Jehoshua is on the throne of David in New Jerusalem and He is the King of a New Israel
Why Anabaptism? Part 1
While I generally don't like labels, it has become somewhat neccessary to identify with a particular belief system within Christianity since the label "Christian" no longer means "one thing" and actually has a very wide spectrum of meaning. I think names like Lutheran, Calvinist and Mennonite are problematic because they give undue honor to men and indicate that we are followers of these men more than Christ. With the variety of understandings within the Christian umbrell, I do believe it's helpful to identify with a particular hermeneutic within that umbrella. "her·me·neu·tics" -noun- "the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary texts." Basically hermeneutic is a way of interpreting the bible. Our interpretation will affect how we view soteriology, ecclesiology and eschatology. It's a principle of how we interpret scripture which determines how we walk out our faith. There are various hermeneutic's throughout the Church. On one hand this has caused enormous divisions, however on the other hand it makes a home for those who do not go along with the mainstream church doctrines. In this write up, I will tell my readers why I believe Anabaptism is the most sound principle for understanding and living out the faith. There is so much out there in the church wonderland that it can really be tough to identify the right path to go and therein lies the heart of the issue. Many of us who are "born again" have come out of the Roman Catholic Church and feel relieved that we did so due to their obvious unbiblical traditions. However, this is not enough that we leave that system because the churches that people flock to once they leave Rome also have their own interpretation of the bible. The non Catholic/Orthodox world is littered with denominations and movements, many of which claim to have the truth. In this write up, I am only going to focus on a few of the more well known principles of bible interpretation are: Protestantism Evangelicalism Hebrew roots Anabaptism It's important to note that there are variations with the above hermeneutic's but I will focus on the general beliefs of them. 1) Protestantism - Systematic theology is emphasized here.Because systemic theology is emphasized Protestantism lends itself to intellectualism. God's sovereignty is highlighted as most Protestants are believers in Predestination in some form or fashion. Substitutionary penal atonement and original sin are points of emphasis. Soteriology (doctrine of salvation) is faith alone by grace alone in Christ alone and sola scriptura the bible alone as the rule of faith. The reformed aspect of Protestantism holds to a once saved always saved doctrine and that the evidence that one is saved is that they endure to the end and have Christ as their Lord (Lordship salvation). Paul's teachings are usually the criteria for obedience in the reformed camp. Other aspects of Protestantism are a hybrid between Calvinism (reformed Predestination) and armininianism (free will) but overall Protestantism has a faith alone once saved always saved view of salvation. Eccelesiology (doctrine of the church) is Catholic (universal) usually aligned with the State (via 501 C 3 or State religion) and wheat and tares are together in the church until the harvest. They believe in a visible and invisible church. A believers church is not emphasized here. Professional clergy (Pastor/elder) leadership with heavy emphasis on the preaching of the word from the pulpit as a weekly sacrament. Eschatology- this is generally Amillenial or Post millennial with an emphasis on the church being the Israel of God basically a continuation of old testament Israel. Let's look at Evangelicalism - Paul the apostles teachings are the rule of faith in these churches. Heavily dispensational theology. The Son of God's commandments are for the Jews. Soteriology - many if not most of these churches are once saved always saved (eternal security). No Lordship salvation so for most of these churches no matter what someone does in their life they will go to heaven as long as they said the sinners prayer at some point. Works have nothing to do with salvation and remaining in covenant with God and His Son. Things like practicing homosexuality or taking the mark of the beast would not cause one to lose the Kingdom. Eccelesiology - the Church and Israel are two separate distinct things. In fact, with the dispensational aspect of eccelesiology the church was only a stop gap measure because the Jews rejected the Messiah. All the promises go to ethnic Geo-political Israel. The Church gets to go to heaven while Geo political Israel reigns over the earth after the second advent of Jehoshua. The Evangelical churches are Pastor led, usually a one man leadership structure so heavy emphasis is placed on the Pastor as the authority over the Church. The church services are pulpit centered with the use of gifts during the service by congregants not encouraged unless it is a charismatic church. Eschatology- premillennial pre trib rapture is the predominant view. They teach that most of the book of Revelation will be fulfilled within the last seven years of earth's history. Most of the book of Revelation applies to end time ethnic Jews. The antichrist is a future political world superpower leader. The mark of the beast is a literal physical mark likely an implanted computer chip. The image of the beast is a literal statue that speaks. During the millennium there will be an reinstating of animal sacrifices and a Levitical priesthood with a physical third temple in which the ethnic Geo-political nation of Israel will rule over Gentile nations. Meanwhile, the Church will be up in heaven during the millennium. Now let's look at the Hebrew roots movement Soteriology- this movement teaches that one must keep all the law of Moses or at least that which applies to every individual based on gender. This includes keeping the feasts days outlined in Leviticus 23. For this movement, Jehoshua was a Moses revivalist preacher trying to bring back people to keep the law of Moses. Moses rather than Jehoshua's teachings are emphasized within these groups which usually focuses on the letter on the law rather than the spirit of it. The Son of God's commandments in the sermon on the mount are downplayed and tough teachings are explained away in order to find the easier road within the law of Moses. They believe males are to be circumcised. Ecclesiology- the Hebrew roots movement forms their own congregations and heavily focus on living in rural areas. They will even form a community that will live on a section of land in a rural area and that will be their church community. Their leaders call themselves Rabbi's. They will often insert what they think are biblical Jewish traditions in theitlr services. They will try and speak some words in Hebrew when discussing the bible during their services. A focus on pronouncing words in Hebrew is emphasized. Those who lead and teach often refer to themselves as teachers of the torah. Some have even gone so far as to sacrifice a lamb during their passover services. Eschatology- heavily premillennial post tribulation with a heavy end time focus on Geo- political Israel and a third physical temple. All believers will take part in the millennial reign of Jehoshua where animal sacrifices will be reinstated in a physical temple with the Levitical priesthood conducting them. A futurist view of eschatology with most of the book of Revelation to be fulfilled within the last seven years of earth's history. Mostly they believe in a future political antichrist. Now we go to Anabaptism. This look at Anabaptism will be based on historic Anabaptism and not what the modern denominations believe. Soteriology - Salvation is dependent upon obeying the teachings of the Son of God which are summed up in the sermon on the mount. The teachings of the Messiah are the basis for the law in the new covenant. In this view, faith and works go together. The sermon on the mount is the focus with a literal understanding of what Jehoshua said. For Anabaptists the word of God is not the bible per se but rather it is Jehoshua Messiah. Everything in the bible is to be understood Christologically. Moses points forward to Jehoshua and Paul points back to Him. For Anabaptists, Christianity is not systematic theology but rather a way of life. Anabaptist soteriology should be understood within a Kingdom theology framework in that they believe that the teachings of Jehoshua are the law of the Kingdom of God. Ecclesiology - Anabaptists do not have a once a week church model like the aforementioned hermeneutic's but rather emphasize gathering together as often as possible. Unlike, Protestantism and Evangelicalism, the church is understood to be the organization or institution but rather the gathering of the people independent of where that gathering may be. The priesthood of all believers is emphasized so even though they believed in Bishops and deacons, the Anabaptists had a much more flat leadership structure than Protestants and now evangelicals. While some evangelicals and Protestants believe in the priesthood of all believers the original Anabaptists actually practiced it. Also, the original Anabaptists had more of a participant friendly atmosphere in their meetings and taking the eucharist everytime they gathered for fellowship was central. Every believer was expected to be an active evangelist whether traveling or homestead. Anabaptists believed in a pure believers church and that the church was visible and local. They did not believe in the Universal Church concept. Anabaptist ecclesiology would be understood within a Kingdom theology framework in that the Church is a physical representation of God's Kingdom on earth. Eschatology - Anabaptists were generally classic premillennial with second advent of the Messiah bringing the Kingdom to earth. Anabaptists believed that they would be on this earth reigning with Messiah after His second coming. No dispensational aspects of premillennialism were believed such as a third temple with animal sacrifices nora Levitical priesthood. The Anabaptists believed what appears to be a historic view of prophecy as they believed that both the Papacy and Protestants were fulfillments of the antichrist and/or false prophet. Okay, so now we have a brief rundown of the different hermeneutic's i.e. principle's for interpreting scripture therefore let's show why Anabaptism is the correct model. I am going to look at both Evangelicalism and the Hebrew roots movement as I will touch on Protestantism towards the end of the study. Evangelicalism and Hebrew roots can both be proven right if one takes certain scriptures at face value. However, they both can easily be proven wrong once one compares scripture with scripture. Evangelicalism appeals to Paul and the Hebrew roots movement to Moses and therein lies the issue, which is looking to the wrong source. This leaves both systems vulnerable to false understandings of what the new covenant is and how the law applies to us in this covenant. For an evangelical, Paul gets them off the hook from having to obey any commandments in terms of obtaining eternal life in the Kingdom. They take Paul's words regarding the law and mistakenly taking that for there being no law at all in the new covenant. They also take his words about being saved by grace and eqaute that to a one time gift that is recieved through mental assent to the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah. Their misunderstandings of the law and grace leads them to a false conclusion regarding what is required of a new covenant believer. For instance in Titus 2, we see what the definition of grace truly is: Titus :11-12 11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Paul here says what the results of having grace is. To have grace meana you deny ungodliness and the sins of the flesh. The evangelicals also misunderstand the word "law" and use what Paul says about not being justified by false premise.
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