My purpose today is to revolutionise our thinking about circumcision, not that what I have to share with you is by any means 'new'. The revolution comes with not so much in presenting you with a new revelation but with restoring an ancient truth that has been concealed by centuries of lies in Judaism. This will be a painful emet or truth for many of you hearing or listening to me today. It will make this ministry even more unpopular (how unpopular, one wonders, can one get!) But there will be those for whom this will be both a release and a time for celebration. The emet or truth always sets the honest soul free (Jn.8:32).

I will come straight to the point and then explain it in greater depth. The way the Jews (and that includes Messianics of all stripes) have been circumcising their males is not only completely wrong but it is an abomination. The apostle Sha'ul (Paul) does not mince his words about them when he calls them "dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh (katatome)" (Phil.3:2, NIV). Today we are going to expose a golden calf, a sacred cow, an idol of such monstrous dimensions that you will either be utterly amazed and shocked and desire to repent in sackcloth or you will be filled with demonic rage and want to obliterate every word I have said today...and possibly even me. That is as it may be. We, for one, refuse to shirk the truth, or tip-toe around false sensitivities. Sometimes we need shocking to awaken us. That will be my task today, not so that you can go 'oooh' or 'aaah' at what I say but so that you may give glory to the Most High. The bottom line is that we wish to honour Him.

This teaching today will, obviously, have a lot to say about the male organ and I will be sharing diagrams and sculptures with you, but no real pictures of the actual article, I hasten to add. I say this in case you might be offended by such images and talk, and decide you don't want to see or hear this. Certainly this article is not for minors so if you are 'under age', you should leave now. I do hope that most of you will remain and hear me out, though. Once this has been said, it won't, I hope, ever be necessary to go into this topic again other than to clarify anything I may do less than perfectly today because of the constraints of time.

The rite of circumcision is not mentioned in the Scriptures before the 17th chapter of the Book of Genesis. Here we learn the following:

"And Elohim (God) said to Abraham: 'As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting (aeon-abiding) covenant. And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant" (Gen.17:9-14, NKJV).

Circumcision was one of the terms of the Abrahamic Covenant: the foreskins of all males were to be removed when they were eight days old, this being the period of time when the blood clotting agents were most active, thereby reducing the risk of uncontrolled bleeding. Circumcision was not mandated for females, ever. Indeed, as we will presently see, female circumcision is not even biologically possible. That which calls itself 'female circumcision' in East Africa and and elsewhere, and clinically known as 'clitorectomy', is, quite simply, the total surgical removal or amputation of the parallel female organ - it is mutilation, and has absolutely no basis whatsoever in the Bible. It is an an abomination.

Some generations later, Moses' hesitation in performing this ritual nearly cost him his life. It certainly angered his wife Zipporah who in a moment of uncontrolled anger, took matters into her own hands, performed the ritual on their son herself, breaking sacred tavnith (pattern) and toqef (authority) and possibly even injuring the boy:

"And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that Yahweh met [Moses] and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet, and said, 'Surely you are a husband of blood to me!' So He let him go. Then she said, 'You are a husband of blood!' -- because of the circumcision" (Ex.4:24-26, NKJV).

It is not clear what exactly went on here but reading between the lines, it seems Moses wanted to perform the circimcision and Zipporah the Midianite, his wife, was opposed, suggesting that this ritual was not practiced amongst her people, and that she was, in consequence, appalled by it. Seemingly, Moses dallied, not wishing to upset his wife unnecessarily, in consequence of which Yahweh reminded him of his covenant obligation and finally threatened to end his life if he kept on delaying the very clear instruction given to Abraham. Pressing the matter on his wife with a view to getting the circumcision performed, she exploded in rage and did it herself, presumably making a bloody mess of it. And that is all that is said about the matter. What was important for the sacred record was that it was done.

The requirement to circumcise all males was reiterated in the Torah to Moses for the whole congregation of Israel:

"Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'If a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised''" (Lev.12:1-3, NKJV).

Any "stranger", that is, non-Israelite, wanting to observe Pesach or the Passover had to be circumcised (Ex.12:48). It was the sign of being an Israelite and that is why it has such enormous significance amongst Jews today. It is a matter of identity. Not that they are the only ones to practice circumcision anciently or today, for that matter, other nations and religions did too.

It is a matter of considerable interest to me, as I am sure to you, that Yahweh would want to mark his people in this particular way. Why this physical mark? And why the removal of the end skin of the male organ in particular? Why no equivalent marking on females? And perhaps the most important question of all - what does this ordinance signify spiritually since every ordinance and ritual commanded by Yahweh always has a spiritual meaning to which the ordinance is pointing? Knowing that men and women would ask these questions, Yahweh early on gave us an important clue as to the purpose of circumcision:

"Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your lev (heart) and be stiff-necked no longer" (Deut.10:16, NKJV).

"Yahweh your Elohim (God) will circumcise your lev (heart) and the lev (heart) of your descendants, to love Yahweh your Elohim (God) with all your lev (heart) and with all your soul, that you may live" (Deut.30:6, NKJV).

"Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your levathot (hearts)" (Jer.4:4, NKJV).

The ordinance of circumcision is not so much a mark for everyone to see (since one does not go parading the male organ in public as one might do tzitzit) as it is a reminder to the one who has it that what Yahweh wants is ultimately and pre-eminently a circumcised lev (heart). And since you cannot literally "circumcise your lev (heart)", the summum bonum of this mitzvah commandment is that each male in Israel pay especial attention to his inward life so that he can have authentic chayim or life - that he "may live". What matters to Yahweh the most is what happens inside because it's only the inside - your spirit - which is going to heaven. Yes, you will get an immortal resurrected physical body at some point but it won't be quite like the mortal one you have now. What is inside determines the nature of your resurrection anyway.

When true religion starts exiting the heart and becomes mere formalism, the outer becomes more and more emphasised. There is, indeed, hardly an original biblical doctrine or practice that has not, somewhere along the line, first been tweeked, then altered, and finally mutilated beyond all recognition. Man, inspired by the enemy, is forever tampering with Yahweh's emet (truth) and trying to 'better' it. Even Eve wasn't satisfied with the hundreds of types of tree and fruit in the garden...she just had to have the one that Yahweh had forbidden. Obedience is not, therefore, man's strongest point. He becomes "stiff-necked" (prideful), self-willed, stubborn, obstinate and finally outright rebellious. By Yah'shua's (Jesus') day the religious leaders were already trying to elevate themselves above the masses, even lengthening their tzitzits or tassels to such an absurd degree that they dragged them behind themselves on the ground like a bridal train.

There is only one form of circumcision in the Bible and it is called milah. The ordinance or ritual of circumcision is called B'rit Milah or 'Circumcision Covenant'. The commandment in the bible is very plain - the 'orah or foreskin is to be removed. 'Foreskin' (literally, 'in front of skin) means the bit of skin in front of the male organ - the bit that is sticking beyond the head. This was what all male Israelites had to have removed to enter the covenant. It did not require taking the whole prepuce off that covers the glans or 'head' as is practiced in Judaism, Messianic Judaism and as is common even the default medical practice in the United States! This kind of 'circumcision' is known amongst the Jews as Periah. The diagram below shows the correct and false methods of circumcision:

Circumcision the way it is done today, is less than two thousand years old. Until 140 AD circumcision was always done the biblical way, by removing the literal foreskin, not the prepuce. This change was made in Judaism so that no Jew could possibly appear to be an uncircumcised Greek. A radical new procedure called periah was introduced by the rabbis in which not only the foreskin was removed to the tip of the head but stripped away from the glans too. This painful procedure is known in contemporary medical parlance as synechotomy and it entails high risks. A tremendous amount danger to health is entailed in this procedure, even using modern medical techniques, that include urethral fistula, urinary tract infection, transected gland (with the risk of losing the head of the male organ), a permanently bent organ, and numerous sexual problems later on. Sometime skin grafting is required afterwards and sometimes the total loss of the male organ occurs - the organ is simply reduced to a bloody pulp after the attempt to separate the prepuce from the glans is made. Perhaps this is what happened to Zipporah's son. Arterial hemmorhaging is a real danger that can lead to uncontrolled bleeing and death, various deformities, and scarring leading to dysfunction and impotence. The list goes on and on. Hundreds die each year from periah 'circumcision'. If you want to research this more, check out the websites at the end of this devotional that expose the medical dangers and cruelty of periah mutilation.

Anciently Hellenised Jews (the Pondus Judaeus) attempted to recover their lost foreskins by stretching it back over the glans which lessened the ugly appearance of the bare exposed 'circumcised' organ. This successful restorative procedure was known by the Greek word epipasm meaning 'rolling inward'. The third stage of ritual circumcision, known as the Messisa or Metzitzah, was not introduced until the Talmudic period (500-625 AD) in which the mohel (ritual circumciser) sucks blood from the male organ of the 'circumcised' infant with his mouth. Many a Jewish baby has died from this procedure because of infection. Accordingly, in some Jewish circles, a glass tube is sometimes inserted. Reform Judaism rightly regards periah 'circumcision' as a cruel and barbaric practice and so declared in Frankfurt in 1843 that it was no longer necessary.

Believers in Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) not only rejected periah mutilation in the first century but declared it to be a part of the Old Covenant and fulfilled in Messiah. Accordingly it was rejected at the Council of Jerusalem (Ac.15) and the apostle Paul clearly taught parents that they should not circumcise their children by any method, whether the false Talmudic periah one or the true biblical milah one (Ac.21:25). Paul specifically warned Titus of beware of the "circumcision group" (Tit.1:10-16).

Most Messianics uncritically accept both circumcision in general as well as the Talmudic periah mutilation. They assume, wrongly, that the Jews have 'got it right'. The modern use of Hebrew circumcision as a medicalised practice dates from about 1865 in England and about 1870 in the USA. The procedure accepted for medical use essentially was the Jewish periah. Moscucci reports that circumcision was imposed in an attempt to prevent masturbation. No scientific studies were carried out to determine the efficacy and safety of circumcision prior to its introduction into medical practice, nor were any studies conducted to determine the social effects of imposing genital alteration surgery on a large portion of the population. South Koreans started to circumcise children during the American trusteeship following World War II. The American cultural practice of circumcision became nearly universal in South Korea after the Korean War of 1950-52 which is how it came into general use in that country.

Ask any American about circumcision and he or she will usually tell you that it is a healthy thing to do. However, in 1949, Gairdner wrote that circumcision was medically unnecessary and non-beneficial, and contraindicated because of complications and deaths.The British National Health Service (NHS) deleted non-therapeutic neonatal circumcision from the schedule of covered procedures in 1950. The incidence of neonatal circumcision in the United Kingdom declined sharply to a very low level after publication of this article after the procedure was delisted by the NHS.

America waited another 20 years before addressing the problem of non-therapeutic circumcision. The Journal of the American Medical Association published an influential landmark article by Dr. E. Noel Preston, Captain, MC, USAF. Dr.Preston established that there is no therapeutic or prophylactic benefit to circumcision. He also cited "undesirable psychologic, sexual, and medico-legal difficulties." Influenced by Preston, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in 1971, issued a statement that "[t]here are no valid medical indications for circumcision in the neonatal period." This marked the beginning of the end of America's infatuation with male circumcision. The incidence of male neonatal circumcision in the U.S. peaked in 1971 and began a slow decline that continues to the present day. Today about 55% of males are circumcised in the USA and the numbers are declining. (For more medical data and references, see the article History of Circumcision). About 230 infants die from periah 'circumcision' each year in the USA alone.

Yahweh's milah circumcision method entailed no such risks as I have described today and, moreover, provided no opportunity for 'boasting' since in terms of appearance it was not easy to tell whether someone had been circumcised or not. It simply required integrity on the part of the fathers to have it performed, Yahweh knowing whether it had been done or not. Today all forms of circumcision are useless:

"Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of Elohim (God) is what matters" (1 Cor.7:18-19, NKJV).

Why, then, some Messianics argue, did Paul have Timothy circumcised if it was of no value? That was a political/social move, to allow him (as a half gentile) to move in Jewish circles. Whether that was a revelation or Paul's personal opinion and counsel I cannot say. What is important is that now "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all" (Col.3:11, NKJV). Note that well - there are now no longer "circumcised" and "uncircumcised" - the issue is totally irrelevent.

Some of you may be familiar with the famous sculpture of David by Michaelangelo, one of the greatest artists and sculptors of all time, as well as a man conversant in both scripture and science. He would have been aware of the biblical practice of circumcision at 8 days and that David, like Yah'shua (Jesus), was circumcised.

He would be no prude either and would have wanted to represent the friend of Elohim (God) in as correct as manner as possible. A close inspection of the carving of David's male organ will immediately reveal that David was circumcised but not by the periah method but by biblical milah, showing his glans covered with only the tip showing. (See James E. Peron, Ed.D, Circumcision: Then and Now).

Do not be deceived by the lies and ignorance that surround circumcision both as to its practical method and as to its theology in the New Covenant. The Jewish method of periah is not only unbiblical but also plain wicked - it has killed, injured, maimed and rendered impotent countless numbers of men. It is every bit as wicked at cliterectomy in women. And there are no medical benefits to it whatsoever - this is just a myth. DO NOT BE TEMPTED INTO HAVING A JEWISH PERIAH CIRCUMCISION! It's just pointless mutilation and you are risking your health and love-life, and possibly even your life. Worst of all, it is cruel and traumatic to babies - such barbarity was never in the heart of our Heavenly Father any more than cliterectomy was.

A final thought, and that concerns ritual blood-letting. Whatever Yahweh commands is kosher (clean) and tov (good). Under the Old Covenant circumcision was kosher and tov. But under the New Covenant, where no blood letting is commanded any longer, Yah'shua (Jesus) being our final blood offering, ritual blood-letting is inviting the demonic into your life by giving it legal grounds. Think of the consequences of circimcising a whole nation not under a covenant from Yahweh to do so. The Muslim world does it (where it is called khitán or khatma. The United States and South Korea do it (the Talmudic periah way). And most Jews do it.

If you are already circumcised then just leave it, Paul says - pray over your circumcision and ask the blood of Messiah to annul any ungodly covenants that were made in connection with it. If you have not been circumcised, stay that way. If remaining in circumcision is painful, there are ways of regrowing the foreskin. Just remember that circumcision has no spiritual value whatsoever and that periah mutilation is an abomination. In this ministry we accept people the way they are, just as Paul said, because it doesn't matter any more, but any claim that we need to be circumcised we vigirously oppose on both medical and religious ground. As for periah and cliterectomy, we believe it should be banned for infants and children - if adult men want to mutilate themselves, that is up to them.

May you find shalom (peace) in this revelation of emet (truth) and spread the word - Christians and Messianics do not need to be circumcised and periah is barbaric mutilation. Rather, seek the original spiritual purpose to which physical circumcision was designed to point, namely, purity of lev or heart. Selah!

Further Reading

[1] Numerous articles and sermons on Circumcision in the nccg.org archive

Resources Links

[1] National Organization to Halt the Abuse of Routine Mutilation in Males
[2] Circumcision Information and Resources Page
[3] Circumtitions
[4] A Short History of Circumcision in the U.S