by Brian Shilhavy

I have previously reported that the New Testament portion of the Bible did not start a new religion called “Christianity.” See:

Fact Check: “Christianity” and the Christian Religion is NOT Found in the Bible – The Person Jesus Christ Is

I have also recently written on the Biblical term “the Faith” to show that the Bible also does not endorse a specific religion. See:

There is Only “One Faith” – Who will “Fight the Good Fight” for “The Faith” in these Evil Last Days?

In another article I recently published, I explained how there are differences between the Old Covenant (“Old Testament”) and the New Covenant (“New Testament”).

American Christians are Biblically Illiterate Not Understanding the Difference Between The Old Covenant vs. The New Covenant

What I want to report in this article, is that there is one thing that did not change between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and that is the fact that salvation by God has always been by faith, and not through a “chosen people” or a “religion”, and that this has always been true.

It was true before the Old Covenant (the Law given to Moses), during the Old Covenant, and it is true today during the New Covenant period of time.

During the New Testament time period as recorded in the New Testament portion of the Bible, all of the original believers in Jesus Christ were ethnic Jews, and they never referred to themselves as “Christians”, but as followers of The Way.

Jesus Christ even confirmed this by his own teaching, where he explained that The Way was the road less traveled, but that it was the only way to salvation. All other “ways” lead to death.

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13-14)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

This “Way” that leads to life, was also the same “Way” that believers in Old Testament times, when Jesus was still just a promise for the future Messiah, had to follow to find salvation, because there is only One Way, and it has nothing to do with ethnicity or religious affiliation.

Moses is actually the one who taught this in the Old Testament time period. He proclaimed this to the Israelites when they were still in the desert and about to enter the “Promised Land.”

He made it very clear that God was not giving them the land because they were a righteous people, because they were not.

Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’

Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you.

Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.

Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.

Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. (Deuteronomy 9:1-7)

This message from Moses was given to Israel 40 years after they were delivered from the Egyptians. Only 2 families from the original Hebrews who came out of Egypt, which numbered in the millions, ever got to see the Promised Land.

They died in the desert in their unbelief, because they just simply could not believe that God would go before them and destroy the nations that were already living there, whose time of judgment had come due.

Their ethnicity as Jews did not save them.

Their children who did get to enter the Promised land, did so to fulfill a promise, and not because they were more righteous than their parents. The only difference between them and their parents, is that they believed Moses and they believed that God would lead them into the Promised land and destroy the existing national armed forces more powerful then them.

In other words, it was their FAITH, believing that God would keep his promise, and not their ethnicity and not because they were more righteous than their parents.

Moses himself did not even get to enter the Promised land, but it was Joshua who led them to cross the Jordan River and possess the land.

After Joshua and his generation died, the Book of Judges was written, and in the first couple of chapters of Judges, this principle of following The Way and living by faith in obedience to the Covenant they made with God, was the condition for salvation.

If they didn’t have faith and were not obedient to the Covenant conditions given in the Law of Moses, their ethnicity as biological descendants of Abraham did NOT save them.

The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.

Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.

Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals (male fertility gods). They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt.

They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths (female fertility gods).

In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.

Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them.

They were in great distress. Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.

Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them.

Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from The Way in which their fathers had walked, The Way of obedience to the LORD’s commands.

Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.

But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them.

They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. (Judges 2:7-19)

In the Old Testament book of Genesis, the first book that Moses wrote, we also see that there were members of The Way even before Abraham was born.

This is revealed in Genesis chapter 14, where we get a very brief description of the King and Priest of Salem (later named Jerusalem), who existed in the land before Abraham came.

After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Genesis 14:17-20)

This is the entirety of what is written about this King and “Priest of God Most High” in the Old Testament. He was NOT a Hebrew.

But in the New Testament book of Hebrews, we learn that Melchizedek belonged to the same priesthood that Jesus Christ does.

This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

First, his name means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.”

Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.

Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!

Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, their brothers—even though their brothers are descended from Abraham.

This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.

And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater.

In the one case, the tenth is collected by men who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living.

One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor. (Hebrews 7:1-10)

God does not save people based on the groups they belong to, either ethnic groups or religious groups. He saves those who belong to The Way, regardless of religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or any other way of classifying people into groups.

There is one Way, one Truth, one Life, one Lord/Messiah, one Faith, and those who are on the True Way are the minority, going against the crowd.

Related:

Exposing Christian Zionism False Teaching: God Saves Individuals, Not Groups of People

Comment on this article at Created4Health.org.

See Also:

Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through

American Christians are Biblically Illiterate Not Understanding the Difference Between The Old Covenant vs. The New Covenant

Exposing the Christian Zionism Cult

Jesus Would be Labeled as “Antisemitic” Today Because He Attacked the Jews and Warned His Followers About Their Evil Ways

Insider Exposes Freemasonry as the World’s Oldest Secret Religion and the Luciferian Plans for The New World Order

Identifying the Luciferian Globalists Implementing the New World Order – Who are the “Jews”?

The Brain Myth: Your Intellect and Thoughts Originate in Your Heart, Not Your Brain

Fact Check: “Christianity” and the Christian Religion is NOT Found in the Bible – The Person Jesus Christ Is

Christian Myths: The Bible does NOT Teach that it is Required for Believers in Jesus to “Join a Church”

Exposing Christian Myths: The Bible does NOT Teach that Believers Should Always Obey the Government

Was the U.S. Constitution Written to Protect “We the People” or “We the Globalists”? Were the Founding Fathers Godly Men or Servants of Satan?