Michael Rood of A Rood Awakening and Nehemia Gordon, US Speaking Tour January 2005 Raiders of the Lost Book Equals Raiders of Nothing of Value

Michael Rood of A Rood Awakening and Nehemia Gordon
US Speaking Tour January 2005

In January 2005 Michael John Rood, of A Rood Awakening, will be traveling with Nehemiah Gordon, or Nehemia Gordon, who rejects the New Testament and Jesus Christ and who, along with Michael Rood, hopes to teach those of "lesser scholarship", what the "Hebrew Matthew" and the New Testament "really" means, while correcting the errors in the 'corrupted' Greek texts.

With the tour is the promotion of Michael Rood's latest book, "The Pagan Christian Connection Exposed," and Nehemia Gordon's "The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus: New Light on the Seat of Moses from Shem-Tov's Hebrew Matthew" by Nehemia Gordon, Preface by Avi Ben Mordechai, Introduction by Michael Rood.

Michael Rood in fact, declares in the Introduction to "The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus", that, "...This is the revelation for which I have been waiting an entire lifetime!"

According to their promotions for the tour, dubbed "Raiders of the Lost Book", even as late as December 30, 2004, "Michael and Nehemia will be driving from city to city." And from Michael Rood in November 2004, "In January, I will be doing a 22 city speaking tour in the U.S. with Nehemia Gordon on the subject of the ancient Hebrew Matthew. What I had hoped to do last year with Nehemia will now take place, as his book on "The Hebrew Yeshua vs. The Greek Jesus" will now be ready for the tour. The tour schedule is enclosed with this letter. After the "Hebrew Matthew" tour, I will present the Sinai Connection in both Albuquerque and Phoenix on my way to the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) convention in Anaheim California."

It is noteworthy that the first stop of this tour, January 4, was hosted by Mikha'el Detwiler (Michael Detwiler), who was formerly on James Trimm's Beit Din. He now is also the Marketing Director for Michael Rood according to a Rood Newsletter recently sent out.

Regarding Michael Rood and Nehemia Gordon making appearances at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention [NRB] in February 2005, which is the Christian hub for disseminating the gospel of Jesus Christ via electronic and printed media, Please see Michael Rood, Sky Angel , Ron Wyatt & The National Religious Broadcasters.

In fact, in rather a strange promotion, Sky Angel promotes Rood as a "Christian teacher" which is something since Michael Rood refers to himself as a Levite, amongst other things and all things Christian as pagan. It is interesting to this writer, that a man who appears to have an aversion to the name of Jesus, who promotes the Shem Tov Matthew over the inspired Greek New Testament scriptures, which he teaches are full of error, who says he was a former member of "the baptist cult" and goes as far to teach that Christians are full of error, is being promoted on a Christian satellite system as a Christian.

This is most odd in that Michael Rood promotes himself as a " Jewish theologian" as noted on his websites advertisements for his new book, The Pagan Christian Connection Exposed " That even when he is not Jewish and was raised Baptist and even claimed to be a Baptist Minister:

Michael Rood's publisher, Bridge-Logos, known to publish Christian authors of all denominations, is also promoting Michael Rood as a "Jewish Christian scholar and theologian" in their promotion of his "The Pagan Christian Connection Exposed." Bridge-Logos also began publishing Michael Rood's first book, The Mystery of Iniquity, in 2001. http://www.bridgelogos.com/library.html

In the article Michael John Rood: Messianic Karaite Rabbi, facts about the Karaite Jews and their full rejection of Jesus Christ and the New Testament were discussed and are all the more interesting when we know that Michael Rood declared in "The Pagan Christian Connection Exposed", published in 2004 by Bridge-Logos, that he and his wife Judith took Karaite vows for their 2002 wedding.

Some might well ask after reading this Newsflash, why any Christian or even Messianic organizations are promoting Michael Rood and any associated with him.

Michael Rood's promotion introduces the tour by focusing the reader on the find of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which incidentally were found in 1947. That information has nothing whatsoever to do with the Shem Tov Matthew or any Hebrew Matthews, which originated in Europe between 1300-1500. It is no less than an attempt by Michael Rood and Nehemia Gordon to parallel the Hebrew Matthews with the Dead Sea Scrolls and present Shem Tov as being newly "unearthed", when in fact, it has been known of for years and was found on a bookshelf in someone's library.

The supposed "original" Hebrew Matthews are from the 1400-1500 range CE. Precisely, Shem Tov or Shem Tob is dated 1380, while DuTillet and Muenster are about 1550. Together they make up the "Middle Ages Matthews" but, they are very different, and as one stated, that is one of the ironies.

Michael Rood and Nehemiah Gordon are attempting to present the Shem Tov version of Matthew as an accurate, and original representation of the Gospel of Matthew. Shem Tov's "Matthew", or Shem Tob's Matthew as some call it, which textual critics will tell you, is nothing more than an altered medieval text, which is a corrupt copy of the Latin text, which was originally copied from the Greek. Most legitimate textual critics have all but ignored this middle age manuscript. Just imagine the telephone game being played by those who do not believe in Christ while supposedly "translating" the Shem Tov, with the result being a third generation altered copy.

The truth is that uninformed believers are being led by unbelievers to accept an altered anti-Christian version of Matthew that was included in the writing titled "Even Bohan" or "The Touchstone." This document was authored by Shem Tov, an unbelieving anti-Christian Jewish writer who some have referred to as a theologian, who resided in Spain during the fourteenth century. His copy of Hebrew Matthew has anti-Christian polemical commentary by him throughout the text.

The Shem Tov Matthew "translation" never identifies Jesus as the Messiah, gives John the Baptist an exalted role, Jesus' role in forgiving sins is omitted, and Jesus' ability to save all His people from their sins is also eliminated. It is also written in this "translation" that preaching the Gospel to the gentiles is of the anti-christ.

Just a brief comparison of phrases from the Shem Tov to the KJB, reveals these anti-Christian alterations to Scriptural Truth. The Shem Tov Hebrew Matthew quotes are from George Howard's 'Hebrew Gospel of Matthew', published by Mercer University Press (1995).

In this passage preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ becomes, "the Anti-Christ" and "abomination of desolation."

It should noted as stated in the rabbinic writings that the word Yeshu, found translated in the Shem Tov, has the same connotations as is found in the Toledot Yeshu, as shown in the article To Embrace Hebrew Roots: Part III The Talmud & Jesus Christ:

It is more than a little ironic that a Karaite Jew who claims to reject the rabbinic writings, would then promote a text written by a rabbinic Jew, who referenced the Talmud and utilized other writings such as the Toledot Yeshu, as noted by Dr. William L. Petersen, The Genesis of Shem Tob Matthew:

It should also be noted that the Shem Tov Matthew was also used in what some Messianics have alleged to be a plagarized "translation" by James Trimm, and by the Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower Society as a text that was utilized in their 'translation' known as The New World Translation, which also clearly denies the Deity of Christ. Michael Rood's friend, Marshall Koniuchowsky of Your Arms to Israel, also used the Shem Tov Matthew in his less than linguistically accurate "Renewed Covenant", also known as the Restoration Scriptures.

Vendyl Jones, favorite of the Jewish anti missionaries, highly regards the Shem Tov. [www.vendyljones.org.il/message.htm]

For more on the Shem Tov Matthew issue, please read the sections The James Trimm & Michael Rood Factor ; Michael Rood & James Trimm & The WAY They are listed in the Michael Rood article links as well as in the Ministries Leadership section. Those also discuss the sources for these 'great' 'new' sources which are not new or just revealed at all, nor sound. The question is, should we be led or taught by anyone who has been tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine such as Mr. Rood has, who is a self confessed former member of the "baptist cult", "Reverend", "former Baptist Minister" a "Rabbi", "Rabbi Michael Rood" or "Messianic rabbi (teacher) Michael Rood", "Messianic Karaite Rabbi", "Messianic Jewish Rabbi," and former member of the Way International, etc.

Update: Since the release of this article, discussions have sprung up on a number of Messianic and Christian forums. It should be noted that while focusing on the Messianics in this update, the fact of the matter is that Michael Rood and Nehemiah Gordon are targeting the much larger based Christian organizations and individuals. Steven Avery of Messianic Apologetic, who is a Jewish Believer who has researched Biblical history and texts, is well versed on the topic of the Shem Tov Matthew and wrote this which was posted on his forum:

Messianic_Apologetic/message/9095

From: Schmuel
Date: Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:01 pm
Subject: "Dead Sea Scrolls of the New Testament" - caveat emptor

Hi Folks,

   Before we continue on the back and forth, I want to show the forum how Rood and Gordon are peddling their DSS-NT scam. Remember we understood that for awhile they were fighting about trademark issues vis a vis the DSS-NT phrase. Apparently in the interest of fleecing the public, they came to some sort of agreement.

   Here is their advertising, Keep in mind that I normally avoid using the word "lie", but in looking at this advertising and promotion, it is the only proper reaction. Please be prepared :-)

   Feel free to use this advertising review to warn the believing public, or organizations that might sponsor Rood/Gordon, about the deceptions that are being used to fleece the flock. Simply do me the courtesy of letting me know if you use this post to warn others, and preferably link to this original post in our archives.

And Vicky Dillen's article at http://www.seekgod.ca/roodnewsflash.htm gives an excellent gallop, but not all, of the background information on Shem Tov.

(Please note that that is not an unqualified endorsement of all that Vicky shares there, some of the article reflects her own spiritual perspectives).

Thank you.
Steven Avery - schmuel @escape.com

===================

http://www.michaelrood.com/seminars.htm
Dead Sea Scrolls of the New Testament

The title alone already shows their "big lie" technique..

Searching for a lost sheep in the foothills of the Judean mountains, a shepherd boy stumbled upon a cave filled with ancient Hebrew manuscripts sealed in clay jars. These manuscripts became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. This discovery fanned a hope among New Testament scholars that someday ancient Hebrew texts of the Gospels might also be unearthed.

Notice how Rood and Gordon are trying to equate Shem Tov as like a 2000 year old NT.

A few years ago Biblical historian and author, Michael Rood, was in Jerusalem working on a longstanding textual problem in the book of Matthew. He formalized his problem and approached a friend, Nehemia Gordon, a textual scholar at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. At the time, Nehemia was working as a translator on the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project. Nehemia, who is fluent in ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Greek, agreed to participate in the investigation.

They add Greek here, has anybody ever heard Nehemiah speak a sentence in Greek ? Does he claim that in the book? or is this "embellishment" -- perhaps our friend with the book can check. Nehemiah told me he knows nothing about NT scholarship, and in his Yehiva-bucher
background he would not learn Greek.

What developed from his research is about to shake the Christian world.

They found nothing significant that had not been written about many years earlier.

Ancient Hebrew manuscripts which were secreted away for centuries have recently been unearthed

Another big lie. Shem Tov and Munster and DuTillet have been known about, and discussed, for ages, in NT scholarship circles. "Hebrew in the Church" by Pinchas Lapide gives references to lots of various scholarship on all of them.

. One of the greatest of these treasures is the ancient Hebrew text of the book of Matthew.

The same lie continues.

These texts solved problems that had grieved scholars for centuries.

LOL :-)

Nineteen hundred years ago, "Church Fathers" such as Origen and Jerome testified that "Matthew wrote his gospel in the Hebrew language" and that it was later translated into other languages.
-----------------
More deception -- this looks like a quote, note the quote marks, but it is not. It is a self-serving mangling placed as exact words in the mouth of Jerome and Origen (actually Eusebius quoting Origen) - tawdry scholarship.

We have a lot on Hebrew Matthew issues in our archives -- there are references to this Hebrew Matthew of stories that are not in our Gospel of Matthew..the excellent CCEL footnote, and two Jerome quotes are in (1)

The early Hebrew copies apparently vanished in the fires of Roman religious persecution. But, unknown to the Christian world, the Hebrew text of Matthew's Gospel was preserved by Jewish scholars who kept it safely hidden in covert archives.

Another big lie. Completely fabricated. Gordon and Rood need to make a public retraction
and repudiation of this if they ever want to have any hope of being taken seriously .

Numbers of Hebrew manuscripts of Matthew's account have survived centuries of exile and are now being brought to light.

More lies. In addition to the well-known Shem Tov, there is also the unrelated and also well-known Munster (a skilled Christian Hebraist linguist who made what was essentially an evangelical version of Matthew for the Jews - see Pinchas Lapide, Hebrew in the Church) and DuTillet, which is a spruced up Munster. All of these have been kicking around scholarly dustbins and journals and studies for awhile, -- while awaiting scam promoters like Trimm, Rood and Gordon, and a public with little background, balance and sense on scriptural issues, and some disposable cash.

These ancient manuscripts of the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew are the "Dead Sea Scrolls of the New Testament".

More big lies.

Nehemia feels that, in many ways, these texts of Matthew are actually more important than the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves.

This is truly sad and sick to read. Nehemiah can have no more credibility in any circles if he allows this to be published as his view. Hopefully someone involved with such a sham promotion will no longer be involved in real projects, like the DSS projects with Emanuel Tov.

Join Michael Rood and Nehemia "the Karaite" Gordon from Jerusalem for their thrilling multimedia presentation: "The Dead Sea Scrolls of the New Testament".

If you go, please be sure to hold on to your wallet, and try to help those who would be deceived by all the lies in this promotion.

For those who are serious students of the Bible, this is certain to be the adventure of a lifetime. Bring the entire family, pastors and teachers, friends and enemies. This will be a night to remember. continued below