Whom Do You Follow? Messiah or Paul?

Whom Do You Follow?
Messiah or Paul?

For most believers these may seem like strange questions…
However, over the years of witnessing to Christians and Christian Pastors it is not uncommon for them to say “I don’t follow Messiah…I follow Paul” (which is a LOADED statement). I remember the first time I heard this, I was like “WHAT!?” I replied with, “how about 1 Corinthians 11:1where Paul instructs the Corinthians (commonly believed to be gentile believers)…saying, ‘Follow me as I follow Messiah’… What do you do with verses like that?”  The common response after a minute or two of awkward silence is, “I guess I’ve never really thought about that…”
“Become imitators of me, as I also am of Messiah.” ~I Corinthians 11:1
I believe many Christians and Christian Pastors have been “programmed” with many little dispensational sound bites (“Torah is done away”, “That’s for the Jews”, “I don’t follow Messiah…I follow Paul”, etc.), which are often “parakeeted” without any true searching of the Scriptures to see if those things are so. (Acts 17:11).

The logic behind the dispensational sound bites above is: if the Torah is done away, if it’s only for the Jews, if we don’t have to follow Messiah, then we don’t have to be obedient to Messiah’s Standard.  We are free to make our own standard, perhaps we can call them “church rules.”  In Messiah’s day they were known as the “traditions of men or the works of the law.”
“Forsaking the command of Elohim, you hold fast the tradition of men.”
~Mark 7:8
Even the statement, “I don’t follow Messiah…I follow Paul” suggest that there is a difference between Messiah and Paul’s message.  Was Paul preaching a different Good News than Messiah?  Was Messiah preaching a different Good News than Paul?
“However, even if we, or a messenger out of heaven, bring a ‘Good News’ to you beside what we announced to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone brings a ‘Good News’ to you beside what you have received, let him be accursed.” ~Galatians 1:8, 9
So to be absolutely clear Messiah and Paul are on the same page!  Contrary to what the “modern day church” teaches, Paul was not only keeping the Torah (The Instructions for Life) himself, but was also teaching the nations (the gentiles) to keep the Torah as well.  For Messiah instructed his disciples to do just that!
“Therefore, go and make taught ones of all the nations, immersing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Set-apart Spirit, teaching them (the nations) to guard all that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Aman.” ~Matthew 28:19, 20
So the next time someone says…

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Ask them:
“Who is your Saviour?”
“Who is your King?”
“What did Messiah say?”
“Do you follow Messiah or Paul?”
The Truth of the Matter is:
“The one who says he stays in Him ought himself
also to walk, even as He walked.” ~1 John 2:6
…Paul followed Messiah and so should you…
For me and my house we will Follow the KING!
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. “And I give them everlasting life, and they shall by no means ever perish, and no
one shall snatch them out of My hand.” ~John 1o:27, 28
So the question still stands:
Whom do you follow?