“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before your life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your offspring would live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
“No one can be a great thinker who does not recognize that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead.” -John Stuart Mill-
Stolen from the Cradle
I listened to a newscast recently where a man had spent twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. His reputation had been harmed and his name desecrated. While interviewing the man, a reporter asked how the lengthy prison sentence had affected him. His response was “it stole the perception of who I am — your name is your identity.”
Should a thief kidnap a baby from its crib, the baby is taken away and kept under someone other than its parents. The baby eventually loses its parental root upbringing and in due course will not resemble his birth family nor culture into which he or she was born. I turn to this real-life analyzation in order to be able to explore history and clarify what transpired and came to pass throughout time and eras, which turned into centuries. The stolen baby (the faith of Jesus) was removed from the cradle from which it emerged as soon as it was born. While Jesus was present on earth as well as His Disciples it remained a Jewish faith, a sect of followers who felt comfortable worshipping with the Jewish people in their synagogues together. When Jesus ascended to heaven and the apostles died, the hands of the gentiles lifted the baby faith “out of the Jewish crib where it had been placed by God and placed it in an atmosphere foreign to its homeland and developed its personality into an independent religion of other civilizations in other locations.
Jesus, whose birth name was “Yeshua” and would have been listed as a Hebrew child written down in the census of ancient Judea literally means “salvation. He was born as prophesied in the scroll of Isaiah 9:6 in fulfillment of the prophecies of the only “Bible” He taught from which were Jewish sacred scriptures (and which eventually got labeled the “old” Testament by non-Jewish people.) Let us begin here to see how the kidnapping took place and learn about the hands that robbed the cradle.
After being called by God to live in the nation of Israel (for thirty-nine years now) I have been confronted with issues which I have never had to think about before. I was raised in a traditional church denomination of Christendom in America. I grew up knowing our family was Christian. I had no knowledge of any “foundations” of my Christian faith – I was just confirmed under the auspices of the local diocese reverend who served our community I was forever now in the “church.” I would never have thought to ever ask where my faith originated – how many of us ever do? I am sure most of you reading this teaching study had similar upbringings such as mine. It was not until later in life when my husband and I were born again and became spirit filled that in Israel we were challenged with face-to-face questions that made us “think”; however, why was it we could not immediately respond in an informed way? It was because we had never asked any questions. We had just accepted what we had been taught and never checked if it was in the Bible or not.
I remember Dr. Billy Graham saying, “the Bible says!” He could always prove what he was teaching was “in the Bible.” I also never prepare teachings unless I can submit scriptural evidence for what I am helping those who have been raised in “church” to understand. It is my heartfelt prayer that all who study from my generation of learning on-the-ground in Israel from the best scholars in the world will know that I share the truth in the love of the Savior/Messiah and never in condemnation. The evidence of historical and factual history demands that I share what I have learned, what I know and what I can prove. If I do not give away what I have learned, then I may be asked one day “Why did you not share with the sheep of Jesus, your brothers and sisters, the truth which you uncovered in your life long journey in My Land among My People? This thought propels me ahead in my quest for truth for those in the Christian world governed by Christendom. We will learn that there is a substantial difference between Christendom (the institutional engine driving the religion itself) and (the life-preserving faith) of Christianity. Sooner or later this knowledge has to surface. At the end, we will see there are contradictions and a conflict with the sacred writings and texts and Christendom’s doctrines of men. This message and others to come are being distributed worldwide in hope that many will prepare for the return of Jesus who will set up His Father’s Kingdom at His Second Coming to Jerusalem the Chosen City of God. (Jeremiah 3:17) It will be “up to you” (as Jewish people say) what we do with it!
I have taken very seriously the scripture which Jesus spoke about in the Writings of the (Jewish) Apostles (a/k/a New Testament). “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:21-23) The part about “I never knew you” troubles me and I knew I had to make the effort to find out why. In reality, the hands that robbed the cradle of Christianity made serious mistakes when they stole the baby faith’s identity.
When small, we children played a little hand rhyme, in which we would entwine our little fingers together backwards, forming two doors and pointed our two fingers upward: “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open it up and see all the people!” Does anyone remember that? The church was drilled into us from childhood in Sunday school and through confirmation day.
Having been born (after WWII) no one was asking about our spiritual foundations – you just went to the local village church every Sunday. The church bells rang, and we settled into our pews. I did not think back then about who we really were as we were all Christians in our town, but now living in another world I did not know existed, I can see from God’s front porch as I overlook the City of the Great King every new morning. I see Jerusalem the home of true Christian faith. I see there is missing information about the “other sheep” which Yeshua spoke about in John 10:16 and the “sheep of the House of Israel” in Matthew 15:24. Now to the history of identity and the mystery of what really happened. I have good reason for searching for truth, as without truth— wisdom and faith cannot embrace fully in our walk with a Jewish Rabbi and Lord.
When a Christian lives among the Jewish people, they become a minority immediately. Every Jewish person alive knows the list of atrocities that have been committed against them as the Chosen People by Christendom for two THOUSAND years and their identity in Jesus is challenged because of the “why did’s” about Christianity that was presented to me that made me “think.” It has been an exciting journey of discovery which I have been walking (and of course Ray when he was living) for nearly forty years in Israel, the homeland of Jesus. There is much to tell.
Today I wonder why Christianity does not acknowledge its spiritual mother’s native homeland and her spiritual upbringing which effected the child before it was snatched away from its birthplace! The mother of the baby in the cradle (Christianity) is still the mother no matter how far away from home it is or how it moved around the world. It is beginnings can never be changed just like our birthplace and birth certificate can never be altered. Our parents are still our parents. As we uncover truth – we will learn what took place between the birth of Christianity and Christendom – and discover the “hands” that robbed this cradle. We must accept the historical facts of history as we dig deeper into our past which will reveal where our inheritance (the faith of Jesus) was born which was Bethlehem of Judea (Israel) then how it was hijacked, where it went, and where it is today – a bit like the wayward son who squandered his inheritance and returned to his father. (Luke 15:11-32) I was shocked when I re-examined the Prodigal story and my conclusion, “we” are the prodigal son that needs to return home to where we were born, and the God of Israel is the father who welcomes us back. I will teach on this in another lesson.
While I pity those who do not want to hear what I have to share, perhaps they need to “think” twice over because those who push truth away may one day have a rude awakening. If they learn now, they can correct their “thinking” and make sure that “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23)is never pronounced over them. Israel is a part of our true faith in Jesus and love for His Nation, His Country and People should come as natural as waking up in the morning. As I mentioned in my book “A Principle and A Promise” we are commanded to come under the blessing of Genesis 12:3. Our inheritance through Jesus brings us into the Commonwealth spoken about in Ephesians 2:12 as we “join” Israel in the days of redemption ahead, but we do not “replace” them. We do not own the Messiah as He is not a “Christian” Messiah. Dr. Dwight Pryor made it perfectly clear “He is either Jewish or not the Messiah!” We do not have to become Jewish, but it does require a heart for His people and nation to be able to truly “know who Jesus really is: a Jew. The command to bless the Jewish people assures us that we come under the cup of blessings poured out upon all those who love God’s People. Israel is our mother faith and there is no way to change it. She is our birth mother whose womb, chosen by God, was to bear Israel a virgin birth. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22-23; Luke 1:27) Our spiritual DNA is Jewish once anyone experiences the new birth.
I do not judge the (crib snatchers) who were false teachers who turned believers in Jesus away from their spiritual parentage; that is God’s place alone; however, I do have a responsibility as a leader from the Christian world and living among the Jewish people, to tell you from a scholarly point of view it did happen and why. I hope every pastor, minister and layman entering the ministry and serious students of the Bible, will receive this truth in order to feed the sheep “meat in due season.” (Matthew 24:45) The institutions and educational halls of learning in Bible colleges, institutes, and universities remain deprived of curriculums which include our Hebrew Heritage – because of the deceptive teaching called Replacement Theology. The Jewish faith became laced with Greek philosophical teachings, then evolved into a Roman institution, proceeded to Europe where it became a culture and finally reduced to itself into an American enterprise. Those ready in the spirit from the Bridal/Remnant will hear the call to “come” (Revelation 22:17) and get ready to embrace the faith of Jesus which He taught us in the Writings of the (Jewish) Apostles.
If it feels like earth is shaking beneath your feet, I encourage everyone to read about what Christian antisemitism did to the Jewish people (it has to be recognized and confessed as sin) as it is the “longest hatred” toward the Jewish people and has been caused by Christendom, unfairly damaging the name of the King of the Jews (Yeshua) for centuries. We must not continue to pretend it never happened: judgment day may not be too far away. While gentile teachers (called forefathers of the faith) settled in to spread antisemitic deceptive teachings which do not line up with the Bible—the face of the child in the crib changed. I cannot shake the fear of God which grips me when I read “I never knew you.” Our faith was born Jewish, and few told us about it. Jesus NEVER changed His Faith which came from the Torah. The scholars tell me He established it!
As Balaam, we must once and for all time open our eyes to see that a very Jewish movement, begun by God’s only Son, (a Jewish Rabbi) who taught a Torah based faith – in response to the prophecies predicted in the Jewish scriptures. This faith, in its infancy was taken from its Jewish cradle (almost at birth), carried away and raised in a foreign land away from its parents. It grew up a foreign faith, unrecognizable to its real mother faith. Foreigners not only adopted it but changed its real identity and family ties. It was totally raised, trained, and masked to not recognize its true forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Instead, a new faith other than the one Jesus taught became an alternative religion separate from Biblical Judaism for the foreigner not of the House of Israel. The foreigner who embraced the God of Israel was forbidden to leave Israel. (Isaiah 56:3) “Its hidden identity cannot be seen today because it has grown up but its birth certificate—has never changed. It was meant to be Jewish and shall return home.” (Dr. Tom Bradford, Torah Classroom, Florida, USA)
It is suggested in scripture (Ecclesiastes 2:3, CJSB) that we should seek wisdom and let it guide us. Ecclesiastes (Kohelet, in Hebrew) says “…my object was to find out what was the best thing for people to do during the short time they have under heaven to live.” The best thing to do is to choose rightly. The modern-day church is seeping with humanistic and theological errors, which crept into the church through the kidnappers over time. It did not happen overnight. Ever since the 2nd century Replacement Theology (the main culprit) moved into the heart of the Christian faith after the Jewish Apostles passed from earth. We need a change of our very nature to see the destiny of Israel and to be a part of honoring our true parents from which our faith came into existence.
Lastly, what began an offshoot (a netzer in Hebrew from the original olive tree) was carved into two individual identities. We cannot say we do not need the Jewish people and disappear along with a foreign institution now called “church”. By the way, “the word church is actually an acronym, something that was inserted into the sacred scriptures, which was never there in the original writings.” (Dr. Tom Bradford) Yes, the snatchers were indeed the false prophets of their time, and the doctrines of demons somehow introduced their writings of men to teach Replacement Theology, and they became our church fathers. They may have called themselves Christ lovers but followed “another Jesus” than what the Jews brought to us. (2 Corinthians 11:4) These gentiles namely and including anti-Semites such as Constantine, Marcion, Eusebius, Justin, Polycarp and others. They are not our original forefathers! Our forefathers are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from the twelve tribes of Israel.
Calls for more teaching about our bedrock faith in Jesus (let us try to remember His real name Yeshua) and His real identity will be forthcoming for any disenchanted sheep. “With Muslim militants slitting throats of church goers in Burkina Faso…Christians in Lebanon listen to pro-Hezbollah commentators who tell them “your role as Christians in Lebanon has ended…attacks on Christians in many nations produce story after story of abuses and murders inflicted on those who believe in Jesus and hate for Christians has increased globally…” (Gatestone Institute) It appears the “church” is now reaping what it has sown in some ways…intolerance of the Jews and now they are not tolerated. My heart cries for my brothers and sisters who cannot see the faith of Jesus. Christians in Iran know it and will die for it!
After many centuries of having our faith’s identity stolen, I believe now is the time to get it back. We need to connect to our real family tree. It will require learning about who the Son of man is (Ben Adam in Hebrew) meaning “fully human”. Once we learn about His Manhood, we will see how far the “church” has strayed from its cradle of birth. An evil spirit has been at work to eliminate it and this whole cradle snatching has to be exposed. Child theft is an unauthorized removal of a baby from the custody of the child’s natural parents. Likewise, there is no authorization for believers to break away from or separate from Israel.
Why then, was the faith in its infancy snatched away from the cradle? The hands that robbed the cradle committed a true crime against God, His Word and His People. I believe in defense of our faith; it is time that we examine the kidnappers and the twisting of our faith done through Replacement Theology (which we will do in future lessons). Whether the progenitors of Replacement Theology knew they were in error or they did not know—it is crystal clear they were anti-Semites. We will speak about Antioch at a later time. However, if they had taken the scriptures literally, they would have kept the truth instead of embracing deception. As a Jewish man once told said “why didn’t the Christians embrace the biblical Judaism of Jesus? Jesus told us clearly “salvation is of the Jews”. (John 4:22) If Jesus said the faith is from Israel, which is good enough for me, how about you? I want to choose “life” not lose it.(Deuteronomy 30:19) Don’t you? We will learn more in upcoming teachings. The underlying reasons for why this all happened are legion when it comes to what motivated the hands that robbed the cradle.
Watching for His Return,
Sharon Sanders