R & B DIGEST

In this Note:

The Identity of the People of the Scrolls: And an audio recording of one of their sermons.

The Earliest Complete ‘Christian Sermon’: Audio and references to the Gospel of the Egyptians.

Melchizedek – Circumcised or Not? The Ancient Christians say No, but the Jews say Yes.

You Christians and Your Halloween: A Little Something to Share with your Group.

To view this letter on-line, go to www.netzer.wordpress.com

Sorry for my long absence from your inbox, but life has taken some unexpected changes the last several months.

In case you know Mignon – she is up and about now some, slowly recovering as promised by YHWH, but still very weak.  Please continue to pray for her recovery.

Roots & Branches Study Group is back on schedule:

    7:30 PM Erev Shabat (Friday) Nazorean True Worship

    2:00 PM Shabbat (Saturday) | Roundtable study of Qumran ‘Essenes.’

Location: Tabernacles Ministries Vero Beach, “River Room”

Go to www.yahpop.us for directions and contact info, or just reply to this mail.

You may also reply with ‘remove’ in the subject line.

The Identity of the People of the Scrolls

And a recording of one of their sermons.

In the last two weeks we discussed the “roots” of whatever people stored their valuable scrolls in caves around the Dead Sea.  I am not at all convinced that the sectarians of the scrolls were Essenes; in fact, being as familiar as I am with these texts, I am inclined to believe they were Zealots (sons of Zadok).  Then last week, we discussed an actual sermon included in one of the primary works of the sectarians’ community – The Damascus Document (CD, 4Q266ff).  The sermon is dated by some of the more progressive scholars to 1^st century, with some of the sermon added on after 62 AD.  Can we realize that this date is very important for serious bible students?  Can you imagine why?  Anyway, the sermon is full of characters known only by nick-names – like the Spewing Liar, The Whitewashed, The Shoddy Wall-builders – many more – and many of which we can fairly well recognize even beneath the false names. (Of course, the ability to recognize the characters depends on whether you are dating along with the “consensus scholars” or not.)

Then last week, we actually listened to that famous Sermon from the Damascus Document.  We had some eye-opening moments and some excellent discussion!

Very seldom can one find a non-consensus study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the people of the Scrolls).  But if you have been wanting the off-the-beaten-path tour, then use some of these tools:

The Ancient Sermon from the Damascus Document (CD, Geniza A + B, 4Q266 – 272) – a True names Version

We have been looking at (and listening to) the sermon from the Dead Sea Scrolls’ Damascus Document, which is dated between 150 BC and 50 AD, with the progressive scholars dating it even later - to after 62 AD, (and here is the answer to the query above) the year that the Messiah's brother Ya'aqov (James the Just) was executed by the High Priest Ananus.  According to the progressives, the characters mentioned in the sermon include:

the Teacher of Righteousness, who is James, the brother of the Savior,

the Shoddy-Wall Builders, Whitewashers, and Boundary Shifters, who are the Pharisees,

the Sons of Zadok & Household of Torah, who are the Righteous Priests of Acts 6:7,

and the Spitter of Lies, who is the Apostle Paul (see, for instance, Galatians 1:19,20).

The other characters in this sermon are, from the progressive viewpoint, not so difficult to identify.  Therefore, the sermon is absolutely loaded with Nazorean / Essene concepts that later carry over into the New Testament, related writings, and the practices of the so-called 'Jesus Movement' of 35 - 70 AD.  You can listen to it or read it yourself at

http://www.jacksonsnyder.com/arc/2009/damascus-zadokite-document.htm

The Earliest Complete ‘Christian Sermon’

Next we can make a comparison of the text of the Dead Seas Scrolls introductory sermon and the earliest sermon that actually quotes passages in the New Testament as Scripture.  However, one will be surprised that the quotations, though quite familiar, always seem to have non-canonical twists.  I think this is a great thing, for I’m supposing that the author of this sermon (traditionally known as Second Clement) used either the sacred manuscripts before they were in their final form, or, if Clement actually did this sermons (since he was converted by Barnabas and taught by Peter), remembered the sayings he heard himself.  There is one particular story related in which Peter (Kefa) is a character, and his replies to the Master are far and away from what the ‘bible’ tells us he said. 

So here is another resource. If you listen, please notice that there is absolutely nothing in there about being saved by grace or relying on the love of G-d to get you to the 5^th dimension.  There is one stairway mentioned over and over – WORK!

The Ancient Sermon Attributed to Clement of Rome - First Century AD

Clement was the disciple of Peter (Kefa) and his successor. (Clement’s journal, in which Peter’s travels is the subject, can be found at www.apostolia.us)  Clement’s sermon is on the subject of the believer’s walk of righteousness, and the earliest to use New Testament (or proto-New Testament) citations as though they were Scripture - except Clement’s citations never match up exactly with the New Testament in our possession.  He was certainly using documents earlier than the New Testament and quotations that he personally recorded.  In addition, there are citations from works that did not make the cut of the canonical rule, including (perhaps) The Gospel of Thomas and The Gospel of the Egyptians.  We take for granted that the New Testament descended out of Heaven all ready for believers.  But for the first believers, there was no such thing; sayings were collected and passed orally between groups.  This sermon is dated by scholars to the late 1^st century; some date it as early as 70 AD, since one of the manuscripts was bound in a codex with Clement to the Corinthians, The Epistle of Barnabas, and The Teaching of the Twelve (Didaché).

http://www.jacksonsnyder.com/arc/2009/ancient-sermon-second-clement.htm

Melchizedek – Circumcised?  Or Not?

So while we’re at it, let’s throw in all the ancient sources that tell us about Melchizedek, the priest whom the bible tells us had not descendents or progeny.  So, or course when we look at these ancient commentaries, we must expect right from the first that some bright fellows are arguing as to whether this man (if he was a man or not) had been circumcised or not!  I leave it to you to find the answer to that.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Melchizedek – all from ancient sources and sacred texts.

http://jacksonsnyder.com/arc/2009/melchizedek_in_ancient_sources.htm

You Christians and Your Halloween

THINK! ARE YOU A BIBLICAL OR CULTURAL CHRISTIAN?
 

Consider THE TORAH ONCE AGAIN

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 –

                        your God is herein speaking to you, beloved:

When you arrive in the land the LORD your God is giving you,

                (that is, on YOUR land)

be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations. 

                (the LORD finds the following things detestable)

Never sacrifice your son or daughter.

                (the LORD is speaking of your children and grandchildren.)         

Do not let them practice fortune-telling

                (profess to predict future events, astrology, tarot)

or sorcery,

                (gaining power through the assistance of spirits)

or allow them to interpret omens,

                (demon-inspired signs)

or engage in witchcraft,

                (magic, charms, Wicca, or donning the costume of a witch)

or cast spells,

                (speak magic formulas, go into a trance)

or function as mediums

                (a communicator with illicit spiritual entities)

or psychics,

                (those claiming extra-sensory powers or darkness)

or call forth the spirits of the dead.

                (praying to or parading as those who’ve departed this world)

Anyone who does these things is an object of disgust to the LORD.

Be honest!  Do we think that imitating such as those the Bible calls detestable to the LORD will gain us or our children favor with him?  Consider Halloween – it is the Black Sabbath of Satanism.  The entire theme of Halloween is of darkness, death, fear, threats, hauntings, destruction, spiritual wickedness, demonic possession and evil. 

We “sacrifice our children” to dress them as witches, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, corpses, and evil entities from movies and TV, then send them forth into the street to reenact our pagan ancestors’ rituals and curses.

There are some ten million active Satanists in this nation.  October 31, the “birthday of Satan,” will have thousands of dark rituals, including animal and human sacrifices.  There will be people taking on evil spirits, drinking blood, and raping and murdering children.  Believers in our own town will be cursed and set upon by evil entities.  This is the very nature of the holiday.

You may say, “Well, it’s all just fun and we don't take it seriously.”  But your enemy the devil takes it seriously and, according to his word, so does your Heavenly Father.   Shouldn’t you?

When the church that He purchased with His precious blood builds houses of horror and pagan ritual on its properties so that the little lambs entrusted to its care may be opened up to foul, invading spirits of the enemy: O, how much Father grieves in His disgust and horror! 

In the Scripture, Jackson Snyder