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“Since Jesus was a Nazarite he didn’t drink alcohol.”

/ Joan C. Thomson / Leave a comment

Is it true? No.

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Jesus was a Nazarene—from Nazareth, not a Nazirite (a particular vow of Judaism that did not allow a man to even eat grapes or raisins—so no wine, not even Welch’s grape juice, or cut his hair). Jesus not only drank wine, but he also created a whole lot of wine at the wedding in Cana, after everyone had already had a lot to drink.

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Mark 1:9

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to the Lord as a Nazirite,they must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. As long as they remain under their Nazirite vow, they must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.

‘During the entire period of their Nazirite vow, no razor may be used on their head. They must be holy until the period of their dedication to the Lord is over; they must let their hair grow long.” Numbers 6:1-5 and on through verse 21.

The giving of the instructions for those taking a Nazarite vow includes not being near a dead body; Jesus was often near dead people though they didn’t stay that way. If he’d been a Nazarite, he would have had to shave his head every time.

They say, “When Jesus said we are the salt of the earth he meant we’re to preserve the culture.”

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Is it true? No.

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The Bible interprets itself. It says that salt is a sign of the Covenant; God isn’t particularly interested in preserving human cultures, his mission is to spread his culture–the Kingdom of Heaven. Followers of Jesus are to be a sign to the world of the Kingdom of Heaven—and how to get there (John 8:31,32)

Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings. Leviticus 2:13

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:17

Cultures are set on earthly things. But the ultimate citizenship of followers of Jesus is in heaven.

Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.  Philippians 3:19-21

They say, “There is no unforgivable sin.”

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Is it true? No.“

Sorry, it sounds good, but Jesus said that there is only one sin that can’t be forgiven—unforgivable, is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But the good news is, anything else, everything else, once repented of—turned away from, is forgivable.

And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.      Matthew 12:31,32

Set Apart by the Holy Spirit Joan C. Thomson

They say, “Jesus told parables to help people understand better.”

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No.

The opposite was true. Jesus put his teachings into parables so that the people would not understand—to fulfill prophecy.

The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

Matthew 13:10-15

They say,”God allows sickness to teach us something.”

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I know of no New Testament scripture (since we “followers of Jesus” are people of the New Covenant) that even hints at this. The only one that is remotely close is John 9:3, the account of Jesus saying of the man born blind, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” Jesus immediately healed him. The work of God in this man’s life was his healing, not the blindness!

Jesus said that the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy but he (Jesus) came to give abundant life—not a lesson from sickness! (John 10:10)

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. I John 3:8

No, God permits sickness and other things that are of the devil to come into our lives so that we can fight it! That’s what the “full armor of God” is for (Ephesians 6:11-18). That’s what the “gifts of the Spirit” are for (1 Corinthians 12:7:11).

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4,5

When sickness comes your way, don’t embrace it—fight it!

Note: Of course, no teacher wants to let a “teachable moment” get by without using it for teaching. God certainly makes use of every opportunity, but why not be open to his teaching while you’re in health?!

But what about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh?” Read about it here: https://urbanlegendsbible.com/?s=thorn+in+flesh

They say,”God won’t give me more than I can handle.”

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It is said,”God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

The rest of the premise says, “So if you’re going through it, God must think you can handle it.”  The possible origin of this “thought for the day” is confusion about Paul’s earlier encouragement that, “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:12-14)

Paul also said that he and his co-workers “were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:8b,9)

God won’t let you be tempted with more than you can resist because he gives you a way out. Handling difficulties or trials is not about our ability but our reliance on God’s mighty power working in our behalf.

The Antichrist

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The Bible makes no mention of a “capital-a”, one person, Antichrist but many “antichrists” who had gone out from the first century church (yes, I checked the Greek). The term comes from John’s epistles in which he warns of the “Many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world.  Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 7)  Certainly there are also many today who persist in unbelief and those who “deny that Jesus is the Christ” (1 John 2:22) and/or “who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (2 John 7)—these have the same spirit of antichrist.

But these are the criteria, not as many believe today–having influence or being a persuasive speaker.  This misinterpretation of the Scriptures has led to slanderous accusations of nearly any man who has been an international leader, whether political or religious, in last 100 years or so.  If you’re a follower of Jesus going around fearfully pointing a finger at such men just because they have influence or a good speaking style—Stop it!  You will have to answer one day for every careless word. (Matthew 12:36)

Instead, make sure that you aren’t one of the ones who “runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ…” and that you don’t welcome the one who “does not bring this teaching”. (2 John 9,10) The Church is all too willing to welcome false teachers these days. Don’t be distracted by non-Biblical paranoia—just make sure you’re obeying Jesus’ teachings and urge others to do the same.

They say, “The Temple in Jerusalem has to be rebuilt before Jesus can come back.”

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It is said,“The Jerusalem Temple must be rebuilt before Jesus comes back.”It

The Bible doesn’t say this.  There are some people who, in past 150 or so years have built a template of eschatology through which they interpret the Bible. They project Ezekiel’s vision of rebuilding the Temple thousands of years into the future (as in any year now) but in fact, “Ezekiel’s” Temple was already rebuilt after the Babylonian exile. (Ezekiel chapters 40-43; see also the books of Ezra and Nehemiah)

Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, there is no longer a need for the Temple and its sacrificial system. (Hebrews 10:1; Ephesians 2:14)  Instead, those who follow Jesus are “God’s temple” and “God’s Spirit lives in you”. (I Corinthians 3:16; see also Acts 17:24, I Cor. 3:17, 6:19)

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They say, “If we understood God, he wouldn’t be God.”

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God IS.  Nothing we do or don’t do determines God’s being or character. The Bible is choc-full of admonitions to “Get wisdom, get understanding, though it cost you everything you have.”(Proverbs 4:7)  The Good News is a revelation–a revealing of God, not a hiding. The point at which people get confused is they think that any understanding of God must come from their own brains’ reckoning (they also forget that God created our brains) rather than from the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

They say,”Spiritual healing is more important than physical healing.”

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It is said,“Even though he didn’t receive physical healing (and died), he got the ultimate healing—a spiritual one.”It i

If a person is a follower of Jesus, we can rejoice that when he dies, it’s not the end and his spirit will continue in Jesus’ presence though his body was not healed.  (Take your questions about why he wasn’t healed to Jesus and his word—not to the “traditions of men” or your imagination.)  However, the idea that the physical body (and thereby physical healing) is less important or unimportant, that only the spiritual counts, doesn’t come from the Bible but from Gnosticism, which taught that material things are evil and only the spiritual is valuable.  Paul warned Timothy about such teachings. (1 Timothy 6:20, 21)

Physical healing was/is so important that Jesus considered it proof that he was “the one who is to come”. (Luke 7:20-23)