A Christmas Message ...

Moving Forward

Our Bibles are misleading. This is a strong statement, no doubt, but there is valid evidence, and reasons for making it. To be clear, this is not a comment about the Biblical record’s content. Rather, it's a comment about Christian misperception, about having the wrong map, and about a deliberate focusing of our attention in the wrong direction. I’m talking about the original ordained manuscript order of the New Testament books given us by the apostle John versus the jumbled chaotic order in which they are found in our modern translations. This is not a trifle. While we are unsuspecting of its impact, it has made a huge difference to Christianity over the past two millennia. Imagine, if after trekking 2000 miles, we discover that we were given the wrong map to our destination. Unawares, when we came to that fork in the road about five miles in, we took the wrong road. Our correct destination is so far away now, it’s not even on our map! What do we do when discovering we are 2000 miles off course, not on safe ground, but in treacherous terrain? How did Christianity end up in this predicament 2000 years on? Well, it’s why the first century apostles warned us upfront about false prophets creeping in unawares, handing out bogus maps. They weren't kidding.

We got off the right path by the early 5th century [390-405 CE] when Jerome, a cleric and historian, albeit in the Orwellian tradition, took the original inspired order of the Bible's books, and like a dealer with a deck of cards, shuffled them in favor of the house. Jerome’s house in this case was the Church of Rome. It should be noted here that the apostle Peter never was a pope, and he did not establish the Roman Catholic Church. Peter was "the rock upon which I [Christ] will build my church." [Mat. 16:18]. Peter established the church of God in Jerusalem in the early first century, and then throughout Asia Minor and the Near East. So, Peter went north, then east eventually to Babylon, where some of the descendants of the House of Israel were living in the early first century CE, centuries after the Assyrian captivity. [1 Pet. 5:13]. This is the exact opposite direction than heading off to Rome, which is north and west of Jerusalem. And Babylon is more than 4000 km east of Rome where Peter, according to the Roman church, allegedly was ensconced at the very same time. [See Acts 2:36-47; also the Sneakers article, Nope To Pope]. So, where did this come from, this apocryphal tradition of men?

In the first century, as we can read in the Book of Acts, Peter, along with James, John and the other apostles, established the church, the ekklesia, in Jerusalem. This is a reason why the early Christians misleadingly are referred to as "Jewish Christians." They weren't of Judah, but of the House of Israel. [Mat. 15:24, see the Feature article, Easter, Babylon And The Antichrist]. Jerome, however, changed all this, so that the identity of the early church, by the 5th century, had increasingly morphed into "gentiles," with Rome, the “Mother church,” at the center of the "Christian" world. Identity politics of the theological kind started that early on. In truth, this Johnny-come-lately Roman church had nothing to do with the church of God, then or now, according to the Word of God in the Biblical record as we'll discover. [See John 1:1].

The battle for worldly control of Christianity took place with the Bible as its founding document. And the Church of Rome wanted to win. And this is where and why the ordained order of the New Testament books got changed. Jerome, like a magician performing sleight of hand card tricks obliged by changing the manuscript order and context of the Bible's books, both Old and New Testaments, to favor the church in Rome. He shuffled the books around, added several to the deck, and like a magician always pulling out the right card, he pulled the Book of Romans out from the middle of the deck, and put it front and center in the New Testament's epistles. Jerome was a contemporary of Chrysostom, the Roman church archbishop of Constantinople who finally got the church in Antioch to celebrate the Roman church's Christmas by the late 4th century. [See the Sneakers article, The Birthdays Of The Gods]. 

No doubt, if the Roman church was to designate itself as the mother church, pope and all, it had to have the preeminent spot in the Bible after the Gospels and Acts. So Jerome put Paul's Book of Romans there. And to the world, it appears that the Bible, and therefore God, puts Rome first, in the top spot, ahead of all churches, including those to which Paul, the alleged “apostle to the gentiles,” wrote letters. This false assertion that Paul was apostle to the gentiles also put the Roman church in preeminence over the supposed “Jewish Christians.” After all, Jerome's New Testament has the 14 epistles written by the “gentile apostle" first, while the “Jewish apostles" in Jerusalem, who only wrote seven, are in an inferior position. It's creative editing, a false witness, that has stuck with us over the centuries.

There is an apothegm in the Book of Proverbs that says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." [Pro. 22:6]. Well, when the church was relatively young, it was trained to put Rome at the head of “Christianity.” And it gave us Jerome’s Latin Vulgate with its scrambled order of books, along with one key, deliberate mistranslation. This is why more than 1600 years later, even with the Protestant Reformation, the document upon which Christianity is based has led us in the opposite direction from the kingdom of God to the kingdom of perdition. The longest journey in the wrong direction starts with one small step ... and a bogus road map. And so, it is where we are today. [See the Feature article, And It’s Still A Mystery].

Knowing the original inspired manuscript order of the books of the New Testament is very important for the ekklesia to understand why it was that way to begin with in the first century. And it is just as important for us today, maybe more so in the latter part of the Christian age. Not only did the canonized order of the Biblical books get changed, but in so doing, it changed first century Christian ekklesia into 5th century hierarchical Roman Churchianity. The New Testament is written specifically for the House of Israel. Yet, Jerome made them, us, disappear. He changed the identity of the House of Israel into "gentiles of the world." As a consequence, the lost sheep of the House of Israel are lost once again, wandering around somewhere with the wrong map, getting deeper into trouble daily as we go. [Mat. 15:24; see the Feature article, You Know You're A Christian When ...].

The Roman church, complete with its apex male, aka the “holy father,” the pope, deified female, the “Virgin Mary,” lesser gods, the canonized patron "Saints" [Patron Saints, though still dead in their graves to this day, like David, according to the Biblical record, Acts 2:22-29], with their areas of specialty like the old Roman gods [Specialties], vestal virgins, the "nuns," and the temple/church priests with the influential power to forgive sins, has the exact same hierarchical pattern as the pagan Roman pantheon model, only the names have been changed to protect the guilty. [See the Feature article, Why Can't A Christian Sin?].

It also removed the relevancy of Biblical holy days from both the Old and New Testaments, and substituted the irrelevant traditions of men, aka church holidays with the red-suited clown, and bunny rabbit, and festivals of the lesser gods, the "Saints." [See Festival Days 1; Festival Days 2; also the Sneakers article, Have Cannon, Need Saint; also see the The Hijacked Elephant, a complimentary PDF on the Home page, for a detailed look at the relevancy of the holy days for Christianity in our age, including the approaching day that signals Christ's return. For a quick overview, see Original Holy Days Of God's Plan; for a more detailed understanding, see the Feature article, The Relevance Of The Holy Days In The Plan Of God In The Last Days].

The original canonized order of the New Testament books by the apostle John are the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, then Acts, first followed by the seven universal epistles: James; 1 and 2 Peter; 1, 2, and 3 John; and then Jude. It is only after these seven universal epistles to the Christian church that we find the eleven doctrinal, and three pastoral epistles of Paul, which are followed by the prophetic Book of Revelation. However, the Book of Hebrews originally was placed before the epistle of First Timothy, as Timothy is the first of the pastoral books, i.e., those written to the ministry rather than to the laity.¹ These are the 27 original New Testament books in their ordained order.²

If we look at the New Testament books in an overview, we see that the four gospels cover the ministry of Christ up to his death and resurrection. The Book of Acts covers the time after Christ's resurrection when he showed himself to the apostles and was seen by hundreds of people at a time. [1 Cor. 15:6]. The apostles began preaching the gospel, the good news, to the nations of the House of Israel as directed by Christ. Then the first book to follow Acts was James. When Paul went to see Peter, in Jerusalem not Rome, he pointed out that he also saw James. Later, when Peter was out on the road establishing churches among the House of Israel as directed by Christ, James was the apostle to the first century church in Jerusalem. And he was the physical half-brother of Christ. [See Gal. 1:18, 19]. Keep in mind, Christ was the firstborn son of Mary, not the only son. [Mat. 1:25; Luke 2:7]. It is easy to see at least one reason why Jerome pushed the Book of James out of this key position after Acts in order to favor Rome.

The books of Peter follow the epistle of James. Now Christ said to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell [death, the grave, 1 Cor. 15:55-58] shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on Earth, it shall be bound in Heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” [Mat. 16:18, 19]. While it is obvious to see that the emerging Roman church wanted to claim Peter as their first pope in order to claim ownership and the “papal” authority, ad infinitum, of these two verses, Jerome shunted the books of Peter to the back of the New Testament. So why not put Peter’s books first, followed by Paul's Romans, for a one-two punch? After all, Peter was the rock, the apostle upon whom Christ would establish his church. It makes sense except that Peter’s epistles start out by showing he was not in Rome as the Roman church likes to claim. Oops. More about this later.

Jerome moved the epistle of James, Peter’s two epistles, the three epistles of John that follow, which in turn is followed by the Book of Jude to the back of the New Testament. After moving these books, Jerome placed Paul's deliberately heavy doctrinal epistle to the believers in Rome after the Book of Acts. In Acts 2:8-10, Greek, ἐπιδημέω, strangers of Rome are a reference to what we refer to as foreign residents, ex-pats of the House of Israel living in Rome. The book of Romans was written from Corinth about 57-58 CE, for none of the apostles had established a church in Rome as of this late date though Paul, not Peter, was wanting to do so. [See Rom. 1:10, 11; Rom. 15:20-24]. Verse 20 in Romans 15 clearly shows Peter had not established a church in Rome as of 57-58 CE, thirty years or so after Christ's resurrection.  

Paul's letter to the believers in Rome in the mid-first century follows, not precedes, the first seven universal epistles in their inspired order. And when we consider the Gospels and Acts in this grouping, Paul's eleven doctrinal and three pastoral epistles follow twelve of the New Testament books in their canonized order. Paul always claimed he was least among the apostles. [See 1 Cor. 15:9]. In our Bibles, the Book of Romans, in its original chronological order, would have been the eighteenth book rather than sixth. For those interested in numerology, Jerome changed the total number of the Bible’s books from 49 to 66, and put Romans as the 6th Book of the New Testament for the benefit of the global Church of Rome.

The big question we can ask is, "What difference does it really make?" After all, the books are here in our Bibles, only in a different order and form. The simple answer is, like the Old Testament, there was an intentional order of the New Testament books to help Christ’s people, his elect grow in our understanding of Christ’s teachings after the last apostle taught directly by Christ, John, died. And it was John who canonized the 27 original New Testament books with this ordered arrangement and purpose in mind. Jerome had a wholly different purpose in mind about three hundred years after John put the books in their ordained order. What we have in our Bibles today is Jerome's corrupting handiwork.

To put the importance of the New Testament order of books into a little perspective, imagine reading a story in which the chapters of the book were rearranged in a completely different and nonsensical order. Characters would show up, then disappear, only to reappear with no rhyme or reason. Timelines would be jumbled up. Any logical plot and character development would disappear down the rabbit hole. In short, it would lead to confusion and frustration. And worse yet would be a how-to book with its chapters arranged topsy-turvy. Imagine attempting to build a house starting with the attic, before any foundation had been laid. Crazy, yes. But no crazier than trying to make sense of what it takes to be a Christian without the proper foundation of the seven universal epistles, instead using the scrambled Biblical books as we'll learn.

This is one reason why it is difficult to answer when people ask, “Where should I start reading in the Bible?” The way the New Testament is organized now, it makes no sense to readers. Those daily Bible reading guides built on Jerome’s order of the books are of no help. Some people have read the entire Bible through many times and still have no idea what it’s all about. This is the effect of Jerome's intentional misdirection, the chaotic order and mistranslation of both the Old and New Testament books. Therefore, if the Biblical record makes no sense, where and to whom could a Christian turn to find guidance? Jerome paved the way to the Roman priesthood.   

Our how-to-be a Christian guide, the original order of the New Testament books, was made nonsensical, leading to our confusion. And our Father “ … is not the author of confusion, but peace in all the churches of the saints.” [1 Cor. 14:33]. So, if your goal was to confuse the layperson and ministry alike regarding the truth of the word of God, and set Christians looking to one entity for leadership and direction, i.e., the Roman "Mother church," Jerome’s mission was accomplished in his Latin Vulgate Bible. Of course, it was in a sense, the world’s most colossal Orwellian rewriting, and/or editing in history. Two thousand years on, we are much farther away from our original Christian calling than were our ancestors of the House of Israel in the first century.

Now the canonized order of the books of the New Testament were designed and put together under established rules of learning. That is they were designed to begin with the basics, building up one's understanding of the principles of Christian doctrine of repentance, faith, baptism, the laying on of hands to receive the Spirit of God, the resurrections and eternal judgment, each book building on the previous information provided. [See the Sneakers article, Name Those Tenets]. Ultimately, as we read in the Book of Hebrews, we are to mature in the word of God with these six doctrines to the point of going on to the seventh, perfection. [See Heb. 6:1, 2]. These seven basic principles of Biblical Christian doctrine, given us by Christ and the first century apostles, stand in contrast to the Roman church's seven sacraments. [Sacraments]. One brings us closer to God, the other to Churchianity.³

 “ … the Gospels and Acts are followed by the seven general epistles. The subjects discussed in those seven books are primarily non-theological, and are intended to give an introduction to the fourteen epistles of Paul where the doctrinal subjects of repentance, faith, baptism, the Spirit, resurrections, judgement and perfection are rehearsed in detail. ... What we find in the manuscript order of the New Testament books is a progressive account of doctrinal teaching. This is not guessing. The principle of progressive revelation accords with all academic methods of teaching and the Bible is no exception.” [Restoring The Original Bible, 1994, Professor Ernest L. Martin, p. 42].

In learning to read and write, we learn the alphabet, then words, then simple sentences. As we progress, we learn complex sentences, paragraph structure, etc. The same holds true for arithmetic. Simple addition is followed by subtraction. We then move on to multiplication tables and division. If we started out being handed a trigonometry book, most of us would give that up too, instead turning to something easier, like you know, skateboarding, playing computer games or "saving society" by transforming English gender nouns. For sure. But what happens when these latter day Jeromian wokers get to French, Spanish and Italian or Mat. 19:3-6?

The original order of the New Testament books was put together on this progressive basis as noted above to guide us in our spiritual growth. Jerome, however, undid all this, and sent us packing off to the Church of Rome instead of the church of God. And his Biblical manipulations have contributed to the Protestant churches wandering off the path as well. So today, not only is the Roman church the largest "Christian" denomination, but it’s the wealthiest Christian franchise by Mammon’s standards as well. No wonder Jerome is a Saint of the Roman church with his own feast day.

Jerome has the four Gospel books in their correct order followed by Acts. It is all but impossible to screw this up and have any credible theological standing. But then, all our signposts got changed to Rome. Putting the Book of Romans or the book written to the believers of the House of Israel in Rome, some who were of Caesar’s household [see Php. 4:22], puts Rome at the forefront of importance in the minds of Bible readers without our realizing it.

Therefore, according to the Jerome shuffle, right after the gospel of Christ, and the acts of the apostles, comes Rome. And the Book of Romans was written by none other than the apostle to ... the gentiles! Truth be told, Paul, like all the other apostles, was an apostle of and to the nations of Biblical Israel. Paul was a descendant of the tribe or nation of Benjamin of the House of Israel as he stated in his epistle to the Romans. [Rom. 11:1]. But the false narrative with Paul, like with Peter as the first pope, and the wrong order of the Bible’s books, diverted the truth of the promises of the covenant for us, the nations of Israel, to a bogus road map.

Besides this, the common thinking today is that the old covenant remains in force and is for the Jews, who are mistakenly thought of as all Israel today. The one slight problem with this scenario is that the Law Covenant, which was made with all twelve nations of Israel, not only the Jews, is kaput. It no longer exists. [See Zec. 11:10, 11]. Christ broke it about 2000 years ago. This is what Paul is explaining to the first century Christians in the Book of Romans, in particular the Book of Hebrews.

Now that the New Testament got hijacked by Jerome and the Roman church for the gentiles of the world, this pretty much puts both the House of Judah, one nation, and the House of Israel, the remaining nations of Israel, off the Christian map as well. The New Testament according to Jerome has nothing to do with Israel, only the gentiles of the world. And so it is that we are “2000 miles” away from our original destination. [See the Feature article, The Love Of The Truth].

In Jerome’s plagiarism, the Book of Romans is followed by Paul’s other epistles, written to the “lesser gentile" churches. But, it is only after all these so-called lesser gentile books, way at the back of the bus, that we find the Book of James, head of the Christian church in Jerusalem. Talk about a smack down and turning the truth on its head. But Jerome put Peter even further back in the bus behind James. Wouldn't this be a Roman church snub to its alleged first pope!? It would, and we'll see why Jerome did this below.

As Jerome arranged it by the early 5th century, all “Christian” roads led to Rome. The only problem is that Christians were not supposed to be going to Rome. In fact, of the major cities in the Biblical record, in terms of significance, two stand above all the rest, and Rome is not one of them. They are Jerusalem and Babylon, although some make the case for Vatican Rome being a spiritual Babylon. Even the Roman Emperor Constantine left Rome in the early 4th century and moved the empire's capital to his new city, Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkiye. [Byzantine Constantinople; Map].

And as we know, when Christ returns, it will be to Jerusalem and not to Rome. And after the second resurrection, there will be a new Earth. And the new Earth will have a new Jerusalem, not a new Rome. Let us not forget that Rome was the fourth head of the great beast image, the legs of iron, in Daniel's chapter two. Babylon was the first head, and the emerging Babylon the Great, mentioned in Revelation 17, is the sixth. [See the Feature article, Revelation 17: Big Brother]. And it was during this time of the Book of Daniel's fourth head that Jerome rearranged the ordained order of the Bible's books, including the Book of Daniel.⁴ [See Dan. 2:31-35, 40]. Rome is a dead-end that takes us away from our true destination in more ways than one.

So lets take a look at some of the lost fundamentals in the books of the apostles, our true map, in their original and proper order, before Paul’s epistles, to see what they say in terms of the heritage of New Testament Christians.

In Matthew 1:1 we read, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” No gentiles of the world.

In Matthew 15:24 we read, “I [Christ] was not sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” We of the House of Israel are Abraham’s descendants. We are not gentiles, and neither are we Jews. Yet, the ten nations of the House of Israel are not on our "Christian" map, even though we are Christ's chosen people. [See Heb. 8:10]. How is this possible? Jerome's Latin Vulgate Bible.

In Matthew 10:5, 6 we read, “These twelve [apostles] Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans, do not enter: But go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." Again, no gentiles, only the House of Israel.

In Luke 1:31-33 we read, “And, behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the House of Jacob [all Israel] for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Here’s Israel again.

In Luke 1:68 we read, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he has visited and redeemed his people ....” No Roman church, no gentiles, but there is the Christian principle of redemption for Israel, Christ's people.

In Acts 2:36 we read, “Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” In the first century, on the first day of Christianity, Pentecost, Peter, the alleged first pope of Rome, addressed the House of Israel in Jerusalem, not the gentiles in Rome.

In Acts 3:25 we read, “You are the children of the [Old Testament] prophets [unlike the gentiles of the world], and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, ‘And in your seed [Greek, sperma, those descended from Abraham, the 12 tribes of the Israel] shall all the kindreds of the Earth be blessed." [See Gen. 22:15-18]. Please note the Abrahamic covenant was not made with the gentiles of the world, but with the House of Israel’s forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel. In other words, the world would be blessed through the sons of Israel. And it has, though this no longer is the case. [For details and clarification about this, read the Feature article, Is The US And Great Britain In End-times Bible Prophecy?; also the Sneakers article, Critical Reasoning And Thinking, What CRT Use To Be].

In Acts 13:23, it clearly states, "Of this man's seed [David] has God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus ...." Jesus Christ is the Savior of Israel. Problem is, we don't know who Israel is today. We mistakenly believe Israel are Jews only. But the vast of majority of Israel are not Jewish. This knowledge deficit is largely the result of Jerome's deceitful handiwork.

The intent is very clear to whom Christ was sent at his first coming, specifically the House of Israel as Abraham’s descendants, as in our new covenant, i.e., the New Testament. The Biblical Greek word for new here is kainos. It refers to something wholly different and unprecedented, not just a new version of the previous covenant, which would be the Greek nea. The gentiles of the world were never part of the old covenant.

In the original Biblical order of the books following Acts as canonized by John is the epistle of James, the apostle of the church in Jerusalem. James begins the first epistle of the New Testament by saying, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." James' address to the twelve tribes is a reference to the descendants of the twelve sons of Israel [Gen. 49], the great-grandchildren of Abraham. It’s obvious here too why Jerome didn’t want James’ greetings to the nations of Israel scattered abroad beginning the epistles of the entire New Testament. This is a very specific, non-gentile, non-Church of Rome audience.

I use the present tense is rather than was here for a very good reason. We of the nations of the House of Israel, in a sense, remain scattered abroad in the Christian age. Only after the "Apocalypse" shall the remnant of the children of Israel be gathered and returned to our homeland when Christ returns to stand in that day on the Mount of Olives. [Zec. 14:4; Isa. 11:11-13; see map, also see the Feature article, The Tale Of Two Covenants]. James, therefore, makes it clear that the New Testament is for the nations of Israel. And it is just as clear that the Church of Rome does not possess the authority they claim to have. So Jerome hid this pathway, and switched the signpost to a new path, one leading to Rome. [See the Sneakers article, What About Everyone Else?].

The House of Israel had been taken captive from the land of Israel, specifically Samaria, and scattered throughout the Assyrian Empire beginning in 732 BCE. [See the updated Feature article, Damascus A Heap Of Ruins]. Later, the House of Judah was taken captive from the land of Israel, specifically Judea, by the Babylonians beginning about 605 BCE. By the first century, many of the descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel were still scattered abroad, expatriates living in lands not their own. This is to whom James is writing in what is the first verse in the first epistle after Acts, rather than the Book of Romans. As noted above, the longest journey in the wrong direction starts with one small step and a bogus map.

It is important to note that the gospel, the good news, was first preached to the Jews, those of Abraham’s great-grandson Judah, "For to us [the House of Israel] was the gospel preached, as well as unto them [the Jews]: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." [Heb. 4:2]. The House of Judah, descendants of Judah did not have the faith, the conviction of the truth to go with it.

"Then Paul and Barnabas [on a sabbath in the Antioch of Pisidia synagogue] waxed bold, and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you [Jews]: but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life [the doctrine of eternal judgement], lo, we turn to the nations." [Greek, ethnos, nations as in the nations of the House of Israel, Acts 13:46; see the Feature article, The Good News Colour Revolution for a detailed example of Paul preaching first to the Jews, and the effects of it “not being mixed with faith," the conviction of the truth, while being received with joy by those of the nations, the House of Israel. Not understanding this, first century Christians are often mislabled "Jewsih Christians"].

It is wrong to translate the Greek word ethnos as gentiles out of context giving the impression that once the Jews rejected the gospel, Paul turned to the gentiles of the world rather than to the nations, the House of Israel. This is the fork in the road that sent us, the nations of the House of Israel, walking off in the wrong direction by the early fifth century thanks to Jerome and his scrambled order of the New Testament books. And we are still off the path, heading in the wrong direction as the prophecies warn us.

This is why there is mass confusion on the part of Christians today when not understanding the differences between the House of Judah, the House of Israel, gentiles of the world and the plan of God, the kosmos, from before the beginning of time. [1 Pet. 1:20]. From the Biblical record's perspective, a gentile is a person not descended from Israel, and not in the covenant relationship with God. The difference can be seen in Peter's first epistle when we correctly understand the role of the House of Israel. As Peter wrote to the churches in Asia Minor [western Turkiye today], "Having your life honest among the gentiles so that although they speak against you as evil doers, through having witnessed your good works, they may glorify God in the day of his return." [1 Pet. 2:12].

As we show below, in this epistle Peter wrote to the ex-pats of the House of Israel scattered abroad. Therefore, the "you" addressed by Peter are the ekklesia of the House of Israel, not "converted gentiles." So the gentiles mentioned here in context are those not descended from Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and who were not in the covenant relationship with God. Remember, Christ sent Peter and the other apostles out into the world with very clear specific instructions. "Do not go to the gentiles ... but go to the House of Israel." [Mat. 10:6]. And Peter did so. It is this way through the entire New Testament with all the apostles including Paul. Where, then, are all the people of the House of Israel, the descendants of those first century people who the apostles preached to, and established churches with, today? Go look in the mirror.

The Jews, the House of Judah, however, complained that the gospel was preached to them. But, "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you [Jews] ..." according to the purpose of God as Paul said. And it was why Paul most often preached first in the synagogues. But they rejected it, “ … blindness in part is happened to Israel,” the Jewish part, not the House of Israel part as Paul explained it to the believers in Rome. [See Rom. 11:25, 26]. "But [the gospel was] showed first to them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the nations [ethnos, of the House of Israel, not the gentiles], that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance" [Acts 26:20], which is the first of the doctrines for Christians.

So Paul finds himself standing before King Agrippa in Acts 26 explaining why he was accused by the Jews of "stirring the pot" for preaching the gospel to them. "And now I [the apostle Paul of the tribe of Benjamin] stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God to our fathers unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews." We need to ask ourselves, if Paul was the apostle to the gentiles, why was he preaching the gospel to the Jews instead, causing such needless trouble for himself?

And more to the point, the House of Israel, including Benjamin, makes up ten tribes/nations, with Levi, and Judah, the Jews, making it the twelve of "our twelve tribes" that Paul mentions in reference to the hope of the promise God made to them, all the nations [ethnos] of Israel. There is no mention anywhere of any promises to the gentiles of the world. Paul was not an apostle to the gentiles. Paul was an apostle to the nations of the House of Israel as were the other apostles. "Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles nations." [2 Tim. 1:11]. The wrong road taken by Christianity all stems from Jerome's Vulgate deliberate mistranslation of the Greek word ethnos. [See the Feature article, Paul Was An Apostle To The House Of Israel, Not The Gentiles]. 

The net effect for those of Judah, and all Israel for that matter, is that the old Law Covenant was, and remains broken. And the Jews have rejected the new covenant or testament. For the time being, the House of Judah is without a covenant. [See Zec. 11:10-13]. This is the same situation the House of Israel was in from 732 BCE until Christ instituted the new covenant. However, both Judah and Israel will be one united nation again at Christ's return. [See Eze. 37:15-28; Heb. 8:7-9; also the Feature article, The Relevance Of The Holy Days In The Plan Of God In The Last Days].

It is an unwanted result of Jerome’s shenanigans with the translation and order of the books of the New Testament that we are in total confusion about the Greek word ethnos. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate turned the direction of the New Testament away from Israel, directly contrary to Christ's instructions to whom the apostles were sent. And the King James translators followed suit, heavily influenced by Roman church tradition, not realizing that the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, are written to and for the same people from Genesis to Revelation … all the nations, the ethnos, of Israel, for "the hope of the promise made of God to our fathers ...." This is the reason for Christ's very specific and clear instructions to all the apostles.

The Greek word ethnos has been translated into English as gentiles, heathen, people and nations. This is why it is so important to see the big picture of the entirety of the Biblical record, from Genesis to Revelation. Once we understand this, then Biblical context helps us understand which English word to use. When the New Testament apostles are making a reference to the nations, the House of Israel ethnos, instead of correctly being translated as nations, the KJV guys chose to use Jerome's corrupted term gentiles. And, as we've witnessed, it’s been a wild goose chase since.

But let’s ask a simple question. Was the Old Covenant, or Testament, for all Israel or for the gentiles of the world? Of course, it was for Israel. And what does the apostle not sent to the gentiles, Paul, tell us in this regard? "And for this cause he [Christ] is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first [old] testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." [Heb 9:15]. Who was redeemed by Christ to receive an eternal inheritance according to Paul? Those who were under the first, or old testament. And they are … gentiles of the world? No, of course not. They are all twelve tribes of Israel [See Exd. 19:5, 6; Deu. 29:1]. For as Paul told the believers in Rome, all Israel shall be saved. Paul had a clear understanding that Christ was sent as the redeemer of Israel, and not to the gentiles of the world. The New Testament or covenant of Abraham is for the same people as was the old covenant. It’s quite simple to understand when we get out from under the false prophet Jerome’s Orwellian handiwork, his lies that have sent us down the path to perdition. [For more details and clarification, read the Feature articles, And It’s Still A Mystery and We're Abraham's Seed And Heirs].

Now in the ordained order, James is followed by Peter's first epistle, the alleged first pope who never was pope. From the four gospels, the Book of Acts and James, so far, we know that the New Testament is for Abraham’s kin, his descendants who are the 12 nations, the scattered tribes of his grandson Israel, specifically the House of Israel in the Christian age until Christ's return. [Mat. 15:24].

Had you read these books in their correct order, and building on this knowledge, to whom do you suppose Peter would address his epistle in the first verse? “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia …” Hmm, as the alleged pope, we've seen that Peter was not in Rome when he wrote his first epistle. In fact, he could not send greetings in his first epistle to those of the “Mother church” in Rome if he wanted to. Why? The simple answer is, there was no church in Rome at that time, "Mother" or otherwise. No doubt Jerome realized the same thing and put Peter’s epistles at the back of the bus.  

The word strangers here in Greek is parepidemos. It refers to someone coming from their own country to live in a foreign land, where they have no roots. We call these "strangers" ex-pats today. These were the ex-pats of the House Israel no longer living in the land of Samaria, the kingdom of Israel. [Land Map House of Israel & Judah]. And they were descendants of those scattered from the Assyrian captivity.

These scattered expatriates, as with James greeting from Jerusalem to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, were those that Peter established churches with in these foreign lands on his travels according to Christ’s directive. “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church ….” In Greek, the name Peter is Petros, which means rock or stone. As Peter was out on the road establishing churches among those scattered of the House of Israel, and not the gentiles, as he was chosen and directed to do [Mat. 10:5, 6], it sort of wrecks the Church of Rome's claim of Peter sequestered in Rome as the first pope to the gentiles. [Again, see the Sneakers articles, Nope To Pope and Seven Prophecies, Seven Churches].

However, we read in Acts 15:7, "And when there had been much disputing [the apostle's conference regarding circumcision in Jerusalem about 49 CE], Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men, brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made a choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe." Here's another example of Jerome's forks in the road for casual readers of the Bible that points to Rome. The word Gentiles here is our misunderstood and mistranslated Greek word, ethnos.

In the Jerome's Latin Vulgate translation, it says, "Cum autem magna conquisitio fieret surgens Petrus dixit ad eos viri fratres vos scitis quoniam ab antiquis diebus in nobis elegit Deus per os meum audire gentes verbum evangelii et credere." In Latin, gentes, the plural of gens, is nations, or tribes. However, in Jerome's Vulgate translation, he used gentes to refer to any and all non-Jewish, non-House of Judah nations, which includes the House of Israel.

With his indiscriminate lumping of the Bible's contextual reference to the ten nations of the House of Israel together with the relatively few correct references to gentile nations, Jerome erased any theological, Biblical identity distinction between them. Jerome disappeared the House of Israel, those to whom Christ only was sent to redeem in this age, and for whom the entire New Testament was written. In the minds of most people, the House of Israel does not exist. Jerome's theological holocaust wiped out 98%+ of all Israel. The pen is mightier than the sword. He left us with just the Jews and the gentiles, no House of Israel. How do you say abracadabra in Latin? Abracadabra.

This is particularly confusing when attempting to make sense of the heavily doctrinal Book of Romans, where Paul is explaining to the Christians in Rome the difference in situations between the House of Judah and the House of Israel from the old covenant to the new covenant. The nations, the ethnos, are the House of Israel, even though Jerome deliberately translated this as gentiles more than 20 times in Romans, and in the Book of Acts more than 30 times. To help, read Romans in the Darby or Young's Literal Translation, available online, where it correctly reads nations, as in the nations of the House of Israel. Otherwise, this leads the uninformed reader into the clutches of Rome from the get go. It creates an entirely erroneous picture of the purpose of Christ's first coming and Christianity. And it leaves the wrong impression that Paul, and apparently Peter too, were apostles to the gentiles [see Rom. 16:4], rather than the ethnos, the nations of the House of Israel as directed by Christ. Jerome paved over the Biblical Christian road map, burying the nations of the House of Israel under centuries of gentile indoctrination. In this case, it's abracadaver. The House of Israel was dead and gone. The precedent was set. We are seeing the effects of this deceit in the nations of our Western civilization today. As Karl Marx said, "Keep people from their history and they are easily controlled."

In translating from the Greek manuscripts, the Protestant King James Version guys, greatly influenced by the intervening centuries of Roman church traditions, and doctrine as promulgated in the Latin Vulgate, followed suit and chose to translate the Greek ethnos, as Jerome did with the Latin gentes, out of context as gentiles, also meaning all non-House of Judah Jews, without understanding the overall Biblical context for the House of Israel, thereby abetting Rome's position as the "Mother church" with Peter as the "first pope." They too buried the House of Israel under centuries of false teaching instigated by Jerome.

In Matthew 10:5, 6 we read that Christ directed the apostles, Peter especially, not to go to the ethnos, the gentiles. So to whom was Peter's Acts 15 ethnos referring ... gentile nations or nations of the House of Israel? If we go with ethnos translated as Gentiles as Jerome and the swayed KJV guys have, either Christ lied to the apostles, or Peter was lying and subverting Christ's directive. If we go with ethnos in context as nations, as in the nations of the House of Israel according to Matthew 10, letting the Biblical record define itself, then there is no lying and no contradiction.

Thus, Peter was out on the road for a good while, 15 to 20 years by 49 CE, and not in Rome as Jerome falsely claims. Paul corroborated this in his letter to the Roman ekklesia. Peter was preaching and establishing the church of God, not the Roman church, with the lost sheep of the House of Israel, not with the gentiles of the world, exactly as Christ directed. Yet today, Christianity's understanding is the exact opposite. Were we not warned about false prophets who have crept in unawares? In Greek, "crept in unawares" is the word pareisdýnō, which is to enter secretly, by stealth to sneak in. The warning given to us by the New Testament authors in the first century could not have been more accurate.

Christianity has become Churchianity because we didn't, and don't believe Christ when he said, "I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." Instead, we believe Jerome, following the gentile map he gave us. We are not following Christ. Therefore, we can no longer claim to be Christians. We are now Jeromians. And this is why we are in the wrong place at the wrong time, so far from where we need to be according to the prophecies. [See the Feature article, The Relevance Of The Holy Days In The Plan Of God In The Last Days].

Peter continues, to the scattered ex-pats of the House of Israel, “… elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you, and peace, be multiplied.” In Peter’s second verse he refers to the elect. In Greek, it is eklektos, which means chosen. And as we read in the first testament or old covenant book of the prophet Jeremiah, “But this shall be the covenant that I [Christ] will make with the House of Israel … and [I] will be their God, and they shall be my people.” [Jer. 31:33]. Again, who were chosen to be Christ's people? The same ones he was sent to in the first century, our ancestors of the nations of the House of Israel.

And then in the New Testament, in the last of Paul's epistles to the laity, the Book of Hebrews, Paul reiterates the same point made by Christ in Matthew, and foretold by Jeremiah, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days [Christ's first coming], says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts [the gift of the Spirit of God]: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” [Heb. 8:10]. The apostle Paul quotes Jeremiah in the Book of Hebrews about Christ’s people, his chosen, the House of Israel, in the first century. How could Paul make such a colossal blunder by quoting Jeremiah allegedly knowing that Christ was sent to the gentiles? It's because Paul knew this was not the case.

And to whom did Christ say he was sent in the Book of Matthew? [Mat. 15:24]. Therefore, who are Christ’s people, his chosen, with whom Christ made a covenant … gentile nations or the nations of the House of Israel? From the first Book of the New Testament, or Covenant, to the last epistle written to the ekklesia, the message is the same from all the apostles. The new covenant, the covenant made with Abraham and his Seed, Christ, is for the ethnos/nations of the House of Israel in this age. [See Gal. 3:16-18.] There was no covenant with the gentiles, Jerome. But he knew that.

Peter echoes the point of this Old Testament prophecy beginning in his third verse of his first epistle. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again [referring to the House of Israel's redeeming; see the Feature article, And, It's Still A Mystery], to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." [1 Pet. 1:3-5].

Please note, it is the promise of an eternal inheritance that is reserved in heaven, not that "Heaven" is our eternal reward or destination. Those who have died in the flesh, and are asleep in Christ, will rise at his second coming, the first resurrection. Eternal inheritance, eternal life via the resurrection and eternal judgement are two of the basic doctrines of Christianity, which should be common knowledge among Christians today rather than the false Roman church doctrine of “going to Heaven” as the ultimate end. [See the Feature articles, Heaven Can Wait and Heaven Can Wait II].

After the two epistles of Peter, also at the back of the bus, are the three epistles of John. In 1 John 1, verse 1 we read, “That which was from the beginning [See Eph. 1:4; also verses 1-14], which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life [Christ]; (For the life was manifested [a reference to the resurrection of Christ from the dead], and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and heard declare we to you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

If you read the Feature article, Heaven Can Wait II, you may recall that there is no talk of the after life [olam ha ba] in the Old Testament Torah, i.e., the doctrine of going to Heaven or otherwise. It was intentionally kept secret from before the beginning of time until revealed by Christ. [Again, see the Feature article, And, It's Still A Mystery]. So the promise of our being resurrected from the dead to immortality, our eternal inheritance, mentioned upfront by John would be an amazing new doctrine of the Christian age, for our Christian ancestors in the first century, one that is explained in detail by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. Only when we are born from above, "begotten us again," receiving the Spirit of God after repentance, conviction of the truth of the word of God, baptism and the laying on of hands, those whom God has ordained have the promise of eternal life at the resurrection. Mankind is not born in the flesh with an "immortal soul" that is stained by "original sin." These are contrary Roman church inventions designed to maintain control over its adherents. They are not of Biblical origin.

By this time reading the books in their correct order, we know who the us is in John's epistles. It is very clear. Reading them in Jerome's version John's "us" has morphed from the House of Israel to gentiles of the world, hence the Roman catholic, or universal, church. A case can be made that the Roman church was the first multinational global organization, and continues to support the globalization efforts of a new world order to this day. [New World Order]. This is not the kingdom of God. It is the new world order of the Church of Rome. [See Rev. 16:13, 14].

And this new world catholic order, "ungodly men ... denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,” has downgraded Christ from the Son of God to a Talmudic teacher. Although, they haven't announced it to the world just yet. Also they have declared adherents of the Roman church as "lesser Jews." The beast and the false prophet are working together as the events of the "Apocalypse" are beginning to coalesce. You can read it for yourself in the Feature article, Obadiah And The Prophetic Parable Of The Tares, footnote 1. The Talmud is comprised of Satanic teachings. [See Talmudic Teachings]. Please bear in mind that modern day Churchianity looks upon "Israel" as being the Israel of the Biblical record. It's not. And orthodox Jewish rabbis do not recognize the Zionists as being "Israel." The secular nation-state Israel is led by the Edomite/Zionist wolf in sheep's clothing who are out to destroy both the House of Israel and the descendants of Judah according to the prophecies. [See the Feature article, Isaiah 63: Big Brother, The Prophetic 21st Century Antichrist]. 

Also we see in these first epistles of James, Peter and John the doctrines of the resurrections, and eternal life, our, the House of Israel's, incorruptible inheritance. Again, there is nothing here about the Church of Rome's false idea of going off to Heaven after we die. So when 2 John starts off with "The elder [John] to the elect lady and her children …” we would be clued in that this references Christ’s chosen, his people, the true church, the elect of the House of Israel and not the gentiles of the world with their "Mother church" in Rome.

The last of the first seven epistles is the Book of Jude. He begins, “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James [author of the first epistle, and also a brother to Christ in the flesh, and not "cousins" as Jerome proclaimed for obvious reasons regarding the Roman church's deified "Virgin Mary" myth],⁵ to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Mercy to you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write to you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith [Greek, pistis, conviction of the truth], which was once delivered to the saints. [Once meaning the truth as delivered by Christ to his servants, the original apostles, not several versions as delivered by false prophets]. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” What Jude is telling us is that no popes or Saints are needed. So Jerome put him at the back of the bus too.

In these first seven epistles following Acts, in the ordained manuscript order set by the apostle John, we see that James addressed his remarks to the twelve tribes, the nations of Israel, not the gentiles of the world. We know to whom Christ was sent, his people, the House of Israel. We know to whom the twelve apostles were sent, the same twelve who shall sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel in the kingdom of God. [See Mat. 19:28]. We learned the basics of Christianity, i.e., the doctrines including repentance, faith [Greek pistis, a conviction of the truth] unto redemption, baptism, the laying on of hands, resurrections, and eternal judgement, i.e., we are judged either to eternal life or eternal death, and not to locations, such as Heaven or Hell, much less to Purgatory or Limbo.

Pope Francis announced recently that Hell does not exist. It's a timely and convenient papal proclamation. With the church's pedophile sex abuse crisis squarely on his shoulders, this may be why he changed this centuries old Roman church doctrine. Originally, the church's concept of Hell came about because of its counterfeit immortal soul doctrine. The idea of an "immortal soul," we can't die, has its roots in Genesis 3:4, "And the serpent [the original false prophet] said unto the woman, You shall not surely die. For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." In order to have leverage over its member's eternal behavior and loyalty, the doctrine, or more correctly the fearporn of burning in Hell forever did the trick.

The last of these first seven epistles ends up with a warning from Jude, brother of James, the apostle of Jerusalem, to beware of false prophets and their bogus maps that would steer us, the House of Israel, from this knowledge, and our understanding of the truth.  

So lo and behold, along comes Jerry of Rome, Jerome, who has the temerity to turn the truth of Christ's words on its head by reshuffling, not only the New Testament, but also the Old Testament. By switching our identity from the House of Israel to gentiles, it removed "Christians" from the prophetic knowledge of the holy days that are the plan of God for us in these last days. It was obvious he didn’t want Christians, the House of Israel, to make any connection with our ancestry, our promised eternal inheritance or with the original seven epistles. He wanted us steered away from the truth of the word of God to the Church of Rome as the "Mother church." [Again, see the Feature article, The Relevance Of The Holy Days In The Plan Of God In The Last Days].

He got us to believe, through his shuffled Vulgate version, that there are only two groups of people in the Bible, Jews and Gentiles, rather than three. [See the Feature article, The Love Of The Truth]. Therefore, not being Jews, we have come to believe we are gentiles, that we are not the House of Israel, and we don’t have the promise of being kings and priests with God in his kingdom at the first resurrection. But rather, if we submit to papal authority and Roman church doctrines, we get to "go to Heaven to look at God for eternity."

As Jude warned, we have not taken notice of these false prophets, "certain men who have crept in unawares," and their false doctrines perpetrated on us for a long, long, long time. Therefore, we need to take matters into our own hands and earnestly contend for the faith once delivered. We need to throw Jerry of Rome off the bus. We need to quit being Jeromians, and in Godly humility get back on the right track with Christ and the true gospel, which "was once delivered to the saints." [Again, read the Feature article, Heaven Can Wait II].

By using the learning method of building on previous knowledge and understanding, beginning with the four Gospels to Acts to James, Peter, John and Jude, we have discovered:

    •    Christ was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel;
    •    He sent his apostles to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, not to the gentiles;
    •    The apostle Luke told us of our redemption, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he has visited and redeemed his people;
    •    On the first day of Christianity, Pentecost in Jerusalem, Peter, by whom Christ said he would build his church, addressed his remarks to, “ … all the House of Israel …;”
    •    James, the Lord’s brother and apostle of Jerusalem sent his greeting to the twelve tribes of Israel which are scattered abroad;
    •    In his first epistle, Peter sends greetings to those scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, the ex-pats in the churches who are of the nations, the ethnos of Israel, churches of Christ built by Peter as he was chosen to do;
    •    Peter ends his first epistle with greetings from the ekklesia, the church at Babylon, and his son Marcus [1 Pet. 5:13], not from Rome as pope;
    •    So when John in his epistle says “ … eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us; that which we have seen and heard declare we to you ….” we know that the “we” are the apostles for the House of Israel, and the “us” are the tribes or nations of the House of Israel in the Christian age;
    •    And when Jude ends with a warning for us, the nations of the House of Israel, to beware of false prophets that would creep in unawares to turn us away from this truth of the good news given us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, he wasn't kidding. 

As the saying goes, “I rest my case, your Honour.”

This is the foundation our Christian house should have BEFORE building up to Paul's doctrinal epistles. This is why the apostle John was guided by the Spirit of God to set the seven universal epistles before Paul's doctrinal letters to the churches. Then, by the time we get around to reading Paul's epistle to Israel, i.e., the Book of Hebrews, the world, as is misunderstood in John 3:16, i.e., the kosmos, the plan of God, would make perfect sense to us. And the deceitful ways we have been duped into pursuing would stand out as the huge frauds they are compared to the truth of the word of God. [See 2 Pet. 1:12-18; and the Feature article, Galilee Of The Gentiles].

It is obvious from the events that are taking place in our nations today that we have chosen to walk the path on the wrong map that has lead us to treacherous terrain, curses and death, whether or not we can be honest with ourselves. [See the Sneakers article, A Life And Death Pickle Of A Predicament]. We urge you to give prayerful reflection on what we are being told and warned against in the Biblical record.

Also, read through all the past Christmas messages. Consider in earnest the warning therein given to us from our Lord. They are not idle words. There is a reason why the House of Israel is told by Christ that we are stupid and foolish with our celebration of Christmas [see Jer. 10; also the Feature article, Our Corrupted Compass], and other pagan deceits heaped upon us by false prophets like Jerome. The son of perdition is coming for us like a ravenous wolf [I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I will blow your house down], a wild beast, as we are told in the prophecies concerning the House of Israel. The walls of truth that would protect us have been knocked down, and are left in disrepair. By believing we are gentiles, we are unaware that these warnings are meant for us. [See the updated Sneakers article, This Old House].

For a reminder of what the son of perdition offers us because of our ungodly choices, please read the Feature article, And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor. And lest we think we are innocents, victims rather than perpetrators of our prophetic predicament, our Lord rebukes us, "Why do you cry out because of your affliction? Your pain and sorrow are incurable; for the greatness of your iniquity, your transgressions are numerous, I have done these things to you." [Jer. 30:15]. Yet if we insist on following false prophets of perdition, then we will continue towards " ... a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation ..." inflicted upon us by Christ. [Dan 12:1]. Stupid is as foolish does.

For those of you who make the choice of moving forward as a Christian of the House of Israel, rather than a Jeromian following the Church of Rome and their Mass of Christ ritual on steroids, i.e., Christmas [see Mat. 7:18-20], why not give yourself a real gift this time of the year? Rather than reading “Twas the night before Christmas” to your kids or grandkids, read the books of James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude to them, and to yourself. Give them and yourself the gift of blessings and life made available to our ancestors and to us, our Lord’s chosen people.

“I [our LORD] call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live” [Deu. 30:19] ... "As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O House of Israel?" [Eze. 33:11]. 

-- Michael J. Miller, 2016, 2018, 2023


Postscript: As to why the House of Israel is referred to simply as nations by the authors of the New Testament books is the fact that they make up ten of the twelve nations of Israel. It was common knowledge among our ancestors of Israel in the first century that when referring to "the nations," it was referencing the ten divorced nations of the House of Israel, in fact the only nations who were redeemed by Christ in this age. The House of Judah, aka the house of David, is only one nation, the Jews. They were separated out of Israel into one nation because of Solomon's dalliance with his 300 wives and 700 concubine's pagan gods. [See 1 Kng. 12:20]. Solomon was a descendant of Judah. The single nation or tribe of Levi was the priesthood and is not counted with either House. Thus, the nations, plural, is a shorthand reference to the ten nations of the House of Israel. Rather than repeatedly handwriting, "Jews, and the lost sheep of the ten nations of the House of Israel" on a scroll, it simpler just to write nations knowing who the nations are, and to whom the entire Biblical record is intended.

A modern day example is to imagine the US state of California becoming a separate nation. [Calexit]. We wouldn't refer to "California, and the 49 states of the United States of America." We would simplify it by saying California, and the States [as people today commonly refer to the States], knowing who the States are, and California's former relationship with them. It is the same with Jews, and their former relationship with the nations. The problem for modern day Christians is Jerome's wholesale substitution of the term gentiles in place of nations of the House of Israel in context, thereby taking us away from our heritage and leading us in the wrong direction. He has crept in unawares as Jude warned us. The public domain Darby and Young's Literal translations, however, correctly use nations rather than gentiles.

This article is based in great part on information in my mentor, friend, and brother in Christ, Doc Martin’s book, Restoring The Original Bible. If you would like an intriguing, in-depth look at this subject, please see Restoring The Original Bible. There is so much more behind the reasons for the ordained order of the books that we don't cover in this article. Doc was Doc Martin, now passed, at least half a century before the Doc Martin of recent television fame, and, while being an amazing source of information, he was just as entertaining.

It is useful to have two or three different versions of the Biblical record, including the KJV to use in our studies. Many translations are available online. Just bookmark them for easy reference. Remember, the key to all Bible study is to prove all things and hold on to that which is good, or of God and not of false prophets as Paul admonished us. This includes what you read on this site, for each of us individually is answerable to God. [1 Ths. 5:21; also 1 John 2:27].

There are 22 books in the three divisions of the Old Testament. In the original ordering of the books, the 12 Minor Prophets comprise one book, which correctly should read, "The Book of the Minor Prophets." The Minor designation refers to the length of their epistles, not importance. For example, Obadiah is only one chapter long, but has great implication for our end times. [See the updated Feature article, Obadiah And The Prophetic Parable Of The Tares]. Jerome, however, split them out into twelve separate books negating the fact that these 12 are comprised of a group of three related period epistles ... the prophetic Assyrian, concerning the House of Israel, the prophetic Babylonian, concerning the House of Judah, and the Restoration epistles for all Israel.

Hosea is the first of the Assyrian period prophetic epistles, which was written about 790 BCE. Nahum is the last of the seven Assyrian period writers, which was written somewhere between 670 and 640 BCE. Nahum's epistle foretells destruction of the Assyrian Empire and its capitol Nineveh.

There are two prophetic epistles of the Babylonian period in the Book of the Minor Prophets, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, both of which were written about 630 BCE and concern the first Babylonian empire and the House of Judah's captivity.

There are three Restoration epistles Haggai, and Zechariah written about 530 BCE. Malachi is the last of the prophetic epistles and was written about 400 BCE. Throughout the Biblical record, in which Israel is warned and chastened, and at times put into captivity, or divorced, as was the case with the House of Israel, beginning in 732 BCE, our LORD's message to Israel always ends with the hope of restoration, despite the intervening misery and death due to our following ways that seem right to us. [See Pro. 14:12; again see Eze. 37:15-28]. 

Jerome placed the individual "minor" epistles of these twelve at the end of the Old Testament, the back of the bus as he did with the New Testament epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude. However, it is the third division of the Old Testament, The Writings, that complete the order of the books canonized by Ezra and Nehemiah. The Book of the Minor Prophet's rightful place is in the second division, the Division of the Prophets. The Book of the Minor Prophets follows both the Former, and the Major Latter Prophets, who are Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The Minor Prophets are a subdivision of the Latter Prophets. And in the correct manuscript order, the Book of Chronicles is the last Book of the Old Testament, rather than Malachi as it is in Jerome's shuffled version.

These groupings have prophetic meaning that are in effect for us today. This is a case of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which Jerome's divide and conquer endeavors completely erased. Hence, rather than understanding these 12 as an integrated whole within the larger context of prophecy, he split them up into individual epistles losing much of the meaning and relevance for the House of Israel. The net effect of Jerome's tearing asunder the original ordained order of the Biblical record's books is confusion and chaos, where once there was clarity and order, the faith once delivered to the children of Israel.

To find the original order to the Old and New Testament books as found in all of our most comprehensive manuscripts, with the exception of the epistles of James and Peter, go to p. 277 in The Hijacked Elephant, a complimentary PDF download at the bottom of our Home page. Please note that some New Testament scholars place the books of Peter before James. I have placed James first in this article for two reasons. One, he is the half brother of Christ, and was the chief apostle in Jerusalem, the city of God while Peter was out on the road. Second, his epistle is addressed to all 12 nations of Israel rather than to the House of Israel as with Peter. As Paul himself said in the Antioch synagogue, "Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly and said, It was necessary that the word of God should be first spoken to you [those of Judah]; but, since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the nations" [of the House of Israel]. Acts 13:46, DBY translation. Feel free to print it out and insert copies into your Bibles for easy reference.

Also note that the epistles of Paul there [p. 278] are listed in Jerome's order, not in the order in which Paul wrote them as noted below in footnote 2. As a group, however, they are correctly placed after the epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude.



¹ The nations of Israel are referred to as Hebrews in Genesis, chapter 40 through Exodus, chapter 10, when they were in bondage in Egypt. The name comes from Abraham’s progenitor, Eber nee Shem, son of Noah. In the New Testament, Israel has liberty from the bondage of the Law Covenant through Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Therefore, more correctly the name for the Book of Hebrews would be the Book of Israel or even the Book of Abraham. After all, the new covenant or testament is that of Abraham, and not Eber. However, Paul considered himself a "Hebrew" too. "Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee ...." [Php. 3:4, 5].

² As a side note, Jerome not only scrambled the order of the Old Testament books, but he split them up into additional books, changing the original number of the books from 22 to 39. Originally, the Old and New Testaments were comprised of 49 books, [seven times seven, 7 being the number of perfection], but were changed to the number of man with 66 books now in most Bibles.

Paul's epistles were written over a fifteen year period, beginning in 52 BCE and ending in 67 BCE, according to the consensus of Pauline scholars. In our best estimation of chronological order, they are:

1 Thessalonians 52 BCE
2 Thessalonians 52-53 BCE
Galatians, 53-55 BCE
1 Corinthians 55-57 BCE
2 Corinthians 56-57 BCE
Romans 57-58 BCE
Ephesians 61-62 BCE
Philippians 61-62 BCE
Colossians 61-62 BCE
Philemon 62 BCE
Hebrews 62-67 BCE
1 Timothy 63-65 BCE
Titus 64-67 BCE
2 Timothy 66-67 BCE

As you can see, the book written to those of the House of Israel in Rome was in the middle of Paul's doctrinal epistles, not first.

³ The only commonality between these two is baptism. But this is in name only. In practice, the Roman church sprinkles a baby with water, thereby allegedly cleansing the baby's "immortal" soul from Adam and Eve's "original sin." This sprinkling is supposed to save the baby, should it die unbaptized before it comes of age, from the burning fire of Purgatory, or going off to Limbo, as was the case before Limbo was made redundant. All of these doctrines are Roman church inventions. This "baptism" makes the baby a member of the Church of Rome. The impetus behind infant sprinkling was to ensure loyalty to, and the growth of the Roman church with a little fear thrown in for motivation to comply. "Train up a child in the way he should go ...."

The Biblical practice is for adults who have repented of their previous non-Christian lifestyle, who have the conviction of the truth of the word of God, i.e., faith, and choose to be baptized, or submersed in water. This is followed by the laying on of hands for the receiving of the Spirit of God, which makes us a member of the body of Christ. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body ... now we are the body of Christ, and members in particular." [1 Cor. 12:13, 27]. The Greek manuscript word for baptism is baptisma, which means immersion or submersion, not sprinkling, which is rhantismos. For the baptism of our fathers of Israel, Christ's chosen people, see the apostle Paul's 1 Cor. 10:1-4. At some point, we need to come to the realization that the Bible is one book written to the same people from Genesis to Revelation.

⁴ It is interesting that the fourth head of the beast, the Roman Empire, is described as " ... the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise." [Dan. 2:40]. Jerome, during the reign of the Roman Empire, certainly broke the ordained order of the Biblical books into chaotic pieces, 66 of them, and inflicted a great bruise upon Christianity in the process.

⁵  Christ's physical mother Mary did not remain a "virgin" her entire life. This is a myth started by the Roman church that imitates the Roman pagan god's hierarchy. Essentially, the Greek gods, as well as some Egyptian gods, were renamed, and became Roman gods. Whoever started the Roman church followed this same pattern, slightly altered to fit "Christianity." Mary and her husband Joseph had children together as evidenced with James and Jude.

And it should be noted that all which Jerome said or changed does not mean that what we see today with the Roman church practices popped into existence, fully grown, overnight in the fifth century. However, once we step off the correct path, and continue walking in that direction, like all myths, they tend to grow larger and become embellished over time, as is the case both with Christmas, and Easter. Nevertheless, Jerome gave us the wrong map to follow with his jumbled order of the Biblical books that has led us to be so far from the truth of the word of God delivered once to us by Christ and the first century apostles.


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“But this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." [Jer. 31:33]