We are warned throughout the New Testament, to beware of teachers who are teaching error through deception, lest we fall from our steadfastness, or perhaps fail to attain our full reward (2Peter 3:17; 2John 1:8).
Deception is a dangerous trap. Deception is built on falsehoods and lies, and no one wants to live life based on lies.
Often it happens that deception gives us a false sense of security. Such deception appears to be ‘a way that seems right‘.
But, as the Scripture reveals, the result is devastating:
There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 16:25; see also Proverbs14:12)
Deception will ultimately result in turmoil, disorder, and grief. No one could ever desire such ugly things. So what could be the main reason that causes deception? The prophet Isaiah describes exactly the reason:
“Truth has fallen!” (Isaiah 59:14-15a)
When truth ‘falls’ or fails, then we are easily trapped into deception and falsehoods, easily snared by misinformation and lies.
For God’s people, the children of Yahuwah Elohim [the Hebrew name for the LORD God], the most common falsehoods that have infiltrated mainstream Christianity are the ‘commandments of men‘. These are teachings that have no Scriptural backing, that contradict the Scriptures!
These ‘commandments of men’ combine Scriptural truths with man-made notions, lies, and misinterpertations of the Scriptures. These are stumblingblocks that cause God’s people to alter His Word and thus stumble in spiritual darkness (Proverbs 4:19)
Let’s consider the most basic of these deceptive ‘commandments of men’ – that God’s Law, His Torah, has been ‘done away’. This is a lie that has resulted in multitudes stumbling spiritually and thus being classified as ‘the children of disobedience’. (Ephesians 5:6)
The Ways of the Wicked
The ‘Law’ is a vital part of the New Covenant to tell us what sin is. It is very significant that we find the defintion of sin in the New Testament:
Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1John 3:4)
By this Scripture, the apostle John is warning us to avoid walking in the paths of those who continually “transgress (violate) the Law (the Torah)” — avoid the lawless ones.
Also, the New Testament definition of ‘wicked’, (Strongs #113), is “one who breaks through the restraint of law and gratifies his lusts.”
The Scriptures tell us repeatedly to avoid walking in the ways of the ‘wicked’ (Proverbs 4:14; Proverbs 15:9; 2Peter 3:17; Psalm 32:10). Are these Scriptures ‘done away’? I think not.
God’s Teachings, Instructions, and Guidelines
Have you been taught the false notion that Messiah’s death on the cross did away with Moses’ Law?
We need to understand that the ‘Law‘ in Scripture is the Hebrew word ‘Torah‘ which means God’s teachings, instructions, and guidelines. Do we really want to reject God’s teachings, instructions, and guidelines?
It is the Torah that teaches us how to walk in righteousness and how to truly please our heavenly Father. It is the Torah that teaches us what is holy and clean. It is the Torah that teaches us Yahuwah’s loving and protective boundaries.
But those who embrace the false notion of rejecting the Law of Moses (the Torah) are regarded by Yahuwah [the LORD] as rebellious, full of pride, and walking after the imagination of an evil heart:
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law (the Torah) of Yahuwah [the LORD] (Isaiah 30:9; see also Daniel 9:5)
Thus says Yahuwah [the LORD] of hosts, the God of Israel … They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in My law (the Torah), nor in My statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. (Jeremiah 44:10)
Then you shall say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says Yahuwah [the LORD], and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law (the Torah); And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto Me: (Jeremiah 16:11-12; see also Jeremiah 9:13-14)
As we saw in Lead Me in Your Truth: Part 1 – The Basics, the big problem that opens the door into deception is our own PRIDE.
No one is immune to the spiritual darkness of Pride! When the darkness of Pride covers us, then we begin to lean on human understanding, pursuing our own will, rather than conforming to God’s written Word! It is a prideful way of thinking that causes us to reject or alter the Word of God and make man-made interpretations as more superior. This is a wicked departure from God, departing from the truth of the written Scriptures. (Psalm 18:21; Proverbs 16:5)
“Only humble hearts are obedient, for they alone will yield to rule and government.” — Charles Spurgeon
To come out of deception, we must have a major shift in our perspective. We must receive ALL of God’s Word as a framework for how we are to live by faith and behave in righteousness according to the principles and standards of God’s Word (Romans 6:19; 1Corinthians 15:34; 2Timothy 3:16).
As we saw in The Torah: The Key to Unlocking God’s Word, it is the Torah that is the foundation for understanding God’s Word and we cannot do away with The Foundation without descending into deception.
My Words Shall Not Pass Away
Yahushua Messiah [the Hebrew name for Jesus Christ] said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35; see also Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33).
The pre-incarnate ‘Word of God‘ [who is Yahushua (Jesus) the Messiah Himself (John 1:1,14)] spoke the Ten Commandments to Moses and wrote them in stone tablets with His own finger. A major step out of deception and falsehood is to understand that Messiah’s Words include the Law of Moses (the Torah)!
One of the Ten Commandments says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Do you believe this Commandment has been done away? You might try to explain this to your wife.
No where is it written in the Scriptures that Moses’ Law has been ‘done away’. Most certainly it remains true that we should not lie or steal or commit murder or commit adultery. Also, you will not find anywhere in Scripture that God’s Sabbaths have been abolished.
The very thought that Moses’ Law has been ‘done away’ is a gross misinterpretation of the Scriptures. It is a thought that comes from those who do not accept the Hebrew roots of our faith, they do not know the Hebrew way of living and writing, and therefore they misinterpret several verses!
The Scriptures tell us, “And thou shalt love Yahuwah [the LORD] thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5), and “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which Yahuwah [the LORD] thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20:12a). By the twisted teachings of popular misinterpretations of Scripture, we can not love Yahuwah [the LORD] our God with all our heart, nor honour our parents, because we imagine that we must also perform the animal sacrifices. This is false reasoning based on misunderstanding the foundational teachings of Torah.
The faulty teachings of the ‘commandments of men’ keep us in spiritual limbo, never being sure of what we can do to please God. However, if we will do a careful study of the book of Hebrews, it will become clear that the context of several verses is about the priesthood, not the Torah/Law. It is in the book of Hebrews that explains many items of the Old Covenant that have been superseded in the New Covenant, and which items of the Everlasting Covenant remain today.
“There are times in the Messianic Writings (New Testament), when the Greek word nomos (law/Torah) is used to refer to a portion of the Torah such as that which applies to the Lewitical Priesthood, or to the Set-apart Place (K.J.V. “Sanctuary”), and a failure or refusal to see this could lead to the erroneous conclusion that the Torah/Law given at Sinai has been annulled, abolished, done away, or at least been changed, when in fact this is not the case at all. (Mattithyahu / Matthew 5:17-20).” — The Scriptures 2009 Explanatory Notes
Freedom From the Bondage of Sin
Messiah’s death did not remove or ‘do away with’ the 10 Commandments nor the Law of Moses. The shedding of Messiah’s blood, and His death, burial, and resurrection, redeemed us by His blood, and freed us from the bondage of sin! Messiah’s sacrifice removed the curse of the Law, and granted us the freedom to choose to walk according to Messiah’s pattern in true righteousness (1John 2:6).
Under the New Covenant, no one is “required” to observe any of the Commandments. And yet, Yahushua said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
The apostle John said, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous (1John 5:3).
It is very simple. God is looking for those who choose to love Messiah, and will choose to keep His Commandments, including those He gave to Moses. Those who choose not to love God, will choose not to keep His Commandments.
God is looking and waiting to see who will choose to love Him and who will choose to believe the authority of His Word without altering His Word. But the ‘commandments of men’ turn our heart away from the superior wisdom and power of God’s written Word thus making God’s Word of ‘no effect’ (nullified)! (Mark 7:13; Matthew 15:9)
It is the love for our Saviour that constrains us to the keeping of the Commandments. It is the love for our Saviour that will move us to avoid continuing to sin, which is to transgress the Law (the Torah).
Their Deceit is Falsehood
The frightening thing about such false, twisted teachings is that they are popular, prevalent, and seem to be right. The many teachings, traditions, and practices of the ‘commandments of men’ appear to be good and wise. But in reality, they are deceptive, unbiblical pathways, resulting in delusion! Notice this passage:
Even him (the wicked, lawless one), whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2Thessalonians 2:9-12)
Those who do not “love” the Truth, but who follow the twisted teachings of the ‘commandments of men,’ have strayed from the truth and purity of Yahuwah’s written Word — and are trapped in deception:
You (Yahuwah/[the LORD]) have trodden down all them that err (go astray) from Your statutes: for their deceit is falsehood. (Psalm 119:118)
Many Thirsty Souls today do not realize the dangers of trusting in the ‘commandments of men’.
Instead of looking to the eternal wisdom of Yahuwah’s written WORD, many are doing what ‘seems’ to be right. But they are falling prey to the counterfeit wisdom of the ‘commandments of men’ that alters God’s Word.
Sadly, many Thirsty Souls are following one or more of the many man-made doctrines and misinterpretations of the Scriptures — the twisted thinking of false religious systems that began infiltrating Christianity back in the second century AD.
These man-made religious systems do two things: either they take away from, or they add to, the Scriptures, inventing lies that contradict the Scriptures. This is a direct and dangerous violation of the written Scriptures (Deuteronomy 4:1-2; see also Deuteronomy 12:32).
The apostle Paul expressed a clear warning regarding the nature of this worldly, soulish-type of teaching:
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled [deceived] Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Messiah [Christ]. (2Corinthians 11:3)
The above verse describes for us what the ‘commandments of men’ do. These beguiling teachings originate from Satan and rob us of the plain truths of God’s written Word and of Messiah’s message! These spiritual counterfeits of the Scriptures promote a false sense of security, and lead us into a spiritual stupor and blindness (and disobedience) to the true Word of God.
Much of the misinformation of ‘the commandments of men’ of popular Christian teachers are based on misunderstandings of the apostle Paul’s writings. The apostle Peter warns us that the words of Paul would not be easily understood, but would be “twisted” by the unlearned and unstable, who would lead others away into wickedness, with their errors, lies, and deception (2Peter 3:15-16).
Paul himself says at one point that he speaks to them that ‘know the Law‘ (Romans 7:1). So it is very important that we know and learn for ourselves what the Old Testament Scriptures (the Torah) teach before we can begin to understand Paul’s writings.
The Prophets: Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah
The prophet Isaiah gives us an important standard for the followers of Yahushua Messiah:
To the law [the Torah] and to the testimony [the words and life-witness of Yahushua and His Disciples]: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them. (Isaiah 8:20)
This verse teaches us that if we embrace a spiritual ‘wisdom’ from those who do not speak according to the complete Word of Yahuwah [both the Torah (the Old Testament), and the Testimony of Yahushua Messiah (The New Testament)], then it is a worldly ‘wisdom’ having NO light, thus NO truth!
To have ‘No Light’ is to be in the darkness of ignorance, deception, and bondage! Receiving spiritual guidance that is not in agreement with the full counsel of God’s Word, is feeding on a spiritual counterfeit.
Yahuwah warns us further through the prophet Hosea, telling us that it is God’s people who are ‘destroyed‘ because they lack the knowledge of Father’s written WORD, and because they have rejected God’s law [the Torah] (Hosea 4:6)!
The prophet Jeremiah gives us another warning, telling us that those who refuse to hear God’s Words are those who walk in the imagination of their own heart, and are actually walking after other gods, and such people are ‘good for nothing!‘ (Jeremiah 13:10).
These are sober warnings! We need to earnestly consider the seriousness of Father’s warnings!
(See also these warnings: Leviticus 18:3; 20:23; Deuteronomy 12:30-31; Isaiah 47:12-14; Jeremiah 10:2; Ezekiel 20:32.)
To avoid darkness, bondage, and delusion we must pursue spiritual guidance that is in complete agreement within the framework of ALL the Words of the Bible. This is the only way we can have a correct understanding of the New Testament writings. It is the Torah that is foundational for receiving en-LIGHT-en-ment that is true and undefiled! (see Psalm 119:130,142,163,172)
Let Us Not Turn Unto Folly
Perhaps the most deceptive ‘commandment of men’ says that God’s Law, His Torah, has been ‘done away.’ This man-made notion makes the Word of God appear to be folly, especially when we read Scriptures such as:
Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law [Torah]; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. (Psalm 119:34)
Make me to go in the path of Your commandments; for therein do I delight! (Psalm 119:35)
And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I have loved. (Psalm 119:47)
I made haste, and delayed not to keep Your commandments. (Psalm 119:60)
Let Your tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for Your law [Torah] is my delight. (Psalm 119:77)
My son, forget not My law [Torah]; but let your heart keep My commandments: for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to you. (Proverbs 3:1-2)
My son, keep My words, and lay up My commandments with you. Keep My commandments, and live; and My law [Torah] as the apple of your eye! (Proverbs 7:1-2)
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law [Torah] is the truth! … You are near, O Yahuwah [the LORD], and all Your commandments are truth! (Psalm 119:142, 151)
I will hear what God Yahuwah [the LORD] will speak: for He will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints: but let them not turn again to folly. (Psalm 85:8)
But the mercy of Yahuwah [the LORD] is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children; to such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them. (Psalm 103:17-18)
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: (Romans 7:22)
Are the above Scriptures void and ‘done away’? What foolishness to think such a thing!! Believers in Messiah are to love the Word of God, all of it! We are to remember His Commandments to DO them!
We must depart from the foolish, humanistic interpretations of the Scriptures and embrace ALL of God’s Word, meditating on God’s Word, delighting in God’s Word, and acknowledging that all of God’s Word is absolutely necessary to us:
Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law (Torah) of Yahuwah [the LORD]; and in His law (Torah) he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)
God’s Law On Our Heart
The apostle Paul tells us that all of the Old Testament writings contain the full details of God’s message, which God promised beforehand, speaking through His prophets, and recorded in the Scriptures (Romans 1:1-2). All these details have been recorded for us (1Corinthians 10:11), so that we can learn about God’s teachings and instructions, and learn to live just as Messiah lived (see 1John 2:6), by implementing God’s commandments into our lives as preparation for eternity.
Those who hear Messiah’s Words, but do not follow Messiah in keeping His Commandments, are seen in Matthew 25 as the “Foolish” Virgins, and also in Matthew 7 and Luke 6 as the “Foolish” man who built his house upon the earth and sand.
We must be very careful about our attitude towards God’s Law (the Torah – ie: the Law of Moses)!
God’s Law is to be honoured, not ‘done away’ and not despised in any way! (Isaiah 42:21).
Know this also: we are living in ‘the times of restoration of all things’! Therefore we must be very sensitive to the moving of the Spirit of God and not scorn or reject this divine restoration of Yahuwah’s Word that is occurring throughout the whole world! (Acts 3:19-21; see also Exodus 13:21-22).
Written On Our Heart – Q & A
The essence of the New Covenant is the writing of God’s Law on our heart! (Isaiah 8:20; Isaiah 51:7; Jeremiah 31:33; see also Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16). When God’s Torah is truly on our heart, then we will have a stronger relationship with the heavenly Father, understanding better how to please Him!
Question: Why would Father God want to write His Law (His Torah) on the hearts of His children?
Answer: So that we would gladly choose to obey His teachings, His instructions, and His guidelines (the Torah) – from the beginning!
See the companion articles:
- A Way That Seems Right: Avoiding the Strong Delusion
- A Way That Seems Right: Avoiding The Sin Against Our Own Body
- A Way That Seems Right: Avoiding the Deception of Yoga
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Related Articles:
- Thy Torah is My Delight
- The Torah: The Key to Unlocking God’s Word
- Obeying Torah is Not About Salvation
- The Word – or The Spirit
- My Path to Torah
- Coming Home – To The Truth of Torah
- That It May Be Well With You – Part Two
- Acquiring a Teachable Heart
- Do we have to keep all 613 Torah commands?
- Discovering the Hebrew Roots of Christianity – Video by EliYah
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Cold Waters to a Thirsty Soul
Cold Waters to a Thirsty Soul 
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