Word of the Month February 2010
The following is a reply and rebuttal to Wilhelm Leber’s words as recorded in the “Word of the Month” for February 2010 posted at http://www.nak.org/en/faith-and-church/word-of-the-month/article/16501/.
Wilhelm Leber’s portrayals of Scriptural concepts are dangerously shallow and lacking in adequate explanation, a pattern that is consistent with other church literature. His cavalier attitude and lack of care in thoroughly explaining the meanings of Scriptures is further evidence that the leaders of the New Apostolic Church (NAC) disrespect the writings of true prophets and apostles as recorded in the Scriptures. NAC leaders wrongly believe (or at least propagate the idea) that the true seat of authority is not with the words of Yah as recorded in the Scriptures but is rather with themselves. That is, they are speaking on their own authority (the definition of “egoism”) while falsely claiming that their authority comes from Christ (a claim for which there is little or no supporting evidence yet a claim for which there is plenteous evidence to the contrary). Consequently, the leaders of the New Apostolic Church have attempted to redefine the righteousness of Yah and have fabricated their own form of righteousness; in so doing they have become self-righteous by defining righteousness according to their own opinions instead of complying with true righteousness, which is obedience to Yah’s commandments. This cavalier attitude is consistent with the New Apostolic doctrine regarding the apostles of the NAC having ultimate authority over all matters within the church per articles 4 and 5 of the New Apostolic Creed. This ruse of authority fosters an aristocratic and elitist culture within the NAC leadership, and it is important to note that the NAC doctrine erroneously permits the apostles of the NAC the authority to contradict the very Scriptures upon which the NAC doctrine is based.
Is this a problem? Yes! The NAC doctrine claims that the Scriptural record of our Creator’s Words and Commandments are both true and not true at the same time, and this of course is a violation of the law of non-contradiction.
NAC leaders cannot have it both ways. Either the Scriptures are true forever or they are not true forever. If the Scriptures are true, then teach them in detail. If they are not true, then the NAC should remove the Bibles from their altars. Furthermore, accepting the church’s claims of apostolic authority on blind faith fosters a feudalist-styled culture where the “righteous” edicts of the feudal lord apostles should never be questioned by the “helplessly ignorant” and “unsophisticated serf” members. Their relationship to the leaders of the NAC cannot be rightly compared to the relationship between a sheep fold and the shepherd in a spiritual sense but would more accurately be compared to a vassal’s relationship to his landlord.
If there are problems with the translations of the Scriptures, which there certainly are, then the NAC leaders should be taking the time and care to study these problems in order to resolve them, a commitment to excellence that is becoming of true nobility. Quite the contrary, the NAC leadership forestalls any diligent inquiry on the matter as irrelevant by the nature of its erroneous claims of apostolic authority. Why study the Bible when one can simply ask his apostle? This lack of any detailed explanation regarding the meaning of Scriptures should be a warning sign to the members of the NAC that the church leadership is not as well-versed in the Scriptures as they should be. The members of the NAC would do well to recognize this lack of explanation of the meaning of Scriptures for what it truly is – European-styled feudalist elitism and Roman Catholic-styled ecclesiastical hooliganism.
Furthermore, the members of the NAC would do well to question the church leadership’s claims of apostolic authority and study the Scriptures independently.
For example….
Look there is Christ! (Matthew 24:23)
According to article 4 of the NAC creed (found at http://www.nak.org/en/faith-and-church/creed/) the apostles of the NAC imply that they are (1) under Christ’s authority, (2) presiding over Christ’s church as Christ’s ambassadors and (3) exclusively authorized to act on Christ’s behalf by teaching, forgiving sins in His name and baptizing with water and the Holy Spirit. NAC apostles hereby claim that they are representatives of Christ. They are claiming, “look here is Christ!” Yahshua our Messiah has commanded us not to believe those who make such claims. Yahshua has warned us those who claim, “look, here is Christ” are those who are deceivers.
As we read in Matthew 24:23-25, “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.”
Therefore, it is important to note that the NAC apostles’ claim of representing Christ fits Messiah Yahshua’s definition of those who are “false anointed ones” (i.e. “false Christs”) and are deceiving others.
Can the NAC apostles rightly claim that their commission is a continuation of the commission given to Yahshua’s taught ones? The calling of the NAC apostles by Heinrich Geyer was done completely out of Scriptural context, and we have no reason to believe that Geyer’s prophetic authority was in any way authentic. Geyer’s subsequent recanting of this calling is further evidence the NAC apostles’ claim of apostolic authority is spurious. Therefore, the apostles of the NAC cannot rightly claim to be true apostles of Yahshua the Anointed any more than the Roman Catholic Church papacy can make this claim. In fact, because the apostles of the NAC teach what is contrary to our Creator’s commandments as found in the Scriptures, exactly the opposite is true; the NAC leadership is making a disingenuous claim of true apostolic authority.
Because the NAC church leadership, similar to the leaderships of other Christian denominations, teaches what is contrary to the laws of our Creator, they are in fact teaching iniquity, which is wrongfulness.
Depart From Iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19)
The word “iniquity” in this verse is taken from the greek word ἀδικία (adikia) and is simply defined as “injustice” or “moral wrongfulness,” and it is imperative to note that, within the context of the Scriptures, all standards of morality are measured against Yah’s code of ethics as described in the writings of the law and prophets from Genesis to Revelation. By this definition the leaders of the New Apostolic Church are certainly teaching iniquity.
Leber references 2 Timothy 2:19, so let us read this verse in its context starting at verse 15, “Study to present yourself approved to Elohim, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of Truth. But keep away from profane, empty babblings, for they go on to more wickedness, and their word shall eat its way like gangrene. Humenaios and Philetos are of this sort, who have missed the goal concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and overthrow the belief of some. However, the solid foundation of Elohim stands firm, having this seal, 'יהוה knows those who are His,' and, 'Let everyone who names the Name of Messiah turn away from iniquity.'”
What is the Name of Messiah?
In his “Word of the Month” article for February 2010, Leber evokes Acts 4:12, which states, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” When Kepha spoke these words, which name was he referring to? Kepha and the other apostles were Hebrew and were taught by the Hebrew Messiah, and were speaking Hebrew. Kepha was referring to the name “Yahshua,” which is the name of the Messiah, which literally means “Yah our salvation,” a meaning completely lost by the Latin-English hybrid name “Jesus.” As explained in the article Messiah’s Name, our Messiah’s name was certainly not Jesus, and this is not a mere semantics issue.
Names have meaning. It can be argued therefore that changing the Messiah’s name also changes the meaning of his teachings. No person is authorized to change His name, and those who have done so have also curiously changed His teachings. That is, as presumptuous people have changed the name of the Messiah to more closely resemble the name of pagan deities (such as Isis and Zeus), so they have also changed His teachings to more closely resemble the lawlessness of the pagans. Christmas observance is but one piece of supporting evidence, and there are certainly others.
So, we see that changing the name of the Messiah to “Jesus” is one of the most evil and malicious frauds that has ever been perpetrated upon Christendom.
It is important to note here that the earliest Greek texts refer to the Messiah’s name as ιησου (iesou), which is a Greek phonetic transliteration of the Hebrew name יהושע (Yahshua). Note that there is no “sh” sound in the Greek language. So, we see that the earliest writers of the Greek texts, it can be argued, were not fallaciously changing the Messiah’s name in as much as they were providing phonetic guidance regarding the Messiah’s name for the Greek reader. This is an important distinction, because subsequent copies of the Greek text change Messiah’s name from ιησου (iesou) to Ἰησοῦς (iesous) presumably to further appease the Greek reader since there is absolutely no other phonetic justification for the addition of the “s” at the end of the Messiah’s name. From that point, the Latin translators rendered the Messiah’s name as “Iesus,” which appears in as the Messiah’s name in the original 1611 printing of the King James Bible. Subsequent printings of King James Bible further morphed the name to “Jesus” which has prevailed to this day.
But if it is true as Kepha said that “there is no other name under Heaven by which men can be saved” then we would do well to know that the Messiah’s name is יהושע (pronounced “Yahshua” or “Yasha”) and literally means “Yah is salvation”.
Leber attempts to mask the true Scriptural definition of “iniquity” by stating, “Endeavouring to live in accordance with His will means avoiding evil and keeping away from that which comes from other spiritual sources. In this context, it bears mentioning that we must never lack in confidence in the Lord. This counts as iniquity in the eyes of God.” Besides the fallacious use of the name “God,” (read more about the name of the Most High here), Leber’s words here are not as incorrect in as much as they are incomplete, because Leber should realize that “other spiritual sources” would include any source that is not of Scriptural origin. This includes ideas and ethics that are of Roman origin, for example. This is important not only because the NAC doctrine is rife with beliefs and practices that are of pagan origin (such as services for the departed) but also because NAC doctrine and culture is devoid of all teachings regarding righteousness as defined by the Scriptures. Righteousness, according to the Scriptures, is defined as “obedience to Yah’s commands,” and the NAC certainly does not teach the commandments of Yah but rather teaches the commandments of men. Their doctrine regarding the Sabbath day is just one example.
Wilhelm Leber’s teachings regarding the Scriptures are deliberately and deceptively shallow, and once we start to study the facts for ourselves, we start to realize the motivation for this lack of deep Scriptural understanding. If the members of the NAC would concern themselves with critical analysis of the NAC leadership’s claims of apostolic authority and independently study of the Scriptures, the NAC members would soon awaken from their spiritual slumber and realize that we should all be obeying our Creator’s commands instead of blindly trusting the impostors of the New Apostolic Church.
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