A former Church of God member phoned me tonight to tell me about Torah Keepers Ministry, a Messianic group that advocates a return to Torah keeping. She said they are sending Glenn McWilliams to speak here in the Greater Vancouver area this weekend. If you want to hear Glenn speak, the address is at the corner of 83 avenue and 208 street in Langley, BC. He will be speaking Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday. Entry is free.
The Torah Keepers Ministry statement of faith is good reading. The very first item is phrased in a peculiar way. It reads: "We believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit the creator, redeemer, sanctifier and sustainer of heaven and earth." This isn't the usual way of phrasing the Trinitarian doctrine. It looks as if there have been some heated arguments about the Trinity inside the Ministry. On the face, the statement is definitely trinitarian. But it is phrased ambiguously. This gives wiggle room for the non-Trinitarian believer that wants to associate himself with the Ministry. The Trinity issue can be very divisive among Torah keepers. True Torah keepers don't discriminate against others because of their trinity belief. I would like to see the Nicene and other Church creeds abolished, but until then the best we can hope for is the sort of tolerance shown by this ambiguous statement in a good organization's statement of faith.
Glenn McWilliams wrote a great article on the origins of the Messianic movement, and where it is currently going: The Great Calendar Debate. Glenn shows that the Messianic movement was originally about bringing Jews to Christ. As such, it was about letting the Jews follow all their traditions but still be Christians. Today it is mostly about goyim who want to keep Torah. The new breed of Torah keepers aren't interested in Jewish traditions when they conflict with the written Torah. And this means the newer Messianics are quick to discard the Jewish Hillel II calendar in favor of the Biblical Karaite Abib calendar, while the old-school Messianics like to emphasize their Jewishness by keeping the calendar.
I look forward to meeting Glenn. Perhaps some day Nehemiah Gordon or Ariel Lyman will make it up to this neck of the woods too.