. 

The book of Galatians is an epistle written by Paul, necessitated by a serious defection among Paul's converts in the Roman province of Galatia made on his three missionary journeys. The apostle is called upon to defend the gospel of free grace which he had proclaimed to the Gentiles. There was a growing influence in the Galatian congregation by a group know as the Judaizers. Judaistic teachers had come in to distort Paul's gospel with a mixture of human works and forms of legalism. These teachers insisted that Israelites must observe Jewish laws in addition to believing in Yah'shua and were making headway in the Galatian congregation by challenging the adequacy of Paul's teachings. 

The original date and destination of the Galatians epistle in uncertain. It may have been addressed to the congregations in southern Galatia which Paul and Barnabus founded on the first missionary journey. The North Galatia hypothesis requires a date after the journey of Acts 18.23, since Galatians 4.13 implies that Paul visited Galatia twice before writing the letter, then the probable place of writing was at Ephesus around 52. Some place it earlier and at 49 or 50, just after his return to Syrian Antioch at the close of his first journey and others as late as 58.  TOP ^

Hebrews – Book of

 The Hebrews epistle was addressed to the Hebrews of Palestine. The letter is said by some to be included among the Pauline letters by accident, as it nowhere claims to be written by Paul. One writer says it was written by an unknown author at an unknown place to people at an unknown destination and at an unknown date. This epistle is different in style and thought to the mind of Paul and is generally recognized as an anonymous letter in the early congregation, it comes close to the style of Barnabas and Priscilla, has also been suggested as the source. Clement of Alexandria thought that Paul wrote it in Hebrew, and that Luke translated it into Greek, it is written in most excellent Greek but the quotes from the Septuagint would suggest the original was not in Greek. We can infer by reading that the writer was Hebrew, familiar with Philo as well as with the Old Covenant, acquainted with Timothy and known by those to whom he addressed. The author is not of the twelve but it is still apostolic in nature and of an Alexandrian flavour. 

The writer has proved from scripture there is a Sabbath Rest for the people of Yahweh. Barnabas connects this with the world to be burned up around the year 6000 after the creation. The danger which Paul sought to avert was the lapse back into Judaism. The book of Hebrews was known and prized especially in the east but also in the west. It has long been recognized that Hebrews betrays a close kinship to Philo - the Logos in Philo, the Messiah in Hebrews. But the Messiah for Hebrews is not just the anointed agent (Messiah) for bringing in the kingdom; He is the Spiritual aspect of Yahweh through whom Yahweh created the world, who "reflects the glory of Yahweh, and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power." The writer aims to establish the supremacy of the Messiah and New Covenant Israelite faith. The readers had evidently been Israelites for a long time and had suffered severely. It is a warning to those who accepted the Messiah of the dangers of apostasy. 

The book of Hebrews is a masterful defence for the superiority of New Covenant Israelite faith over Judaism. Yah'shua is superior to the angels, superior to Moses and superior to the high priest so that the new covenant which Yah'shuas mediates is superior to the old covenant which is now obsolete. In this superiority that Yah'shua has, Israelites must give earnest heed to the things which we have heard and beware lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living Yahweh. We must not fall away but hold unswervingly to the hope we profess by fixing our eyes constantly on the example of Yah'shua, the author and finisher of our faith. We as Israelites are receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved and in thankfulness we must worship Yahweh acceptably with reverence and awe.  TOP ^

James' Epistle

 There are more references to the discourses of Yah'shua in the epistle of James than in all the others put together. There were three persons with the name James relevant to the New Covenant, two of them were among the twelve disciples and the other was the brother of Yah'shua who was the Bishop of Jerusalem, James the Just. This is written by him. James is the most relevant book of the Bible for these last days and the most instructive. We are not sure when the book was written, some say as early as the year 45, which would make it the oldest book in the New Covenant. Others feel that James may have written the book after a 30 year pastorate of the Jerusalem Congregation, placing the date to about AD 60-61, near the close of James' life. The letter was probably written in Jerusalem.

The epistle is addressed to Israelites scattered abroad. It seems like a book of Israelite proverbs about a number of subjects and bearing on the practical duties of Israelite life. James is more of an ancient sermon and a fiery prophetic oration than a letter, the general tone of appeal is much more like that of John the Baptist than that of Paul, Peter or John. James wanted to make the Israelites better Israelites, to teach them a truer wisdom, a purer morality; the moral exhortation of one to whom the law means the rule of life as Yah'shua had taught it. Its interest in democracy, his noble advocacy of the rights of labour, philanthropy, and the social gospel strikes a responsive chord in our time, especially in a materialistic North America. 

James the Just was a Hebrew of Nazareth and his native language would be Hebrew. Hebrew would also be taught in the local school. As Nazareth lay on a thronged trade route, it may be assumed that most Nazarenes would pick up more or less Greek language skills of some sort or another. He would use Hebrew in his use of the Old Covenant. We could we think of James in his mature life as learning to write the Greek of this epistle - an epistle cast in the Hellenistic and non-Semitic form of prose, using the equally Hellenistic and non -Semitic diatribe. He would cite the Old Covenant in the Greek Septuagint which is quite unlike the Hebrew.  TOP ^

Philippians

 Philippians is an epistle of Paul. Philippians is written while Paul was a prisoner at Rome, perhaps in AD 62. Its theme is the adequacy of the Messiah for all the experiences of life-privation, persecution, hardship, suffering, as well as prosperity and popularity. The letter was sent by Epaphroditus, who was returning to Philippi after his recovery, much earlier than he was expected.

The keynote of that letter is joy. In the prison, amid general desertion, being left face to face with Yahweh, Paul seems as if the one thought which inspires his whole being is, "Rejoice in Yahweh always, again I will say, rejoice". The epistle of Philippians shows a love working in stillness, a love ever unwearied, never exhausted, thoroughly proved and approved of itself. Paul could at least talk of the gospel to his guards, and through them reach a wider circle with his message. And he could keep in touch with his old friends and rejoice in these circumstances.  TOP ^

Romans Epistle

 The Romans Epistle was written by Paul in AD 58. Phoebe was the courier and beside Paul is Tertius, doing the writing. The Romans epistle was apparently written from Corinth and after the contribution Paul had been collecting from the Gentile congregations of Greece and Asia Minor had been completed. He was waiting to go to Jerusalem with it, intending afterwards to visit Spain, and on his way to visit the congregation of Rome. 

At the time this letter was written, the majority of Israelites at Rome seem to have been Gentiles, though the Hebrews also constituted a sizable minority. The Gentile gradually took over the ascendancy when Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews in 49-50. By 54, they returned leaving both groups there. Compelled by this undertaking to give up for the time his plan of moving westward, Paul took at least the first step toward his new westward program and wrote a letter to the Roman Israelites.  TOP ^

Thessalonians

 The Thessalonians Epistles were epistles of Paul. First Thessalonians was probably the earliest of Paul's letters and if so, was the first book of the New Covenant to be written. First Thessalonians was penned from Corinth not long after Paul left Thessalonica at about 52. When Paul and his companions, Silvanus and Timothy, came to Thessalonica, it was one of the significant cities of the east Mediterranean area. Paul had received good reports of the Congregation that he had founded in Thessalonica and the epistles are full of affection. 

The Congregation in Thessalonica was founded about 51, on Paul's second missionary journey. His friends were the people at Thessalonica whom he had interested in his doctrine of Yah'shua. Paul had to leave Thessalonica in a hurry because of the Jews there. A short time later, Timothy rejoined him and reported to him certain questions the believers in Thessalonica had. Some of them were troubled at the death of friends, who would, they feared, thus miss the joy and glory of meeting the Messiah Yah'shua on his return to the earth. 

Others were perplexed about the time of Yah'shua's return. The letter was written to encourage and establish a young Congregation in the basic truths of the gospel, to inspire it to progress in the power of holy living, to instruct it in the matter of the coming if the Messiah for His own and the relation of this event to the events of the day of Yahweh. Paul sent messages of comfort, counsel, or encouragement, as their needs required.  TOP ^

Timothy Epistles

 The letters to Timothy were written by Paul. The date of I Timothy depends on the question of whether the apostle had one or two imprisonments. If there were two, it was apparently written during the interval between the two, not later than 66. If there was but one, the letter was penned not long before the apostles last trip to Jerusalem, probably 64. To arrive at a date of the second Timothy epistle is the same. If there was one imprisonment, this touching epistle containing the last recorded words of the apostle was penned about 64. If there was another and later imprisonment it was penned about 67.  TOP ^

Book of Life:

The Lamb's Book of Life of the Revelation is the roster of the righteous that will inherit eternal life. It includes martyrs, prophets, over comers and those who have not received the mark of the beast. Those not found written in the book would be cast into the lake of fire and include liars, the fearful, the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers and idolaters, as determined after their resurrection.

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before Yahweh; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and the grave delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and the grave were cast into the lake of fire in the Valley of Hinnom [city dump]. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

When John received his revelation in the spirit so long ago, he saw not just the Book of Life being opened but books, which are not opened until the millennial reign is over. The first resurrection is at the beginning of the thousand years and will populate the Messiah's Kingdom on earth along with the others who were alive at the Second Coming. The rest of the dead will not live again until the books are opened at the second resurrection at the end of the thousand years. John closes the book of Revelation with these words: "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, Yahweh shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." TOP ^

Prophecies Concerning Yah'shua

 The expectation of a Messiah was not alone confined to the Hebrews, but was also shared by the surrounding pagan nations. Seutonius, the celebrated Roman historian, says: "An ancient and settled persuasion prevailed throughout the East that the Fates had decreed some one to proceed from Judea who should attain universal empire" And Tacitus, says: "Many were persuaded that it was contained in the ancient books of their priests that at the very time the East should prevail and that some one should proceed from Judea and possess the kingdom." Vergil (70-19 BC); his epilogues, poems in which shepherds usually provide the dialogue... His fourth epilogue tells of the coming birth of a child whose advent had been foretold by the Cumaean sibly and who would bring to the world an age of peace and happiness. The dead sea scrolls brings the message of the "teacher of righteousness" to come. 

Prophecies concerning Yah'shu in the Bible. Psalms 24:9- (Triumphal Entry) "Lift up your head, oh ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in." Zechariah. "Behold, your king comes unto you, He is just and having salvation; lowly and riding upon an ass." Psalms 68:18 (Ascension) "You have ascended on high; you have led captivity captive: you have received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Yahweh might dwell among them" (compare Eph. 4.8). And John 6:62-: "What and if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is His Spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life." 

Isaiah 53: (Scourging) "Who has believed our report... He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with our grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; he was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has born our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stiricken, smitten of Yahweh and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed." (Redemption) All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way and Yahweh has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Trial) "He was oppressed and He was afflicted yet He opened not His mouth, He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opens not His mouth." (Sacrifice) "Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise Him, He has put Him to grief, when You shall make His body an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in His hand... He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." 

Micah 5:2, (Born in Bethlehem) "But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."  TOP ^

Qumran

Qumram was an Essene community near the Dead Sea. The "monks" of Qumram, often identified with the Essenes, were an unusual community who lived in buildings and caves. The members dedicated themselves by oath to perfect observance of every detail of the Torah. They formed a commune, sharing all their personal property and making decisions by vote concerning matters that affected them all. The "Wicked Priest" who appears in the Habakkuk Commentary as the persecutor of the Teacher of Righteousness (of the one who teaches righteously) has been considered to be the High Priest Annas who condemned the Teacher of Rightousness (Yah'shua). 

The scrolls describe in detail the horrible fate suffered by the Wicked Priest for having persecuted the Righteous Teacher. This interpretation, presenting the Teacher as the one persecuted in combination with the Qumram text that describes those who were hung alive", points to the conclusion that the Teacher of Righteousness was crucified. Some scholars have theorized that John the Baptist either was an Essene or was under Essene influence. Many cisterns were found at the ruins at Qumram, and since they had steps for easy ascent and descent, they must have been used for baptisteries. The Qumram community has left a scroll which expresses the bitterest hatred of all that is not Hebrew and outlines plans for vengeance. They were extremists, to whom even the Pharisees seemed lax. Qumram fell to the Romans in the Jewish revolt about AD 68-70 and was abandoned.  TOP ^

The Talmud

 The Talmud is the oral tradition of the Jews. The Jew believes that the Law falls under two divisions - The Written Law, and the Oral, or that 'upon the lip', of which the latter, or 'tradition', is equally authoritative with the former, or even more so. The Talmud proper consists of the Mishna and the Gemara. The Oral Law remained absolutely unwritten at least down to the time of the later Tanaim (about 30-80), who indeed, thought it wrong to commit it to writing. The older legends and rules are supposed to have been drawn up by Hanania Ben Hiskia in the time of the Messiah. Two religions had been created, one in Palestine, the other in Diaspora. 

How could the Hebrews be kept from assimilation and absorption into the sea of alien people about them. The Jews met this challenge with the creation of a religious-legal code - the Talmud - which served as a unifying force and a spiritual rallying point, almost invisibly ruling the Jews. Though the Jews in the main did resist the Greek philosophies, they mastered the Greek philosophers. The Jews absorbed everything intellectual which the Greeks had to offer. Greeks emerged in a Jewish made mantle, Christianity; the Jews wore a Greek philosophic tunic labelled "Talmudism." From about 200 BC - 200 AD through the Mishna, the first amendments to the Torah began to appear. This was the beginnings of Oral Law. 

The name Talmud was not applied to this growing body of knowledge until the 6th century AD.  TOP ^

The Torah - Pentateuch

The first five books of Moses are called the Torah. These five books of the Old Covenant stand in a special class and are called collectively the Pentateuch, meaning the five books. These are the books which the Hebrews called the Law and regarded as the most sacred part of the Bible. The five books of Moses are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

For a Hebrew of the first century, religious education meant study of the Torah. This word is not accurately translated by "law." It refers to the sum of divine teaching. The Torah was not only a system of rules but, more importantly, a whole way of life that had to be learned through close connection with a teacher. "Religious observances" would be a better, though still not complete, translation. The word was derived from a Hebrew verb meaning "to teach" or "to instruct." 

Part of the Torah included all the laws in regard to ethical behaviour found in the Bible, beginning with the 10 commandments. These were continually brought up to date by being applied to new situations through the oral instruction of Jewish teachers. 

According to the Rabbis the written Law, or Torah, contained 613 concepts, 248 of which were commandments while 365 were prohibitions. Both commands and prohibitions were divided into two groups, the "light" and the "heavy," according to their importance. 

The Jews who followed John's injunction and made "the Word," that is, the Rhema of the Torah, equal to Yahweh. It is to the Jews that "the Word is Yahweh" was given. The Mosaic Law assumed in the minds of Talmudists the place of Yahweh himself. The insufficiency of the Torah is emphasized in the prologue, by Matthew. The law (Torah) was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Yah’shua the Messiah. Yet the Scriptures have their authority, and they testify to Him.  TOP ^

The Apocrypha

 The Apocrypha are the alleged lost books between the Covenants and others. The term apocrypha properly signifies hidden or concealed. There is no evidence whatsoever that the books of the apocrypha are Divinely inspired or that they are canonical. These books, include the book of the Wars of Yahweh, the book of Jasher, the historical Annals of King David, the books and records of Nathan the prophet, Shemaiah the prophet, the book of Gad the Seer, the annals of Solomon, the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, the visions of Iddo the sear, the apocalypse of Enoch. Most of these books are histories and not inspired scripture. Yahweh has protected what He has truly brought forth for us to read.  TOP ^

The Tree of Life

 The tree of knowledge, with its fruit that gave man awareness of good and evil, also grew a more bitter fruit man wrenched from its branches: the consciousness of the shortness of the individual life and the finality of death. 

When Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden, it was because they had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and "the LORD Yahweh said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Yahweh sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden." 

Adam, by disobeying Yahweh, had placed himself above Yahweh by going against His word to him. The lesson here is that through disobedience to the Divine mandates, we set ourselves up as false gods. We do this especially through pride which makes us resistant to the Word of Yahweh. Yahweh cannot speak to us if we think so much of ourselves that we are better than Yahweh Himself. If we are truly to eat of the tree of life, it would be to deny ourselves with complete humility and let Yahweh be our God.

Grace and peace to you, from our Father, Yahweh, and Yah'shua our Messiah!

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Updated on 10/06/2008