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Over the December/January (2004/2005) holiday I got together with my good friend CB. We were talking about the drought, and how badly we need rain, also we got onto how we both became Nazarene believers. Here is CB's story:

My good friend CB, told me that he grew up in a large, popular church denomination. CB says that "I was confident that their mainstream teachings were the same as the Bible's until the day I began a serious study into the church's doctrines. The more I investigated the more baffled I became.

"Soon it became clear that much of what I had been taught either contradicted what I found in the Scriptures or had no scriptural support at all. I was mystified.

"The minister's explanations for these inconsistencies left me only more confused. I found the same problems in the teachings of other denominations. What the Scriptures said and what these churches were saying was often in diametric opposition.

* I searched for answers as to why I was worshipping on Sunday (the first day of the week) when the Fourth Commandment, among many other Scriptural mandates, clearly teaches that the 7th day is the Sabbath. I found no New Testament support anywhere for a change in the weekly Sabbath.

* Why did my church observe popular holidays that were nowhere in the pages of the Sacred Scriptures, while ignoring those observances that are commanded again and again in the Word?

* Also I wondered why my former church had taught that the Old Testament had no relevance, even though it was the very Bible used by Yeshua of Nazareth & His followers and the New Testament believers. It was the only Bible they had, as the New testament had not been written yet. I began thinking if the Old Testament was good enough for them, why not for me as well?

* And for some reason I was never told that my Heavenly Father has a personal name, Yahweh*, and that He expected me to call on that Name. Once I began searching I found reference after reference to His Name in both Testaments, along with many clear statements that I was to honour and use His Name. Yet, no one in my church was doing so.

* Another thing that puzzled me was the fact that the Saviour was born of Hebrew parents, yet He is called by a Latinised-Greek name. I wondered what could be the Son's correct Hebrew Name? Shouldn't I be calling on it as the only Name for salvation? (See Acts 4:12)

"I spent many years searching for answers to these and other questions. I knew that the Truth was in the Scriptures, plus I was sure that somewhere on this planet called Earth, there was someone still faithful to the Word in all things. The Saviour had said that the gates of the grave would not prevail against the true body of believers, meaning there would always be a remnant group carrying on the one faith and worship as found in the Sacred Scriptures." Matthew 16:18.

CB told me that "I reasoned that it would not be a large, prominent denomination because the Messiah had said to His faithful, "Fear not LITTLE flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom," Luke 12:32. He also taught that they way of truth was narrow, and FEW would find it, Matthew 7:14.

One of the most basic truths of the Sacred Scriptures is that everything one believes and practices must have Scriptural backing. Only a way of worship well-defined in the Scriptures is acceptable. The Sacred Scriptures represents Yahweh's very thoughts. 2 Timothy 3:16 says: "All Scripture that is given by Inspiration of Yahweh, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

The Word we hold in our hands is essentially the very breath of His mouth, revealing His own mind and nature. If any belief, custom or tradition is not in the Scriptures, we know it is not authorised by Yahweh and therefore is counterfeit.

No wonder that the Bereans were praised as noble worshipers in Acts 17:11 when they "received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." These outstanding truth-seekers knew that whatever was told to them had to be supported by the Scriptures or it was not of Yahweh and had to be sifted out.

Man has no authority to invent his own teachings about the Sacred Scriptures. However, Churchianity has been going just that for the past 2,000 years through a whole raft of dogmas and traditions that are not found in the Sacred Scriptures. Both Scripture and history tells how Almighty Yahweh punished ancient Israel for turning away from Him and taking up the beliefs and customs of the pagans around them. He thundered, "Learn not the way of the heathen in Jeremiah 10:2. CB said "To my amazement I discovered that many church teachings also began as compromises with heathen beliefs and practices.

CB continues his narrative "I began to uncover eye-opening facts that would change my life and my understanding of the Truth of the Sacred Scriptures forever, and bring me to right and proper worship.

"A universal belief among the religious and the non-religious is that man has an immortal soul. The concept of immortality came not from Scripture but from pagan Greek philosophers like Plato and Socrates, as well as ancient Gnostic and Babylonian beliefs. I discovered the plain truth of Scripture, "The soul that sins, it shall die" - not live forever, Ezekiel 18:4. Rabbi Sha'ul told young Timothy that the Father Yahweh alone has immortality (1 Timothy 6:16). Immortality is granted to some only at the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:22-23). We do not have deathlessness automatically built into our souls. Nowhere are the words "immortal" and "soul" found in the pages of the Sacred Scriptures.

"I also discovered that we don't waft off to a heavenly paradise when we die. Regardless of what you hear at funerals. The Sacred Scriptures never promises heaven to the saints, let alone to unbelievers. The Messiah Yeshua* said no man has ascended to heaven, John 3:13, and He inspired Yochanan (John) to write that the faithful will reign on earth after the resurrection, at the end of the millennium and not in heaven Revelation 5:10. Kefa (Peter) the Emissary noted that not even King David has gone to heaven (see Acts 2:34). Rabbi Sha'ul clearly maintained that the saints and patriarchs of old are still in their graves awaiting the resurrection and their reward (see Hebrews 11:13).

"Further, Yahweh never gave anyone, including the assembly and/or church, the authority to replace His Name with generic titles God and Lord. In fact, we are told to honour and call on His revealed Name Yahweh in such passages as Psalm 66:2 & 4; Romans 9:17 & Hebrews 2:12.

"Neither did He nor His Son ever change the Sabbath to the first day of the week. That change was made by man alone with out any Scriptural authorisation or justification. Yeshua the Messiah kept the seventh-day Sabbath along with His emissaries and followers (see Luke 13:10). Rabbi Sha'ul observed the proper Sabbath with both Jews and gentiles (see Acts 13:42-44) and he said that Sabbath rest is still in force for Yahweh's people (see Hebrews 4:9). The seventh-day Sabbath will continue to be observed into the Kingdom (see Isaiah 66:23).

"No holidays or observances like Christmas, Easter and Lent, etc. are commanded in the Scriptures, either. There is no reference in the Scriptures showing that anyone ever kept today's most celebrated holidays. Other than the weekly Sabbath, the only observances commanded are seven annual appointed times given to Israel and kept by Yeshua and His emissaries, and others in the New Testament. These 7 annual Feasts are all listed in Leviticus 23.

"I soon realised that the statutes and laws of the Old Testament are still in effect, and will be the standard by which Yahweh will judge the lives of mankind (see Revelation 20:12). Yahweh said that His laws are forever, and were never nailed to the execution stake (see Psalm 199:160). What were abolished were man-made laws and decrees (see Colossians 2:14). King Shlomo (Solomon) summed up his advice about life in Ecclesiastes 12:13: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear Yahweh and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." Yeshua the Messiah admonished in John 14:15: "If you love Me, keep My Commandments."

"As I continued my search for truth I was confronted with numerous questions such as these: But does it really matter if we choose our own path when it comes to worship? Don't all roads ultimately lead to salvation anyway? Perhaps it really doesn't matter whether I follow the Sacred Scriptures or not, as long as I am an honest and decent person.

"If we can obtain our own salvation without the involvement of our Creator, then it doesn't make any difference what He says. But of course we can't. Yahweh Almighty alone decides whether we will live again once this life of ours is over, and He expects us to honour and obey Him before He will grant us everlasting life. Hebrews 5:9 says: "And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." In Revelation 14:12 we read, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of Yahweh, and the faith of Yeshua."

"According to Proverbs 14:12, our own reasoning leads to a dead-end: "There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Only one way is right and only one way will be rewarded - that is the way of true obedience to the father in heaven. Rabbi Sha'ul wrote, "There is one Master, one faith, one baptism," Ephesians 4:5. There are not many pathways to truth. The true faith is not a smorgasbord where one chooses what one likes and ignores the rest.

"My search brought me to the conclusion that Yahweh has set out a clear and well-defined way to salvation that rests on honouring Him and obeying His Words. If a teaching or practice is not established by the Word, it is by definition idolatry. My understanding of idolatry is this: idolatry is anything devised by man that comes between us and the True Worship of Yahweh. Such worship overshadows and eventually replaces the Truth. When we follow human traditions we are telling Yahweh that we mere mortals have chosen to worship in a manner that WE think is best and acceptable. Rabbi Sha'ul equates this with a glob of clay telling the potter what to create. No matter what we call it, Yahweh still calls it rebellion.

"You say unto me, Why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against Elohim? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" (Romans 9:19-21).

CB told me that "In order to follow the ways of truth one must be determined to eliminate what is not Scriptural and adhere only to what is found in the pages of the Book of Books. No source of doctrine coming from outside of the Scriptures is valid. The prophet expressed this fact clearly, "To the law and the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them," Isaiah 8:20. "The law" in this passage means the Old Testament, while "the testimony" relates to the New Testament.

"Over the December/January holiday period I read what the prophet Jeremiah had to say about the last days and the errors found in popular worship: "the Gentiles shall come unto you from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit" Jeremiah 16:19.

I testify unto every man that hears the words of prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, Yahweh shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book," Revelation 22:18. Proverbs 30:5-6 warns against adding anything at all, "Every word of Yahweh is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add not unto his words, lest he reproves you, and you be found a liar."

"I have found that the sincere seeker of truth will not accept anything he/she is told without proving it first. Rabbi Sha'ul admonished in Ephesians 4:14: "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Being well-grounded in the Scriptures will ensure that this does not happen to us."

Our objective here at Serenity Nazarene Congregation & our e-newsletters Reflective Worship & Shabbat Shalom is to have a solid understanding in the Word. We are in training now to learn all that we can about Yahweh and His will, and putting that knowledge into practice in our lives. We use the Scriptures as our guide to life, just as the patriarchs and emissaries did. They followed the precepts and laws of the Word in everything they did. That is why Yahweh chose them over others. They were faithful to Him not only in their religious lives, but also in their daily lives. He demands no less from His chosen ones today.

Our ultimate goal and purpose is not to lounge around in the mists of heaven polishing our wings for an eternity. Yahweh is a dynamic, active Father who has incredible plans for His faithful. Rabbi Sha'ul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10: "But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which Elohim has prepared for them that love him. But Yahweh has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of Elohim."

Yahweh's purpose is to establish an everlasting Kingdom here on Earth. He is looking for devout, sincere, and righteous people whom He finds worthy to serve as priests to rule in this coming Kingdom.

"And has made us unto our Elohim kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth," Revelation 5:10. The objective of the True Worshipper is to be judged worthy to reign in His Kingdom coming soon to Planet Earth, (see Revelation 3:21).