There are many topics connected to our faith about which the average Christians is mostly or entirely ignorant. Some of that is a failure of education/discipleship, but much of it is simply the breadth and the depth of ideas and concepts that touch on the faith that steers our lives. In all honestly, even scholars who spend their whole lives in study are a long way from knowing everything. With that in mind, we shouldn't be surprised that people in Torah Clubs don't run away as soon as Daniel Lancaster and FFOZ starts to teach them Gnostic mysticism. Our ancestors in the faith, however, who spent generations fighting against the malign influence of that philosophy during the 2nd to 4th centuries would have recoiled in horror because they knew how dangerous it was. FFOZ is taking advantage of our collective ignorance of Early Church history, and particularly of the heresies that the Early Church rejected. That needs to end.
The primary heretical error in this lesson is gnostic mysticism, but with FFOZ there is typically room for several other dangerous ideas. Here we see that they are uncritically citing the Midrash Rabbah to concur with its (false) assertion that the Israelites who died in the wilderness because of unbelief will be welcomed into the Promised Land (i.e. Heaven) by God because of the faithfulness of Moses. This isn't the first time that FFOZ has taught that human beings can share salvific merit with others, an idea utterly rejected by the Apostle Paul, particularly in Romans. This isn't the first time they've elevated Moses' exploits to the level of hero-worship. There is nothing wrong with citing Jewish rabbinical teaching to illustrate a point, however, the uncritical way in which Lancaster does this leads to dangerous errors like this one.
If not for my research into FFOZ, I would probably assume that this is an orthodox statement by assuming that when they say, "seeks the LORD" they mean in this New Covenant era, "any person accepts Jesus as Savior." But that's not what this is. This isn't simply a statement expressing confidence in the Grace of God to ensure Gospel acceptance on the part of all who seek him. Instead, we are once again seeing FFOZ toy with ideas of Universalism. We've already noted the times that FFOZ has hinted that Jews don't need Jesus because they're already the Chosen People, here they are hinting at an even further extension by saying that some who will be saved won't even be a part of "His people." Word choices matter in theology. When the one being saved isn't spoken of as being a part of God's people, but instead as being "with" them, it raises eyebrows. When the person/organization making such a statement is already known to subvert the Gospel, there is apt reason to be concerned. Read the statement again, compare it to Jesus' own words, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but my me." (John 14:6).
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Lesson 45, page 14 "The early Jewish believers in Yeshua taught the same concepts. The collection of teachings and fictionalized narratives titled Clementine Homilies." |
Thus Lancaster elevates the Clementine Homilies to the level of a trusted, even authoritative source. See how simple that was? All he needed to do was connect it in one sentence to Jewish followers of Jesus, no further explanation needed. Except we really need one. The Clementine Homilies were not written by Clementine of Rome, as with many ancient manuscripts the name of someone famous is used to lend authenticity or weight. While the original was written earlier, our only surviving version dates from the 5th century. The Early Church historian Eusebius dismissed it in this manner, "And now some have only the other day brought forward other wordy and lengthy compositions as being Clement's, containing dialogues of Peter and Appion, of which there is absolutely no mention in the ancients." (Ecclesiastical History, 3.38)
So, what is it from the Clementine Homilies that FFOZ wants its followers to embrace?
Gnostic mysticism is the answer. Gnostic philosophy is NOT compatible with faith in Jesus Christ. The attempt was made to meld them together by Gnostics, but we can see that combination being rejected even in its earliest form in 1 John. Long story short, the Gnostics believed that the divine and physical realms could not touch because it is matter that is corrupted but spirit that is pure. The result is to remove God from direct connection to this world, a real problem for those who believe in the Incarnation.
In addition to a flawed cosmology, Gnosticism is also built upon the idea of "hidden" or "secret" knowledge available only to a select few. You've probably never heard of a hebdomad unless you're a real math geek. You can look in vain through the entirety of sacred scripture without finding anything like this, but that's of little concern to Gnostic mysticism. Why? Because those of us who follow Jesus through orthodox methods have limited ourselves to the divine revelation of scripture, and the mystics are seeking the answers within themselves. If the answers are within, they're not coming from God. If the answers are within, we are the ultimate authority not God. Mysticism, Gnostic or otherwise, has never been the path to Truth given by God to humanity. God reveals to us what we need to know, it is made plain by God, not hidden away.
Another reason beyond mysticism that FFOZ wants its followers to treat the Clementine Homilies as authoritative is that it contains the type of Sabbath idolatry that they themselves are promoting. Sabbath theology is a too big of a topic to do justice to here, but one thing that we can know for sure: Keeping the Sabbath does not earn you a "portion" of God's "own presence." The mysticism being promoted here leaves no room for Sabbath keeping to be optional. It is being described as if it is the key to communion with God.
Yeah, I'm going to pass on the idea that Sabbath keeping is the path to "participation in the Oneness of God." The mysticism is so thick here in this description that it makes Sabbath keeping sound like a drug trip in which those who participate lose themselves entirely for a while. "Just say, 'No!'" sounds appropriate here.
It was a good thing that I wasn't eating while I read this page or I might have choked on my food. The Gospel of Thomas???? Did FFOZ really just drop that deeply heretical fake Gospel into a lesson as if it too deserves to be given respect? Once again, FFOZ is hoping that Christians are ignorant, it is the only explanation that makes sense. The Gospel of Thomas was found buried in the Egyptian desert in 1945. It was written by unknown Gnostics a couple of centuries after Christ, who attached the name of the Apostle Thomas to it. To say that it is heretical is an understatement. The Jesus portrayed in this abomination of a gospel is NOT the Jesus whom we worship as Lord and Savior. The only value that this document has are the insights we can gain from it into the heresies that the Early Church resoundingly rejected through the Ecumenical Councils. To drop it into a lesson, without explanation, is the height of careless toying with heretical teachings.
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