Salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22)

The great reformer Martin Luther once said, “The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God, and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law, or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us…Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).”

Perhaps you are not a Lutheran; even so, most Christian denominations would agree with Martin Luther on salvation by grace. Most Christians would also argue Eph 2:8, Mark 13:31, Romans 3:23-25, proves the Torah (the written law of Moses) has nothing to do with salvation and how to remain saved. 

Where we get to spend eternity should be the most crucial question to us all. We should, therefore, never take this question for granted, we owe it to ourselves to make sure we know that we know that we know we will end up in heaven when we die. 

We need, therefore to ask one crucial question: 

What if Martin Luther got it wrong? 

After all, he was just a normal sinful human being like any other human being. If you choose to build your theology and your understanding of salvation on his theology, you have to ask the question: How do you even know you can trust what he said about the Bible? To determine if we can trust Martin Luther’s teachings, we first have to compare what he said with the Bible. If the Bible disagrees with him, then the Bible has precedence over what he said. 

We first have to understand how Christianity evolved during the centuries. For in many ways, Martin Luther was a product of his time, born into a religion shaped and molded by the Antichrist spirit over centuries. 

Simon Magus, Cerdo and Marcion

Over the centuries, many theologians and thinkers influenced by the Antichrist spirit left their mark on the Christian church. But some of the most influentials turned out to be Simon Magus, Cerdo and Marcion. 

Cerdo was a Syrian who lived about 100 years after the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) before there existed a New Testament. He was a follower of Simon Magus the same Simon Magus we read about in Acts 8:9-24, which was later labeled by the Apostles as being a heretic and without Torah. 

In the year 137 AD, Cerdo moved to Rome and became a prominent member of the church in Rome. He saw himself as a Christian, with no intention of starting a sect apart from the church. Like many Christians today, Cerdo believed he had been given a divine revelation and hidden knowledge from the Holy Spirit. He thought it was correct to reject the Torah. Because he rejected the Torah in favor of grace and mercy, he came up with the idea the Bible has two gods, the legalistic god of the jews and the merciful, loving God of the new testament revealed through his son Jesus. Around the year 140 CE, Cerdo was forced out of the church labeled as a heretic. The early church could not accept his rejection of the Torah, his faith in two gods.

A few years before Cerdo moved to Rome, in the year 85 AD, Marcion was born in Pontus (modern-day Turkey)

At one point in his life, Marcion came into contact with Cerdo, and Cerdo became his teacher. When Marcion lived, a New Testament did still not exist, only fragments of the writings and teachings of Jesus, the Apostles, and Paul. Marcion started reading these fragments through the lens of Cerdos teachings. This led Marcion to conclude with Cerdo, there were two gods, and the Torah did not apply to a Christian. They both believed Jesus had come to start a new religion, and Paul was the only true Apostle.

Marcion was the first one to attempt to gather the books of the New Testament. Because of the influence of Cerdo, he decided to reject all the Gospels except for Luke. He rejected Paul’s pastoral epistles, all the letters of James, John, and Peter keeping only 11 of Paul’s letters. 

In the year 144 CE, Marcion was forced from the church in Rome labeled as a heretic. The church leaders in Rome could not accept his teachings and rejection of the Torah.  

Simon Magus, Cerdo, and Marcion all had one thing in common; they rejected the Torah believing Jesus came to start Christianity. They were all labeled as heretics by the early church because of this, and other heretical teachings. 

What do most Christians believe today? They believe Jesus came to do away with the Torah, to start Christianity (even though the Bible says otherwise.) They believe Jesus reveals the mercy and grace of His Father, and we are under grace and not law. Sounds familiar? Most Christian believe precisely what Simon Magus, Cerdo, and Marcion believed. 

Simon Magus, Cerdo, Marcion was all labeled as heretics because of this. 

Should this concern us, or are we to accept this?  

Martin Luther 

The Catholic church believes God pours His grace into us, and if we obey and keep Catholic law and tradition, we will receive more grace and become more righteous. 

Martin Luthers’ response to this was: “The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God, and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law, or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us…Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).”

Even though Martin Luther is best known as the founder of Protestantism, he was still a Catholic. He had no intention of breaking away from the church and form a new denomination, he only wanted to reform it, but he was, in the end, forced out of the catholic church because of his teachings. 

The Catholic church is built upon the teachings of the church fathers, men like Tertullian, Origen of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, and St. Augustine. All of these men shared in an intense hatred for the Jews, labeling them as Christ-killers. Even men like Tertullian, who had fought against Marcion’s heresy, still shared Marcion’s understanding of the Torah. And when Emperor Constantine made it illegal for Gentile Christians to participate in Jewish customs, the Catholic church as a 100% Christian church was born. 

After being forced out of the Catholic church, Martin Luther still believed in Christianity as a separate religion from Judaism. After failing to convert Jews to Christianity, his hatred for the Jews increased dramatically from the year 1543. He strongly advocated for the Torah to be outlawed and for Jews to be severely punished for their rejection of Christianity. 

Mainstream Christianity in 2020

If you belong to a protestant denomination, you would agree with Martin Luther on his doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. Salvation and where we spend eternity should be essential for us to understand and to make sure we get it right. 

As Christians, we believe the Bible says all men have sinned. We also believe the Bible when it says, in 1. John 4:3, the Antichrist spirit, is active in the church today. 

If you agree with Martin Luther on his doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, you owe it to yourself to ask this one crucial question: What if Martin Luther was wrong? After all, he was a normal sinful human being and far from perfect. His Catholic hate for the Jews inspired Hitler. How do you know you can trust a man like Martin Luther, especially when you know John 4:22 says salvation is from the Jews? 

The only way to determine if he was wrong is by studying your Bible.

Yeshua (Jesus) says in Matt 5, 23:2, and He did not start Christianity, He came to show us how to obey the Torah. Paul the Apostle says in Rom 3, Acts 15, the Torah still applies to a Jewish Christian AND a Gentile Christian. In Rev 12, Rev 14, those who overcome the devil are those who believe Yeshua died for their sins AND obey the Torah. In 1. Cor 12, Rom 8, Paul says only those who follow the Torah are living in the Spirit. John says the same thing in 1. John 2 and Yeshua Himself says this in John 14.

It is, therefore, easy for us to see the Bible does not agree with Simon Magus, Cerdo, Marcion, any church fathers, the Catholic church, and Martin Luther. The Bible is the word of God, and if it disagrees with any human being, the Bible has precedence 

Why do our pastors tell us the Torah has been done away with, and Jesus came to start Christianity? Why does our pastor tell us, “the church was born on Pentecost” and “we are under grace, not law, because Jesus came to free us from the law?” We could just as quickly ask ourselves why did Martin Luther, the church fathers, and the Catholic church share many of Marcion’s ideas when the same church fathers labeled him as a heretic? 

The Bible answers our question in 1. John 4:3, the Antichrist spirit is the reason for this. The Antichrist spirit has been working in the church since day 1 to condition Christians for the rise of the Antichrist. This Spirit of the Antichrist has no objection to a Christian who believes the Torah does not apply to them because he knows they will end up in hell when they die (Matt 7:21-23) This Spirit greatly fears those who do obey the Torah and are reconciled to Yehovah by the cross because he knows they have it in them to overcome him. (Rev 12, Rev 14)

Are you an overcomer of the devil? Or are you one of those who have been conditioned, by the Antichrist spirit, to accept the Antichrist when he appears on the scene?