THE “OLD TESTAMENT” IS A MINEFIELD AND AN OBSTACLE TO UNDERSTANDING THE “NEW TESTAMENT”

My friend Obinna Okechukwu disagreed with my previous article, “The True Gospel of Jesus Christ does not have an Old Version,” and he asked:

“How can one understand the new without the old? Even Jesus Christ Himself said: ‘If you believed Moses, you would believe Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?’” (John 5:47)

“How can we claim to believe the words of Jesus when we do not believe the writings of Moses? Jesus also said: ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.’” (Matthew 5:17)

I agree that the past often illuminates the present and the future. However, this does not hold in the Old Testament-New Testament context, where Jehovah intentionally crafted the ‘Old’ to complicate the ‘New.’ The Old Testament recounts the first coming of the heavenly Christ and contains prophecies of his second coming in human form. But one needs the special grace of the Father to navigate the minefield and the evil intrigues and to sift through the muffled truth. In the meantime, the New Testament fully reveals the true nature of Jesus Christ and his divine mission in the world.

Well, the Jews live and breathe the Old Testament and believe all of Moses' writings. Yet to this day, they have neither understood the New Testament nor accepted that Jesus Christ is the Savior of humankind.

       Obinna implies that people will not understand the actions and words of someone they interact with directly unless they rely on predictions from others who have never actually seen, heard, or known that person. Even John the Baptist, who was the last of the genuine prophets of Israel, acknowledged that none of the prophets had ever seen, heard, or known the Messiah.

“I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel,” he said. [John 1:31]

It would be unreasonable to suggest that anyone who genuinely seeks to understand Jesus Christ should rely on John the Baptist’s predictions about him when the Messiah has come in person and spoken plainly about himself. The words and actions of Jesus Christ are self-explanatory. It is only natural that what he says about himself should supersede everything the prophets of Israel predicted about ‘the expected Messiah.’

       The New Testament records many instances where Jesus corrected misunderstandings, assumptions, and misapplications of Old Testament texts that Jews used to define the expected role of the Messiah. Some viewed him as the son of David, but he identified himself as the only Son of the Father. Others expected the Messiah to become a king over the Jews and deliver them from their enemies, but he clarified that his Kingdom is not of this world. Although they expected him to uphold Jehovah’s laws through Moses, he often downplayed the Sabbath and challenged the Mosaic law, emphasizing that he is greater than the Sabbath, the Temple, and other traditional Jewish practices approved by Jehovah.

       The “misunderstandings, assumptions, and misapplications” arising from the confusion in the Old Testament texts are deliberately intended by Jehovah to prevent the Jews from understanding and accepting Jesus Christ as their true Messiah. Isn’t it obvious that rather than helping the Jews understand Jesus Christ, the Old Testament has effectively prevented them from doing so?

       The Old Testament is a story of spiritual abduction and religious bondage. Jehovah is the Captor; Abram and his descendants are his religious captives. The so-called Old Covenant is about Jehovah, Abraham, Moses, and the Jewish people; it has nothing to do with true followers of the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.

       Jehovah is an imposter; his one-sided covenant with the lost sons of Adam is an obstacle that prevents them from regaining their spiritual freedom, which is rooted in their divine heritage in Adam, the redeeming Spirit of Knowledge, and our true heavenly Father, who is the Blessed Tree of Life. Relying on the Old Testament to understand the New Testament is like a slave relying on the slave-master to show him the easy way of escape. That is why Jesus Christ says to the Jews:

“If you continue in my word [not in the word of Jehovah], you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” [John 8:31-32]

It is important to note that Jehovah’s relationship with Abraham and the Jewish people is purely a business treaty. They were to recognize him as their God, and in exchange, he would act as their enigmatic warlord and protector. Even so, he has utterly failed in this role, as the Jews continue to be the most persecuted and oppressed people in the world.

       Isn’t it obvious that a God who enters into a treaty with a people to become their God and a military mercenary in return for their recognition and worship is merely a business tycoon? Jehovah became acknowledged as a God through the approval of the Jewish people; he ceases to be a God the moment they realize this and knowingly withdraw their approval.

       A true father does not sign a contract with his own children to compel them to respect and look up to him as a father. Such an act is clearly an aberration. Our true heavenly Father does not make such demands. Instead, he willingly sent the heavenly Christ to rescue all his lost sons from a nether realm controlled by Jehovah, the evil imposter. Both the Jews and all humankind are captives in the hands of Jehovah and his partners in crime.

       The genuine prophets of Israel, inspired by the Father, prophesied that the same redeeming Spirit of Knowledge, which rekindled and freed Adam and Eve in Eden, would be incarnated among their descendants. Jehovah sought to confound their messages by interpolating his own false prophecies into them, thereby rendering them entirely undiscernible to the lost sons of Adam. Even so, no aspect of their prophecies indicates that Jehovah, the contracted God of the Jews, is the same as the Father of Jesus Christ.

       Jehovah abducted, brainwashed, and enslaved Abram’s spirit, and he also enslaved his descendants in Egypt. He later used Moses to stage an ill-fated Exodus for his victims and to establish religious traditions that ultimately enslaved their minds and set them against their true heavenly Redeemer when he eventually appeared among them. The Jews remain blindfolded by the spiritually inhibiting traditions of Judaism, even today.

THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS

Understanding that Jesus Christ clearly challenged Jehovah’s Mitzvot and his Mosaic/Sharia Law code, a lawyer, an expert in the Law of Jehovah, once asked Jesus Christ a question to test him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” [Matthew 22:35] Jesus Christ replied:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 22:37-40]

Mosaic Law embodied and still reflects Jehovah’s will, not that of the Father or Jesus Christ. Jewish leaders persecuted and crucified Jesus because they understood that Jehovah, their god, had not sent him, particularly because he openly challenged and rejected their needless religious traditions and the harsh Mosaic Law given by Jehovah. Jesus Christ explicitly told them:

“You have heard that it was said [by Jehovah], ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” [Matthew 5:38-39]

“You have heard that it was said [by Jehovah], ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” [Matthew 5:43-45]

People readily quote Matthew 5:17, where Jesus Christ says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them,” and interpret it to mean that Jesus Christ came to fulfill Jehovah’s 613 Commandments (Mitzvot) or his Mosaic/Sharia Law code, which he first gave to his Jewish religious victims through Moses and later to his Muslim religious slaves through Muhammad. In Matthew 5:38-39 and 43-45, Jesus Christ shows that such people are completely mistaken.

       It’s important to emphasize that the loathsome Islamic Sharia Law, which the civilized world abhors and rejects, is the same Mosaic Law code that Jesus Christ authoritatively abrogated in the streets of Jerusalem for the Jewish people, as recorded in Matthew 5:38-39 and 43-45. Both are given by the same lawless Lawgiver. Because the Jews could no longer keep it, Jehovah/Allah forced it upon his Muslim victims. Allah was explicit about this in the Quran:

“Lo! We did reveal the Torah [to Moses], wherein is guidance and a light, by which the Prophets who surrendered (unto Allah) judged the Jews, and the rabbis and the priests (judged) by such of Allah’s Scripture as they were bidden to observe, and thereunto were they witnesses. So, fear not mankind, but fear Me. And barter not My revelations for a little gain. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are disbelievers.

“And We prescribed for them therein: The life for the life, and the eye for the eye, and the nose for the nose, and the ear for the ear, and the tooth for the tooth, and for wounds retaliation. But whoso forgoeth it (in the way of charity) it shall be expiation for him. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are wrong doers.” [Quran 5:44-45]

Sadly, most traditional Christians do not even know that Jehovah, the bloodthirsty God of the Old Testament, is the same as Allah, the bloodthirsty, hostage-taking God of Muslims. Of course, both Jews and Muslims worship the God of Abraham, whom ill-informed traditional Christians also worship while saying ‘in the name of Jesus Christ.’

Jesus Christ clearly distinguished the divine “Law of Love,” inspired in his true Prophets by the Father, from Jehovah’s crude, brutal, and repugnant Mosaic/Sharia Law. Jewish religious leaders, authorities on Jehovah’s Law and ordinances given through Moses, were fully convinced that Jesus and his mission directly contradicted Jehovah’s will.

       As the Quran states, some of the Pharisees labeled Jesus Christ a sinner [wrongdoer] and a Sabbath-breaker. They openly said, “This man (Jesus) is not from Jehovah, for he does not keep the sabbath.” [John 9:16] Only a few clear-thinking Jews, who grasped the distinction, asked, “How can a sinner perform such [charitable] signs?”

THE FOLLY OF TRADITIONAL CHRISTIANITY

The worst ignorance is not a lack of knowledge of a particular subject but the belief that one knows enough to teach those who are true experts on the matter. The greatest folly among traditional Christians is believing they understand Jehovah, his Law, and his game plan better than the Jewish people.

       Surely, the Jews know the highhanded God they are contracted to better than traditional Christians do. Their religious authorities did not believe in Jesus Christ when he walked among them, because they knew his gospel directly threatened Jehovah’s false Godship. Even though Jesus Christ performed great miracles and acts of love and mercy, they feared the harm Jehovah would inflict on their entire nation if they believed in him.

       They knew from experience that Jehovah struggles with an extreme inferiority complex; that he has a chronic phobia of rivalry with a superior God; and that he has usually been brutal toward Jews who attempt to show affinity for another God. Besides, they saw that he had already positioned the ruthless Roman army to destroy them if they failed to protect his interests. The Bible reports:

“So, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? For this man performs many [good] signs. If we let him go on thus, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.’” [John 11:47-48]

It is evident that the Jewish religious leaders recognized Jesus Christ as a superior and far more excellent God than Jehovah, but their irrational fear of Jehovah overpowered their good judgment. Consequently, Caiaphas, the high priest, proposed to the council of chief priests and Pharisees that their best course was to terminate the rival outright. He said to them:

“You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” [John 11:49-50]

The Jewish people still do not believe in Jesus Christ today, even though they feel deep within themselves that Jesus Christ and his Father truly seek their spiritual well-being. They still hold firmly to the primitive notion that ‘the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom,’ even though experience has shown them that there is no virtue in fear and that history proves Jehovah never meant well for them. As long as the Jews cling to the Old Testament, they will never believe in the New Testament. They can never believe in Jesus Christ while still believing in Jehovah. They must disengage from him completely.

       Traditional Christians often blame the Jews for not quickly accepting Jesus Christ as their Messiah. However, how can Christians who worship Jehovah, the Jewish God, expect to convert Jews to their own God when they are the original and primary worshipers of Jehovah? For believing in Jesus Christ while worshiping Jehovah, traditional Christianity represents a “fellowship of light and darkness.” It offers the Jews nothing unique or liberating.

"As long as the Jews cling to the Old Testament, they will never believe in the New Testament. They can never believe in Jesus Christ while still believing in Jehovah. They must disengage from him completely."

       As a continuation of Judaism, traditional Christianity is fundamentally anti-Christ. It is understandable that Jews still reject the divine nature and mission of Jesus Christ today, because they are not yet fully informed about the true Jesus. Anyone who genuinely understands these facts would not dismiss Jesus Christ or confuse him with the contracted God of Abraham, the so-called archangels, or some of the abducted prophets and messengers of Jehovah/Allah, such as Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, and Muhammad.

During the medieval period, many traditional Christian communities in Europe and Africa believed it was their duty to forcibly convert Jews to Christianity. But they never wondered or cared enough to understand the force that kept Jews from becoming true disciples of Jesus Christ.

       Consequently, Jewish people suffered immense hardship at the hands of the Crusaders, the Inquisition, and Christian mobs throughout Europe. They endured pogroms, forced conversions, expulsions, and massacres across Europe and the Middle East. This long history of persecution culminated in the Holocaust, the most brutal atrocity of modern times, which resulted in the systematic murder of six million Jews.

JESUS CHRIST AND HIS FATHER ARE ONE

Jesus Christ says, “I and my Father are one.” He is generally called the ‘Prince of Peace’ because of his consistent actions and words among humans. Therefore, we know that the true Father of Jesus Christ is the ‘King of Peace.’ As he says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of the Father.” [Matthew 5:9] The question for traditional Christians is whether they can, in all honesty, say that Jehovah shares the same qualities as Jesus Christ. Can any of them honestly say that Jehovah qualifies as the King of Peace?

       Well, Jesus Christ says that “eternal life” depends entirely on people being able to distinguish him and his Father from Jehovah and his false prophets and messengers. He says that only those who know this truth will be saved. “And this is eternal life,” he says, “that they know thee the only true God [the Father], and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” [John 17:3] Do traditional Christians know this life-giving truth?

       Therefore, the onus is on Obinna Okechukwu and every traditional Christian who has objectively examined both the so-called Old and New Testaments of the Bible to decide for himself whether Jehovah truly shares the same qualities as Jesus Christ.

       Finally, my duty is to testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior of humankind, while Jehovah is the Antichrist and the principal opposer of the Father’s will on Earth. It’s not my duty to convince anyone of these truths, for Jesus Christ already assures, saying,

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” [John 6:44]