People understandably get very confused - and especially new converts - when they see the many different kinds of Christians and Messianics all claiming to be true followers of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). Having been in the ministry now for over two decades and having "seen them all" I can well sympathise with whose who feel confused. How, then, is one to sort out the genuine article from the tainted to the outright false?

In the diagram below I have identified what one might call the 12 'types' of Christian, Messianic and Jew. Of these only 3 of these 12 types are saved, and of these 3, 2 will inherit the first resurrection and live through the Millennium with the third type inheriting the second (an inferior) resurrection at the end of the Millennium. Of the remaining 9, one belongs to the Old Covenant dispensation and no longer applies today and those within it would have been saved before Yahweh the Father transferred all authority to His Son, Yah'shua (Jesus), at the Meridian of Time (about 2,000 years ago). This leaves 8 who claim to be true believers but are not, even though some of them may have begun as true believers. See if you can identify the different cetegories before I tell you a little more about them:

Prior to the comming of Messiah (Christ) salvation was obtained by trusting in Yahweh, our Heavenly Father. The New Testament teaches that the fathers were made right with Elohim (God) by their faith in El Elyon, the Most High one. In response to this faith, they obeyed the Torah or Law (Commandments and Teachings of our Heavenly Father) whether given orally (before Moses) or written down (during the ministry of Moses in the desert wandering of Israel). Thus during the Old Covenant period, souls were made right by their faith in Yahweh and (as a result of their faith) by their works of obedience to Torah (James 2:21-25). This 'faith' or emunah was always considered to be active faith resulting in good deeds produced by that faith. Therefore faith had two components: (1) Trusting in Yahweh, which led to (2) obedience to Yahweh's commandments. This is represented in the diagram here by the core or driving Ruach (Spirit) which is given to those who trust in Yahweh (the red area with the Light) that leads to obedience to Torah (the blue outer area). I have called the Ruach here the 'Levitical Ruach' because that was the Priesthood dispensation which true believers were under.

This Old Covenant Dispensation was phased out gradually from the moment Yah'shua (Jesus) was identified at His baptism as Yahweh's Son and King of Israel and the destruction of the Temple leading to the scattering of the Judahites from the Holy Land, with the pivotal event confirming Yah'shua's new place as both Redeemer (Saviour) as well as King of Israel at Calvary upon the completion of the Atonement. The Old Covenant Dispensation has therefore been at a permanent end since the destruction of the Temple with the only way to access and return to Yahweh the Father being through Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) (John 14:6).

The only souls who are saved are those who have been born again of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) and have an active life IN Christ (Messiah). This means that they must have been completely regenerated at some point and that that regenerative power is still resident within in them. In the 12 categories selected for this study, only three fulfil these criteria (see above). Their common denominator is that the true, biblical Messiah (Christ) is IN them, empowering them to bring forth the fruits of the Ruach haQodesh: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control...all goodness, righteousness, and truth" (Gal.5:22-23; Eph.5:9, NKJV).

Every genuine believer begins in exactly the same way. He starts from ground zero, no matter what he may have believed in before, no matter whether he knew a lot of truth or just a little, no matter whether he did a few good deeds or a lot because no one can be put into right relationship by what he knows or what he does. Our deeds prior to salvation count for nothing in terms of putting us into right relationship with Elohim (God).

The infant or new believer, no matter what he was before, begins as a simple child (son or daughter - before that we were orphans) of the Father through saving faith in the Son. He is, in two words, IN Christ (Messiah). Nothing more, nothing less. What makes Him acceptable to the Father is the Father seeing that the Son is IN him, dwelling in his heart by faith. This is the first and most important teaching of Evangelical Christianity and it is 100% correct, and any system that omits it is false. It doesn't matter whether the one coming to Christ is a Jew, Hindu, Muslim, nominal (unregenerated) Christian, nominal (unregenerated) Messianic, atheist, agnostic, animist, occultist, satanist, wiccan, or whatever because his past is 100% irrelevent spiritually-speaking. He begins totally NEW the day he is born again and his religious or non-religious past counts for absolutely nothing.

The one thus born again can only speak of Christ (Messiah) because there is nothing else of merit in him. This is the core life and existence of every genuine, true believer. The moment this core is substituted for something else, he has ceased being a true, saved believer, and has walked away from his salvation. Should such a soul, who has this true core, die he would automatically go to heaven irrespective of whether he ever did a good deed or not thereafter, whether or not he ever knew about or observed Torah. (see The Thief Who Was Saved: The Truth of Salvation by Grace Revealed).

This stage of salvation is properly called the 'infant stage of salvation' or (for those who have been thus saved for a while), 'salvation past'. Our initial salvation by grace (Yahweh's undeserved loving kindness or unmerited favour) demands a response from us. This is Yahweh's calling to us to live a life of holiness (set-apartness) or holiness in obedience to the commandments. These commandments and teachings of Yahweh, the prophets, Yah'shua and the apostles are called the TORAH, properly-speaking, the New Covenant Torah. At this point, and hereafter, we face a choice: to be obedient or disobedient.

If we choose the path of obedience, we observe the New Covenant Torah, represented in this diagram by a blue ring around the core principle and life of being IN Christ (Messiah). A person who is actively trusting in Yah'shua (Jesus) actively responds by living a Torah lifestyle because this is what pleases Yahweh and maintains our justification by faith. We continue to be made right with Yah'shua by being obedient. This means obeying the Ten Commandments, including observing the seventh day Sabbath, observing Yahweh's weekly, monthly and annual moedim or appointments - the seven festivals, observing Yahweh's dietary laws, etc.. The Bible details the way of life we are expected to live and also tells us to shun man-made traditions. Those who thus trust in Christ and obey the Torah are promised the inheritance of the First Resurrection and will enjoy the glorious one thousand year reign of Yah'shua upon the earth known as the Millennium.

Unfortunately, new believers do not always do as Yahweh tells them, either through no fault of their own (because they have not been taught right) or because they refuse to belief the plain truth of the Bible and rebell against it. They refuse to obey the Torah and prefer to follow pagan traditions which have been taught and practiced from of old.

This page was created on 28 August 2009 Last updated on 28 August 2009

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