Dear friends:

I would not address this subject except for the fact that it came to my attention three times last week from three different sources.  I got the message.  An alert needs to be sounded.

BE ON GUARD!  Three times last week I got a message that tried to discredit the apostle Paul and his writings in the New Testament.  They misquote and misuse Scripture, just like Satan did in the wilderness with the Lord Jesus.

There is nothing Satan would like to do more than to steal the wonderful message of salvation by grace through faith, as preached by Paul.  God's amazing grace is a source of our joy, which the enemy would love to steal.  The weak in the faith may be vulnerable.

Paul's main detractors are the modern-day Judaizers, the modern-day "party of the Pharisees." They hate the New Testament, and Paul's letters.  They especially hate the book of Galatians.  They hate Paul because he clarified the role of the law vs. faith and the New Covenant.  He said such radical things as "The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law (Galatians 3:24-25, NIV).

Truth such as this drives them up a wall and into a rage.  They want to justify themselves, to be able to brag before man and God about their obedience to a system of law that is now about 80% impossible to keep.  They want to be saved by their own merit.  They want you to be under the same bondage they are, and as miserable.

Once I knew a lady who was a great Bible teacher.  She began to get into the Jewish roots movement, then more and more deeply.  Alarm bells went off in me when she began denigrating the original Greek language of the New Testament, claiming that it should have been in Hebrew (in which it does not exist).  She then began trying to change some things Paul wrote, especially in Galatians, saying that the all the accepted "translations" were not correct.  Sadly, she soon went to the unthinkable extreme and rejected the Savior Himself, His great sacrifice for her, and the gospel, embracing rabbinical Judaism (not biblical Judaism, which is impossible).  The last I heard she was actively trying to trying to destroy the faith of other believers in the Messiah.  This is chilling beyond imagination.

The Jewish roots movement is good, but some are going dangerously too far with it.  Stick strictly with the "roots" part and do not allow it to replace the glorious gospel of grace.

The exhortation in Hebrews is a good one for all of us: "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God" (3:12).

The ministry of Paul is clearly validated by Luke, who was the writer of the book of Acts, and also the writer of one of the four Gospels.  It is also validated by Peter, who referred to Paul's writings as "Scripture" (2 Peter 3:15-16).  Paul was also validated by the churches at Antioch and Jerusalem.

Most important, Paul was validated by Jesus Himself, who said, "This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel" (Acts 9:15).

That's powerful, and good enough for me!

In closing, "Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray.... The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work" (1 John 3:7-8).

Jim