The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright 2021 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 102

Who were those Evil “Judaizers”?

Practically everybody has heard of them. They’re notorious, ignominious, and even detestable.

Who are they?

The “Judaizers.”

In 325, when he changed the Passover/Unleavened Bread Feast to what became Easter, Constantine called the “Jewish crowd” “detestable.”

“It appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. … Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way.” (Eusebius, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iv.vi.iii.xviii.html)

The different way that Constantine received was the Roman way with Roman holy days, Roman government, and Roman doctrines, all renamed to look Christian.

In 365, 28 years after Constantine’s death, the Council of Laodicea of the Roman Church made this decree.

“Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be “Judaizers”, let them be anathema from Christ.” (Council of Laodicea, 29th Canon).

Who were those detestable “Judaizers”, Christians who kept the Bible Feasts and Sabbath, instead of Constantine’s holy days and sabbath, which are not in the Bible?

Acts 1
1) The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Yeshua began both to do and to teach,
2) until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
3) To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom.
4) Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me.

Christ told the apostles not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there until the Father’s promise arrived.

Luke 24
49) Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”
50) He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
51) It happened, while he blessed them, that he withdrew from them, and was carried up into heaven.
52) They worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
53) and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

After He ascended, the disciples went to the Temple, where they continually praised God.

For ten days.

That means they observed two weekly Sabbaths in the Temple. The high times of the Temple were the Sabbath and Feasts, so they observed the Sabbaths in the Temple. Had they not observed the Sabbath there, they would have been kicked out of the Temple.

Then –

Acts 1 (cont.)
12) Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.
13) When they had come in, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
14) All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Yeshua and with his brothers.
15) In these days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (and the number of names was about one hundred twenty), and said,

The 11 apostles, all cited by name, and the rest of the 120, including Mary, Yeshua’s mother, were “commanded” to wait in Jerusalem.

Until when?

Until the Feast of Shavuoth, or Pentecost.

Acts 2
1) Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Then, on that Bible festival, after waiting for 10 days, the Father sent the Holy Spirit to His people.

Why did God wait 10 days to send His spirit to His people?

He waited 10 days until Pentecost –

Because He observes the Bible Feasts. The Father gave them, He planned them, and they show His plan for mankind. No surprise, then, that God the Father observes the Bible Feasts, as He did there with that Pentecost when He sent His Holy Spirit on that day.

When Yeshua told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise, He was commanding them to keep the Bible Feast of Pentecost. Had they not kept Feast of Pentecost, they would not have been in the first flock.

Of course, they all kept the Feast of Pentecost, anyway, along with the other Bible Feasts.

Those 120 people were all of one mind, “with one accord.” They had heard and lived with the Master for 42 months, except for Mary and his brothers, who had known Him His whole life. They knew what He did on the Sabbath and Feasts, and they did the same. So when Pentecost came, they were keeping it, as Christ had always done. They were all with one accord, all keeping the Bible Feast.

If Christ had spent 3½ years teaching them not to keep the Feasts, why would He tell them to wait until Pentecost? If the Feasts were done away, why would the Father wait until the Feast day to send the Holy Spirit? If the disciples had been taught by the Master to hate the Feasts, why were they all still keeping them?

But according to Constantine’s teaching, and that of the Roman Church, they were all “Judaizers”. Yet these “detestable” Christians, were the first to receive the spirit of Christ.

Acts 2
4) They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.

These people had enormous spiritual understanding, as a supernatural gift from God. Do you really think they were deceived about the Sabbath and Feasts, which they kept? Were they just unconverted Judaizers, heading for hell for obeying God’s written instructions?

God did not first pour out His spirit to the Romans, who kept the winter solstice festival and the spring fecundity festival. God chose to first give His spirit to Israelites who were keeping His Feast day. That’s a very important fact. The Judaizers were the ones who were first filled with the fire of the spirit, not the Romans.

Then, of all things, the Master did not rebuke the “Judaizers.” Instead He multiplied them.

Acts 2
41) Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
42) They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.
43) Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
44) All who believed were together, and had all things in common.
45) They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.
46) Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,
47) praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.

The flock of Christ multiplied from 120 to three thousand people, in one day –

The day of the Feast of Pentecost.

They all continued in the apostles’ teaching, which included obeying the Sabbath and Feasts. Christ did not reject these “Judaizers”, as Constantine did, but Christ performed many wonders among them. And day by day the Lord added to the flock, from all those people who had come to Jerusalem –

For the Feast.

Acts 6
7) The word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Okay, we’re way beyond three thousand now. The disciples were multiplied exceedingly. That multiplied multitude even included a number of priests.

That brings up an interesting question.

When those priests came into the First Flock, did they immediately switch from the Sabbath to Constantine’s Sunday? Did they switch from Pentecost and the Bible Feasts to Constantine’s Roman feasts, which became Halloween, Christmas and Easter? Were these priests converted into Constantine Christians?

Hardly. The First Flock was created on a Feast day. If the Christian priests forsook the Feasts, they would be denying the birth of the Flock.

These priests were “obedient to the faith” – Judaizers!

One of the First Flock “Judaizers” was Stephen. As he was being stoned to death, the Son of Man granted Stephen a rare vision.

Acts 7
55) But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Yeshua standing on the right hand of God,
56) and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57) But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord.
58) They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59) They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Yeshua receive my spirit!”
60) He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Stephen was “full of the holy spirit.” Christ was very close to those believers, closer than at any time in the twenty centuries since, much closer than He was to those Roman Christians in Constantine’s time. So as Stephen was being martyred for his faith, Yeshua granted Stephen, a Pentecost Christian, that very special vision.

Doesn’t that give us the definite impression that these First Flock “Judaizers” were not detestable people?

Later, a great assembly was held, as recorded in Acts 15, about people Judaizing on the Sabbath and Feasts.

Acts 15
1) Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.”
2) Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them, to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.
3) They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. They caused great joy to all the brothers.
4) When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them.
5) But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
6) The apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter.

Well, no, the assembly was not about Sabbaths or Feasts at all. The meeting was primarily about circumcision. And that raises a cutting question –

If the Pharisees were so upset about circumcision, why weren’t they upset about the Sabbath and Feasts being canceled?

Those Pharisees had no concern whatsoever about Christians not observing the Sabbath.

Why not?

That could be only because those Christians did observe the Sabbath and Feasts.

And in fact, the Sabbath was mentioned in that assembly, and that mention proves that the Gentile Christianos observed the Sabbath with the Jewish Christianos. James, the physical and spiritual brother of Yeshua, said that Gentiles did not have to obey the Law of Moses and cited certain things that related to debased Gentile practices.

Acts 15 (cont.)
19) “Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,
20) but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.
21) For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

James just said that Gentile Christianos heard the books of Moses in the synagogues every Sabbath.

He was talking about “Gentiles who turn to God,” and those Gentile Christians heard the scriptures read in the synagogues every Sabbath.

As they did with Paul.

Acts 13
14) But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.
15) After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak.”
16) Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.

Those were Jews and Gentile God fearers, all in the synagogue on the Sabbath. And Paul went on…

Acts 13
26) Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you.
27) For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

This is just what James referred to – “the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath.” Gentiles who accepted the one true God were called God-fearers, such as Cornelius in Acts 10. They were in the synagogues on the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath. When Paul said “children of the stock of Abraham,” that was the Jews, “and those among you who fear God,” that was the Gentiles.

The first Gentile Christian, Cornelius, was a God fearer.

Acts 10
1) Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
2) a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God.

That means, like those that Paul spoke to, Cornelius the God fearer observed the Sabbath and attended synagogue. So when James said, “For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath,” and James as talking about the Gentiles who turned to God, he was saying that the Gentile Christians kept the Sabbath.

Back in Acts 13 again, when Paul finished speaking in the synagogue to the Jews and Gentile God-fearers, what happened?

Acts 13
42) So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
43) Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44) The next Sabbath almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God.

So Paul urged them to continue in the grace of God and the Gentiles wanted to get together the next Sabbath to hear the word of God.

Wait a minute! If “grace” does away with the Ten Commandments, why did those who were in the “grace of God” wait until the next Sabbath for their next religious meeting?

The Gentiles begged that Paul speak to them again – the next Sabbath.

And Paul agreed!

He did not say, come back tomorrow on the holy day of the sun. He waited until the next Sabbath to speak to the Gentiles. Why did the Gentile God-fearers request the next Sabbath?

Because they observed the Sabbath, and would be in the synagogue the next Sabbath, obeying the fourth Commandment.

How about that?

The Gentiles called into the First Flock were also “Judaizers”. Like their Israelite brothers, they too kept the Sabbath and Feasts.

So Constantine, the exalted Roman emperor, called all these people in the First Flock detestable. All the Christians in the First Flock were detestable! That’s a pretty detestable act by the exalted Roman emperor.

Exactly who was he calling “detestable?”

“Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James…along with the women, and Mary the mother of Yeshua and with his brothers.” Those brothers included James and Jude, who wrote two books of the New Testament. Other detestables included Stephen and Cornelius, who like the Christian priests, were obedient to the faith.

It’s just really hard to see Peter as a “detestable”. The apostle Peter was the one chosen to speak to the thousands on Pentecost. Peter and all those three thousand first converts were there because they were observing the Feast. Had Peter or all those others not been there at the Feast, they would not have been in the First Flock. Peter was also used to introduce the Gentiles to Christ. Peter wrote two books of the New Testament.

And Peter carried a big shadow…

Acts 5
12) By the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. They were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.
13) None of the rest dared to join them, however the people honored them.
14) More believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.
15) They even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mattresses, so that as Peter came by, at the least his shadow might overshadow some of them.

When Peter was called before the high priest for preaching Yeshua, the Bible says he was “filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Was Peter detestable because he kept the Sabbath and Bible Feasts?

Nah.

Peter was one of the chosen leaders of the First Flock, and spoke to the multitude at Pentecost – because he kept the Sabbath and the Feasts.

Peter was sent by God to do God’s work. Peter was not an evil Judaizer because he obeyed and observed the Sabbath and Feasts.

And you know what else?

Those holy times – the Sabbath and Feasts – are also sent from God. They are not evil. They are a blessing from the Creator, to remember the Creator and to remember His plan for man.

So when somebody casts aspersions on the Judaizers, just remember who those Judaizers were.

The “Judaizers” pejorative has been used against the Sabbath and Feasts for nearly as long as Christ’s flock has existed. As we go forward in this end time, a new temple would bring the Sabbath and Feasts into worldwide focus. We will hear, from Constantine’s Church, about evil Judaizers again.

Judaizers like –

All the apostles.

All the 120 disciples.

All the thousands of first Christians.

And all of Yeshua’s earthly family.