“But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”.
“Now the Ruach distinctly says that in the last days some will remove from the faith, and will go after deceiving spirits, and after doctrines of demons”.
Bat-Tzion welcomes all people, but we do not welcome all doctrines, or teachings. Doctrines produce certain religious behaviors, so those accompanying behaviors are, by default, therefore not welcomed, either. This, sadly, means that some people will depart from us.
It is a difficult thing to separate people from doctrines that do not belong to Elohim. We certainly do not despise the person who might bring in error, but, many times the case is that the person refuses to separate from the doctrine, and, because we do not support the doctrine, the person is offended. This is sad, but a necessary displeasure, in order to preserve the sanctity of the Congregation according to the Torah.
Bat-Tzion was established by Yah under the teachings of Messianic Judaism, under certain authority, and the congregation submits to that authority, because it is submitted only to the Word of Elohim. How we divide the Word according to our understanding is a consensus among the members, including the under-shepherd [“rabbi” or “teacher”], the Beit-Din, and the congregation at large. It would be great if everyone who came through the doors of Bat-Tzion agreed with us, but, the sad truth is, many will not. This webpage is an effort to save heartache and preserve the peace in the Body of Messiah at large by warding off any future conflict. There are certain doctrines that make a person not truly of the faith, and we have no sorrow exposing those. But, there are some doctrines that we believe real believers follow which are simply in error, and, sadly, we cannot fellowship. In that case, we would prefer that no one try to bring in and impose upon us those doctrines, and create the uncomfortable situation of our having to separate after opening our hearts to them, and them to us.
The world is FULL of errant doctrines, and having an exhaustive list of those doctrines would be next to impossible. However, there are a few key doctrines which are more common among those seeking the Judaic nature of faith in Messiah which have already surfaced at Bat-Tzion several times. These are the ones we will present here in summary.
Two Houses of Israel – that western-European Christians and their descendents are genetically the ten northern tribes and therefore will inherit the land of Israel with Judah.
Bat-Tzion does not take issue with the fact that there are two houses, in theory. Clearly, the Jews are Judah, and there are yet ten tribes scattered among the nations who are “Ephraim”, the scattered Northern Kingdom. It is our contention that those who now believe in Messiah Yeshua who are NOT Jewish, yet see the covenants in their entirety and desire to follow Elohim and His Messiah are in fact GRAFTED INTO JUDAH [the only known 'natural' Israel in the land in the time of Messiah] under JUDAH’S tutelage [Eph 2:19-22, Rom 10:12, 11:17-21; Messiah and all the apostles were from the Kingdom of Judah]. The scriptures are clear on this. It is our contention that today "Israel" represents both 'natural' Israel in regard to the people and the land, and spiritual "Israel" in regard to the kahal. Spiritual Israel never supplanted natural Israel [Romans 11]. It is also our contention that Ephraim and the other northern tribes will be brought back into the land, but this will not be done until AFTER the resurrection, which is what Ezekiel clearly taught. Judah will seek Ephraim. Ephraim will not seek Judah nor Yah. Ephraim is in extreme error and has forgotten his G-d [Hosea]. The moreh/rabbi in this congregation is genetically from the tribe of Yehuda/Jewish. Nothing Anti-Semitic will be accepted, and Ephraimite/Two House theory, at its root and by many of its progenitors, can tend toward anti-Semitism. Any notion that presumes modern Ephraimites should wrest the land from Israel is strongly opposed by the congregation. Any divisive spirit that derides the place of Judah in the land or in the Kingdom will be opposed.
One example of poor academic work supplied by primary promoters of this doctrine is the assertion that the origin of the word "Saxon" derives from a conjunction of "Isaacs Sons". For those who do not understand linguistics and etymology, this is an easy seguay into error. Below is the actual etymology [origin] of the word "Saxon":
Saxon c.1300, from L.L. Saxonem (nom. Saxo), usually found in pl. Saxones, from P.Gmc. *sakhsan (cf. O.E. Seaxe, O.H.G. Sahsun, Ger. Sachse "Saxon"), with a possible literal sense of "swordsmen" (cf. O.E. seax, O.Fris., O.N. sax "knife, short sword, dagger," perhaps ult. from PIE root of saw (1)). The word figures in the well-known story, related by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who got it from Nennius, of the treacherous slaughter by the Anglo-Saxons of their British hosts: "Accordingly they all met at the time and place appointed, and began to treat of peace; and when a fit opportunity offered for executing his villany, Hengist cried out, "Nemet oure Saxas," and the same instant seized Vortigern, and held him by his cloak. The Saxons, upon the signal given, drew their daggers, and falling upon the princes, who little suspected any such design, assassinated them to the number of four hundred and sixty barons and consuls ...." OED helpfully points out that the correct O.E. (with an uninflected plural) would be nimað eowre seax. For other national names that may have derived from characteristic tribal weapons, cf. Frank, Lombard. Still in 20c. used by Celtic speakers to mean "an Englishman." In ref. to the modern Ger. state of Saxony (Ger. Sachsen, Fr. Saxe) it is attested from 1634. Saxon is the source of the -sex in Essex, Sussex, etc. (cf. Middlesex, from O.E. Middel-Seaxe "Middle Saxons"). Bede distinguished the Anglo-Saxons, who conquered much of southern Britain, from the Eealdesaxe "Old Saxons," who stayed in Germany.
The original words, which were first used to represent this people group, then, were Seaxe, Sahsun, and Sachse, and they all are rooted in hand tools/weapons, and not genealogy or patrilineal sequence, and have absolutely NO linguistic tie to Hebrew's "B'ney Yitzchak", the Hebrew for "Isaac's Sons". The modern word "saxon" has changed from its origin, drastically, and bears little similarity in phonetics to the original forms of the word, nor to any Hebrew word for "Isaac's Sons". Similarly, assertions are made that the Danes are the missing "Danites" from scripture. Since the northern kingdom was not scattered until 700BC, this is impossible, given that Denmark was settled in 3900 BC! [Nielsen, Poul Otto (May 2003). "Denmark: History, Prehistory". Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs]. The original syllable in "Danmark" likely comes from tenne, meaning "flatland", or other geographic references, and not "judge", as the Hebrew syllable connotes. These and many other such irresponsible, unacademic, even deceptive assertions leave many of the promoters of this doctrine suspect, at best.
Bat-Tzion welcomes anyone who trusts one day that Yeshua will unite all Israel, but does not hold to the current physical manifestation or "revelation" of Ephraim in our day, and does not support the teaching of stronger forms of this doctrine among our congregants.
For a different point of view, and some things to consider,
Sacred Name/Yeshua’s Name pronunciation privilege – that there is a ‘revealed’ pronunciation of either the Name YHVH, or of Yeshua, that precludes anyone else’s pronunciation.
Bat-Tzion does declare the Name Yahweh, as instructed in scripture. And, Bat-Tzion does believe that Yeshua’s name is a derivative of that Name, and therefore important to His identity. But, there is no one on earth whose argument over how those names are pronounced is any more compelling than the next to the degree that it should divide believers. Neither is there any pronunciation of either of those names that means that if one does not confess the NAME in THAT particular, special pronunciation, then that one is not saved/righteous.
The name Yahweh has been shown to be pronounced that way since times of antiquity. The Name Yeshua is rampant throughout the Aramaic text, the primary text of New Testament study for Bat-Tzion. There is almost zero room for any variation when tracing from the Aramaic, the sister language of Hebrew. At times, the Aramaic form of Yeshua was used in Hebrew portions of the Tanak in order to express the Hebrew equivalent name, Yehoshua. The Masoretes recorded the pronunciation of Hebrew in a voweling system LONG USED in Hebrew synagogues all the way back in the 6th century A.D. There is no reason to believe the language had changed that much at all. Modern Hebrew agrees with these pronunciations, and too many scholars have agreed.Bat-Tzion cherishes both of these Names, but will not be put under condemnation for not pronouncing them with any special group of people who claim to have the divinely revealed pronunciation. Several groups who have espoused any variant of this doctrine have turned into cults, with a single ‘prophet’ at the top who claims to have a seat next to Yah’s throne, and special communicative power with the Father no one else has. Not all who follow these pronunciation doctrines have gone that way, but the potential is certainly there.
Bat-Tzion calls the Father “Yahweh”, and the Son “Yeshua”. In speaking The Name in conversation, we say only Yah, as in Psalm 94:12, but in sacred context of prayer and worship, and ministry, we declare the name Yahweh.
Trinity – that there is a “godhead” made up of three separate ‘persons’, who share a “body”.
Most Christians teach a “trinity”, which is a holdover from the worship of Mithras, a trinity, whom Constantine continued to worship and incorporated into Christianity at the council of Nicea.
The council of Nicea declared the Father and the Son to be “of the same ‘substance’ “, or corporeally the same, which denies the Son of His resurrected flesh and bone, or, makes the Father ‘substantially’ flesh and bone and not spirit. The Son of G-d, Yeshua, declared “I came out of Elohim, and now I have arrived here. I did NOT come on my own: HE SENT ME”. [John 8:42] He was “IN Elohim” in the beginning. [John 1:1-2, 8:42] And the Father was IN HIM while He was here, “The ONE who SENT me is still with me”. [John 8:29]
There is ONE Elohim, ONE Father, whose name is Yah. He has a divine, human Son, who was in every way a man, yet without sin [Heb 2:9, 4:15], who is the seed [Word] of G-d in flesh [John 1:14]. But while Yeshua was on earth, the Father was in Heaven, substantially, but by the Spirit was IN the Son. The Father and the Son cannot then be ‘materially’ the same as defined by the trinity. The Son is Flesh, with the Divine Presence in Him. The Father is spirit. The Ruach is “Breath”, or “Spirit”, which unites the Father and the Son. There is not one scripture that reads, “God the Son”, nor “God the Holy Spirit”. The Son and the Ruach are emanations of the Father, and not “separate persons”. The Father and the Son are unified, “Echad”, BY the RUACH [Breath/Spirit].
There is no scripture which compels us to worship the Ruach HaKodesh separately from the Father or the Son. The Son is to be worshipped WITH the Father [Rev 4-5], because He is ‘echad’, unified with Him by the Ruach, the SAME way Yeshua prayed WE WOULD BE UNITED WITH THEM. [John 17] We acknowledge that only a few extremely late copies of greek scripture included insertion of the verse 1 John 5:7 in an obvious attempt to provide scriptural support for the trinity doctrine. This was initially coerced into the greek texts by Constantine and 'christo-pagans' who had erred agains the 1st and 2nd commandments, there is ONE G-d whose name is YAHWEH; but this deliberate fraud is now widely recognized and the vast majority of translations today either leave out the text for 1 John 5:7, or note the absence of the text in the original version. This verse is not found in any Aramaic Peshitta text.
Also, the Hebrew word for Spirit (ruach) is feminine in gender, as is the Aramaic, whereas the Greek word used for Spirit in the New Testament (pneuma) is a neuter term. Merging both masculine and feminine gender into the Trinitarian view further strains their attempt to define the doctrine, so they ignore this by using only the Greek (neuter) scriptures as proof texts.
Because the trinity is so misunderstood and has so many variant understandings, we DO welcome ‘trinitarians’ into the congregation, unless they make issue of this. We DO NOT accept Trinitarians who accuse us of being “un-saved” for not agreeing with this doctrine and we DO NOT accept those who attempt to “convert” us to this doctrine outside of honest scriptural based questions and interpretations. Come let us search the scriptures daily to see whether these things are so. Usually, when a courageous, serious look is taken into the doctrine, the magic “I believe” button most had to push in order to accept the doctrine is easily released, realizing there is no support for the Trinty doctrine in scripture. .
Bat-Tzion agrees with the great command as declared by Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of Elohim:
“HEAR, O Israel! Yahweh is our Elohim, Yahweh is ONE!” [Mark 12:29, De 6:4]
Public use of “tongues” – that “tongues” is the only sign/ or the one ‘necessary’ sign of the presence of the Ruach HaKodesh, that it can be given to another by man, and/or that it must manifest in every congregational setting.
Bat-Tzion believes in the several powers of the Ruach HaKodesh, and that they are for the Kahal [congregation] today. However, this one manifestation is misused and abused, and completely misunderstood in some cases, and in many cases, simply forged.
It is the Father’s decision to empower the believer, converted “sons of the Most High”, with His Power [1 Cor 12:11]. He has given us the ability to discern when and when not to move in that power. [I Cor 14:32] This particular ability, “tongues” is a private enablement of the power of the Ruach Hakodesh, which is NOT to be used in public settings, UNLESS there is a KNOWN INTERPRETER, or someone KNOWN to have the power of interpretation of languages, which, oddly, is a power that is not widely recognized or employed.
He does NOT give the SAME abilities to everyone in the SAME WAY. He gives SOME to prophesy, some to teach, and SOME to speak in other languages [I Cor 12:8-10]. Notice that the 3,000 who were immersed on Shavuot did not all speak in other languages! [Acts 2] Only the original five hundred or so did, and it was TO SAVE THE 3,000! Tongues, in a public setting, is for the UNBELIEVER! [1 Cor 14:22]
Much of what is considered “tongues” in the various congregations is nothing more than syllabic nonsense, not inspired/given by the Ruach HaKodesh [I Cor 14:9-11]. Biblical “tongues” are LANGUAGES that are coherent, and spoken on earth for MEN to understand. If Elohim gives a person the language of an angel, it is for PRIVATE use [1 Cor 14:2,4], and only Yah understands it.
Bat-Tzion welcomes the power of the Ruach, but not indiscriminately, where things are out of order, but that what is done is done for the edification of the Body, and not the spiritual ‘glorification’ of would-be prophets. We are praying that IF anyone indeed has a message for our Kahal in another language, that there will be an interpreter of that message, and that it will be the POWER of Elohim, and not the fanciful wishes of men conjuring an incoherent, horoscope-style promise of spiritual cake and ice-cream. When Elohim speaks, it is FEARFUL.
Miracle services/healing ministry – that the Kahal can at any time decide to have a ‘miracle service’, invite Jesus, and He will come and heal anyone who is sick.
Bat-Tzion believes in the power of the Messiah to heal. Many in our congregation have been healed miraculously by Messiah. Bat-Tzion prays DAILY for the health of its Body, and on Shabbat prays for an hour, much of it beseeching Yah through the scriptures [Psalm 6, 33, 40, 88, 103] for Him to heal His people. And, our Kahal has reaped the benefit of those prayers. But, Messiah healed only those whom HIS FATHER TOLD HIM TO.
If the Father did not compel Yeshua the Son to heal EVERYONE in Israel when He was bodily present on earth, He will neither do so today. Not everyone is healed who is a believer and gets sick. Not everyone who is a believer is guaranteed not ever to get sick. The sad truth is, some of us will suffer.
Bat-Tzion’s elders pray corporately for members of the Body when those members ASK. “Is any among you sick? Let HIM CALL for the elders of the Kahal; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of Yahweh.” [James 5:14] Notice that it is the sick person who should call for the elders. Therein is faith.
Bat-Tzion does not hold a prayer service every time the doors are open, begging Yah to manifest in some miraculous way. But we are in continual prayer for the sick in our Body, even after congregational meetings. The communion is a healing process, and healing may occur at times simply during Shabbat worship, because He is there. But it is His decision. If two of us gather as He would have us gather, He IS there. What He does, however, is up to Him.
Yeshua did not often “pray” for healing. In fact, He never did, according to the gospels. Many times, He only stated that “YOUR FAITH has made you whole”. A plea from someone who WANTED healing was made because the sick “saw” Him, and believed He WOULD heal them. Interestingly, those who called Him Rabbi [teacher]] were healed by His touch. Those who called Him Adon [Master] He would speak to and heal. But those who called Him Yahweh Son of Elohim, or Messiah, THEIR FAITH HEALED THEM even from great distances. The onus is on the sick, and on the Father. We are only vessels who can pray when asked. He is the healer. Bat-Tzion, again, is praying for the various powers of the Ruach, of which healing is one.
Calvinism of any variation – that there is a special subgroup of hand-picked people who merit salvation for some mysterious, unknown reason, while others are predestined to die a death in hell, and could not possibly be saved from that destruction.
Bat-Tzion believes in predestination, but that the predestination spoken of in scripture is a direct result of the foreknowledge of Yahweh, who is NOT confined by time, but “Who WAS, and who IS, and who WILL BE”. “Because He FOREKNEW US, He therefore predestined us”. [Rom 8:29]
Yahweh set HIS PATH in our place because He knows His Children, so He gave them who accept His Will the ability to become all to which they aspire. But, He has given EVERY MAN the opportunity to become His child. The Messiah died “not only for our sins, but for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD”.
Elohim has given the human mind the power of choice; and He did this to confound the enemy, HaSatan, who CHOSE to defy TRUTH. When we hear the “Good News” about the Kingdom of Elohim and RECEIVE it by FAITH, the Spirit enables us to move in that predestined path, the Torah of righteousness, the ‘image’ of His Son.
Yeshua came to save the WORLD. He has ALL POWER, but the will of man will condemn man, not Elohim [ John 3:19-21]. He “desires” all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). If he desires all men to be saved AND He has all power, how is it that all men are not saved if Calvinism is true? Calvinism requires accepting statements that are clear contradictions, such as “we have not means to go to God ourselves, either by choosing or by good works” AND “we do choose to accept His amazing gift of grace.” In an attempt to obscure such obvious contradictions, additional terms are defined such as irresistible grace, special grace, enabling grace, sufficient grace, efficacious grace, etc., that are not defined in scripture.
