Synopsis

Many years ago, when our children were very young, we were asked by unbelieving family members and friends what we were teaching the boys. Together we came up with the following “Synopsis of Beliefs,” which I happened to come across while cleaning out some old files. Perhaps it could be of benefit to other families, young and old, in their dealings with both friends and family members concerning a believer’s lifestyle. All Bible references will be taken from The New Scofield Reference Bible, Authorized King James Version Oxford University Press, 1967.

SYNOPSIS OF BELIEFS

HalleluYah–Praise ye Yah–“Yah” is the abbreviated form for the first part of our Heavenly Father’s Name. We believe a common error among most Bible translators is their elimination of heaven’s revealed Name of the Most High, Yahweh–and the Name of His Son, Yahshua the Messiah, and substituting the names of the local deities of the nations among whom they dwelt expressly transgressing Yahweh’s Commandments as given in Exodus 20:7 and 23:13. For Yahweh they have substituted Baal, the Babylonian deity, and Adonay, the Canaanitish deity of the Phoenicians, both corresponding to the English word LORD. The characteristic appellation of the Most High Elohim has been substituted by the Assyrian deity Gawd, or God in English. The Name of the Son, Yahshua, has been substituted by Jesus, Iesus and Ea-zeus (“Healing Zeus”). Webster says that Zeus is the sun god and is also known as Deus (Latin), Dio (Italian), Dios (Spanish), Dayus (Sanscrit), and Zeus Soter meaning “Zeus the Savior.”

The Messiah was of the tribe of Judah (Yahudah)—He was a Jew; He has a Hebrew name which has a very important meaning. He was not a Greek Ieseus or a Latin Jesus.

Yahshua means "Yah Saves" or "Yah will Save." This is pointed out in the note at Exodus 14:30.

It seems strange that almost 8,000 times in the Bible, the personal name of our Creator has been stricken out and replaced with the word, LORD.

We believe Yahweh will call out a people for His Name (Acts 15:14); and His people will know His Name (Isaiah 52:6); and whosoever shall call on the Name of Yahweh shall be saved (Joel 2:32). The Name of the Father and the Name of His Son will be written on our foreheads or in our minds (Revelation 14:1 and 22:4). His Name must be kept holy (Matthew 6:9). We will trust in His Name (Matthew 12:21). We must be baptized in His Name and in the Name of His Son (Matthew 28:19).

1 John 3:23		And this is His commandment, that we should BELIEVE ON THE NAME of His son, Yahshua the Messiah.
Acts 10:43		To Him give all the prophets witness, that THROUGH HIS NAME whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.
John 20:31		But these are written, that ye might believe that Yahshua is the Messiah, the Son of Yahweh and that believing ye might have life THROUGH HIS NAME.
John 1:12		But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of Yahweh, even to them that BELIEVE ON HIS NAME; [Yahshua--Yah Will Save].

If we truly believe what the Bible says, then a dilemma arises over the use of the Messiah’s true name, Yahshua, and the substituted Greek name Ieseus—”Jesus.” Acts 4:12, Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given among men, whereby WE MUST BE SAVED.

We totally believe the Bible concerning the name of the Father and the name of the Son. I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive (John 5:43).

Regarding the day that we try to keep holy—Saturday, the Sabbath, we believe Genesis 2:3, that at the creation of the world, Yahweh blessed the seventh day and made it holy. We believe Exodus 20:8, 9, 10 and 11 where the Creator asks us to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. We do not find any verse in the Bible whereby the Creator or His Son changed the weekly Sabbath to any other day, especially not to Sunday—the Day of the Sun.

There remains, therefore, a Sabbath to the people of Yahweh [see note k] (Hebrews 4:9).

We believe that, in His New Kingdom, we will still be keeping the Sabbath (Isaiah 66:23).

We also believe in seven High Sabbaths or High Holy Days. They are fully explained in Leviticus 23, Exodus 12 and elsewhere throughout the Bible. They are:

We begin and end our days as the Creator ordained—from sunset to sunset (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; Leviticus 23:32). We begin our year according to Exodus 12:2 and we determine the first month according to Deuteronomy 16:1, “Watch for [observe] the new moon [month] of green ears [Abib]…” When we see the new moon and there are green kernels on the stalks, that is the first month, the month of Abib. We believe the Creator determines the first month and it is not based on any of man's calendar calculations.

We do not keep any holy days that are not sanctioned in the Bible. This includes the spring festival honoring Ishtar (the consort of Baal)—the spring fertility goddess; nor do we advocate the use of her fertility symbols (i.e., colored eggs, rabbits, potted plants, etc.). We also refrain from any part of any sunrise services (Ezekiel 8:15,16).

We do not celebrate the ancient festival of the birth of the new sun which begins at the winter solstice (sometimes called the Saturnalia, Brumalia, Yuletide, etc.). This festival included the lighting of houses to encourage the dying sun, the decorating with greenery, the burning of the Yule log, etc. When the ancient pagans noticed the sun again climbing in the sky, they then celebrated by gift-giving and drunken merry-making—the 25th of December. This is confirmed by any comprehensive history or encyclopedia.

We do not believe we should bring a green tree into our home and decorate it as we are warned against this in the Bible (Jeremiah 10:2-5).

We are also warned not to follow the pagan customs or to utilize them in the worship of the One and Only Creator. We are to observe what He commands and not add to, nor diminish from it (Deuteronomy 12:30-32).

The actual birth date of the Messiah can be roughly calculated from the Bible to be in the early autumn, but no exact date is given (although we speculate it is encompassed in one of His holy feast days).

We believe that, at Creation, the Creator made certain animals and plants to be eaten; others are not to be eaten and are called in the Bible “unclean.” In the days before the flood, Noah was directed to take seven pair of every clean beast and only two (a male and female) of every unclean beast (we assume that they ate of the clean beasts and that is why the number is greater). At any rate, this difference in clean and unclean was recognized from the very beginning of mankind (Genesis 7:2). A fuller explanation is found in Leviticus 11 and elsewhere in the Bible. Since the Creator Himself has made a distinction between clean and unclean, we try our best to abide by His word. We, therefore, do not eat eagles, falcons, crows, hawks, seagulls, owls, cats, rats, pigs, clams, crabs, etc.

We believe there is only one true body of believers (congregation or assembly) and that we are called into it by Yahweh. No person can make us members or disqualify us from being members. The only head of this body is Yahshua the Messiah. In any assembly or meeting, we do have men who are knowledgeable in the scriptures and they are referred to as “elders.” They have no special authority of any kind. We are all equal brothers and sisters in Messiah. All of this is explained in the Bible.

We believe and try to abide by the Bible. We are aware that the translators of the Bible believed we are not under any law. This is noticed in many mistranslated verses (e.g., Revelation 22:14: Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they might have right to the tree of life. The verse actually reads, Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they might have right to the tree of life [note j]). This is only one of many mistranslations. We believe what the Messiah taught:

We do not force our beliefs on anyone; we only try to follow the Bible. There are also many other points that we believe are probably contrary to what most “Christians” believe. Should you have any questions pertaining to any specific points, we will do our best to clarify our beliefs.

As I was typing this, which was first prepared in 1986, I realized not much has changed. This, you will agree, is quite concise. We probably gave out six or seven of these papers to various family members and friends. Amazingly, there were never any questions posed to us. But, not so amazingly, there were less confrontations over why we did or didn’t do something.

SYNOPSIS OF BELIEFS

HalleluYAH!