If there is any topic upon which Christian apologists love to use for their defense of Christianity in general and Jesus in particular, are the alleged messianic prophecies. Christians constantly refer to the alleged applicability of numerous Hebrew Bible prophecies to Jesus of Nazareth and contend that no one in all of history fulfills these prophecies to the degree that Jesus does. Almost any Christian will tell you that Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament (OT) prophecies that are mentioned in their bible, and because of this he is “the” Messiah.

Such statements are made by those who never once in their life ever compared the Hebrew Scriptures as taken from the Hebrew Bible with the supposed faithful translations of them as found in their Christian Bibles [both the Old and New Testaments in the Christian Bible]. Even Christian commentators say the same things in the books they write; assuring the Christian community that Jesus “fulfilled” Messianic prophecy when, sadly, they have also failed to make the needed comparisons. Pastor Craig Lyons writes;

“Without these comparisons, Christians always supposed that there were no differences; until they dig deeper into the purposeful forgery of the Christian Bible and Christian texts. While I was in Seminary, there was no such thing as comparing the New Testament to the Original Hebrew Bible, that is, until my study after graduating Seminary took me in that direction. Over the years in my Pastorate in Dallas, Texas, the heart of the Bible belt, I was in study on the average 5 hours a day, and it was in this deep study that I began to become aware of the lack of true Biblical knowledge held by those who claim to be “spiritual authorities” in the church. I would be astonished that often these men would be on television purporting to be leaders of the flock of G-d but to those who knew different their lack of Biblical knowledge was so apparent. It was no better on the staff of the church where I Pastored. You only needed to attend one staff meeting for a few hours at our “mega-church” to be convinced of such facts. It seems if we can preach and speak loudly and have 10-15 scriptures memorized then the consensus is that one must be a Biblical authority and worthy to lead the people of G-d. Let me say up front this is one of the most tragic fallacies I have even encountered in my whole life.”

Take for example what Josh McDowell wrote on page 141 in Evidence that Demands a Verdict. He says “The apostles throughout the NT appealed to two areas of the life of Jesus of Nazareth to establish His Messiahship. One was the resurrection and the other was fulfilled messianic prophecy. The OT, written over a 1,000 year period, contains several hundred references to the coming Messiah. All of these were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and they establish a solid confirmation of His credentials as the Messiah”. In essence, the argument is that Jesus must be the messiah because only Jesus fulfilled so many of the messianic prophecies.

Opposing this understanding is over 3,000 years of Jewish interpretation of their own Hebrew Scriptures which testify that neither Jesus nor anyone has fulfilled the Messianic Scriptures. To say that Jesus or anyone else “is” or “was” the Messiah is a claim that is made without Scriptural support, but rather finds its momentum based upon emotion alone.

What is the truth of the matter? Is the Christian Bibles and associated religious texts faithful in translation to the Hebrew Bible or could it be remotely possible that the Christian Bibles and texts have been purposefully altered, purposefully mistranslated, misquoted and purposefully taken out of context or even invented to make it appear as if Jesus is the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures?

Lost in the abundance of apologetic assurances that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah are two central facts:

· For almost two thousand years the Jews, who were given the Hebrew Scriptures and the ability to interpret it correctly as a light to the non-Jews, have not found a single fulfilled prophecy by Jesus or anyone else for that matter.

· Once one is well-versed in the Hebrew Scriptures―not the Christian scriptures which were purposefully corrupted and translated into the Greek and all later English versions of them―then nothing in the entire Hebrew Bible, the original texts, can be applied to Jesus.

Pastor Craig Lyons wrote; “I know, you are probably bewildered at the second fact stated above and shaking your head and beginning to think that such a statement comes from one “demon possessed.” Let me assure you that as an ordained Pastor I have dedicated over 20 years, I said years, of in-depth study of the Christian Old Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures and manuscript evidences. I continually had to bow my knee to such truths because the Messianic prophecy of the Old Testament and its depiction being “fulfilled” by Jesus in the New Testament, when properly understood as taken from the Hebrew Bible, does not support such claims made Christianity. You may have yet to see of what I speak, but when you undertake a serious investigation of this major problem as I did―day after day, year after year―then you will have no recourse but to see what I did; for it is there! If you are “fully clothed and in your right mind” then you will see what I and everyone else uncovers when you examine for yourself this textual deception given Christians and all followers of Jesus by Rome in the Bibles we inherited from them.”

The problem for most Christians, Christian Clergy, and many Christian writers, is that they fail to adhere to the strict laws of Biblical hermeneutics or “interpretation” of the texts when developing their religious belief system. Besides not knowing that many of their passages and Scriptures in their Christian Bibles are forgeries when compared with the Hebrew, more often than not, religious concepts from years of preaching and sermonizing are read into these passages, either consciously or unconsciously, when the original writer of passage had no such intention when he wrote these passages or taught them to others.

More often than not, Christians end up continually reading into various passages what they want them to say; failing to draw out from the passage the intended meaning of the writer as he originally wrote the passage. Because they have, in effect, been brainwashed most of their lives, they do not even know they are doing this.

In The Real Messiah (page 37), Aryeh Kaplan summarized the situation in a manner that can only be described as exemplary by saying,

“The early Christians tried to justify their contention by finding hints of it in the Jewish Scriptures. They went over the entire Bible with a fine tooth comb, looking for any evidence however flimsy, to prove that Yeshua was the Messiah, and that their entire logical structure was in accord with ancient Jewish teachings. In many cases, they were not above:

· Using Old Testament verses out of context;

· Changing Old Testament texts to suit their desired theology; and

· Even mistranslating them on purpose for theological purposes…

to prove their point. One needs no further evidence than the fact that most modern Christian Bible scholars totally reject almost all the “proofs” of the early Christians. Indeed, some of the best refutations of these “proofs” may be found in contemporary Christian Bible commentaries.”

In The Jew and the Christian Missionary (page 186), Gerald Sigal stated in the same vein, “The evangelists are endeavoring, time and again, to link their claim to passages in the Hebrew Bible to find support for their contention that Yeshua is the Messiah and the fulfillment of what the prophets had to say about the Messiah. Yet details large and small abound which show that this is impossibility.”

Just how well do Christians know the Hebrew Scripture prophecies concerning the coming of THE Messiah? How many Christians can point out where in the SOURCE Bible, the Tanakh, is a Second Coming of THE Messiah described?

This is where the typical Christian today, because of his personal failure to know the Hebrew Bible thoroughly, is set up for religious deception from the pulpit of his church. If one were to know authoritatively the “Tanakh” prophecies about the coming of THE Messiah and know them within their historical context then he would easily spot lies and deceptions from the pulpit by those who literally brainwash their flocks with perversions of these Biblical truths. Besides twisting, perverting, and distorting Old Testament verses in the Christian bible in an attempt to apply them to Jesus, apologists devised a devious mechanism to account for the fact that Jesus obviously did not fulfill the prophecies relating to the Messianic era. The Second Coming concept was born! Jesus will take care of these pesky prophecy problems when he comes back.

This problem is tremendous and said in a simpler manner is this: Christians needed to be Old Testament Christians before they were New Testament Christians. They could then have spotted every time a Hebrew Scripture was purposefully taken out of context, misquoted, mistranslated, or even creatively invented to present a picture for later fulfillment as applied to Jesus or anyone for that matter.

Those numerous predictions that Jesus failed to complete during his sojourn on planet earth will, they allege, be fulfilled when he returns a second time. In other words, what Jesus didn't complete during his first appearance will be accomplished the second time around. For utter deception this ploy has no equal. Using that subterfuge, anyone could claim to be the messiah. All they need do is allege that whatever they did not accomplish while on earth this time would be carried out when they return at some indeterminate time in the future. Besides, all this points out is the fact that Jesus failed his first time around! Hmmm, could the “son of God” or God incarnate, as some claim, FAIL to accomplish his goals, his purpose? You know the answer to that! Just be honest with yourself!

Anyone who has read the Hebrew Bible with any degree of objectivity knows that there is only one messiah and that is all, and he is going to come once, and that is it.

The Second Coming concept is nothing more than a Christian ruse to conceal blatant shortcomings on the part of Jesus.

The authors of the New Testament had Jesus himself lie to his generation that many would not die before the Messiah comes; yet it never happened and they all died.

Sadly, Christians are betting their souls on this lie.

As someone once told me,” As G-d created our minds, He expects us to use our reasoning together with our faith. Faith is not a substitute for reason, but a development from it and alongside it.”