I grew up in a large church denomination. I was confident that their mainstream teachings were the same as the Bible’s until the day I began a serious study into the church’s doctrines. The more I investigated the more baffled I became.

Soon it became clear that much of what I had been taught either contradicted what I found in the Scriptures or had no scriptural support. I was mystified.

The minister’s explanations for these inconsistencies left me only more confused. I found the same problems in the teachings of others. What the Bible said and what these churches were saying was often in complete opposition.

• For example, I searched for answers as to why I was worshiping on the first day of the week when the Fourth Commandment, among many other Scriptural mandates, clearly teaches that the seventh day is the Sabbath. I found no New Testament support for a change in the weekly Sabbath.

• Why did my church observe popular holidays that were nowhere in the pages of the Bible, while ignoring those observances that are commanded again and again in the Word?

• I also wondered why I had been taught that the Old Testament had no relevance, even though it was the very Bible used by the Savior, His disciples, and the early New Testament believers. It was the only Bible they had, as the New Testament had not yet been written. If the Old Testament was good enough for them, why not for me as well?

• And for some reason I was never told that my Heavenly Father has a personal name, Yahweh*, and that He expected me to call on that Name. Once I began searching I found reference after reference to His Name in both Testaments, along with many clear statements that I was to honor and use His Name. Yet, no one in the church was doing so.

• Also puzzling was the fact that the Savior was born of Hebrew parents, yet He is called by a Latinized-Greek name. What could be the Son’s original and correct name, I wondered? Shouldn’t I be calling on it as the only Name for salvation, according to Acts 4:12?

I spent years looking for answers to these and other important questions as I searched for the Truth. I knew that somewhere on this planet someone was still faithful to the Word in all things. The Savior had said that the gates of the grave would not prevail against the true body of believers, meaning there would always be a remnant group carrying on the one faith and worship found in the Bible, Matthew 16:18. It would not be a large, prominent denomination because the Messiah had said to His faithful, "Fear not LITTLE flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom," Luke 12:32. He also taught that the way of truth was narrow, and FEW would find it, Matthew 7:14.

Thankfully, after much study and effort, my investigation ended and the answers I had long searched for finally came.

Life’s Instruction Manual

One of the most basic truths of the Bible is that everything one believes and practices must have Scriptural backing. Only a way of worship well-defined in the Bible is acceptable. The Bible represents Yahweh’s very thoughts. The 16th verse of 2Timothy 3 says that all Scripture is given by "inspiration," meaning it is "Yahweh-inbreathed." The Word we hold in our hands is essentially the very breath of His mouth, revealing His own mind and nature. If any belief, custom or tradition is not in the Bible, we know it is not authorized by Yahweh and therefore is counterfeit.

No wonder that the Bereans were praised as noble worshipers in Acts 17:11 when they "received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." These outstanding truth-seekers knew that whatever was told to them had to be supported by the Scriptures or it was not of Yahweh and had to be sifted out.

Man has no authority to invent his own teachings about the Bible. Churchianity has been doing just that for 2,000 years through a whole raft of dogmas and traditions that are not found in the Bible. Almighty Yahweh punished ancient Israel for turning away from Him and taking up the beliefs and customs of the pagans around them. He thundered, "Learn not the way of the heathen" in Jeremiah 10:2. To my amazement I discovered that many church teachings also began as compromises with heathen beliefs and practices.

So I dug deeper and was amazed at what else I learned!

Truths I Was Never Told

I began to uncover eye-opening facts that would change my understanding of the Truth of the Bible forever, and bring me to right and proper worship.

A universal belief among the religious and the non-religious is that man has an immortal soul. The concept of immortality came not from the Scriptures but from pagan Greek philosophers like Plato and Socrates, as well as ancient Gnostic and Babylonian beliefs. The Bible clearly says, "The soul that sins, it shall die"— not live on forever, Ezekiel 18:4. Paul told Timothy that the Father Yahweh alone has immortality (1Tim. 6:16). Immortality is granted to some only at the resurrection (1Cor. 15:22-23). We do not have deathlessness automatically built into our souls. Nowhere are the words "immortal" and "soul" found together in the pages of the Scriptures.

I also discovered that we don’t waft off to a heavenly paradise when we die. Regardless of what you hear at funerals, the Bible never promises heaven to the saints, let alone to unbelievers. The Messiah Yahshua* said no man has ascended to heaven, John 3:13, and He inspired John to write that the faithful will reign on earth after the resurrection, not in heaven, Revelation 5:10. The Apostle Peter noted that not even King David has gone to heaven, Acts 2:34. The Apostle Paul clearly maintained that the saints and patriarchs of old are still dead, awaiting the resurrection and their reward, Hebrews 11:13.

Further, Yahweh never gave anyone, including the church, the authority to replace His Name with generic titles like God and Lord. In fact, we are told to honor and call on His revealed Name Yahweh in such passages as Psalm 66:2, 4; Romans 9:17, and Hebrews 2:12.

Neither did He nor His Son ever change the Sabbath to the first day of the week. That change was made by man alone without any Scriptural authorization or justification. The Messiah Yahshua kept the seventh-day Sabbath along with His disciples, Luke 13:10. The Apostle Paul observed the proper Sabbath with Jews as well as gentiles, Acts 13:42-44, and he said Sabbath rest is still in force for Yahweh’s people, Hebrews 4:9. The seventh-day Sabbath will continue to be observed on into the Kingdom, Isaiah 66:23.

No holidays or observances like Christmas and Easter are commanded in the Scriptures, either. There is no reference in the Bible showing that anyone ever kept today’s most celebrated holidays. Other than the weekly Sabbath, the only observances commanded are seven annual appointed times (Moedim) given to Israel and kept by the Savior, His disciples, the apostles, and others in the New Testament. These are listed in Leviticus 23.

I soon realized that the statutes and laws of the Old Testament are still in effect, and will be the standard by which Yahweh will judge the lives of mankind, Revelation 20:12. He said that His laws are forever, and were never nailed to a cross, Psalm 119:160. What were abolished were man-made laws and decrees, Colossians 2:14. Solomon summed up his advice about life in Ecclesiastes 12:13: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear Yahweh and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." The Messiah Yahshua in John 14:15 admonished, "If you love me, keep my commandments."

Church Steeples

Church steeples can be traced back thousands of years to Egypt and pagan worship. Roman Emperor Constantine and his "Edict of Milan" in 313 C.E. made the Empire officially neutral with regards to religion. Paganism and Christianity could be practiced freely. The stage was set for the melding of ancient pagan architecture (which was widespread in Rome in the form of obelisks which they adopted from Egypt) and early Christian architecture. Augustus after defeating Antony and Cleopatra, conquered Egypt in 30 BC. He brought the obelisks dedicated to the Pharaohs Rameses II and Psammetichus II from Heliopolis to Rome.

The phallus played a role in the cult of Osiris in the ancient Egyptian religion. It is widely understood that the obelisk is a phallic symbol honoring and celebrating regeneration of the sun god Ra (Egypt’s greatest deity). The obelisk was the first point sun rays hit as it ascended, which the pagans believed symbolized re-birth between earth and heaven.

The Ancient Romans were strongly influenced by the obelisk. There are now more than twice as many obelisks standing in Rome as remain in Egypt. It takes little imagination to see the parallel between the obelisk and the common church steeple, which many historians have pointed out.

During the Middle Ages steeples evolved into more than ornamental expressions of pagan cultures gone by, they doubled as a place for church bells. By the 15th century most churches had steeples with bells, which were rung every hour and to proclaim religious ceremonies and holidays.

The mother of the modern church, the Roman Catholic Church, adopted an Egyptian pagan obelisk and placed a cross on its peak. This imagery should send chills down the spines of churchgoers everywhere, as this is where most of today’s churches stem from through the Protestant Reformation.

This red granite obelisk is a unique block 25.31m high, on a 8.25m base, weighing about 330 tons. It is the second highest obelisk in Rome and was brought from Egypt to Rome by Emperor Caligula in 37 CE. It originally stood in his circus on a spot to the south of the basilica, close to the present Sacristy. Pope Sixtus V had Domenico Fontana move it in 1586 to the center of St. Peter’s Square.

The obelisk is also a sun dial, its shadows marking noon over the signs of the zodiac in the white marble disks in the paving of the square. This gigantic monument sits in the center of St. Peter’s Square to this day and is a testimony to early Christianity’s pagan influence that we see in and on churches across every continent on earth.

It is interesting to note that the KJV Bible translates the Hebrew term Asherah as groves. Strongs Concordance defines it as: ‘asherah, ash-ay-raw’; or ‘asheyrah, ash-ay-raw’; Strongs 842, from Hebrew 833 (‘ashar); 1) to be straight, right, especially used of a strait way, hence also of what is upright, erect. The asherah is found in the scriptures 40 times, always referring to idol worship.

The Companion Bible, Appendix 42, defines asherah as the following: "It was an upright pillar connected with Baal-worship, and is associated with the goddess Ashtoreth, being the representation of the productive principal of life, and Baal being the representative of the generative principle. The image, which represents the Phoenician Ashtoreth of Paphos, as the sole object of worship in her temple, was an upright block of stone, anointed with oil, and covered with an embroidered cloth.

In 2Kings 10-25-26 the Amplified Version says: "As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and to the officers, Go in and slay them; let none escape. And they smote them with the sword; and the guards or runners [before the king] and the officers threw their bodies out and went into the inner dwelling of the house of Baal. They brought out the pillars or obelisks of the house of Baal and burned them."

In Deuteronomy 16:22 we find this warning: "Neither shall you set thee up a pillar; which Yahweh your Elohim hates." Yahweh is adamant that His people be separate and not partake of the pagan practices of the heathens, including erecting towers and pillars pointing to the sun in sexual rites of fertility.

The Cross

The Messiah’s death was not on a cross, as popularly believed, but on an upright pole with wrists nailed overhead. This is clear from the words translated "cross." They are the Greek stauros and xulon, and specify a plain stake or pole without a crosspiece. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, "Stauros denotes, primarily, an upright pole or stake. John 3:14 tells us He was lifted up at His impalement in the same way Moses lifted the serpent up on a pole in Numbers 21:9.

The pagan origins of the cross can be traced back to Egypt and even earlier to Babylon. In Egypt it was known as the "ankh" (key of the Nile). It was an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol that literally means "eternal life." The Ankh was a symbol of life and sexual fertility.

In the Encyclopaedia Britannica we read, "In the Egyptian churches the cross was a pagan symbol of life borrowed by the Christians and interpreted in the pagan manner" (11th edition, vol. 14, p. 273).

Alexander Hislop writes in The Two Babylons, "This Pagan symbol ... the Tau, the sign of the cross, the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the false Messiah ... the mystic Tau of the Cladeans (Babylonians) and Egyptians – the true original form of the letter T the initial of the name of Tammuz ... the Babylonian cross was the recognized emblem of Tammuz," pp. 197-205.

Dr. E.W. Bullinger in the Companion Bible, states, "Crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian Sun-god ... It should be stated that Constantine was a Sun-god worshipper ... The evidence is thus complete, that the L-rd was put to death upon an upright stake, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle," appendix 162.

Christmas
Historians do not hide the fact that Christmas was an invention of the Roman church, designed to compete with the heathen Roman feast of Saturnalia in honor of the sun deity Mithras. Mithras bore remarkable similarity to the Biblical Messiah. The Mithraic feast, like Christmas, was celebrated to commemorate his birth.

Christmas as a pagan holiday traces back thousands of years to a man named Nimrod, founder of ancient pagan Babylon. Forefather to Mithras, Nimrod began a counterfeit religion in the Book of Genesis that was to compete with the True Faith of the Bible in every conceivable way down through the centuries. The Bible refers to it as the religion of Mystery Babylon — the mother of false religion that will be destroyed when the Savior Yahshua comes to set up His throne on earth, Revelation 18.

Babylon’s false worship is found today in some aspect in nearly all religions, including churchianity. After Nimrod’s death (2167 BCE), Semiramis, Nimrod’s mother-wife, declared that Nimrod was a god. She claimed that she saw a full-grown evergreen tree spring out of the roots of a dead tree stump, symbolizing the springing forth of new life for Nimrod. On the anniversary of his rebirth (the winter solstice, December 25), she proclaimed that Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts under it. (For an in-depth look at this subject see: December 25, Birthday of the Sun)

Easter

Only in one place is the word Easter found in the Bible, Acts 12:4 in the King James Version. It is a mistranslation of the Greek Pasch or Passover. Throughout the years man has perverted the original Passover observance and added pagan rites and rituals, as is clearly seen in the modern celebration of Easter.

Easter takes its name from a deity of the Chaldeans known as Astarte or Ishtar. "Her presence was thought to guarantee fertility, and in her absence the land, humans, and animals could not reproduce," Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.

Its nonexistence in the ancient Biblical manuscripts shows that the Easter celebration was never a part of New Testament worship. This fact has not escaped even secular sources. The New Werner Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica says, "There is no trace of the celebration of Easter as a Christian festival in the New Testament or in the writings of the apostolic fathers," vol. VII, p. 531.

The word "Easter" is a renaming and completely unauthorized replacement of the Passover. The Encyclopaedia Britannica makes this short and eye-opening statement: "The name Easter (German Ostern) like the names of the days of the week, is a survival from the old Teutonic mythology. According to Bede, it is derived from Eostre or Ostara, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month answering to our April, and called Eostur-monath, was dedicated" (11th edition).

Historically, Easter is the celebration of the ancient queen of heaven, Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. Her beau was the Babylonian Tammuz (Greek Adonis). She is the same goddess worshiped throughout the Near East and Mediterranean worlds almost from the beginning of recorded history. She was variously known as Inanna, Innin, Astarte, Ashtar, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus. (For an in-depth look at this subject see: Easter - the Fertility of It All.)

Trinity

Surprisingly, the idea of a triune deity is very ancient, and can be traced back to ancient Babylon. "Will anyone after this say that the Roman Catholic Church must still be called Christian, because it holds the doctrine of the Trinity? So did the pagan Babylonians, so did the Egyptians, so do the Hindoos at this hour, in the very sense in which Rome does" (The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop).

A question few ever stop to ask is, why is the Trinity a belief held firmly by most of Christendom, being it is entirely missing in the Bible’s teachings? The historian Will Durant offers this startling explanation, "Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it…The Greek language, having reigned for centuries over philosophy, became the vehicle of Christian literature and ritual; The Greek mysteries passed down into the impressive mystery of the Mass. Other pagan cultures contributed to the syncretist result. From Egypt came the ideas of a divine Trinity" (The Story of Civilization, Vol. III).

Yahshua the Messiah Himself affirmed that he was not co-equal with the Father, but was in submission and subjection to the Father. "You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I" (John 14:28, emphasis added). One cannot be equal with another if the other is greater. (For an in-depth look at this subject see: The Trinity- Fact or Fiction?)

The Rapture

We are nowhere told in the inspired Word to expect to be snatched away to heaven to watch our earthbound loved ones suffer horribly and die agonizing deaths during the worst-ever disasters and conflagration prophesied to engulf this planet. In fact, the word "rapture" never appears in the Scriptures.

Scripture confirms that Yahshua’s coming will occur at the end of the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:29-31), at which time He will raise His chosen who have been obedient to His laws to meet Him in the clouds (1Thess. 4:17) as He returns to the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4). Once Yahshua returns His saints will dwell on earth (Rev. 5:10, 20:6).

Today’s pre-tribulation rapture teaching was first introduced by John Nelson Darby in 1827 and popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible (1909). Until that time the teaching of a rapture preceding the Second Coming of the Messiah was largely unknown

The rapture doctrine is just another aspect of the modern, false idea of gain without pain. Something for nothing. No effort or overcoming is necessary. Man loves to make the way broad and effortless. It is a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 30:10: "Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." The rapture teaching is completely foreign to Scripture and runs counter to many passages that say we must overcome pain, trials, and tribulation to enter the Kingdom. (For an in-depth look at this subject see: Are You Counting on a Coming Rapture?)

Can We Make Our Own Truth?

But does it really matter if we choose our own path when it comes to worship? Don’t all routes ultimately lead to salvation anyway, as some have said? Perhaps so long as I am an honest and decent person, it really doesn’t matter whether I follow the Bible or not.

If we can obtain our own salvation without the involvement of our Creator, then it doesn’t make any difference what He says. But of course we can’t. Yahweh Almighty alone decides whether we will live again once this life of ours is over, and He expects honor and obedience before He will grant us everlasting life. Hebrews 5:9 says, "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." In Revelation 14:12 we read, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of Yahweh, and the faith of Yahshua."

According to Proverbs 14:12, our own reasoning leads to a dead-end: "There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Only one way is right and only one way will be rewarded — that is the way of true obedience to the Father in heaven. Paul wrote, "There is one Master, one faith, one baptism," 4:5. There are not many roads to truth. The true faith is not a smorgasbord where one chooses what one likes and ignores the rest.

Yahweh has set out a clear and well-defined way to salvation that rests on honoring Him and obeying His Words. If a teaching or practice is not established by the Word, it is by definition idolatry. Idolatry is anything devised by man that comes between us and the True Worship of Yahweh. Such worship overshadows and eventually replaces the Truth. It tells Yahweh that we, the mere created ones, have chosen to worship in a manner that WE think is best and acceptable. The Apostle Paul equates this with a glob of clay telling the potter what to create. Yahweh calls it rebellion:

"You will say then unto me, Why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against Elohim? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" (Rom. 9:19-21).

In order to follow the ways of truth one must be determined to eliminate what is not Scriptural and adhere only to what is found in the pages of the Book of Books. No source of doctrine coming from outside of the Scriptures is valid. The prophet expressed this fact clearly, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them," Isaiah 8:20. "The law" in this passage means the Old Testament, while "the testimony" relates to the New Testament.

Another prophet, Jeremiah, foretold that in the final days the errors found in popular worship will be evident, when "the Gentiles shall come unto you from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit" (16:19).

To add teachings and practices that are not found in the written Word of Yahweh is explicitly forbidden: "For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, Yahweh shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book," Revelation 22:18. Proverbs 30:5-6 warns against adding anything at all, "Every word of Yahweh is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add not unto his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar."

The sincere seeker of truth will accept nothing that he or she is told without proving it first. Paul admonished in Ephesians 4:14: "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Being well-grounded in the Scriptures will ensure that this does not happen to us.

Our Goal and Purpose

Our objective at Yahweh’s Restoration Ministry is to have a solid understanding in the Word. We are in training now to learn all we can about Yahweh and His will, and put that knowledge into practice in our lives. We use the Scriptures as our guide to life, just as the patriarchs and apostles did. They followed the precepts and laws of the Word in everything they did. That is why Yahweh chose them over others. They were faithful to Him not only in their religious lives, but also in their daily lives. He demands no less from His chosen ones today.

Our ultimate goal and purpose is not to lounge around in the mists of heaven polishing our wings for an eternity. Yahweh is a dynamic, active Father who has incredible plans for His faithful. Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 2:9-10, "But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which Elohim has prepared for them that love him. But Yahweh has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of Elohim."

His purpose is to establish an everlasting Kingdom here on earth. He is looking for devout, sincere, and righteous people whom He finds worthy to serve as priests to rule in this coming Kingdom.

"And has made us unto our Elohim kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth," Revelation 5:10. The objective of the True Worshiper is to be judged worthy to reign in His Kingdom coming soon to this earth, Revelation 3:21.