Lamb For Easter? What would Jesus say?

northerntracey (28)in #food • 4 years ago

At Eastertime I generally post something along these lines with a meme I've made stealing myself for the expected outcry from the diehard carnivores. This year a new voice came forward with an epic comment. A lot of research was put into this so I want to share it here for posterity and for future reference.

Written by Lorraine Wills;
I always believed that Yahusha came to abolish the sacrificial laws. From further research I believe Yahusha came to abolish the sacrifices of animals and meat consumption. Looking into this more I have found a lot of scriptural as well as non scriptural that supports this. Here are my findings but please test all things for yourself, with Abba's guidance.
Manichaean Gnostics were known for vegetarianism, The prophet Mani’s parents were followers of the Elkasites, which were a slightly later Jewish-Christian sect related to the Ebionites.
(Book of Matthew, a saying attributed to Yahusha from a Syriac-Aramaic manuscript) During the First Century AD, the Essenes were one of the three main branches of Judaism. They were opposed to animal sacrifices being made in the Jewish temple and they were also known to be vegetarians. The Essenes were the group that Yahusha and the first Christians, the Ebionites, were closest to, sharing with them many of the same values and sacred texts. Unlike the Sadducees and Pharisees, the Essenes are never criticized in the New Testament.
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” compare this to Matthew 23:27,28
Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe Luke 21:34 'Be on guard, so that your hearts do not become heavy with the eating of flesh and with the intoxication of wine and with the anxiety of the world and that day come upon you suddenly, for as a snare it will come upon all who dwell upon the surface of the earth"
Chrysostum (347-407 A.D.) Archbishop of Constantinople; whose attacks on sin in high places made him enemies at court and among the wealthy classes. Scourging the customs of his time, he said : "No streams of blood are among them (the ascetics); no butchering and cutting up of flesh; no dainty cookery; no heaviness of head. Nor are there the horrible smells of flesh meats atmong them, or disagreeable fumes from the kitchen.
The Nag Hammadi "Gospel of Thomas”
Portrays Messiah naming vegan James as the arbitrator of controversy after he is gone. Yahusha regards James as a genuine representative of divine values. "The Disciples said to Yahusha: We know that you will depart from us. Who is it that shall be great over us [meaning after he is gone]?' Yahusha replied to them:In the place where you are to go [presumably Jerusalem], go to James the Just, for whose sake Heaven and Earth came into existence.'" Nag Hammadi "Gospel of Thomas," Logion 12.
St Basilius the Great claimed: "The body which is burdened with meat is afflicted with diseases. A moderate way of living makes the body healthier and stronger and cuts off the root of evil. The stream of meat meals darkens the light of the spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts.”
St. Gregory of Nazianzen says: "The debauchery in meat meals is an infamous injustice.”
Acts of Thomas: "That which he eateth is bread and salt, and his drink is water from evening unto evening,…"
The Clementine Recognitions show Peter attacking the animal sacrifices, and prophesying that the temple will be destroyed because the priests persist in them. This vegetarian Peter, consistent with his portrayal in the Ebionite Gospel, says:
"We have ascertained beyond doubt that God is much rather displeased with the sacrifices you offer, the time of sacrifices having now passed away. And because you will not admit that the time for offering victims is past, therefore the Temple will be destroyed, and the abomination of desolation shall stand in the Holy Place." The Clementine Recognitions, chapters liii to lxxi.
Chapter XXII, 6 of the Clementine Homilies says "They followed the Apostles in their custom of daily lustrations. They refused to partake of flesh or wine, taking as their pattern, St. Peter, whose food was bread, olives, and herbs...."
Pliny the younger
Rome Documents a Lie in the New Testament.
The Progress Report of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan:
He describes the inhabitants of Bithynia, an area where Peter has Preached, as having returned to carnivorism, and therefore the animal sacrifices, that is, the taxable meat industry, after he has tortured and killed the followers of Christ.
Pliny the Younger in his letter to the emperor Trajan describes his persecution of the vegetarians, the followers of Christ, in Bithynia, which the New Testament documents as an area where Peter proselytized. "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia..." 1 Peter 1: 1.
Albigensian vegetarians, southern France Cartharist religious group, were put to death by hanging in 1052 because they refused to kill a chicken!
Steven Rosen in his book, Food for the Spirit, 1987, The early Christians adhered to a meatless regime, writings of the early church indicate that meat was not officially allowed until the 4th century, when Constantine decided his version of Christianity would be the version for everyone. A meat eating interpretation of scripture became the official creed of the Roman Empire Vegetarian Christians had to practice in secret or risk being put to death for hearsay. It is said that Constantine used to pour milton lead down their throats if they were captured.
Many of the monasteries both in ancient times to the present practiced vegetarianism. For instance, Basilius the great’s order, Boniface's order, Trappists monks, etc. Also, we have the examples provided by the stories around some saints like Hubertus, Aegidius and Francis of Asissi.
There are Biblical figures that were vegetarian and these include, Adam, Enoch, Daniel, James the Brother of Messiah and all of the Twelve Apostles (according to early church historians Hegissipus and Eusebius,). Other writings include Hieronymous, Ebionite gospel, Epiphanius, Clement’s 'Homilees' and ‘Recognitions’, Augustin, Clement of Alexandria, Syriac-Aramaic manuscripts, Chrysostum, Pliny
Eusebius Pamphilius NPNF2-01 Chapter XXIII.—The Martyrdom of James, who was called the Brother of the Yahusha. He was holy from his mothers womb and he drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon his head, he did dot anoint himself and he did not use the Mikvah
Christian Hieronymous, The eating of animal meat was unknown unto the flood, since the flood the have pushed the strings and stinking juices of animal meta into our mouths, just as they threw quails in front of the grumbling sensual people in the desert. Messiah who appeared when the time had been fulfilled has again joined the beginning with the end, so that it is no longer allowed for us to eat animal meat.
Ebionite Gospel presented Yahusha and his associates as vegetarians who denounced the Pentateuch as false scriptures.
Epiphanius
Panarion 30.16.5 quotes Yahusha as saying, “I have come to abolish the sacrifices, and if you cease not from sacrificing, the wrath of Yahuah will not cease from you.
Panarion 30.22.4 "Where will you have us prepare the passover?" And him to answer to that: "Do I desire with desire at this Passover to eat flesh with you?"
Clement of Alexandria,"The apostle Matthew partook of seeds, and nuts, and vegetables, without flesh.
Clement ‘Homilees and ‘Recognitions’ claim that Peter was a vegetarian.
Clementine Homilies, a work based on the teachings of Saint Peter. Homily XII states, “The unnatural eating of flesh meats is polluting, with its sacrifices and its impure feasts.”
John Clement wrote, "It is far better to be happy than to have your bodies act as graveyards for animals". Also "The unnatural eating of flesh meats is as polluting as the heathen worship of devils, with its sacrifices and its impure feasts, through participation in it a man becomes a fellow eater with devils”.
Recognitions and Homilies (e.g., Recognitions 1.36, 1.54 and Homilies 3.45, 7.4, 7.8).
Hegisuppus and Augustin testify that the first head of the church in Jerusalem after the death of Messiah, namely Messiah’s brother James was a vegetarian and raised as one.
Church historian Hegesippus according to Eusebius “John never ate meat.” (History of the Church II 2:3)
Essene Jews, similar to early Christians as evinced in their deep emphasis upon property and wealth, their communalism and their rejection of animal sacrifices. The first Christians were known as Nazoreans and the Ebionites were a direct offshoot of them. All three groups were vegetarian which is suggestive of a central role of practice was kept in Christianity.
SCRIPTURES MEAT
Genesis 1:29,30
29And Elohim said, “See, I have given you every plant that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it is for food.
30“And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every creeping creature on the earth, in which there is life, every green plant is for food.” And it came to be so.
Numbers 11: 4,9,19,20,32-34
4 And the mixed multitude who were in their midst lusted greatly, so the children of Yisra’ĕl also wept again and said, “Who is giving us meat to eat?
9 And when the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna fell on it. 10And Mosheh heard the people weeping throughout their clans, each man at the door of his tent. And the displeasure of יהוה burned exceedingly. And in the eyes of Mosheh it was evil,
19‘You are going to eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20but for a month of days, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes an abomination to you, because you have rejected יהוה who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we come up out of Mitsrayim?”
32And the people were up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. He who has least gathered ten ḥomers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33The meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, and the wrath of יהוה burned against the people, and יהוה smote the people with an exceeding great plague. 34 Then he called the name of that place Qiḇroth Hatta’awah, because there they buried the people who had lusted.
Psalms 50:8-14
8“I do not reprove you for your slaughterings, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. 9“I do not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your pens. 10“For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. 11“I know all the birds of the mountains, And all moving in My field are Mine. 12“If I were hungry, I would not speak to you; For the world is Mine, and all that fills it. 13“Do I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? 14“Offer thanksgiving to Elohim, And pay your vows to the Most High.
Psalms 51:14-16
14 Deliver me from blood-guilt, O Elohim, Elohim of my deliverance, Let my tongue sing aloud of Your righteousness. 15 O יהוה, open my lips, And that my mouth declare Your praise. 16 For You do not desire slaughtering, or I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.
Amos 5:22-25
21“I have hated, I have despised your festivals, and I am not pleased with your assemblies. 22“Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I do not accept them, nor do I look on your fattened peace offerings. 23“Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I do not hear the sound of your stringed instruments. 24“And let right-ruling roll on like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. 25“You brought Me slaughterings and meal offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Yisra’ĕl,
Micah 6:6-9
6With what shall I come before יהוה, bow myself before the high Elohim? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7Is יהוה pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my being? 8He has declared to you, O man, what is good. And what does יהוה require of you but to do right, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your Elohim?
Hosea 8:13
13“As for My offerings: they slaughter flesh and they eat. יהוה shall not accept them. Now does He remember their crookedness and punish their sins. Let them return to Mitsrayim!
Daniel 1:12-17
12“Please try your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13“Then let our appearances be examined before you, and the appearances of the young men who eat the portion of the sovereign’s food. And do with your servants as you see fit.” 14And he listened to them in this matter, and tried them ten days. 15And at the end of ten days their appearances looked better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the sovereign’s food. 16And it came to be that the overseer took away their portion of food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. 17As for these four young men, Elohim gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. And Dani’ĕl had understanding in all visions and dreams.
Daniel 9:26,27
26“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off and have naught. And the people of a coming prince shall destroy the city and the set-apart place. And the end of it is with a flood. And wastes are decreed, and fighting until the end. 27“And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the middle of the week he shall put an end to slaughtering and meal offering. And on the wing of abominations he shall lay waste, even until the complete end and that which is decreed is poured out on the one who lays waste.”
Jeremiah 7:21-22
21Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Add your burnt offerings to your slaughterings and eat meat. 22“For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim, about matters of burnt offerings or slaughterings.
Ecclesiastes 5:1
1Guard your steps when you go to the House of Elohim. And draw near to listen rather than to give the slaughtering of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.
Proverbs 15:17
17Better is a meal of vegetables where love is, Than a fatted calf with hatred.
Proverbs 23:20
20Be not among heavy drinkers of wine or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
Isaiah 1:10-16
10Hear the word of יהוה, you rulers of Seḏom; give ear to the Torah of our Elohim, you people of Amorah! 11“Of what use to Me are your many slaughterings?” declares יהוה. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. 12“When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courtyards? 13“Stop bringing futile offerings, incense, it is an abomination to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths, the calling of meetings – I am unable to bear unrighteousness and assembly. 14“My being hates your New Moons and your appointed times, they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. 15“And when you spread out your hands, I hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I do not hear. Your hands have become filled with blood. 16“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Stop doing evil!
Isaiah 7:5
5“He eats curds and honey when He knows to refuse evil and choose the good.
Isaiah 65
“Wolf and lamb feed together, a lion eats straw as an ox, and dust is the snake’s food. They shall do no evil, nor destroy in all My set-apart mountain,” said יהוה.
Isaiah 66:3,4
3“But whoever slaughters the bull slays a man; whoever slaughters the lamb breaks a dog’s neck; whoever brings a grain offering – pig’s blood; whoever burns incense blesses an idol. Indeed, they have chosen their own ways, and their being delights in their abominations. 4“I shall also choose their punishments, and bring their fears on them. Because I called, but no one answered. I spoke and they did not hear, and they did evil before My eyes, and chose what was displeasing to Me.”
Hosea 6:6-8
6“For I delight in kindness and not slaughtering, and in the knowledge of Elohim more than burnt offerings. 7“But like Aḏam they transgressed the covenant. There they acted treacherously against Me. 8“Gil‛aḏ is a city of workers of wickedness – tracked up with blood.
Hosea 8:11-13
11“Since Ephrayim has made many altars for sin, they have been altars for sinning to him. 12“I have written for him numerous matters of My Torah – they were regarded as strange.13“As for My offerings: they slaughter flesh and they eat. יהוה shall not accept them. Now does He remember their crookedness and punish their sins. Let them return to Mitsrayim!
Jeremiah 8:8
8“How do you say, ‘We are wise, and the Torah of יהוה is with us’? But look, the false pen of the scribe has worked falsehood.
Matthew 9:13
13“But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion and not offering.’ For I did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.
Matthew 12:7
7“And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion and not offering,’ you would not have condemned the blameless.
Matthew 16:6-12 (No mention of fish, was the word fish added in Luke, notice the warning before and after regarding the leaven) 6And יהושע said to them, “Mind! And beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” 7And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “Because we brought no bread!” 8But יהושע, aware of this, said to them, “O you of little belief, why do you reason among yourselves because you brought no bread? 9“Do you still not understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you picked up? 10“Or the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you picked up? 11“How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?” 12Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
John 4:8 (food not meat)
8For His taught ones had gone off into the city to buy food.
Acts 15:20, 29
20but that we write to them to abstain from the defilements of idols, and from whoring, and from what is strangled, and from blood. 29that you abstain from what is offered to idols, and blood, and what is strangled, and whoring. If you keep yourselves from these, you shall do well. Be strong!
Romans 14:21
21It is good not to eat meat or drink wine, nor to do whatever by which your brother stumbles.
Barnabas 2:4-7
For He hath made manifest to us by all the prophets that He wanteth neither sacrifices nor whole burnt offerings nor oblations, saying at one time; What to Me is the multitude of your sacrifices, saith YHUH I am full of whole burnt-offerings, and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and of goats desire not, not though ye should come to be seen of Me. or who required these things at your hands? Ye shall continue no more to tread My court. If ye bring fine flour, it is in vain; incense is an abomination to Me; your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot away with. These things therefore He annulled, that the new law of our Messiah, being free from the yoke of constraint, might have its oblation not made by human hands. And He saith again unto them; Did command your fathers when they went forth from the land of Egypt to bring Me whole burnt offerings and sacrifices?
Barnabas 2:10
Thus then speaketh He to us; The sacrifice unto God is a broken heart, the smell of a sweet savor unto God is a heart that glorifies its Maker. We ought therefore, brethren, to learn accurately concerning our salvation, lest the Evil One having effected an entrance of error in us should fling us away from our life
Jubilees 6: 30-38
1 And all the days of the commandment will be two and fifty weeks of days, and (these will make) the entire year complete. Thus it is engraven and ordained on the heavenly tablets. 2 And there is no neglecting (this commandment) for a single year or from year to year. 3 And command thou the children of Israel that they observe the years according to this reckoning- three hundred and sixty-four days, and (these) will constitute a complete year, and they will not disturb its time from its days and from its feasts; for everything will fall out in them according to their testimony, and they will not leave out any day nor disturb any feasts. 4 But if they do neglect and do not observe them according to His commandment, then they will disturb all their seasons and the years will be dislodged from this (order), [and 5 they will disturb the seasons and the years will be dislodged] and they will neglect their ordinances. 6 And all the children of Israel will forget and will not find the path of the years, and will forget the new moons, and seasons, and sabbaths and they will go wrong as to all the order of the years. 7 For I know and from henceforth will I declare it unto thee, and it is not of my own devising; for the book (lies) written before me, and on the heavenly tablets the division of days is ordained, lest they forget the feasts of the covenant and walk according to the feasts of the Gentiles after their error and after their ignorance. 8 For there will be those who will assuredly make observations of the moon -how (it) disturbs the seasons and comes in from year to year ten days too soon. 9 For this reason the years will come upon them when they will disturb (the order), and make an abominable (day) the day of testimony, and an unclean day a feast day, and they will confound all the days, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean day with the holy; for they will go wrong as to the months and sabbaths and feasts and jubilees. 10 For this reason I command and testify to thee that thou mayst testify to them; for after thy death thy children will disturb (them), so that they will not make the year three hundred and sixty-four days only, and for this reason they will go wrong as to the new moons and seasons and sabbaths and festivals, and they will eat all kinds of blood with all kinds of flesh.
THE GOSPEL OF THE HOLY TWELVE
This manuscript is claimed to be the reincarnation of the ancient Gospel of the Hebrews, the original Gospel of Matthew mentioned by Jerome and other early church fathers. This manuscript, which Rev. Gideon Ouseley discovered in 1881, is considered by us to be close to, if not identical with, the original Gospel used by ancient New Testament Essenes.
It is the position of the Essene Nazarean Church that this, and other important Essene writings, were systematically removed from common circulation when gentile Christians gained dominance over the Hebrew saints in the early fourth century AD. Learned men, so called Correctors were, following the church meeting at Nicea 325 AD, selected by the church authorities to scrutinize the sacred texts and rewrite them in order to correct their meaning in accordance with the views which the church had just sanctioned.
Archdeacon Wilberforce of Westminster said "that after the Council of Nicea, AD 325, the MSS. of the New Testament were considerably tampered with".
Professor Nestle in his "introduction to the Textual Criticism of the Greek Testament" tells us that certain scholars, called correctors, were appointed by the ecclesiastical authorities, and actually commissioned to correct the text of Scripture in the interest of what was considered ORTHODOXY.
Edmond Szekely says that the words of Jesus became half forgotten and were not collected until some generations after they were uttered, that they have been misunderstood, wrongly annotated and many times re-written and transformed. Indeed, the whole truth about the life and work of the Messiah, he says, has been suppressed and His story falsified and adulterated by ecclesiastical history.
"Beyond question of doubt", says Manley Palmer Hall, "records concerning Jesus do exist. It is equally certain that they are in the hands of people (the Vatican in Rome) who do not intend to make them available to Christian Theology".
In Lection 46 Verse 17, of the Gospel of the Nazarenes, that was translated in 1892, the term "Teachers Of Righteousness" is used, a term that was not known until the Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls 1n 1947.
Lection VI Childhood And Youth Of Iesus the Christ

NOW, Joseph and Mary, his parents, went up to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover and they observed the feast after the manner of their brethren, who abstained from bloodshed and the eating of flesh and from strong drink. And when he was twelve years old, he went to Jerusalem with them after the custom of the feast.
Lection VII The Preaching Of Yochanan Ben Z’kharyah, (John the Son of Zachariah/John The Baptist)
And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a girdle of the same about his loins, and his meat was the fruit of the locust tree and wild honey.
And to all he spake, saying, Keep yourselves from blood and things strangled and from dead bodies of birds and beasts, and from all deeds of cruelty, and from all that is gotten of wrong; Think ye the blood of beasts and birds will wash away sin! I tell you Nay, Speak the Truth. Be just, Be merciful to one another and to all creatures that live, and walk humbly with your God.
Lection XXVIII Yeshua Releases The Rabbits And Pigeons
IT came to pass one day as Yeshua had finished his discourse, in a place near Tiberias where there are seven wells, a certain young man brought live rabbits and pigeons, that he might have to eat with his disciples.
And Yeshua looked on the young man with love and said to him, Thou hast a good heart and God shall give thee light, but knowest thou not that God in the beginning gave to man the fruits of the earth for food, and did not make him lower than the ape, or the ox, or the horse, or the sheep, that he should kill and eat the flesh and blood of his fellow creatures.
Ye believe that Moses indeed commanded such creatures to be slain and offered in sacrifice and eaten, and so do ye in the Temple, but behold a greater than Moses is herein and he cometh to put away the bloody sacrifices of the law, and the feasts on them, and to restore to you the pure oblation and unbloody sacrifice as in the beginning, even the grains and fruits of the earth.
Of that which ye offer undo God in purity shall ye eat, but of that kind which ye offer not in purity shall ye not eat, for the hour cometh when your sacrifices and feasts of blood shall cease, and ye shall worship God with a holy worship and a pure Oblation.
Let these creatures therefore go free, that they may rejoice in God and bring no guilt to man. And the young man set them free, and Yeshua break their cages and their bonds.
Lection XXI Yeshua Rebuketh Cruelty to a Horse, Condemneth the Service of Mammon Blesseth Infants
He also said, I am come to end the sacrifices and feasts of blood, and if ye cease not offering and eating of flesh and blood, the wrath of God shall not cease from you, even as it came to your fathers in the wilderness, who lusted for flesh, and they eat to their content, and were filled with rottenness, and the plague consumed them.
And I say unto you, Though ye be gathered together in my bosom, if ye keep not my commandments I will cast you forth. For if ye keep not the lesser mysteries, who shall give you the greater.
Lection XXIX He Feedeth Five Thousand With Six Loaves & Seven Clusters Of Grapes
He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they said, Six loaves and seven clusters of grapes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies of fifty upon the grass. And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties.
And when he had taken the six loaves and the seven clusters of grapes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and brake the loaves, and the grapes also and gave them to his disciples to set before them and they divided them among them all.
Lection LXXI The Cleansing of the temple
AND the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Yeshua went up again from Bethany into Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting.
And when he had made a scourge of seven cords, he drove them all out of the temple and loosed the sheep and the oxen, and the doves, and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
And said unto them, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s House an House of merchandise. Is it not written, My House is a House of prayer, for all nations? but ye have made it a den of thieves, and filled it with all manner of abominations.
And he would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel of blood through the temple, or that any animals should be slain. And the disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for thine house hath eaten me up.
Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Yeshua answered and said unto them, Again I say unto you, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Lection LXXV The Last Paschal Supper of the Temple
And Yeshua said, With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. and to institute the Memorial of my Oblation for the service and salvation of all. For behold the hour cometh when the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners.
And one of the twelve said unto him, Lord, is it I ? And he answered, He to whom I give the sop the same is he.
And Iscariot said unto him, Master, behold the unleaven bread, the mingled wine and the oil and the herbs, but where is the lamb that Moses commanded? (for Judas had bought the lamb, but Yeshua had forbidden that it should be killed).
And John spake in the Spirit, saying, Behold the Lamb of God, the good Shepherd which giveth his life for the sheep. And Judas was troubled at these words, for he knew that he should betray him. But again Judas said, Master, is it not written in the law that a lamb must be slain for the passover within the gates?
And Yeshua answered, If I am lifted up on the cross then indeed shall the lamb be slain; but woe unto him by whom it is delivered into the hands of the slayers; it were better of him had he not been born.
Verily I say unto you, for this end have I come into the world, that I may put away all blood offerings and the eating of the flesh of the beasts and the birds that are slain by men.
In the beginning, God gave to all, the fruits of the trees, and the seeds, and the herbs, for food; but those who loved themselves more than God, or their fellows, corrupted their ways, and brought diseases into their bodies, and filled the earth with lust and violence.
Not by shedding innocent blood, therefore, but by living a righteous life, shall ye find the peace of God. Ye call me the Christ of God and ye say well, for I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Walk ye in the Way, and ye shall find God. Seek ye the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free. Live in the Life, and ye shall see no death. All things are alive in God, and the Spirit of God filleth all things.
Keep ye the commandments. Love thy God with all thy heart, and love thy neighbour as thyself. On these hang all the law and the prophets. And the sum of the law is this—Do not ye unto others as ye would not that others should do unto you. Do ye unto others, as ye would that others should do unto you.
Blessed are they who keep this law, for God is manifested in all creatures. All creatures live in God, and God is hid in them.
Lection LXXVII The Washing Of Feet, The Eucharistic Oblation
Now Judas Iscariot had gone to the house of Caiaphas and said unto him, Behold he has celebrated the Passover, within the gates, with the Mazza in place of the lamb. I indeed bought a lamb, but he forbade that it should be killed, and lo, the man of whom I bought it is witness. 28. And Caiaphas rent his clothes and said, Truly this is a Passover of the law of Moses. He hath done the deed which is worthy of death, for it is a weighty transgression of the law. What need of further witness? Yea, even now two robbers have broken into the Temple and stolen the book of the law, and this is the end of his teaching. Let us tell these things to the people who follow him, for they will fear the authority of the law.
Lection XXXVIII Yeshua Condemneth The Ill Treatment Of Animals
AND some of his disciples came and told him of a certain Egyptian, a son of Belial, who taught that it was lawful to torment animals, if their sufferings brought any profit to men. 2. And Yeshua said unto them, Verily I say unto you, they who partake of benefits which are gotten by wronging one of God's creatures, cannot be righteous: nor can they touch holy things, or teach the mysteries of the kingdom, whose hands are stained With blood, or whose mouths are defiled with flesh. 3. God giveth the grains and the fruits of the earth for food: and for righteous man truly there is no other lawful sustenance for the body. 4. The robber who breaketh into the house made by man is guilty, but they who break into the house made by God, even of the least of these are the greater sinners. Wherefore I say unto all who desire to be my disciples, keep your hands from bloodshed and let no flesh meat enter your mouths, for God is just and bountiful, who ordaineth that man shall live by the fruits and seeds of the earth alone.
Lection LXXIX The Hebrew Trial Before Caiaphas
And they said unto him, Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe; and if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. 9. And they asked him further saying, Dost thou abolish the sacrifices of the law, and the eating of flesh as Moses commanded? And he answered, Behold, a greater than Moses is here.