The Hebrew Roots Movement

by Stephen Otto

WELCOME

As the Mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 9:15), Yeshua (Jesus) declared, "...I will build His congregation..." (Matt. 16:18). Initially, His congregation consisted solely of a remnant of Israelites, including the 12 disciples and the 120 believers who entered into the New Covenant with God on Pentecost (Acts 2). After Yeshua's ascension, the Gospel, the Good News, was opened to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46, etc.). 

After that, Jude exhorted God's people "...to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For there are certain men who crept in secretly, who were long ago written about for this judgment, irreverent men, transferring the grace of our God to licentiousness, and denying our only Lord, God, and our Master, Yeshua Messiah” (Jude 1:3-4).  

In time, Gentile pagan converts rose to positions of authority and mixed in many pagan elements with the true faith, which is explicitly forbidden in Scripture (Deut. 12:29-32; Jer. 10:1-5). This resulted in the prophesied apostasy—the great falling away (2 Thess. 2:1–4)- when Yeshua's congregation was split in two. One of the congregations is portrayed as a chaste virgin (2 Cor. 11:2), a remnant of Yeshua’s original congregation. The other is described as "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots. (Rev. 17:5). This description symbolizes the Catholic Church and her Protestant daughter Churches, whose spiritual roots extend back to the Babylonian mystery religion, a pagan cult. Together, they are known as mainstream Christianity. 

For the past 2,000 years, mainstream Christianity has persecuted, murdered, and scattered true believers, both physically and spiritually. Consequently, the chaste congregation has remained relatively obscure (Luke 12:32), while the harlot and her daughter congregations now account for one-third of the earth’s population (Rev. chapters 8-11).

As the end of the age approaches, we find ourselves in the midst of the “Greater Exodus.” Just as God brought plagues to bear on the Egyptians to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, which symbolized sin, He is now bringing plagues to bear on mainstream Christianity to deliver us out of sin (Rev. 9-10). In Revelation 18:4, God cries out to people in those congregations who may be willing to repent, saying, “Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues" (Rev. 18:4). 

After God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, He led them into the wilderness to enter into a covenant with them contingent upon their obedience to His Torah (Ex. 19:3): His commandments, statutes, and judgments. Likewise, He delivers us from the spiritual bondage of mainstream Christianity, leading us into a spiritual wilderness where we finally seal our covenant with God by committing to keep His Torah. 

Multiple thousands of mainstream Christians are experiencing a spiritual awakening. They are being led by God to seek "the ancient paths" (Jer. 6:16) and to return to the First-Century Hebraic Roots of the faith. This spirit-led, prophetic awakening has manifested itself in what is known as the Hebrew Roots Movement.

God is separating us, and others, from mainstream Christianity, not only for the sake of our own salvation, but also to inspire us through the Holy Spirit to do His will as expressed in Revelation 18:4 by calling "His people" to repentance.

James wrote, “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20). Again, Hebrew Roots believers follow his instructions by calling mainstream Christianity to repentance.

Leviticus 19:17 states, “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.” Hebrew Roots believers are often criticised for being "Torah Terrorists." While it is true that there have been a few overzealous believers in the movement, the number of them is greatly exaggerated by a huge liberal anti-Torah element in mainstream Christianity. The reason why this Scripture tells us that we "hate" our brother and our neighbor if we don't rebuke them for their sins is that if we don't, they are likely to be condemned on judgment day. This belief is irrelevant to them because they are anti-Torah and use God's grace as a license to sin (Jude 1:4).

On the topic of salvation, we believe that it is experienced in two steps: justification and sanctification. Justification is the one‑time act of accepting Messiah Yeshua as Savior and, as a result, "being saved” from our “sins that are past” (Rom. 3:24–25). Sanctification is a lifelong process of keeping the Law through a living faith (James 2:17) and overcoming sin to the end (Rev. 2:7, etc.), when we "attain salvation." 

For more information on this important topic, read my short article: "Eternal Life: Harmonizing Yeshua, James, and John."

Stephen Otto

I would love to hear from you! If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me using the link in the menu above.

​יהוה bless and keep you. יהוה make His face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. יהוה lift up His face toward you, and give you peace.

Recently, I have become concerned about the impact Messianic Judaism is having on Hebrew Roots Believers about their unscriptural doctrine of salvation, so I will not remain silent any longer! To this end, I have addressed two of these doctrines below.

Just as kind begets kind, Messianic Judaism was birthed by mainstream Christianity, the only difference being that they have adopted Jewish culture and traditions to make Messiah Yeshua more acceptable to the Jews. Like Christianity, they teach that salvation is achieved through faith alone and outright reject works as being part of the equation. They maintain that works are a result of receiving salvation, not a requirement of receiving salvation. This is not true. James tells us that “faith without works is dead.” Thus, both faith and works are requirements to receive salvation. I suspect that the reason why is that if they were to acknowledge it, they would lose Christian sanction and be labeled a cult.

2. The Scriptures state that all God’s people are required to keep Torah, both Jew and non-Jew. Numbers 15:16 states, “One Torah and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the sojourner who sojourns among you.” In accordance with this belief, we often call Christians to repentance, sometimes in the strongest terms, as an act of love. In contrast, Messianic Judaism rejects "One Torah" doctrine, teaches that Christians are saved by faith alone, and criticizes “Hebrew Rooters” for calling Christians to repentance and not being loving. Again, I believe that they do so because they do not want to lose Christian sanction and be labeled a cult.

The Scriptures tell us to "love one another". Most Believers get this. On the other hand, the Scriptures also tell us, “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.” (Lev. 19:17). Most Believers outright reject this practice as being un-Christian! Read that verse again, though! It states that if you don't rebuke your brother, you hate him. In other words, if you don't rebuke your brother, you don't love him... which goes against YHVH's command to love one another. Now, up to 82% of this nation considers itself to be Believers. So this begs the question, "Why aren't we properly loving them?"