Recently, I was sent an excellent, thought-provoking post from Brian Stiller, a fellow Canadian and faithful follower of Jesus. It raises some of the issues surrounding the term Evangelical.
At the heart of Sabbath Rest Ministries is a love for Jew and Gentile — followers of Yeshua and those who are not, but who seek Truth to marry history with theology.
Here is the post
To be or Not to be Evangelical
Here is my response
Dear Brian,
This is an important post. I’m glad you’ve written it.
The problem with “Evangelical” is not political although that off-shoot has arisen because of a weakness in Evangelicalism in its own right.
There are many good things. But it has a root problem and that is anti-semitism. Luther, as you rightly point out, has a piece of Evangelicalism in his teaching; however, his teaching is also tainted with anti-semitism. But that is only half the issue addressed. The other half is that the root of Protestantism is still based on Rome, when it divided the Gentile church from its Hebraic roots.
I truly believe the LORD is not happy with anything that removes His roots from any practice.
And so, in order to be truly Evangelical, we need to address the Sabbath, the Feasts, all orchestrated by GOD – Yehovah Himself – long before even the Jews had a nation or the Hebrews a family.
The root problem with Christianity is that its roots are twisted. We need to straighten them by following Jesus, including his Hebraic roots. He came not to replace but to fulfil the Law. It is not legalism to follow GOD’s calendar, it is integral to following Jesus. If being Evangelical could include that, then the label must remain. If it cannot, then following Jesus needs to have a new label which will include re-aligning with GOD’s calendar.
Although in Canada, anti-semitism and replacement theology are not obvious, they are in the UK where I currently live. I believe we need a clean sweep of our practices to embrace the roots that Jesus and the Apostles encouraged.
Keep writing Brian. It’s good stuff.
God bless, Shalom and in His love,
Sarah