“Why Don’t You Preach the Gospel Instead of Calling the Church Out of Idolatry?”

By Maria Merola

© Copyright Double Portion Inheritance, November 2007

http://www.DoublePortionInheritance.com/

As a writer and a public speaker, I often receive emails, questions, and comments from people of every walk of life. The majority of the people whom I encounter do hunger and thirst for righteousness, and their questions are based on an honest, and sincere desire to know the truth. 

However, there are those few who write to me, raising objections for the sake of quieting their own restless conscience. It is obvious that they are not really interested in learning the truth, but they would rather cling to their man-made traditions. 

These are the people who always seem to come up with the same-old misquoted Bible passages (taken completely out of context), in order to defend their so-called “freedom in Christ.” By their arguments and false reasoning, it is obvious that they have been indoctrinated by racketeering preachers in the pulpits who preach lawlessness for the sake of financial prosperity, and popularity. One of these patented responses that I often hear from them is: “Why don’t you focus on preaching the gospel instead of debating about the Law?”

People who say such things are merely trying to deflect from the spirit behind my message to the church which is: “Come out of idolatry.” They use these types of responses as a smoke-screen, but when you think about the logic behind what they are really saying, it goes something like this:

“Why not win souls instead of calling the church out of idolatry?”

This sounds like an oxymoron---doesn’t it?

Throughout the history of the nation of Yisra’el, we observe many times within the pages of the Tanakh, (Old Testament), that our Creator always dealt first with his covenant people, Yisra’el, and before he dealt with the heathen nations. Why? Because if Yisra’el walked uprightly, (and she would forsake her idols), then the heathen nations would look to her as an example of righteousness, and thus, they would repent.

Today, the Christian Church is very similar to Ancient Yisra’el in the fact that they have attained to the covenant promises of Abraham through Messiah, Yahuwshuwa (whom they erroneously refer to as Jesus).

The Heavenly Father, YaHuWaH deals first with the Christian Church, because they are the ones who are called “My first-born” (Jeremiah 31:9). Most Christians do not see themselves as belonging to Yisra’el. They are like Joseph’s younger son, Ephrayim in that they were born in a foreign country (not born in Yisra’el), yet they are still named “Yisra’el,” because they belong to Messiah. Similarly, Ephrayim was born in Egypt, yet, he did not realize he was part of Yisra’el (because he belonged to his father, Joseph). But it was not until his grandfather, Jacob/Yisra’el prophesied over him, that his true identity was realized.

The House of Ephraim (Yisra’el), is comprised of the Ten Northern Tribes of Yisra’el who were scattered to the four corners of the earth after King Solomon died (see 1st Kings chapter 12). Jacob (whose name was later changed to Yisra’el) prophesied over his grandson, Ephrayim and decreed that he would become “A multitude of nations” (Genesis 48:19). Yet, while he would become a multitude of nations, he would still be given the name “Yisra’el,” as Jacob conferred his name upon his two grandsons Ephrayim & Manasseh (Genesis 48:16).

Those who are “born-again,” by the blood of Messiah, (yet they were born in a foreign nation like Ephrayim), are every bit a part of Yisra’el as those who were born in the nation. This is why they are referred to as “My first-born,” because the gentiles were the first ones to receive the good news of Messiah in the days when Yahuwshuwa (Jesus) was here. The Kingdom of Judah (Jews), however, rejected him as Messiah for the most part.

And this is why the Christian Church is meant to be an example to those who are not followers of Messiah. However, if the church is in idolatry herself, she is powerless to win the lost. The Christian Church today must be able to recognize that through the blood of Messiah, they too have been grafted into the same olive tree with Yisra’el, and that they have not replaced Yisra’el. Consequently, YaHuWaH deals with the Christian Church today no differently than he did with the nation of Yisra’el in the Tanakh (Old Testament). And because Elohiym deals with his own covenant people first, (before he reaches out to the rest of the world), it should come as no surprise that he is calling the church to come up to a higher standard:

1^st Keefa (Peter) 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of  Elohiym (God): and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of Elohiym?

If repentance first begins with those who claim to be in blood covenant with Messiah, the end result shall be that those who don’t obey the gospel at all will be won over also! 

Our Messiah, Yahuwshuwa (Jesus) came to earth first, for the “The lost sheep of the House of Yisra’el,” and then a few years later, he sent his disciples to reach out to the Gentiles.

In other words, we must first bring back those within the Christian Church who are “the lost sheep” because of pagan influences. Once the lost sheep are found, they can in turn heal the rest of the heathen world. Otherwise, it is like the pagans trying to win the pagans. Or in other words, the proverbial “blind leading the blind.”

What happened to the House of Judah in the days of the prophet Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah)? The nation of Judah became infected with the same religion of Babylon just like today’s Christian Church. Thus, YaHuWaH had to “pluck them up, break down their idols and images, and throw down their false pagan altars.”  He had to afflict them, and destroy every vestige of paganism in their culture before he could allow them to come back to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) to rebuild. It does not sound very gentle or loving, does it? But indeed, YaHuWaH’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts!

Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah ) 31:28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, says YHWH.

You see, YaHuWaH has called me to preach the same message of Jeremiah in our generation! He has called me to “pluck up false religious lies” that have infected the once true faith of our Messiah. He has called me to break down idolatrous ways of thinking, and then we can begin to rebuild a new foundation, which is the true Rock, the Messiah named Yahuwshuwa. 

But the false pagan “Jesus” that the Roman Catholic Mother Harlot has peddled to the world is a false foundation built on sinking sand. This false foundation is what we must pluck up, break down and destroy before Messiah can rebuild the Tabernacle of David at his return. The prophet Jeremiah foretold about the days that we are now living in wherein the Gentiles will finally realize that we have been lied to with a false pagan Messiah and a false gospel:

Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah ) 16:19 O YHWH, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, 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.



Many in the church think that they are worshiping the real Messiah but it is “Another Jesus” not patterned after scripture (2^nd Corinthians 11:4). Most of Christianity has been conditioned to believe that our Messiah came to do away with the Mosaic Law (Towrah) and thus the majority of the Christian Church teaches a “Lawless Jesus” who extends “cheap grace” without any self-sacrifice, without any repentance or “dying to the old sinful nature.”

We cannot save one single soul until we get them back to the REAL Messiah Yahuwshuwa!

We can preach the gospel all day long and then win them to a false pagan Jesus who is embedded in pagan myths but they will not grow in the faith at all.

The rationale behind saying that we can use paganism to preach the gospel goes something like this:

“Why not tolerate idolatry and the sin of breaking the 1^st Commandment in order to preach the good news that Jesus died so that we don’t have to keep the commandments anymore?”

This, my friends, is a false gospel!

To those who would say that our primary job is to go and preach the gospel, I could not agree with you more!

That is the primary reason why YaHuWaH has called me to educate the church because we are not reaching the Jews with this pagan version of the gospel!

And please don’t give me that same-old anti-Semitic attitude that I hear all the time where Christians rationalize it is pointless to preach the gospel to the Jews. They say things like “The Jews rejected Christ because their hearts were hard.” When I hear Christians saying this, I become furious inside, because they presume that “hard-heartedness” is exclusive to the Jewish people, rather than it being a condition of the human heart.

In Jeremiah 17:9, it declares that the heart of mankind is “deceitful and desperately wicked!” Christians who say these types of things are displaying that they have hearts that are even more hardened than the Jewish people, because they won’t even try to reach the Jews for Messiah! Not only that, but since most Christians reject the Towrah (instructions) of our Heavenly Father, they are no different than Korah in the rebellion against Moses!

We will never reach the Jewish people with a Greco-Roman paganized Jesus. Yahuwshuwa said to the Samaritan woman at the well “You don’t know what you worship, but we do for salvation is of the Yahuwdiy (Jews)” ----Yahuwchanon (John) 4:22. 

He was telling her that if you don’t worship the Father in the same way that the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah) does by keeping the Feasts and the Sabbaths, then YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU WORSHIP! 

You see, the Tribe of Yahuwdah has been given the role of the “kinsman redeemer” for the other eleven Tribes of Yisra’el. We see this illustrated in the story of Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar in Genesis 38. Judah had promised to send her his youngest son Shelah as a “kinsman redeemer” after his first-born son Er and the middle son Onan had already died. But instead, Judah himself ended up as her kinsmen redeemer! 

You see, the Tribe of YaHuWDaH (Judah) is the tribe that reveals the Father & the Son as the “kinsman redeemer!” See my other article entitled: “The Father & the Son Seen in Judah, the Kinsman Redeemer.”

In Genesis 49:8-12 the patriarch Ya’aqob (Jacob) spoke a prophecy over his son Yahuwdah (Judah) from where we derive the term “Jew.” Ya’aqob (Jacob), whose name was changed to Yisra’el said concerning his son Judah: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come.” 

What does this prophecy mean? It means that the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah) or the Jewish people are the tribe that was commissioned to uphold the standard of the Towrah (Mosaic Law) for the other eleven tribes (of which Christians are grafted into). In Romans 3:1-2, the Apostle Sha’uwl (Paul) wrote: “What advantage then has the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of Elohiym.” 

What are these oracles? The Greek Strong’s Concordance defines this word “oracles” as “logion” which means: “The contents of the Mosaic Law.” So you see, the House of Yahuwdah (Jews) were entrusted with the mandate to preach the Towrah to the nations!

So you see, before we can have world revival on a global scale, we must first preach the true besowrah (gospel) of the true Yahuwdiyth (Jewish) Messiah!

To the Jew First

Why are we commanded to preach the besowrah (gospel) to the Yahuwdiy (Jew) first? Because the scriptures say so:

Romiym (Romans) 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Mashiyach (Messiah): for it is the power of Elohiym unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Yahuwdiy (Jew) first, and also to the Greek.

Romiym (Romans) 2:9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil, of the Yahuwdiy (Jew) first, and also of the Gentile;

Romiym (Romans) 2:10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that works good, to the Yahuwdiy (Jew) first, and also to the Gentile:

I am the oldest of four children in my family. And so, when I was a child, and all of us kids were being scolded for being rowdy, my father would always look at me and say: “Maria, you are the oldest, so you should know better.”

Elohiym in his wisdom has chosen “the weak things to put down the mighty, and the foolish things to confound the wise” (1^st  Corinthians 1). 

And so he uses the Gentiles (the younger brother) to make the Jews (the older brother) come back up to the standard that he was chosen for in the first place. YaHuWaH has allowed the House of Ephrayim (the younger son) to provoke the biological first-born son (Judah) to jealousy, by reversing the roles and calling Ephrayim his first-born (Jeremiah 31:9).

But why would he do this? Because the first-born son became complacent and he began to keep the commandments out of habit and he lost his first love. He was no longer doing it out of love for the Heavenly Father but out of duty. But when the prodigal son came home, he desired to obey the commandments because of the Father’s great love and compassion for him. This what the Father wants from Judah, as well. He wants Judah (Jews) to obey him out of love rather than out of duty. And he wants Ephrayim to come back home to the Towrah (instructions) of the Father so that he can provoke big brother to jealousy!

This is the wisdom of Elohiym!

If we attempt to use lies about Christ-Mass & Easter thinking that we can win people to Messiah this way, then we will, later on, have to undo all of the lies we taught them. This rationale sounds something like this: “I have to lie to you first so that I can preach the truth to you.” Now, do you see that we cannot use pagan holidays under the guise of getting people saved? 

This kind of logic reminds me of what Yahuwshuwa said to the religious leaders of his day:

Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

In Yahuwshuwa’s day, the religious leaders were going all over the world to win converts (proselytes) but once they did, they were making them twice the child of Hell (Gehenna), because they were teaching them false man-made traditions. Our Messiah taught us that these “traditions of men” only serve to nullify the word of Elohiym in the life of the believer making the word of “none effect” (Matthew 5:16). 

In other words, we can preach a false gospel by using lies, about Christ-Mass and Easter, but then what are we really winning them to? There is no power to come out of Babylon and the world in that kind of “watered down gospel.”

We must preach the message of the cross (self-denial) which says: “Deny yourself, be willing to die for Messiah, and give up everything… forsake all idols and false pagan systems.”

That is the true gospel of which the Apostle Sha’uwl (Paul) spoke:

“.......for the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish…”----1^st Corinthians 1:18.

This means that we must preach an uncompromising message of dying to the old sinful nature, and the traditions of men.

In the past, I have had an affinity for finding old pieces of furniture in people’s trash, redeeming it, stripping off the old paint and uncovering the beauty of the real wood underneath. Once that was done, I could then apply the new finish.

You cannot apply new finish to old paint. You must strip away the old stuff so that the wood will become porous enough to receive the stain and the new finish.

The same thing holds true with preaching the gospel. We must first strip away the layers of old ways of thinking from people and then we can preach the real Yahuwshuwa--- the true Yahuwdiyth (Jewish) Messiah!

Then we can build on that foundation which is him!

If we are not preaching both elements of “Law & Prophets, Spirit & Truth, Wisdom & Revelation,” then we are not preaching the true Message of the Kingdom. 

The Law of YaHuWaH (Towrah) gives us “wisdom” but the Ruwach Ha’Qodesh (Holy Spirit) brings “revelation.” But we need both operating in our lives!

There are those within the Christian Church who have been given some revelation but they are lacking in wisdom because they think that the Towrah (Mosaic Law) is done away with.

Then there are the Jews who have wisdom from the Towrah, but many of them reject the Messiah, (who gives us the anointing of the Holy Spirit).

So you see, both camps are missing something!

Christians need to come back to Towrah and Jews need to accept the Messiah Yahuwshuwa and receive his spirit inside of them!

The Jewish people have rejected Messiah, largely because of the false way that Christianity has presented him. Not only has Christianity rejected the Towrah (Mosaic Law) which the Messiah of Yisra’el always upheld and obeyed, but they have persecuted the Jews for centuries, and this is what has caused the Jewish people to reject him.

Why does the Bible teach us to preach the gospel to the Jew first? Because as the Apostle Sha’uwl (Paul) explained it in Romans 11:

“....if the falling away of them is riches to the world, how much more their fullness?”

In other words, we will win the rest of the world to Messiah when we first reach the Jews! They are the key to world revival! And how do we win the Jews to Messiah? When the Christian Church at large comes out of Mystery Babylon Religion, and they begin to obey the Towrah, then the Jewish people (symbolized by the older brother in the story of the prodigal son) will then be provoked to Jealousy! And this is how we truly preach the besowrah (gospel)! We do it by obeying Towrah and then we can “provoke Judah to jealousy!”

Ephrayim the Prodigal Son

Can you imagine the prodigal son writing and sending letters to his older brother while he is still in the pig-pen and trying to provoke his older brother to obey their father? The older brother would just laugh at him and say to him: “look at you hypocrite!...you don’t obey our father’s instructions and you are trying to win me over to live as you do?”

In the parable of the prodigal son, Ephrayim (Yisra’el ) represents the younger brother who was “afar off” in the land of Egypt (symbolizing bondage to sin). Judah on the other hand, represents the older brother who continued to obey the father’s instructions (the Feasts and Sabbaths).

The prophet Ezekiel was given a commandment in Ezekiel 37:16-18 to take “two sticks” and to write upon one stick for Ephrayim and upon the other stick for Yahuwdah (Judah). YaHuWaH told Ezekiel that “the two sticks shall become one stick in my hand.”

The Hebrew word for “stick” is ets which means “tree.” In other words these two olive trees (Ephrayim & Judah) are the Gentiles and the Jews! When these two come together as ONE NEW MAN (Ephesians 2:15), then “the fullness of the Gentiles” will be accomplished (Romans 11:25). And this is when the natural branches will desire to be grafted back into their own olive tree!

This is when the “Two Witnesses” in Revelation 11:4 (the two candlesticks & the two olive trees) will preach an uncompromising message to the world that will cause the biggest revival in history! This revival will unify the Jewish and the Gentile followers of Messiah against the Anti-Messiah and his followers!

Ephrayim (Yisra’el ) will never win Judah (Jews) to the Messiah until Ephrayim comes back home to the commandments of the Heavenly Father just like the prodigal son.

When the prodigal son came back home, the father cleansed him by killing the “fatted calf” (blood atonement). And then the older brother Judah became jealous and said: 

”Father, I never left home and rebelled against your commandments (Towrah) and yet you never killed a fatted calf for me.”

Ephrayim (the prodigal son) only received the fatted calf (blood atonement) when he came home to his father’s instructions (Towrah) and then he made his older brother Judah jealous! And after Ephrayim received the fatted calf (blood atonement) he also received a signet “ring on his finger” (authority in the Father’s name) and he also received the white “robe of righteousness” or the wedding garment that qualifies him to get into the wedding!

That is the true besowrah (gospel) message, to the Yahuwdiym (Jews) first and also to the Goyim (Gentiles)!