Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and may the grace of our Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) grace this assembly with His presence and with His Davar (Word) as we return to an urgent theme that is symptomatic of our times: the problem of false doctrine.

It's a problem that faces the Messianic Community (Church) in every generation though each generation seems to be served a fresh set of lies in order to deflect the Body from the Emet (Truth) and into yet more theological chaos. At a time of political, social and economic collapse, where people are desperately clutching onto anything that would save them and their families for destruction, the Enemy is particularly active in offering false hope by means of carnal promises calculated to appeal to either racial pride or a sense of racial victimisation.

Those whom operate in the Ruach (Spirit) know without a shadow of a doubt that we moving toward the end of the end-times and that judgment is taking place in the House of Elohim (God) where it must start before going out into the world:

"For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of Elohim (God); and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the besorah (gospel) of Elohim (God)?" (1 Peter 4:17, NKJV).

Part of this judgment is conducted viâ Yahweh's human messengers or nasi'im, His nevi'im or prophets. All that's happening now in the world is because judgment is first coming to the churches and messianic assemblies. Part of the responsibility of persons like myself and others is to bring such judgment. Today we must judge a false teaching that is misleading many of Yahweh's children. This judgment is upon false nasim.

The worldwide web, which contains both life-saving materials as well as everything that can be found out of the cesspilt of hell, is now used by a huge segment of the planet as a source of readily available and free information. For those seeking for the emet (truth) it can be an even more daunting library of data to work through than books.

One of our rôles and callings has been to provide a reliable database of emet (truth) to spare seekers years of trawling through dirt for just a few grains of light.

A major part of the problem that the last generation faces is that it has been deliberately dumbed down by so-called public education establishments so that it can no longer think critically or logically. Governments prefer to spoon-feed the people what amounts to little more than propaganda. People have lost the ability to think in any kind of meaningful way. One of our jobs, then, is to help seekers to think for themselves and to apply the Scriptures intelligently and in the manner for which they were intended by the Creator.

I wonder if you are one of those people like myself who uses online social media like Facebook where you are constantly being bombarded with information of every kind? I trawl through the many posts I get each day for useful information to add to, and comment on, our website.

One such image, accompanied by text, particularly caught my eye a few days ago not because it was useful but because it contained so much false information and so many non sequiturs concentrated into one short paragraph of fourteen statements. It's purpose was to convince believers and unbelievers of every race that the black people were Yahweh's true Israel and that the 'white' Jews were a counterfeit. I thought I would share that paragraph with you today to illustrate how easy it is to twist scriptures. I am doing this not to vindicate 'Jewish' or 'white' claims - those of you who know me know that I have no racist agenda whatsoever - but to spare black people yet one more lie and set of disappointments should they be persuaded to follow the claims of the so-called 'Black Hebrew Heritage' movement.

As we go through this list, we need to bear in mind certain things so as not to confuse issues:

• 1. Modern Jews are not all 'white' - they are from every race under the sun: white, olive, brown, yellow and black;

• 2. Modern European and American Jews come from two distinct lines - Ashkenazi or East European Jews, the majority of whom are of Japhethite or Khazar origin, and Sephardi (Western) - both of these have different skin tones from 'white' to 'olive' - for a full account of the history of these people, see Jewish author Benjamin Freedman's book, The Truth About the Khazars; and

• 3. Modern English translations of the Bible confuse the biblical descendants of Judah, known as Yehudi or Judahites, with the citizens of the now defunct political entity called Judea (Judeans), and with the modern designation 'Jew', the terms being wrongly used interchangeably - for a full explanation of this linguistic anomaly, please see, What is a Jew?.

Let us now look through this pamphlet entitled Paralleling the So-Called Jewish People vs. the Biblical Israelites statement by statement. I shall give a commentary after each one.

• 1. The Israelite nations come from the line of Shem (Gen.11) - True. So do the Ishmaelite Arabic nations, which makes them Shemites or Semites like the Israelites. Those who are anti-Arab may therefore accurately be called anti-Semites. It should be pointed out that the Arabs are not black people but white- or olive-skinned;

• 2. The Caucasian race came down from the sons of Japheth (Ashkenaz) - False. This cannot be established with any degree of certainty. However, there is plenty of evidence that the Hebrews were a mixture of white- and olive-skinned people owing to the four wives of Jacob. The painting below from the tomb of Egyptian King Set I shows a white-skinned, dark-haired and blue-eyed Hebrew captive wearing the recognisable and distinctive tzitzit or tassels (second from the right). Notice that the Syrian (first from the left) is also white, the Syrians being Semites too, and that the other two captive peoples - dark brown and black - did not, like the non-covenant Syrian, wear tzitzit:

• 3. The Israelites are similar in appearance to the Ethiopian people (Amos 9:7) - False. This passage is not describing the physical appearance or skin colour of Israelites but is comparing their spiritual state to the-then spiritual state of the pagan Ethiopians of north-east Africa: "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith Yahweh. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?" (Amos 9:7, KJV). The children of Israel, instead of relying on their Torah-obedient conduct to make them right with Yahweh, had rather been boasting and been confident that Yahweh would accept them purely on the basis of their being descended from Abraham, the Prince of Elohim (God), just as the Pharisees would later do in Yah'shua's (Jesus') day when He exposed them for their religious hypocrisy. The comparison is of apostate Israel who was now as remote from the knowledge and grace of Yahweh as pagan Ethiopia or Cush. This obvious plain sense or p'shat of Scripture is recognised by all modern translations: "Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites?" (Amos 9:7, NIV). In terms of salvation, they are now no different. Indeed, the Ethiopians were so resistant to the emet (truth) that they became proverbial: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil" (Jer.13:23, NIV). So here we have an another example of scripture-twisting by a representative of the Black Hebrew community;

• 4. The Ashkenazi Jews (Jewish nation today) are White resembling the Gentiles who was prophesied to dwell in the lands of Israel (Gen.9:27 and Gen.10:1-5) - False. Based on the Scriptures and historical evidence we have examined dealing with physical appearance alone, the Ashkenazi Jews have a better claim to Israelite descent than the so-called 'Black Hebrews'! However, skin-colour is really irrelevent since in both the Old and the New Covenants every race, tribe, kindred and tongue was, and is, admissable to Israel, both pre-Messianic and Messianic, all distinctions between peoples being erased in Yahweh's eyes. Thus the New Testament speaks of a black Ethiopian believer in Acts 8:27-40 who, as a son of Torah, was on his way up to Jerusalem to observe one of the feasts of Israel whom the apostle Philip converted and baptised;

• 5. Biblical Israel would experience a captivity where by they would be taken by way of ships (Deut.28:68) - False. "Yahweh will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you" (Deut.28:68, NIV). This is interpreted by 'Black Hebrews' to be a reference of the transport by ships of African slaves to both the Old and New Worlds.

  In order to 'fit' this passage into their pre-conceived doctrine, they must make Egypt symbolic rather than literal, for which there is no warranty because the Egypt of this later captivity is being compared to the literal Egypt of the original captivity prior to the liberation through Moses. Besides, their was no lack of willingness on the part of the estate owners on the New World and elsewhere to buy slaves, was there? And yet this passage states that "no one will buy you". Indeed, these Hebrews will be regarded as so accursed of Yahweh and so worthless that not only would no one purchase or employ them as slaves, shunning them in everything, but they would fail in trying to sell themselves! The use of "ships" under voluntary, self-imposed captivity is being used as a comparison with the supernatural way Israel under Moses was conveyed (often reluctantly) across the sea by the supernatual parting of the waves to underscore the 'naturalness' of this second exile which has no rescuing hand of Elohim (God) in it. It is quite possible that this scripture has not been fulfilled yet, referring perhaps to a Great Tribulation scenario. Though many thousands of Judahites were sold into slavery and sent into Egypt by Roman Emperor Titus, and also under Hadrian, when numbers were sold at Rachel's grave, there is no evidence that they could not be sold or that they sold themselves.

• 6. The So-called Jewish people were taken [captive] by way of train - True. But so what?n All that establishes is that Deuteronomy 28:68 cannot apply to the 20th century Jewish Holocaust - it in no way helps establish the claims of the 'Black Hebrew' movement;

• 7. The Israelites were to be taken to a far land where they would not understand the language (Deut.28:49) - True. "Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land Yahweh your Elohim (God) is giving you" (Deut.28:49-52, NIV).

  This passage is universally understood to be describing Israel's captivity under the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and in a degree to other nations also whom Yahweh raised up as ministers of vengeance upon apostate Israel, such as the Medes. There are those who also believe that the complete fulfilment of this prophecy, as recorded by Josephus, took place in the wars of Vespasian and Titus against Judah. Indeed, the Roman "eagle" is hinted at in Deuteronomy 28:49. Whether you believe the prophecy was fulfilled by one or more of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians or Romans at different stages of Israelite and Judahite history is not as important as the fact that this can in no way be referring to African slaves in the English- or Spanish-speaking New World which would have been alien to them (or Arabic when carted off by Muslim slavers) but rather to the real Hebrews taken into captivity in the Middle East and Roman Empires.

• 8. The So-called Jewish people went from Poland right next door to Russia and kept their names and language - True/False. Polish and Russian are both Slavic languages and whilst Poles retained their language they were perfectly well able to understand Russian, just as Norwegians, Swedes and Danes can understand one another, and as Hebrews and Aramaens were able to understand each other anciently, because their languages were closely related;

• 9. The Most High said that Israel's slavery would last approximately 400 years (Gen.15:13) - True. That is the length of time they spent in Egypt, between 400 and 430 years;

• 10. The Jewish people never experienced a 400 year slavery in their history EVER - False. The Jews experienced dhimmitude under the Ottoman Turks for well over four centuries and lived through pogroms and persecution in both the Polish and Russians Empires for over four centuries. In Lithuania alone they experienced persecution from 1527 (when they were first banished from Wilno/Vilna/Vilnius) until the end of the Nazi occupation in Europe in 1944.

• 11. It was said that over 100 million Israelites were murdered in the Hebrew Holocaust (Deut.28:62) - False. This passage is not talking about a premeditated 'holocaust' or 'extermination' confined to one particular period of time. Rather: "If you do not carefully follow all the words of this Torah (Law), which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name -- Yahweh your Elohim (God) -- Yahweh will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. Yahweh will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Torah (Law), until you are destroyed. You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey Yahweh your Elohim (God). Just as it pleased Yahweh to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess" (Deut.28:58-63, NIV).

  Presumably the number "100,000" was either picked out of a hat or was 'deduced' from the number of stars visible to the naked eye in the night sky. Everyone's eyes differ, of course, but an average figure of around 6,000 visible stars is generally considered as the most reasonable number but with only half, or 3,000, being visible from any single point on earth. The 'Black Hebrew' author is, however, trying to point out that this passage does not fit the Jewish Holocaust of the 20th Century, though I doubt any Jew - if he believed this passage to be referring to him - would for one moment try to make that comparison. Rather, he would claim that vast numbers of his people had died from illnesses over the centuries and he could not be faulted for saying that. The same could, of course, be applied to African slaves who died in horrendous numbers while being transported over the ocean to America. The African slave trade in the New World began in the 1500's and ended in 1864, a period of around 300 years. I mention this because most on the 'Black Hebrew' movement do not believe that all Africans are Hebrews but only those taken to the New World [1], so naturally they would wish to link the length of the American slave trade with the Exodus. Arab slavers were trading black Africans from the earliest times and for a far longer period.

• 12. The So-called Jews recorded 6 million (which was and exaggerated number) - True. But again irrelevent for the reasons given above. No intelligent Jew would exclusively attribute the large numbers who were prophesied to perish to just the Nazi Holocaust which was principally about murder and not disease anyway. But we must remember that this prophecy concerns a small remnant of authentic Torah-obedient Israelites, the rest having died off over a very long period of time because of their lack of faithfulness and obedience in consequence of a breach of Covenant. You could apply this 'Black Hebrew' thinking to almost anyone today who is attempting to be Torah-obedient.

• 13. The Biblical Hebrews would end up being the tail and not the head, and would borrow from other nations but won't borrow from them (Deut.28:13 and Deut.28:44) - True. "Yahweh will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. Yahweh will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of Yahweh your Elohim (God) that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom...The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail" (Deut.28:12-13,43-44, NIV).

  This is indeed an interesting set of Scriptures which can be twisted in all kinds of ways. They're actually a double-edged sword. The argument advanced by the 'Black Hebrews' is since the modern Jews are so rich and successful, lending but not borrowing, this is proof that they are the "aliens" or "foreigners" living amongst the true [Black] Hebrews who are poor and now "the tail" because they are in apostacy, whereas long ago they were "the head". If the 'Black Hebrews' are claiming the Jews are counterfeit because they are so prosperous, then that proves that they themselves are in apostacy, hardly a good advertisement - that's why I said this was potentially a double-edged sword prophecy.

  But there are other problems with this passage. The Jews cannot remotely be said to be "foreigners" or "aliens" in a land of black people. Where in the world today is their a black country where Jews are the "head" in terms of lending money? The only country in the world where Jews have such a disproportionately huge influence is America, which is basically a white-ruled nation with a large black minority. The context of the prophecy is in any case not America but the Land of Israel - the Promised Land. Whereas black people most definitely have their own countries in Africa and in some other places like the Caribbean islands, this cannot be said of America which is Amerindian in origin and European by colonisation. Even if you tried to apply the United States to this prophecy (which I don't think you can), then the relationship between European Americans and Jewish immigrants far better fits the pattern, particularly now with all the homelessness and destitution in the land.

• 14. The scriptures say that the So-called Jews would be rich (Deut.28:33) - True. "A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labour produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days" (Deut.28:32-33, NIV). The only country in the world that could remotely approach this prophecy, if the black Africans are the authentic Hebrews, is South Africa, where there are plenty of rich whites in the minority and lots of poor blacks in the majority. But no majority of 'whites' is claiming to be "Israel", only a few extreme fringe groups like 'British Israel'.

The plain facts of the matter is the claims of the 'Black Hebrews' are wholly disjunctive with the plain sense of the Scriptures quoted as 'Black Hebrew' proof texts. You can read about other 'Black Hebrew' proof-texts in What Colour is Yahweh? Black Hebrew Israelites and Others and Who Were the Egyptians? Exposing the Shoddy Scholarship of the So-Called Black 'Hebrew Israelites'.

This ministry does not dispute that the blood of Israel is to be found among black people...and white, olive, brown and yellow people too. That's because Yahweh went to all the trouble of mixing the seed of Abraham with all the nations of the earth to in part, I suspect, preclude all this racist nonsense. The Judahite leaders prided themselves in their race and were strongly rebuked by Yah'shua (Jesus) as we must rebuke 'Black Hebrew' leaders and their equally racist 'White Hebrew' counterparts.

The bottom line for all those who truly submit to the teachings of Scripture is that there is neither male nor female, black nor white, Jew not Gentile when it comes to being in right relationship in Messiah. What matters to Yahweh is whether you are trusting in His Son with a right lev (heart) and obeying His mitzvot (commandments) or not, and one of those mitzvot (commandments) is to treat people alike, esteeming them better than yourself (Phil.2:3). How can a believer esteem other believers higher than himself if he believes he belongs to an exclusive genetic 'caste' or club - be it Black American, White Aryan, Jewish or anything else?

The bottom line is that we are made a part of Israel not by our DNA, not by our skin colour, not by our culture, nor through the defunct Old Covenant, but only through our emunah (faith, trusting) in Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) for salvation that also leads to Torah-obedience - which is the New Covenant [2]. What our ancestors did or did not do, or how they looked in the mirror, is immaterial to our salvation or final status in the heavenlies.

Yahweh is good and favours none but the righteous over the wicked, the true over the false, the faithful over the faithless. No one can claim special entitlements from Him based on lineage or race because all are His children - the only thing that divides us is whether we are in Him and His Emet (Truth) or not. The Children of Israel are not a race but a covenantal fellowship of overcomers and are known for their toil and service, perseverance, discernment, consistency in good works, hatred of priestcraft, endurance in tribulation and blasphemy from false believers, temporal poverty, firmness in holding to Elohim's (God's) Name (Yahweh) and Torah, faithfulness in adhering to the Besorah (Gospel) of Messiah under persecution, ahavah (love), patience and all that is declared praiseworthy by the Father. In all of this Yahweh is colour-blind and racially indifferent. So must we be.

If you are involved in any supremacist or ethnic identity movement you are running counter to the spirit of our Heavenly Father. We are all by birth of the Adamic Race and we can either choose to be of the first Fallen Adam or the last Risen one (1 Cor.15:45) by resurrection. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] Some anti-German Jewish commentators like Yair Davidy have also reached a similarly silly conclusion about the Germans, claiming that the true 'Israelite Germans' emmigrated to the USA leaving all the bad 'Assyrian Germans' to commit all the attrocities under Adolph Hitler
[2] Not, as many messianics claim, a 'Renewed' [Old] Covenant: "In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first ('Old' Covenant) obsolete" (Heb.8:13, NKJV). You can't 'renew' something that's "obsolete" - it's 'brand new'. For those confused between 'covenant' and 'law', please study the book, Covenants of Promise on our website