Why We Should Be Baptized In the Name of Jesus

 And not in the Roman Catholic Trinitarian Formula of: the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

"Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations in My name: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, behold, I am with you all the days until the completion of the age. Amen."  (Mt 28:19,20 )

  "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."  (Mt 28:19,20 )

     This "Great Commission" of Jesus Christ is an oft-quoted proof-text of trinitarians used to promote their belief in the three-in-one/triune God.  This is based on the use of the single noun, "name" (as opposed to "names"), applied to three separate nouns---the Father, Son, and holy spirit---thus supposedly three beingswith one name (or, according to some versions of triune theology, one being in three manifestations).

     The 1917 Scofield note on this verse states: "The word is in the singular, the "name," not names. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the final name of the one triue God. It affirms: (1) That God is one."

     Is this true? Is this Scriptural proof of a trinity?  Let's dig down past the surface of this text and get a little deeper into a study of this matter.  

     Concerning these words, "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," noted Bible scholar, E.W. Bullinger, in his Word Studies on the HOLY SPIRIT, pp.47, 48, states: "These words are contained in every Greek MS. [editor's note: MS. = manuscript] known, and are, therefore, on documentary evidence, beyond suspicion: but yet there is one great difficulty with regard to them.

     "The difficulty is that, the Apostles themselves never obeyed this command; and in the rest of the New Testament there is no hint as to it ever having been obeyed by anyone. Baptism was always in the name of the one person of the Lord Jesus."

     Is this true?  Let's examine the Scriptures to prove all things.

Acts 2:38  "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."   [Baptism is to be performed in His name for the remission of sins because "...he had by himself purged our sins..." (Hebrews 1:3)].

Acts 8:16  "For as yet he [it] was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."

Acts 10:48  "And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord."

Acts 19:5  "When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."

Acts 22:16  ". . . arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

1Cor 1:12-15  "Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.  Is Christ divided?  was Paul crucified for you?  or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?  I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name."

[Editor’s note: Paul is implying here that the few baptisms that he performed there, without the use of water, but rather in spirit, as explained in Mk. 1:8 and in many other places, were all done in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified for us. Paul was referring to Jesus Christ---in whose name, he baptized spiritually the disciples.]

1Cor 6:11 "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

Some other Scriptures to consider include:

Rom 6:3  "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? "

Gal 3:27  "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

NOTE: In Matt 28:19, the word translated "in" in the phrase "in the name of..." is the Greek word "eis" which means "into."  The above two scriptures show what we are truly to be baptized into---not the name of the Father, Son, and holy spirit ---but, into Christ and His death.  "This was the formula of the followers of Eunomius (Socr. 5.24)--'for they baptise not into the trinity, but into the death of Christ.'"  (Encyclopedia Biblica, article: Baptism).

John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom [which] the Father will send in my name . . . "  [Note: How does one receive the holy spirit? In the name of Jesus!]

Luke 24:47 "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his [Jesus'] name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."  

[Note: This verse ties directly with Matt 28:19 (preaching the Gospel among all nations) and Acts 2:38 (repentance and remission of sins, which comes in the name of Jesus Christ), and as we see here, both are to be done in the name of Jesus Christ---not in the name of a "triune god".]

     In the light of Scripture, we see baptism was never performed "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy ghost," but rather, in the name of Jesus Christ alone.  Bullinger comments, "It is difficult to suppose that there would have been this universal disregard of so clear a command, if it had ever been given; or [if] it ever really formed part of the primitive text."

     "It is a question, therefore, whether we have here something beyond the reach of science, or the powers of ordinary Textual Criticism.

     "As to the Greek MSS., there are none beyond the fourth Century [Of the fourth century, there are two: the Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus---BOTH CORRUPT.  All other known Greek MSS. are from 5th Century and upward], and it seems clear that the Syrian part of the Church knew nothing of these words." (Word Studies on the HOLY SPIRIT, p.48)

     Why is it that no Greek MSS. exist from prior to the fourth century?  It is due to the fact, that in 303 AD, Diocletian ordered all the sacred books to be burned.  Church historian, Eusebius, wrote, "I saw with mine own eyes the houses of prayer thrown down and razed to their foundations, and the inspired and sacred Scriptures consigned to the fire in the open market place." (H.E. viii 2).  This has left a large gap of three centuries (a time of great apostasy, which was already starting in Paul's and Jude's day - II Thes 2:7 & Jude 4) from which there are no known complete Greek MSS--from the first century in which Matthew recorded his Gospel account until the fourth and fifth centuries.  This left plenty of time for perversion of the text to occur.

     Fred Conybeare notes, "In the only codices which would be even likely to preserve an older reading [a non-triune reading of Matt 28:19], namely the Sinaitic Syriac and the oldest Latin Manuscript, the pages are gone which contained the end of Matthew." (Hibbert Journal, 1902, Fred C.Conybeare).

     Is it possible that the destroyed manuscripts and these missing pages may have included a different reading of Matthew 28:19---a reading that would agree with the above listed Scriptures which show baptisms performed in Christ's name alone?  Let us examine some of the writings of the so-called "early church fathers" who had access to older manuscripts.  Please note that we are NOT turning to them for any theological doctrine.  The "early church fathers" were pagan converts who did not truly convert, rather they "Christianized" their pagan doctrines by applying Christian names and ideas to them.  The only real value of these writings lies in the fact that their authors had access to these missing manuscripts, and they quoted from them quite frequently---so much so, that almost the entire New Testament could be gathered from these sources alone.  What text did their manuscripts contain?  How did they quote Matt 28:19,20?  We shall see.

      Concerning Matthew 28:19, Conybeare states, "Eusebius cites this text of Matthew 28:19 again and again in works written between 300-336 AD, namely in his long commentaries on the Psalms, on Isaiah, his Demonstratio Evangelica, his Theophany, ...in his famous history of the Church, and in his panegyric of the emperor Constantine.  I have, after a moderate search in these works of Eusebius, found eighteen citations of Matthew 28:19, and always in the following form:'Go ye and make disciples of all nations in my name, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I commanded you.' "  (Hibbert Journal, F. Coneybeare). Eusebius' rendering here (...make disciples of all the nations IN MY NAME...) ties directly with Luke 24:47 as listed above (repentance and remission of sins should be preached IN HIS  [Jesus'] NAME among all nations).

     Conybeare states, "I have collected all these passages except one which is in a catena published by Mai in a German magazine, the Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, edited by Dr. Erwin Preuschen in Darmstaft in 1901.  And Eusebius is not content merely to cite the verse in this form, but he more than once comments on it in such a way as to show how much he set store by the words 'in my name'.  Thus, in his Demonstratio Evangelica he writes thus (col. 240, p.136):

     "For he did not enjoin them to 'make disciples of all the nations' simply and without qualification, but with the essential addition 'in his name.'  For so great was the virtue attached to this appellation that the Apostle [Paul] says:  'God bestowed on him the name above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth.'  It was right therefore that he [Jesus] should emphasise the virtue of the power residing in his name but hidden from the many, and therefore say to his Apostles: 'Go ye, and make disciples of all nations in My name.' "  (Hibbert Journal quoting Eusebius)

     Conybeare continues, "It is evident that this ["in My name"] was the text found by Eusebius in the very ancient codices collected fifty to a hundred and fifty years before his birth by his great predecessors.  Of any other form of text [than the "in My name" reading], he had never heard and knew nothing until he had visited Constantinople and attended the Council of Nice.  Then in two controversial works written in his extreme old age, and entitled: 'Against Marcellus of Ancyra,' and the other 'About The Theology Of The Church,' he used the common reading after Nice."  (Hibbert Journal, p.105).

     This has led scholars to suspect that he was persuaded to replace the original text.  

     "The exclusive survival [of the trinitarian text of Matthew 28:19] in all MSS, both Greek and Latin, need not cause surprise.  But in any case, the conversion of Eusebius to the longer text after the Council of Nice indicates that it was at that time being introduced as a shibboleth of orthodoxy into all codices.  The question of the inclusion of the Holy Spirit on equal terms in the Trinity had been threshed out [at the Council], and a text so invaluable to the dominant party [the trinitarians] could not but make its way into every codex, irrespective of its textual affinities (Hibbert Journal)."

     Conybeare concludes: "It is clear, therefore, that [of all] the MSS which Eusebius inherited from his predecessor, Pamphilus, at Caesarea in Palestine, some at least preserved the original writing, in which there was no mention either of baptism or of the words ' Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ' [in Matthew 28:19] " (Fred Conybeare).

     At least two texts have been found that make no mention of these things:

"Go forth into all the world and teach all the nations in my name in every place." (Matthew 28:19 as cited in: E. Budge, Miscellaneous Coptic Texts, 1915, pp. 58 ff., 628 and 636)

"Go and teach them to carry out all the things which I have commanded you forever." (Matthew 28:19, Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, translated by George Howard from Shem Tob's Evan Bohan)

     Let's now examine some writings of the other early "church fathers."

     "The anonymous author of De Rebaptismate in the third century...dwells at length on 'the power in the name of Jesus invoked upon a man in baptism' " (Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. i, p 352, quoting De Rebaptismate 6.7).

     In the Shepherd of Hermas (dated approximately 120 AD), it notes, "Before man bears the name of the Son of God, he is dead, but when he has received the seal [through baptism], he lays aside mortality and receives life."  It also states, "They are such as have heard the word and were willing to be baptized in the name of the Lord" (emphasis mine)

     The Hibbert Journal notes that Origen quotes Matt.28:19 three times---ending the quote abruptly at "nations" each time and "that in itself suggests that his text has been censored, and the words which followed, 'In my Name,' struck out." (Conybeare).

     "In Justin Martyr, who wrote about AD 130 and 140, there is a passage which has been regarded as a citation or echo of Matthew 28:19 by various scholars, e.g. Resch in his Ausser canonische Parallelstellen, who sees in it an abridgement of the ordinary text.

 The passage is in Justin's dialogue with Trypho 39, p 258:  'God hath not yet afflicted nor inflicts the judgment, as knowing of some that still even today arebeing made disciples in the name of his Christ, and are abandoning the path of error, who also do receive gifts each as they be worthy, being illuminated by the name of this Christ.'  The objection hitherto to these words being recognized as a citation of our text was that they ignored the formula 'baptising them in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit.'  But the discovery of the Eusebian form of text removes this difficulty: and Justin is seen to have had the same text ["in My name"] as early as the year 140, which Eusebius regularly found in his manuscripts from 300 to 340." (Hibbert Journal  F. Conybeare - emphasis mine).

     "Justin quotes a saying of Christ, ...as a proof of the necessity of regeneration, but falls back upon the use of Isaiah ["Through the washing of repentance and knowledge of God, therefore, which was instituted for the sin of the people of God, as Isaiah says, we have believed, and we make known that the same baptism which he preached, and which is alone able to cleanse those who repent, is the water of life" (Justin's dialogue with Trypho)] and [so-called] Apostolic tradition to justify the practice of baptism and the use of the triune formula.

This certainly suggests that Justin did not know the traditional [trinitarian]text of Matthew 28:19." (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics).  

     Concerning Aphraates, of Nisibis,  Conybeare states, "There is one other witness whose testimony we must consider.  He is Aphraates, ...who wrote between 337 and 345.  He cites out text in a formal manner as follows:  'Make disciples of all nations, and they shall believe in me.'  The last words appear to be a gloss of the Eusebian reading 'in my name.'  But in any case, they preclude the textus receptus with its injunction to baptise in the triune name.  Were the writing of Aphraates an isolated fact, we might regard it as a loose citation, but in the presence of the Eusebian and Justinian texts this is impossible." (Conybeare).

     "Now Eusebius, the great Ecclesiastical historian, died in 340 A.D., and his work belonged, therefore, in part to the third century.  Moreover, he lived in one of the greatest Christian Libraries of that day.  If the Greek MS. there contained these words ["baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"], it seems impossible that he could have quoted this verse eighteen times without including them."

     "Professor Lake...and Mr. Conybeare have called attention to this fact, and shown that neither Justin Martyr (who died in 185 A.D.), nor Aphraates, of Nisibis (who flourished in Syria, 340 A.D.), knew anything of these words."

     "It looks, therefore, as though the words got into the text (perhaps from the margin) in the Church of North Africa [possibly Alexandria, as we'll look at in a moment]; and that the Syrian Churches did not have them in the MSS. at their disposal." (Bullinger, Word Studies on the HOLY SPIRIT, pp.48,49)

     Many reference works denote the skepticism of scholars concerning the accuracy of this verse.  The Encyclopedia of Religion And Ethics states:  "It is the central piece of evidence for the traditional view [trinitarian formula].  If it were undisputed, this would, of course, be decisive, but its trustworthiness is impugned on the grounds of textual criticism, literary criticism, and historical criticism."  It continues, "The facts are, in summary, that Eusebius quotes Matthew 28:19 twenty one times, either omitting everything between 'nations' and 'teaching,' or in the form 'make disciples of all nations in my name,' the latter form being the more frequent."  It also comments on the verse as such:   "If it be thought as many critics think, that no MS represents more than comparatively late recensions of the text, it is necessary to set against the mass of manuscript evidence the influence of baptismal practice [which was almost universally performed with the triune formula in the post-apostolic days].  It seems easier to believe that the traditional [trinitarian] text was brought about by the [trinitarian baptismal] influence working on the Eusebian ["in My name"] text, than that the latter arose out of the former in spite of it." (Encyclopedia Of Religion And Ethics; article: Baptism).  In fact, Sir William Whiston stated, "We certainly know of a greater number of interpolations and corruptions brought into the Scriptures by the Athanasians, and relating to the Doctrine of the Trinity, than in any other case whatsoever.  While we have not, that I know of, any such interpolation or corruption made in any one of them [the Scriptures] by either the Eusebians or Arians." (Second letter to the Bishop of London, 1719, p 15).  "Different from the post-apostolic and later Christian liturgical praxis, which is marked by the trinitarian formula of Mt 28:19 (see Did. VII. i. 3; Just. Apol. LXI 3, 11, 13), the primitive Church baptized 'in' or 'into the name of Jesus,' (or 'Jesus Christ,' or 'the Lord Jesus'; see I Co 1:13,15; Ac 8:16, 19:5; Did. ix. 5). (Dictionary of the Bible, James Hasting, 1963, p.88, article: Baptism).  "...the trinitarian formula (Matt. 28:19) was a late addition..." (Harper's Bible Dictionary sixth edition, 1959, p.60 article: baptism).  And in the eighth edition of Harper's Bible Dictionary, it states, "While the earliest formula of baptism seems to have been 'in the name of the Lord Jesus' (Acts 8:16, 10:48) the trinitarian formula obviously became the standard at a very early time."  "Critical scholarship, on the whole, rejects the traditional attribution of the tripartite baptismal formula to Jesus and regards it as a later origin." (The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, Henry Austryn Wolfsan, p. 277).

      "In the last half of the fourth century, the text 'in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost' was used as a battle-cry by the orthodox against the adherents of Macedonius, who were called 'pneumatomachi' or 'fighters against the Holy Spirit', because they declined to include the Spirit in a Trinity of persons as co-equal, consubstantial, and co-eternal with the Father and the Son.  They also stoutly denied that any text in the New Testament authorized such a co-ordination of the Spirit with the Father and Son.  Whence we infer that their texts agreed with that of Eusebius [meaning, they lacked the triune reading of Mt 28:19]" (Hibbert Journal , F. Conybeare).

     How did these spurious words get into the text and from whence did they come?   Fred Conybeare notes, "In the pages of Clement of Alexandria, a text some what similar to Matthew 28:19 is once cited--but as from a gnostic heretic, named Theodotus, and not as from the canonical text as follows--'And to the Apostles he gives the command: Going around preach ye and baptise those who believe in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit' " (Conybeare quoting from Excerpta cap.76, ed Sylb. p.287).

     Alexandria was a hotbed of philosophical thought.  Jewish philosopher, Philo, lived in Alexandria and taught his false doctrines of Gnosticism there.  He spoke of  "...one God, who in Himself is unity, yet appears in the likeness of a triad."  He stated that a "holy and divine vision" of the Rulership is perceived "...in such a way, that a single vision appears to him [the one having the vision] as a triad, and a triad as unity..."  And again, he states that "...the intellect perceives most clearly a unity although previously it learned to apprehend it under the similitude of a Trinity." (E.R. Goodenough  Light, By Light:  the Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism, p.33).  Philo clearly taught the trinity doctrine, as did fellow philosophers, Pythagoras and Plato - a doctrine which they all received from the Mystery teachings of Babylon.  These Mystery teachings were the source of Theodotus' "Christianized" Gnostic trinitarian doctrine cited by Clement of Alexandria.

     When did the corruption of the baptismal formula arise?  According to Canney's Encyclopedia of Religion, the early church baptized in the name of Jesus until the second century.  Encyclopaedia Brittanica (11th ed., Vol 3, p365) agrees, stating that baptism was changed from the name of Jesus to the words Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in the 2nd century.  And in Volume 2 of the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, p.389, it notes that baptism was always performed in the name of Jesus until the time of Justin Martyr.

     It should now be clearly seen that all things are to be done in Jesus' name (Col 3:17), and that the words, "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," have been added to God's word to support the trinitarian doctrine brought in by the philosophers and other pagan "converts" to "Christianity".  These words were not part of the original God-inspired text, much like the added words recorded in I John 5:7 (which are not in any Greek MS. prior to the 16th century).

    "Until the middle of the nineteenth century the text of the three witnesses, 1 John 5:7-8, shared with Matthew 28:19 the onerous task of furnishing scriptural evidence of the Trinity.  [These added words of I Jn 5]...are now abandoned by all authorities except the Pope of Rome.  By consequence, the entire weight of proving the Trinity has of late come to rest on Matthew 28:19." (Conybeare).  And we have just seen that in light of Scripture and the early "church" writings, that it too, is unauthentic.    

     "In the course of my reading, I have been able to substantiate these doubts of the authenticity of the text Matthew 28:19 by adducing patristic evidence against it so weighty, that in future the most conservative of divines will shrink from resting on it any dogmatic fabric at all, while the more enlightened will discard it as completely as they have its fellow-text of the three witnesses [I Jn 5:7,8]." (Hibbert Journal  F. Conybeare). 

     So what is the true "Great Commission" of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?  Matt 28:19,20 should read as such:

"Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations in My name: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, behold, I am with you all the days until the completion of the age. Amen."

by Brian Hoeck

My Comment:

Another thing that I find disturbing about modern baptismal practices especially within the Independent Fundamental Baptists movement is the use of Egyptian mummification hand gestures that go along with the baptism into the trinity. Jesus did not imo get baptized by John with his arms crossed like a pagan pharaoh  king. So why is it that baptists today are practicing pagan baptisms? 

Steven Anderson preforming a Trinitarian Egyptian baptism 

X-ray of an Egyptian in there pagan death pose 

The Freemasons have adopted this pagan practice as well

As do did Aleister Crowley and the Ordo Templi Orientis which he founded

A Catholic depiction of Mary the Queen of Heaven or Isis in this same death pose

Even the new Pope (Man of Sin) shows this hand sign

As did the last president of the USA George Bush

As do Obama & Biden. Notice Biden's navy and gold necktie and now check out the color scheme of this Pharaoh 

Jeremiah 10:1-2  Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 

In Jesus Christ who is come in the flesh

Grace and peace be upon all those who obey the Lord Jesus Christ and do everything in his Name. 

Modern humans, Neandertals, and Denisovans are all part of the same human "created kind."

                                             

Modern Y-Chromosome Variation Surpasses Archaic Humans

by Jeffrey Tomkins, Ph.D. *

                                                        

The human Y-chromosome has been a sore point among secular scientists in recent years because of its many anti-evolutionary surprises. Adding to the Darwinian grief, is yet one more shocking Y-chromosome study that more clearly illustrates the boundaries of human genetic diversity.

Much controversy has brewed during the past few years over the genomic sequences of what have been termed "archaic" humans. This so-called "ancient DNA" was extracted from bone fragments of "Neandertal" and "Denisovan" specimens and then sequenced, providing draft blue prints of these respective genomes.^{1, 2} While much hypothetical speculation has raged over how much interbreeding went on between modern humans and archaic humans, the fact remains that both types were shown to be fully human.

Now, a modern living human has been discovered who has Y-chromosome variation that increases the range of human DNA diversity beyond that of so-called archaic humans.³ This new data unequivocally proves that Neandertals and Denisovans were well within the DNA variability range of modern humans—not extinct primitive evolutionary offshoots of the human lineage.

Earlier DNA studies attempted to prove that archaic humans were different than modern humans, based on slight variations in their mitochondrial DNA—a small circular piece of DNA outside the nucleus in the cell’s mitochondria that is inherited maternally. In fact, because the Y-chromosome undergoes very little DNA change, and is considerably larger in size than the mitochondrial genome, it is a much more reliable measure of human DNA diversity.

Continue Reading......

Jewish Involvement In The Black Slave Trade

Romans 2:9-11  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.

The following passages are from Dr. Raphael's book Jews and Judaism in the United States: A Documentary History (New York: Behrman House, Inc., Pub, 1983), pp. 14, 23-25. 

"Jews also took an active part in the Dutch colonial slave trade; indeed, the bylaws of the Recife and Mauricia congregations (1648) included an imposta (Jewish tax) of five soldos for each Negro slave a Brazilian Jew purchased from the West Indies Company. Slave auctions were postponed if they fell on a Jewish holiday. In Curacao in the seventeenth century, as well as in the British colonies of Barbados and Jamaica in the eighteenth century, Jewish merchants played a major role in the slave trade. In fact, in all the American colonies, whether French (Martinique), British, or Dutch, Jewish merchants frequently dominated.

 "This was no less true on the North American mainland, where during the eighteenth century Jews participated in the 'triangular trade' that brought slaves from Africa to the West Indies and there exchanged them for molasses, which in turn was taken to New England and converted into rum for sale in Africa. Isaac Da Costa of Charleston in the 1750's, David Franks of Philadelphia in the 1760's, and Aaron Lopez of Newport in the late 1760's and early 1770's dominated Jewish slave trading on the American continent." 

 Dr. Raphael discusses the central role of the Jews in the New World commerce and the African slave trade (pp. 23-25):

 SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES JEWISH INTER-ISLAND TRADE: CURACAO, 1656 

 During the sixteenth century, exiled from their Spanish homeland and hard-pressed to escape the clutches of the Inquisition, Spanish and Portuguese Jews fled to the Netherlands; the Dutch enthusiastically welcomed these talented, skilled businessmen.

 While thriving in Amsterdam - where they became the hub of a unique urban Jewish universe and attained status that anticipated Jewish emancipation in the West by over a century - they began in the 1500's and 1600's to establish themselves in the Dutch and English colonies in the New World. These included Curacao, Surinam, Recife, and New Amsterdam (Dutch) as well as Barbados, Jamaica, Newport, and Savannah (English). 

 In these European outposts the Jews, with their years of mercantile experience and networks of friends and family providing market reports of great use, played a significant role in the merchant capitalism, commercial revolution, and territorial expansion that developed the New World and established the colonial economies. The Jewish-Caribbean nexus provided Jews with the opportunity to claim a disproportionate influence in seventeenth and eighteenth century New World commerce, and enabled West Indian Jewry-far outnumbering its coreligionists further north-to enjoy a centrality which North American Jewry would not achieve for a long time to come. 

 Groups of Jews began to arrive in Surinam in the middle of the seven-teenth century, after the Portuguese regained control of northern Brazil. By 1694, twenty-seven years after the British had surrendered Surinam to the Dutch, there were about 100 Jewish families and fifty single Jews there, or about 570 persons. They possessed more than forty estates and 9,000 slaves, contributed 25,905 pounds of sugar as a gift for the building of a hospital, and carried on an active trade with Newport and other colonial ports. By 1730, Jews owned 115 plantations and were a large part of a sugar export business which sent out 21,680,000 pounds of sugar to European and New World markets in 1730 alone. 

 Slave trading was a major feature of Jewish economic life in Surinam which as a major stopping-off point in the triangular trade. Both North American and Caribbean Jews played a key role in this commerce: records of a slave sale in 1707 reveal that the ten largest Jewish purchasers (10,400 guilders) spent more than 25 percent of the total funds (38,605 guilders) exchanged. 

 Jewish economic life in the Dutch West Indies, as in the North American colonies, consisted primarily of mercantile communities, with large inequities in the distribution of wealth. Most Jews were shopkeepers, middlemen, or petty merchants who received encouragement and support from Dutch authorities. In Curacao, for example, Jewish communal life began after the Portuguese victory in 1654. 

 In 1656, the community founded a congregation, and in the early 1670's brought its first rabbi to the island. Curacao, with its large natural harbor, was the steppng-stone to the other Caribbean islands and thus ideally suited geographically for commerce. 

 The Jews were the recipients of favorable charters containing generous economic privileges granted by the Dutch West Indies Company in Amsterdam. The economic life of the Jewish community of Curacao revolved around ownership of sugar plantations and marketing of sugar, the importing of manufactured goods, and a heavy involvement in the slave trade, within a decade of their arrival, Jews owned 80 percent of the Curacao plantations. The strength of the Jewish trade lay in connections in Western Europe as well as ownership of the ships used in commerce. While Jews carried on an active trade with French and English colonies in the Caribbean, their principal market was the Spanish Main (today Venezuela and Colombia). 

 Extant tax lists give us a glimpse of their dominance. Of the eighteen wealthiest Jews in the 1702 and 1707 tax lists, nine either owned a ship or had at least a share in a vessel. By 1721 a letter to the Amsterdam Jewish community claimed that "nearly all the navigation...was in the hands of the Jews."' Yet another indication of the economic success of Curacao's Jews is the fact that in 1707 the island's 377 residents were assessed by the Governor and his Council a total of 4,002 pesos; 104 Jews, or 27.6 percent of the taxpayers, contributed 1,380 pesos, or 34.5 percent of the entire amount assessed. 

 In the British West Indies, two 1680 tax lists survive, both from Barbados; they, too, provide useful information about Jewish economic life. In Bridgetown itself, out of a total of 404 households, 54 households or 300 persons were Jewish, 240 of them living in "ye Towne of S. Michael ye Bridge Town." Contrary to most impressions, "many, indeed, most of them, were very poor." There were only a few planters, and most Jews were not naturalized or endenizened (and thus could not import goods or pursue debtors in court). But for merchants holding letters of endenization, opportunities were not lacking. Barbados sugar-and its by-products rum and molasses-were in great demand, and in addition to playing a role in its export, Jewish merchants were active in the import trade. 

 Forty-five Jewish households were taxed in Barbados in 1680, and more than half of them contributed only 11.7 percent of the total sum raised. While the richest five gave almost half the Jewish total, they were but 11.1 percent of the taxable population. The tax list of 1679-80 shows a similar picture; of fifty-one householders, nineteen (37.2 percent) gave less than one-tenth of the total, while the four richest merchants gave almost one-third of the total. An interesting record of interisland trade involving a Jewish merchant and the islands of Barbados and Curacao comes from correspondence of 1656. It reminds us that sometimes the commercial trips were not well planned and that Jewish captains - who frequently acted as commercial agents as well - would decide where to sell their cargo, at what price, and what goods to bring back on the return trip. 

 (End of excerpt)

 Tony Martin is African studies professor at Wellesley College and has taught at Wellesley College, Massachusetts since 1973. He was tenured in 1975 and has been a full professor of African Studies since 1979. Prior to coming to Wellesley he taught at the University of Michigan-Flint, the Cipriani Labour College (Trinidad) and St. Mary's College (Trinidad). He has been a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University, Brown University and The Colorado College. He also spent a year as an honorary research fellow at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. 

 Professor Martin has authored or compiled or edited eleven books, including Literary Garveyism: Garvey, Black Arts and the Harlem Renaissance, and the classic study of the Garvey Movement, Race First: the Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association.. His most recent book is The Jewish Onslaught: Despatches from the Wellesley Battlefront. Martin qualified as a barrister-at-law at the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn (London) in 1965, did a B. Sc. honours degree in economics at the University of Hull (England) and the M.A. and Ph.D. in history at Michigan State University. 

 Martin's articles and reviews have appeared in the Journal of Negro History, American Historical Review, African Studies Review, Washington Post Book World, Journal of Caribbean History, Journal of American History, Black Books Bulletin, Science and Society, Jamaica Journal and many other places. His work is to be found in several anthologies and encyclopedias. He has received a number of academic and community awards. Martin is well known as a lecturer in many countries. He has spoken to university and general audiences all over the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and England, and also in Africa, Australia, Bermuda and South America. In 1990 he delivered the annual DuBois/Padmore/Nkrumah lectures in Ghana. Professor Martin is currently working on biographies of three Caribbean women - Amy Ashwood Garvey, Audrey Jeffers and Trinidad's Kathleen Davis ("Auntie Kay"). He is also nearing completion of a study of European Jewish immigration into Trinidad in the 1930s. 

Name Of Slave Ships And Their Owners:

 

The 'Abigail-Caracoa' - Aaron Lopez, Moses Levy, Jacob Crown

Isaac Levy and Nathan Simpson

 

The'Nassau' - Moses Levy

 

The 'Four Sisters' - Moses Levy

 

The 'Anne' & The 'Eliza' - Justus Bosch and John Abrams

 

The 'Prudent Betty' - Henry Cruger and Jacob Phoenix

 

The 'Hester' - Mordecai and David Gomez

 

The 'Elizabeth' - Mordecai and David Gomez

 

The 'Antigua' - Nathan Marston and Abram Lyell

 

The 'Betsy' - Wm. De Woolf

 

The 'Polly' - James De Woolf

 

The 'White Horse' - Jan de Sweevts

 

The 'Expedition' - John and Jacob Roosevelt

 

The 'Charlotte' - Moses and Sam Levy and Jacob Franks

 

The 'Franks' - Moses and Sam Levy

The Masters Of Divinity: AKA Scribes, Pharisees & Priests of Baal

Luke 20:46-47  Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; Which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation. 

The Scribes & The Pharisees 

Academic dress is a traditional form of clothing for academic settings, primarily tertiary (and sometimes secondary) education, worn mainly by those that have been admitted to a university degree (or similar) or hold a status that entitles them to assume them (e.g., undergraduate students at certain old universities).^[1] It is also known as academicals and, in the United States, as academic regalia.

Contemporarily, it is commonly seen only at graduation ceremonies, but formerly academic dress was, and to a lesser degree in many ancient universities still is, worn on a daily basis. Today the ensembles are distinctive in some way to each institution, and generally consists of a gown (also known as a robe) with a separatehood, and usually a cap (generally either a square academic cap, a tam, or a bonnet). Academic dress is also worn by members of certain learned societies and institutions as official dress.^[2][3]

The academic dress found in most universities in the British Commonwealth and the United States is derived from that of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which was a development of academic and clerical dress common throughout the medieval universities of Europe.^[4]

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Greek Orthodox Scribes & Pharisees 

The square academic cap, graduate cap, or mortarboard (because of its similarity in appearance to the hawk used by bricklayers to hold mortar) or Oxfordcap, is an item of academic head dress consisting of a horizontal square board fixed upon a skull-cap, with a tassel attached to the center. In the UK and the US, it is commonly referred to informally in conjunction with an academic gown worn as a cap and gown. It is also often termed a square, trencher, or corner-cap in Australia. The adjective academical is also used.  In the US and UK, it is usually referred to more generically as a mortarboard, or (in the U.S.) simply cap.

The cap, together with the gown and (sometimes) a hood, now form the customary uniform of a university graduate, in many parts of the world, following a British model.

Dallas Theological Seminary Scribes & Pharisees 

Origins

The mortarboard is generally believed by scholars to have developed from the biretta, a similar-looking hat worn by Roman Catholic clergy. The biretta itself may have been a development of the Roman pileus quadratus, a type of skullcap with superposed square and tump. A reinvention of this type of cap is known as the Bishop Andrewes cap.^[4] The Italian biretta is a word derived from berretto, which is derived itself from the Latin birrus and the Greek pyrros, both meaning "red." The cone-shaped red (seldom in black) biretta, related to the ancient Etruscan tutulus and the Roman pileus, was used in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to identify humanists, students, artists, and learned and blooming youth in general. The shape and the color conveyed meaning: Red was considered for a long time the royal power, whether because it was difficult to afford vestments of such solid and brilliant dye or because the high symbolic meaning of blood and life, thus the power over life and death.

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Roman Catholic Scribes & Pharisees

Biretta

The biretta (Latin: biretum, birretum) is a square cap with three or four peaks or horns, sometimes surmounted by a tuft. Traditionally the three peaked biretta is worn by Roman Catholic clergy and some Anglican and Lutheran clergy. The four peaked biretta is worn as academic dress by those holding a doctoral degree from a pontifical faculty or pontifical university. Occasionally the biretta is worn by advocates in law courts, for instance the advocates in the Channel Islands.

Vs

Origins

The origins of the biretta are uncertain. It is mentioned as early as the tenth century. One possible origin is the academic cap of the high Middle Ages, which was soft and square. This is also the ancestor of the modern mortarboard used today in secular universities. The biretta seems to have become a more widely used as an ecclesiastical vestment after the synod of Bergamo, 1311, ordered the clergy to wear the "bireta on their heads after the manner of laymen."^[1] The tuft or pom sometimes seen on the biretta was added later; the earliest forms of the biretta did not bear the device.

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When someone puts on the Biretta/Academic Cap they are ultimately accepting their Priesthood
from the Pope. 

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry. The English word is taken from the Latin seminarium, translated as seed-bed, an image taken from the Council of Trent document Cum adolescentium aetas which called for the first modern seminaries.^[1] In the West the term now refers to Roman Catholic educational institutes and has widened to include other Christian denominations and American Jewish institutions.^[2][3]

History

The establishment of modern seminaries resulted from Roman Catholic reforms of the Counter-Reformation after the Council of Trent.^[4] The Tridentine seminaries placed great emphasis on personal discipline as well as the teaching of philosophy as a preparation for theology.^[5]

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Matthew 23:8-11  But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 

Can you spot the difference between the Rabbi, Baptist, Anglican & Catholic Priest?

I truly can not see a difference, they all look the same to me! 

If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck it must be a duck!

Jesus said: Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.