the nt messiah: hidden history revealed

Hidden History Revealed

What is the New Testament?

The Gentile Conversion & The Council of Nicaea

Followers of the Way

Accounts of Yahusha (Jesus) outside of the Bible

Hidden History Program Download

To provide objective evidence and sources to show

the historicity of the New Testament writings and the man Yahusha.

Build a basic foundation and reference points to provide a case for those who are Messianic to have concrete faith rather than dogmatic belief.

This is not to convert anyone to believe in the Messiah, but rather to give people an objective understanding of the difference between a Messianic Hebrew and a Christian.

Objectives

Judaism/Jews: (The Yahudim who DID NOT believe in the Messiah and followed

the traditions of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Combined the ORAL LAW (The Talmud with the Torah) Writers now mostly refers to the Yahudi as Jewish.

Christians: (Mostly comprised of EUROPEAN and OTHER NATION Converts. The Romans called the Yahudi who followed the Way Christians initially, because they followed who they referred to as a So called Yahudi Savior (Christ means Savior in Greek). Grew in number after the Yahudim (Jews) was expelled from Rome under Claudius for 5 years, and started to separate from Torah.)

Followers of the Way: (Yahudim and other Israelites who believed in the Messiah and followed Torah. They was not accepted by the Yahudi nor the Christians) Writers now mostly refer to them as Jewish Christains. Acts 9:1,2 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the

Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

PRELIMINARY THOUGHT Reading In Between the Lines

PRELIMINARY THOUGHTThe Titus Arch in Rome


What was/is considered the Scriptures?

The Torah

The Tanak

Josephus On What is Scripture

We have but twenty-two [books] containing the history of all time, books that are justly believed in; and of these, five are the books of Moses, which comprise the law and earliest traditions from the creation of mankind down to his death. From the death of Moses to the reign of Artaxerxes, King of Persia, the successor of Xerxes, the prophets who succeeded Moses wrote the history of the events that occurred in their own time, in thirteen books. The remaining four documents comprise hymns to God and practical precepts to men (William Whiston, trans., Flavius Josephus against Apion, Vol. 1, in Josephus, Complete Works,Grand Rapids, Kregel, 1960, p. 8).


What does the NT consist of?

Four narratives of the life, teaching, death and resurrection of the Messiah, called "gospels" (or "good news" accounts);

A narrative of the Apostles' ministries in the early church, called the "Acts of the Apostles", and probably written by the same writer as the Gospel of Luke, which it continues;

Twenty-one letters, often called "epistles" in the biblical context, written by various authors; and

An Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, which is a book of prophecy, containing some instructions to seven local congregations of Asia Minor, but mostly containing prophetical symbolism, about the end times.


What is the New Testament? Timeline

According to Raymond Brown, Introduction to the New Testament [New York: Doubleday, 1997]

What is the New Testament? The Canon

Canon Vs. Collecting One thing must be emphatically stated.

The New Testament books did not become authoritative for the Church because they were formally included in a canonical list; on the contrary, the Church included them in her canon because she already regarded them as divinely inspired, recognizing their innate worth and generally apostolic authority, direct or indirect. The first ecclesiastical councils to classify the canonical books were both held in North Africa-at Hippo Regius in 393 and at Carthage in 397-but what these councils did was not to impose something new upon the Christian communities but to codify what was already the general practice of these communities (F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1960, p. 27).

What is the New Testament? Canon

The formation of the New Testament canon began in the early part of the second century A.D. The earliest list was drawn up in Rome, in A.D. 140, by the heretic Marcion. Although his list was not authoritative, it did demonstrate that the idea of a New Testament canon was accepted at that time. (Blue Letter Bible Article: The Canon of Scripture)

Diatessaron, the four New Testament Gospels compiled as a single narrative by Tatian about AD 150. It was the standard Gospel text in the Syrian Middle East until about AD 400, when it was replaced by the four separated Gospels. Quotations from the Diatessaron appear in ancient Syriac literature, but no ancient Syriac manuscript now exists. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

The Gospel of the Ebionites

The surviving fragments derive from a gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels, composed in Greek with various expansions and abridgments reflecting the theology of the writer. Distinctive features include the absence of the virgin birth and of the genealogy of Yahusha (Jesus); an Adoptionist Christology, in which Jesus is chosen to be God's Son at the time of his Baptism; the abolition of the Jewish sacrifices by Jesus; and an advocacy of vegetarianism (REMEMBER MESSIANICS BELIEVE YAHUSHA WAS THE SACRIFCE).

Vielhauer & Strecker 1991, pp. 166–71; p. 168 – "Jesus' task is to do away with the 'sacrifices'. In this saying (16.4–5), the hostility of the Ebionites against the Temple cult is documented."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_the_Ebionites#CITEREFVielhauerStrecker1991

The Gospel of the Hebrews is the only Jewish–Christian gospel which the Church

Fathers refer to by name. The language of composition is thought to be Greek. The provenance has been associated with Egypt; it probably began circulating in Alexandria, Egypt in the first decades of the 2nd century and was used by Greek-speaking Jewish–Christian communities there. The communities to which they belonged were traditional, conservative Christians who followed the teaching of the primitive Christian church in Jerusalem, integrating their understanding of Jesus with strict observance of Jewish customs and law, which they regarded as essential to salvation. Despite this, the gospel displays no connection with other Jewish–Christian literature, nor does it appear to be based on the Gospel of Matthew or the other canonical gospels of what is now orthodox Christianity. Instead, it seems to be taken from alternative oral forms of the same underlying traditions. Some of the fragments suggest a syncretic gnostic influence, while others support close ties to traditional Jewish Wisdom literature. (Klijn 1992, p. 42 – "The GH is an authentic product of Egyptian Christianity, Jones, F. Stanley (2000). "Jewish Christians". In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible)


IN SUMMARY

Biblical scholars generally agree that early oral traditions about Yahusha (Jesus), along with collections of accounts, preceded the canonical gospels. The dedicatory preface of the Gospel of Luke testifies to the existence of several accounts of the life of Jesus by the time of its composition. The term Luke uses (διήγησις diēgēsis) is a term used in classical Greek for any historical narrative. Stanley E. Porter Reading the Gospels today p100

Charles H. Talbert Reading Luke: a literary and theological commentary 2002 p2 "(3) What exactly is Luke? The prologue (1:1–4) says it is a diegesis (account). The second-century rhetorician Theon defines diegesis as "an expository account of things which happened or might have happened". Cicero (De Inv. 1.19.27)"


Shaul/Paul Apostle to the Gentiles

Acts 9:15 But the Master said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

The Gentile Conversion

G1672 - Hellēn

(1) A Greek either by nationality, whether a native of the main land or of the Greek islands or colonies

(2) In a wider sense the name embraces all nations not Jews that made the language, customs, and learning of the Greeks their own; the primary reference is to a difference of religion and worship


G1484 - Ethnos

(1) A multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together

(2) a company, troop, swarm

(3) a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus

(4) the human family

(5) a tribe, nation, people group

(6) in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles

(7) Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians


Acts 9:15

ButG1161

the LordG2962

saidG2036

untoG4314

him,G846

Go thy way:

G4198for

G3754he

G3778is

G2076a

chosenG1589

vesselG4632

unto me,G3427

to bear

G941my

G3450name

G3686before

G1799the

Gentiles,G1484

andG2532

kings,G935

ANDG5037

the children

G5207of Israel:

G2474(LOST SHEEP)

G1484 - Ethnos


http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G1161&t=KJV























After the crucifixion, the apostles began to champion a new faith in Yahusha (Jesus) and the ranks of the Yahusha(Jesus) movement (known as “the Way” at the time) swelled to 3,000 Jewish converts. At first, these followers were distinctly Jewish, following Mosaic law, Temple traditions and dietary customs.

As gentiles joined the Yahusha(Jesus) movement, focus on Jewish law decreased and we start to see the origin of Christianity as a distinct religion. Jewish Christians in Jerusalem participated in separate Jewish services from the gentile Christian population, and while the two groups agreed on Yahusha’s (Jesus’) message and importance, the separate rites and communities led to increasing division between the groups.(The Origin of Christianity GezaVermes)

“Initially a sect of Judaism, Christianity first

organized itself in Jerusalem. However, although Jewish Christianity was dominant at first, within 20 years it had moved out into the Gentile (non-Jewish) world.” "Encyclopedia of New Religions"Christopher Partridge (2004)


The Gentile Conversion The Expulsion of the Yahudi

References to a possible expulsion of Jews from Rome by the Roman Emperor Claudius, who was in office AD 41-54, appear in the Acts of the Apostles (18:2), and in the writings of Roman historians Suetonius (c. AD 69 – c. AD 122), Cassius Dio (c. AD 150 – c. 235) and fifth-century Christian author Paulus Orosius. Scholars generally agree that these references refer to the same incident.

The Gentile Conversion The Expulsion of the Yahudi

"Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome." ( Suetonius Claudius 25)

Acts 18:2 And found a certain Jew

named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.

The Gentile Conversion The Replacement Theory

Supersessionism is the belief that the Christian Church has replaced the Israelites as God's chosen people and that the Mosaic covenant has been replaced or superseded by the New Covenant.Harrison BW. (The Liturgy and‘Supersessionism’. Ignatius Press, June 2009.)

The Council of Nicaea

Council of Nicaea, (325), the first council of the Christian church, meeting in ancient Nicaea (now İznik, Tur.). It was called by the emperor Constantine I, an unbaptized catechumen, or neophyte, who presided over the opening session and took part in the discussions. He hoped a general council of the church would solve the problem created in the Eastern church by Arianism, a heresy first proposed by Arius of Alexandria that affirmed that Christ is not divine but a created being. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Its main accomplishments were settlement of

the Christological issue of…

The nature of the Son of God and his relationship to God the Father,

The construction of the first part of the Creed of Nicaea, establishing uniform observance of the date of Easter, and

Promulgation of early canon law. An ecclesiastical law or code of laws established by a church council.

The Council of Nicaea

Acts 9:1,2

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Master, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Acts 24:5 For we have found this man a plague, a creator of

dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.


Essense (150 years before Yahusha)

A wilderness (out in the Arava, near the Dead Sea–based on Isaiah 40:3), baptizing (mikveh of repentance as entrance requirement into their fellowship), new covenant, messianic/apocalyptic group. They believed they were the final generation and would live to see the end and the coming of the Messiahs of Aaron and of Israel (the two anointed ones–priest and king). They saw themselves as the remnant core of God’s faithful people—preparing the Way for the return of YHVH’s Glory (Kavod) as set forth in Isaiah 40-66. They too referred to themselves as the Way, the Poor, the Saints, the New Covenanters, Children of Light, and so forth. (Ebionites & Nazarenes: Tracking the Orginial Followers of Jesus James D. Tabor)

Followers of the WayThe Originals

Nazarenes

Originated as a sect of first-century Judaism. The first use of the term "sect of the Nazarenes" is in the Book of Acts in the New Testament, where Paul is accused of being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes ("πρωτοστάτην τε τῆς τῶν Ναζωραίων αἱρέσεως"). At that time, the term simply designated followers of Jesus of Nazareth, but in the fourth century the term was used for a sect of followers of Yahusha (Jesus) who were closer to Judaism than the majority Christians. They are described by Epiphanius of Salamis, and are mentioned later by Jerome and Augustine of Hippo. These writers made a distinction between the Nazarenes of their time and the "Nazarenes" mentioned in Acts 24:5, where Paul the Apostle is accused before Felix at Caesarea (the capital of Roman Judaea) by Tertullus.


The Ebionites : The Poor Ones

Sect of Jewish-Christians of the second to the fourth century. They believed in the Messianic character of Yahusha (Jesus), but denied his divinity and supernatural origin; observed all the Jewish rites, such as circumcision and the seventh-day Sabbath; and used a gospel according to Matthew written in Hebrew or Aramaic, while rejecting the writings of Paul as those of an apostate (Irenæus, "Adversus Hæreses," i. 262; Origen, "Contra Celsum," ii. 1; Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl." iii. 27; Hippolytus, "RefutatioHæresium," vii. 34; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah, i. 3, 12; on Matt. xii. 13). The Jewish Encylcopiedia

The Followers of the Way

Jerome on the Ebionites

"What shall I say of the Ebionites who pretend to be Christians? To-day there still exists among the Jews in all the synagogues of the East a heresy which is called that of the Minæans, and which is still condemned by the Pharisees; [its followers] are ordinarily called 'Nazarenes'; they believe that Christ, the son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, and they hold him to be the one who suffered under Pontius Pilate and ascended to heaven, and in whom we also believe. But while they pretend to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither.“

The Followers of the Way

What the Gentile Conversion Did to the Ebionites

Many of the claims made against them were based on misunderstandings of their beliefs, and many anti-Ebioniteclaims were plainly ridiculous. Pauline Christians eradicated the Ebionites, burning all of their books (none survived) and harassing and arresting the people until none were left. They edited Luke 2:33 and Luke 2:48 where Joseph was twice called the 'father' of Jesus so that it did not say so, and they also edited Luke 3:22 where it plainly stated, in accordance with Ebionite beliefs, that God adopted Yahusha (Jesus). Pauline Christians, as non-Jewish Romans, handily came across a mistranslated prophecy that said Jesus would be born of a virgin (like other Roman sons-of-gods), adding a whole two chapters to the beginning of Matthew to prove their point. http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/ebionites.html


Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus

existed, and most biblical scholars and classical historians see the theories of his non-existence as effectively refuted. There is no evidence today that the existence of Yahusha (Jesus) was ever denied in antiquity by those who opposed Christianity. Geoffrey Blainey notes that "a few scholars argue that Jesus... did not even exist," and that they "rightly point out that contemporary references to him were extremely rare." There is however widespread disagreement among scholars on the details of the life of Jesus mentioned in the gospel narratives, and on the meaning of his teachings, and the only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Yahusha (Jesus) was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. ~Wikiapedia Historicity of Jesus

Accounts of Yahusha

Josephus, Antiquities 18.63-64

Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.

There are two versions of this text one has “he was the Christ” the other does not have it. Also, the versions without it is in Aramic.

Accounts of Yahusha

Josephus, Antiquities 20.9

But the younger Ananus who, as we said, received the high priesthood, was of a bold disposition and exceptionally daring; he followed the party of the Sadducees, who are severe in judgment above all the Jews, as we have already shown. As therefore Ananuswas of such a disposition, he thought he had now a good opportunity, as Festus was now dead, and Albinus was still on the road; so he assembled a council of judges, and brought before it the brother of Yahusha (Jesus) the so-called Christ, whose name was James, together with some others, and having accused them as lawbreakers, he delivered them over to be stoned.

Once again modern versions of Josephus add WAS THE CHRIST, this is an older reading.

Accounts of Yahusha

The Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a (3rd to 5th

centuries)

Yeshu was hanged on Passover Eve. Forty days previously the herald had cried, “He is being led out for stoning, because he has practiced sorcery and led Israel astray and enticed them into apostasy. Whosoever has anything to say in his defense, let him come and declare it.” As nothing was brought forward in his defense, he was hanged on Passover Eve.

Accounts of Yahusha

Tactius, Annals 15.44 (55-120 AD)

Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil…

Accounts of Yahusha

Suetonius, Life of Claudius 25.4 (69-130 AD)

"Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.”

Nero 16.2 "During his reign many abuses were severely punished and put down,

and no fewer new laws were made: a limit was set to expenditures; the public banquets were confined to a distribution of food; the sale of any kind of cooked viands in the taverns was forbidden, with the exception of pulse and vegetables, whereas before every sort of dainty was exposed for sale. Punishment was inflicted on the Christiani(Christians), a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition. He put an end to the diversions of the chariot drivers, who from immunity of long standing claimed the right of ranging at large and amusing themselves by cheating and robbing the people. The pantomimic actors and their partisans were banished from the city."

Accounts of Yahusha

Julius Africanus refutes Thallus (~ 52 A.D.) as he mistakenly tries to

explain away the midday darkness that occured during Christ's crucifixion, as a solar eclipse

"On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness. The rocks were rent by an earthquake and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Savior falls on the day before the passover. But an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time... Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth-manifestly that one of which we speak."

Accounts of Yahusha

Lucian, The Death of Peregrine 11-13 (120-180 AD)

It was now that he came across the priests and scribes of the Christians, in

Palestine, and picked up their queer creed. I can tell you, he pretty soon convinced them of his superiority; prophet, elder, ruler of the Synagogue--he was everything at once; expounded their books, commented on them, wrote books himself. They took him for a God, accepted his laws, and declared him their president. The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day,--the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.

It was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.

Accounts of Yahusha

Pliny, Daily Lives of Christians in Ancient Rome

Others who were named by that informer at first confessed themselves Christians, and then denied it; true, they had been of that persuasion but they had quitted it, some three years, others many years, and a few as much as twenty-five years ago. They all worshipped your statue and the images of the Gods, and cursed Christ. They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they san in alternate verses a hymn to Christ… and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after whih it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food- but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.

Accounts of Yahusha

Pliny, the Younger

Even this practice, however, they had abandoned after the publication of my edict, by which, according to your orders, I had forbidden political associations. I judged it so much the more necessary to extract the real truth, with the assistance of torture, from two female slaves, who were styled deaconesses: but I could discover nothing more than depraved and excessive superstition.

Accounts of Yahusha

Julian the Apostate (Quoted in the polemic of Cyril

of Alexandria against Julian) “Jesus, having persuaded a few among you [Galileans, as he

contemptuously called the Christians], and those of the worst of men, has now been celebrated about three hundred years; having done nothing in his lifetime worthy of fame, unless any one thinks it a very great work to heal lame and blind people and exorcise demoniacs in the villages of Bethsaida and Bethany.”

Accounts of Yahusha

CELSUS (~ 178 A.D.)

Celsus was a second century Roman author and avid opponent of Christianity. He went to great lengths to disprove the divinity of Yahusha (Jesus) yet never denied His actual existence.

Accounts of Yahusha

On Yahusha (Jesus‘) Miracles:

"Jesus, on account of his poverty, was hired out to go to Egypt. While there he acquired certain [magical] powers... He returned home highly elated at possessing these powers, and on the strength of them gave himself out to be a god... It was by means of sorcery that He was able to accomplish the wonders which He performed... Let us believe that these cures, or the resurrection, or the feedingof a multitude with a few loaves... These are nothing more than the tricks of jugglers... It is by the names of certain demons, and by the use of incantations, that the Christians appear to be possessed of [miraculous] power...“

Accounts of Yahusha

On the Virgin Birth:

"Jesus had come from a village in Judea, and was the son of a poor Jewess who gained her living by the work of her hands. His mother had been turned out by her husband, who was a carpenter by trade, on being convicted of adultery [with a Roman soldier named Panthera]. Being thus driven away by her husband, and wandering about in disgrace, she gave birth to Jesus, a bastard.“

Accounts of Yahusha

John the Baptist

"If any one predicted to us that the Son of God was to visit mankind, he was one of our prophets, and the prophet of our God? John, who baptized Jesus, was a Jew."

Accounts of Yahusha

Accounts of Yahusha

The Alexamanos Graffito, dating from c.200 AD or earlier, is an interesting early parody of Christianity.

The drawing shows a man with an ass's head being crucified, to which a youth is raising his hand as if in prayer. The text in Greek reads: ALE, XAMENOS, SEBETE, THEON. which means, "Alexamenos worships his god." Before Christianity, the Hebrews had already been charged with worshipping an ass; this was probably the basis of this accusation being directed at Christianity.

Accounts of Yahusha

This wall painting, depicting the Healing of the Paralytic, is the earliest known representation of Yahusha(Jesus), dating from about 235 AD. The painting was found in 1921 on the left-hand wall of the baptismal chamber of the house-church at Dura-Europos on the Euphrates River in modern Syria. It is now part of the Dura Europos collection at the Yale University Gallery of Fine Arts.

Accounts of Yahusha

Early catacomb painting of Christ and his disciples gathered for the Eucharist.

Accounts of Yahusha

Roman Catacomb of San Callisto, Crypt of Lucina 3rd Century

Accounts of Yahusha

Explained what exactly the New Testament is.

How the European Gentiles usurped the original Yahudim who started the movement.

Cleared up any rumors about the Council of Nicaea.

Show different accounts of the historical man Yahusha.

Summary