Substituting Hebraic Roots for the Cross
Beware of those who claim “God spoke to their heart.” Either He speaks to YOU or He does not. He does not speak to some body part, physical or spiritual. He speaks to the person. He didn’t speak to Abraham’s heart; He spoke to him. So with Noah, Moses, and all the rest. He does not speak to my heart; He speaks to ME.
Often have I heard pastors and others claim God spoke to their hearts. I think it’s a copout. This way the alleged recipient of the message is off the hook for claiming God spoke to THEM personally.
Make it vague; have the escape clause provision. It sounds humbler, more honest, more mysterious. It is not an unequivocal “Thus says the Lord,” but a nebulous “It’s my feeling or belief.” There’s a difference. One is authoritative and the other is disingenuous, deceptive, pretentious.
Brad Scott once claimed that unless one knew Hebrew, they fell far short of understanding the things of God. But God hasn’t called everyone to understand Hebrew. Neither does He deny any good thing to those He calls and chooses, though they do not read or understand Hebrew.
Indeed, it was God Who dispensed the languages of the world. As He confounded their language at Babel, so He gives understanding in the spirit of Who He Is and What He Says.
At Pentecost, the people heard the Gospel by Peter and all those speaking in tongues (Acts 2). They didn’t hear it in Hebrew but in their own tongue. So much for the fallacious doctrine of the importance of having to understand Hebrew to receive the Gospel AND continuous understanding of God.
Putting away things strangled, blood, idolatry, and fornication were the first requirements of God for the Gentiles (Acts 15:5 & following). According to Brad Scott, it seems learning Hebrew should be of primary concern.
Matthew 7:13-14 MKJV
(13) Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it.
(14) Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Luke 13:24-27 MKJV
(24) Strive to enter in at the narrow gate. For I say to you, many will seek to enter in and shall not be able.
(25) And once the Master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us, and He shall answer and say to you, I do not know you; from where are you;
(26) then you shall begin to say, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You have taught in our streets.
(27) But He shall say, I tell you, I do not know you; from where you are. Depart from Me, all workers of unrighteousness!
Brad Scott, the self-ordained pastor of non-denominational “Wildbranch Ministry,” is another one of many false teachers, who, while having the form of godliness and teachings that contain some truth, misapplies, misunderstands, and mistakes another Jesus for the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed in the Scriptures.
From Brad Scott’s website www.wildbranch.org: “Raised in Missouri, he began in the Lutheran system and was taught traditional ‘Christian’ theology.”
Right from the beginning, it is clear to see that Brad Scott has not known the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord does not countenance partakers of the harlot church. The Lord calls those who are truly His to come out of the manmade establishment, temples, and religions of this world. Read The Case for Coming Out, The True Marks of a Cult and The Church.
Whether Brad Scott remains a Lutheran is unclear, but appealing to the Lutheran church as a sign of his authority and calling by God is a mark that Scott has neither. One can read about the atrocities of the Lutheran church system and Martin Luther here.
At his site, Scott speaks of his traditional theology, study of the letter – the language of the Bible, and he also says he “sat at the feet of Rabbinical scholars, much the same way Sha’ul [Paul the Apostle] may have done so!“
Once again, Scott presents an appeal to authority where none can be found. Yes, the apostle Paul spoke of these things in his ministry of Christ Jesus. Paul was a man raised in the letter of the law, with much studying and practice of the Judaic Law and ordinances of his time. He was well trained in theology at the feet of Rabbinical scholars and priest, no doubt. But what did Paul have to say about his time, his gains in the flesh and carnal reasoning?
Philippians 3:3-11 MKJV
(3) For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh;
(4) though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other thinks that he has reason to trust in the flesh, I more.
(5) I was circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. As regards the Law, I was a Pharisee;
(6) concerning zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness in the Law, blameless.
(7) But whatever things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
(8) But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ
(9) and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith,
(10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death;
(11) if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.
Paul called his theology, his training, his own righteousness earned by his religious education and practice “dung.” Effectively, those things mean “shit” to the Lord. How many people count their refuse, their garbage, something worthy in their own eyes, let alone the Lord’s?
Scott’s training, education, and time “at the feet of Rabbinical scholars” are worthless in the Lord’s eyes. For him to treat these things as though they have some worth, as though they are evidence of his calling from the Lord, readily reveals to those with eyes to see where Scott stands with the Lord.
“Brad is an ordained minister through a non-denominational pastoralship.”
Ordained by whom? By the Lord or by man? Brad Scott, has the Lord personally said to you that you are his ordained minister/pastor? And how are we to tell the difference between a minister of the Lord and a self-ordained minister? What does the Lord have to say?
Matthew 7:15-20 MKJV
(15) Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
(16) You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?
(17) Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
(18) A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
(19) Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
(20) Therefore by their fruits you shall know them.
By their fruits we shall know them. And what are the fruits of righteousness? Are they not to come out of the harlot church, to come out of unholy mixtures? Is a minister ordained by God a partaker of a manmade church system, be it denominational or non-denominational (which is a denomination-in-denial)?
Scott continues:
“Brad is a professional musician, as well, and enjoys leading or just participating with Praise and Worship teams by playing keyboard and singing. Although he plays all styles of music, Brad enjoys the Messianic style best.”
Isaiah 29:13-15 MKJV
(13) And the LORD said, Because this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the command of men;
(14) therefore, behold, I will go on doing among this people, a wonder, even a wonder. For the wisdom of their wise ones shall perish, and the understanding of their intelligent ones shall be hidden.
(15) Woe to those who go deep to hide their purpose from the LORD! And their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? And who knows us?
What music is of the Lord, and what music is anathema to Him? What on earth is “Messianic style?” One might assume that “Messianic style” music is music that is of Christ Himself. And what music is His? Read What About Christian Music?
“This [Brad Scott’s] ministry is based upon Romans Chapter 11”
“The organized Christian church has, for two millennia, cut herself off from her roots. The modern church has, instead, planted an entirely new tree. This tree has rejected the fruit of YHWH’s feasts, His Shabbat, His Torah, His dietary laws, and even His Name.”
“But if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it is of works, then it is no more of grace; otherwise work is no more work” (Romans 11:6 MKJV).
Romans 11:11-24 MKJV
(11) I say then, Did they not stumble that they fall? Let it not be! But by their slipping away came salvation to the nations, to provoke them to jealousy.
(12) But if their slipping away is the riches of the world, and their default is the riches of the nations, how much more their fullness?
(13) For I speak to you, the nations; since I am the apostle of the nations, I glorify my ministry;
(14) if by any means I may provoke those who are my flesh to jealousy, and might save some of them.
(15) For if their casting away is the reconciling of the world, what is the reception except life from the dead?
(16) For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, also the branches.
(17) And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and became a sharer of the root and the fatness of the olive tree with them,
(18) do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, it is not you that bears the root, but the root bears you.
(19) You will say then, The branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.
(20) Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be high-minded, but fear.
(21) For if God did not spare the natural branches, fear lest He also may not spare you either!
(22) Behold then the kindness, and the severity of God; on those having fallen, severity; but on you, kindness, if you continue in the kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
(23) And those also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again.
(24) For if you were cut out of the natural wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more these being according to nature will be grafted into their own olive-tree?
Many, many are those who come upon The Path of Truth and say, “You preach works, we preach Grace; you preach Law, we preach Grace.” How mistaken and woeful are they who throw away the Law in the name of grace! They are workers of iniquity, mistaking the Lord’s grace to obey the Law by faith for the freedom to sin and do as they please. Read Iniquity, Law and Grace, and Grace -The Reality.
And Brad, in his ignorance, is not even preaching salvation by grace, although he claims otherwise. He is preaching salvation by law – by feast-keeping, by Sabbath observance, by following the letter of the Torah, by focusing on the language and translations instead of the meaning and revelation of God. He preaches salvation by eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. His teaching is perfectly anti-Christ.
Read Christian Physical Diet, The Feast Keeping That is Sin, Spiritually Keeping the Physical Sabbath and Diabolical Doctrine: Jewish Worship Practices are Important to Keep.
“The New Testament is crammed full of idioms, phrases, and concepts known to the observant Jew (Yehudim) living in the time of Yeshua’s ministry, but unfamiliar to modern readers. The Scriptures must be read through the eyes and minds of the culture in which it was written.”
Again, Scott’s focus here is not on the revelation of Scriptures from the Lord through eyes and ears that He gives, but rather a focus on the letter, the translation, the culture of the Scriptures so that we may understand them through carnal, fleshly reasoning.
Proverbs 3:5-7 MKJV
(5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.
(6) In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
(7) Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil.
Yes, it is important to understand the context and the meaning of what the Lord says. However, as the believer continues in The Path of Truth, walking under the rod and in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord will make known what He needs to make known, and will correct any mistake or misunderstanding the earnest believer will commit.
It is a matter of faith, and trusting the Lord will not leave His followers in the dark. He gives to the foolish of this world the wisdom of Heaven. It is not the scholars, the wise men, the learned, the translators that often work in the Lord, but rather the humble and hated of this world that are given the knowledge needed to walk in the ways of the Lord.
“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank You, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the sophisticated and cunning, and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight” (Matthew 11:25-26 MKJV).
“If you are a teacher of scripture, and you are teaching the Word of YHWH without going through the eyes and mind of the Hebrew culture, then you need to STOP!”
If you are a teacher of Scripture, and you are teaching the Word of the Lord without going through the eyes and mind of God, then you need to stop. The “Hebrew culture” means nothing to the Lord. It is of this world. Culture derives from the word “cult.”
It is not a matter of men and their religious beliefs and popular doctrines, it is entirely about faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which He gives and which no one can attain to without Him. Even a pious, religious practitioner of nominal “Christianity” could read the Bible 1,000 times over and without Christ, they would have no understanding of it. That’s the way it is.
“That the Scriptures (Old and New Testament) is the infallible word of YHVH.”
False. This statement is an expression of bibliolatry (Bible idolatry). The Scriptures are riddled with mistakes of editors, translators, and those polluted by men’s attempts to indoctrinate, convert, and pervert the original message.
The Bible is the Book of God, no doubt, but to assume any physical thing in this world has not been corrupted by the works of men is absolute folly. The Path of Truth does not teach the Scriptures are infallible, but rather that the Author of them is Incorruptible. Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He alone is untouched by the corrupting influence of man.
Read The Book and Letters of John Corrupted, The Book of Luke Corrupted, The Book of Matthew Corrupted, Is The Authorized King James Version the Perfect Word of God, and The Word of God.
“That Yeshua‘ is indeed coming back again, so that where He is, we may be also.”
Another Diabolical Doctrine being promoted by a man who does not have the revelation necessary to be a minister of the Lord. Read Diabolical Doctrine: The Second Coming (Christ is Returning in a Physical Body), Christ Lives and Speaks Today and The End of the World.
“Knowing the culture, language, idioms, and people who penned the scripture is imperative to understanding the New Testament”
This is addressed above. The Lord is all that is needed to understand the Old and the New Testament. He is what it is all about. It is HIS Mind and not ours that we need to know Him.
“I began to pray about a method in which I could express this fundamental theological shift to those whom I had been teaching for many years. It was at this time that the God of Israel spoke to my heart about all the misconceptions and erroneous teachings concerning the most prolific writer of the New Testament.”
Whether Scott is referring to Paul the Apostle as the one being in error here, or whether it is nominal Christians who are the ones in error, it is unclear. Many are they who claim that Paul spoke from another spirit than Christ, that Paul’s doctrines differ from Christ. That assumption is sheer nonsense.
Paul, after being humbled and transformed by the Lord, walked and talked as One with Christ. The Lord embodies Himself in His servants, and thus those that are truly called to preach on His behalf, are speaking as the Lord does. Read the section Was Paul Legit?
“It was the result of those short conversations that the idea of becoming Rav Sha’ul himself was conceived. To help reverse the modern Christian view of Paul, I would have Paul defend himself, and so Paul the Apostle was brought back into history. It was also a convenient alter ego to teach the truth of our heritage and blame the fallout on someone else!”
“Paul the Apostle is a dramatic presentation of Rav Sha’ul as if he were alive today, 2000 years old.”
“He uses his natural Jewish humor and world view to explain to all who will listen what he did say and what he did not say.”
There are many things that could be said about Brad Scott’s statements here. Namely, where did Scott get the gall to say and speculate such blasphemous notions? I am reminded of Clayton Jennings who dresses himself up as the Lord Jesus Christ and performs plays as a means of spreading the Gospel. Aren’t plays and performances lies and pagan by their very nature? What kind of unholy mixture is this nonsense?
What does Brad Scott know of Paul the Apostle? He says, “if he were alive today, 2000 years old.” Does Scott not know that Paul is alive today in Christ? Is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Israel/Jacob God of the living or God of the dead?
Mark 12:26-27 MKJV
(26) And as regards the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses how God spoke to him in the Bush, saying, “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?”
(27) He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Therefore you greatly err.
Ephesians 2:1-7 MKJV
(1) And He has made you alive, who were once dead in trespasses and sins,
(2) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience;
(3) among whom we also had our way of life in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
(4) But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love with which He loved us
(5) (even when we were dead in sins) has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved),
(6) and has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,
(7) so that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Colossians 2:6-14 MKJV
(6) Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
(7) rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
(8) Beware lest anyone rob you through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.
(9) For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
(10) And you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power,
(11) in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,
(12) buried with Him in baptism, in whom also you were raised through the faith of the working of God, raising Him from the dead.
(13) And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
(14) blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.
1 Corinthians 15:20-22 MKJV
(20) But now Christ has risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruit of those who slept.
(21) For since death is through man, the resurrection of the dead also is through a Man.
(22) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive.
Romans 6:7-11 MKJV
(7) For he who died has been justified from sin.
(8) But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
(9) knowing that when Christ was raised from the dead, He dies no more; death no longer has dominion over Him.
(10) For in that He died, He died to sin once; but in that He lives, He lives to God.
(11) Likewise count yourselves also to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul doesn’t need Brad Scott or anyone other than the Lord to defend him, certainly not a pretender who has never met the man or understood what the Lord is all about. Scott speaks of “a convenient alter ego to teach the truth of our heritage…” Those who are crucified unto the Lord do not use an alter ego, which is a mask, something to hide behind.
In fact, the very act of using a mask to preach the Truth is anathema to the Lord. It is preservation of the flesh, which is at enmity with God. We are called to the cross, to die to our sins and live in Christ, to die to ourselves and live in Him. By creating a mask, a skit, an act, an alter ego, we only put distance and a barrier between us and the cross we are called to. Is he hiding his personal identity for his own sake or Paul’s?
Read The Cross: Only the Death Sentence will Avail.
Brad Scott is one of many who exalt themselves in the Name of the Lord. The natural fruit and progression of such an action is confusion, misunderstanding and misapplication of the Scriptures, sin, and, ultimately, death.
All those who would have life, must first repent of their sins, of leaning on their own understanding, of proclaiming themselves to be what they are not. Brad Scott is no different from any sinner, although the delusion he is in is a sure sign that the Lord is not with him or his “ministry.”
By misleading others with false teachings, he only reaps further fruits of destruction instead of the necessary fruits of repentance. The Good News is when Scott has finally drunk enough from the cup of the wrath of the Lord, he WILL repent in his appointed time, and then he will rejoice in the Lord’s mercy, as all will do in the fullness of times.
Brandon LaBerteaux
on behalf of Victor Hafichuk
October 15, 2017