We’ve all heard of this concept, that we are not to add to nor take away from God’s (YHVH’s) word.  Is this a blanket statement for every word written in the bible, or does it apply to specific writings?
As always, let’s take a look at what scripture says about it (by now, you probably know that is where I was headed with this, right?).

So where can we find scripture that includes this warning?
I can spend a year or so reading the entire bible and taking notes, or I can defer to Google and my bible app search functions.  I find this:

Deuteronomy 4:2
You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. 

Deuteronomy 12:32
“Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

Revelation 22:18-19
For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

OK, so my first question is this:
What is special about these three passages?

1. In Deuteronomy, we are receiving the very words of YHVH (God). These verses are specifically referring to the instruction, the commands, the law, that God gave to His people to follow.
2. In Revelation, this warning is isolated to just the words of the prophecy of this book.  In this book, we are receiving the very words of Yeshua (Jesus). Many people consider the book of Revelation to be John’s words.  Let’s take a quick look at Revelation 1:1-3
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, ² who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. ³ Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Did you catch that?  This is the Revelation of Yeshua, given to Him by YHVH, and relayed to the apostle John by an angel. This is not John’s revelation, but God’s which He gave to Yeshua.

These passages are warnings given regarding the very specific words of YHVH and Yeshua. These particular warnings do not apply to the entire volume of scripture, front cover to back cover.
Deuteronomy warnings are the very words of God and apply to His commandments.  Revelation consists of the words of God, given to Jesus, and apply specifically and only to the book of Revelation.

Scripture is very clear about this.  This point cannot be argued or debated. It is not speaking about the prophets, the judges, the wisdom writings, nor the letters of the apostles.  Those writings are definitely inspired, and are important.  I am not devaluing those scriptures.
But the warnings given to not violate the word by adding to or taking away from it are very specific to those sections referenced by the warnings.

We see many other more general references in scripture about adding to, taking away from, or changing scripture.  Here are a few:

Proverbs 30:5-6
Every word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
⁶ Do not add to His words,
Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

In Proverbs, we find that adding to the word of God will earn us a rebuke and make us a liar.

Mark 7:6-13
He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
⁷ And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
⁸ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men —the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
⁹ He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), ¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, ¹³ making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

In this passage, we see Yeshua rebuking the Pharisees for neglecting YHVH’s Torah instruction, and teaching their own doctrine instead.  Check out Matthew 23 for more commentary from Yeshua regarding the educated religious leaders of His day (it is not pretty).

Matthew 22:23-29
The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, ²⁴ saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁵ Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. ²⁷ Last of all the woman died also. ²⁸ Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.” ²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Again, we see Yeshua rebuking the Sadducees for not knowing YHVH’s Torah instruction, and speaking of their own doctrine instead.

Genesis 3:2-5
² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

We even see this concept going all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
Eve adds to the instruction of God by stating they were not to touch the fruit, when they were only commanded to not eat the fruit.
In the same passage, we see the deceitfulness of Satan.  He says, “You will not surely die,” when we know that God had told Adam and Eve they would die if they ate of the fruit.  If you check the original text language, we see two different kinds of death. One is a physical death, and one is a spiritual death.  In reality, Satan did not lie to Eve, although his choice of words were intended to deceive her, and he was successful.

OK, let’s get to the point of this teaching, shall we?
YHVH gave His Torah instruction, the law, and said to never add to it nor take away from it.

Can you think of any problems here?  Holy cow, wait a minute…
The Mainstream Church message tells us to not follow the commands of YHVH.

WHAT???? How can this be?

Let’s take this one step further…
In YHVH’s Torah instruction, which we (nor anyone else) are not allowed to add to or take away from, we see the following references to “all generations”:

“For all generations”
Exodus 3:15 This is My Name forever, and the Name by which I should be remembered from generation to generation.

Exodus 12:42 It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

Leviticus 6:18 All the males among the children of Aaron may eat it. It shall be a statute forever in your generations concerning the offerings made by fire to the Lord. Everyone who touches them must be holy.’”

Leviticus 23:14 You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Leviticus 23:21 And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Leviticus 23:31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

We also see these references to “Forever”

Exodus 3:15  Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’

Exodus 12:24  And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.

Exodus 19:9  And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.”

Exodus 27:21  In the tabernacle of meeting, outside the veil which isbefore the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel.

Exodus 28:43 They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.

Exodus 29:28  It shall be from the children of Israel for Aaron and his sons by a statute forever. For it is a heave offering; it shall be a heave offering from the children of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, that is, their heave offering to the Lord.

Exodus 30:21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”

Exodus 31:17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”

Exodus 32:13  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

Leviticus 6:18 All the males among the children of Aaron may eat it. It shall be a statute forever in your generations concerning the offerings made by fire to the Lord. Everyone who touches them must be holy.’”^[a]

Leviticus 6:22 The priest from among his sons, who is anointed in his place, shall offer it. It is a statute forever to the Lord. It shall be wholly burned.

Leviticus 7:34 For the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering I have taken from the children of Israel, from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons from the children of Israel by a statute forever.’”

Leviticus 7:36 The Lord commanded this to be given to them by the children of Israel, on the day that He anointed them, by a statute forever throughout their generations.

Leviticus 10:9 “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, 

Leviticus 10:15 The thigh of the heave offering and the breast of the wave offering they shall bring with the offerings of fat made by fire, to offer as a wave offering before the Lord. And it shall be yours and your sons’ with you, by a statute forever, as the Lord has commanded.”

Leviticus 16:29 “This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you.

Leviticus 16:31 It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.

Leviticus 17:7 They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.”’

Leviticus 23:14 You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Leviticus 23:21 And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Leviticus 23:31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 

Leviticus 23:41 You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 

Leviticus 24:3 Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations.

Numbers 10:8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations.

Numbers 15:15 One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.

Numbers 18:8 And the Lord spoke to Aaron: “Here, I Myself have also given you charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them as a portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever. 

Numbers 18:11 “This also is yours: the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and your sons and daughters with you, as an ordinance forever. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.

Numbers 18:19 “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.”

Numbers 18:23 But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

Numbers 19:10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.

Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever! 

Deuteronomy 12:28 Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 18:5 For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.

Deuteronomy 23:3 “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, 

Deuteronomy 23:6 You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

Deuteronomy 28:45-46 ⁴⁵ “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

And we see this in Torah, regarding the things of YHVH that are “PERPETUAL”

Genesis 9:12-13  And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

Exodus 29:9 And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.

Exodus 30:8  And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

Exodus 31:16-17  Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. ¹⁷ It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lordmade the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”

Leviticus 3:17  ‘This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’

Leviticus 24:9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute.”

Leviticus 25:34 But the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

Numbers 19:21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening.

Yes, that was a great deal of work, and I commend you if you read all of those scripture references.
But if you skipped to here, I’ll sum it up for you.
In the words given to us by God Himself, which He told us we can neither add to nor take away from, we are given ALL of these ideas and concepts that are FOREVER, FOR ALL GENERATIONS, or are PERPETUAL.

Take a minute and let that sink in…
These things never end. God Himself says so.  And we are told by God Himself to never add to nor take away from these commands.
But…. Wait…
The Mainstream church message for many generations and many centuries has instructed us to NOT DO these things that are forever.

Question #1
Upon whose authority did we change the things that God said are forever, for all generations, perpetual covenants?

Some will say this happened by the authority of Yeshua Jesus Messiah.
Well, what exactly did Yeshua say to us?

We see this in John 7:16-19
 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. ¹⁷ If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. ¹⁸ He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. ¹⁹ Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”

REALLY??? Jesus Himself, in the New Testament, tells us His doctrine is the Father’s (given to us in Torah, which we are instructed to never change)??
REALLY???  Jesus Himself rebukes people for not following the law given by Moses? YES!!!

We see this (words of Jesus) in John 12:48-50
He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. ⁴⁹ For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

What about this?
John 14:10-11
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. ¹¹ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

YES, Yeshua tells us He does not speak on His own authority, but speaks what the Father speaks…

John 6:38 tells us this:
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹ This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

Matthew 7:21 is pretty scary for those who wish to change God’s word of the Torah
²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Did you catch that?  Those who do the will of the Father shall enter the kingdom.  What is the will of the Father?  He gave it to us in Torah, and instructed us that it is FOREVER, FOR ALL GENERATIONS, a PERPETUAL covenant, and then told us to not add to it or take away from it.

What about the people who have changed God’s word, or believed the teachings of those who changed God’s word?  What about the people who spent their lives serving Jesus in a way other than what the Father instructed?  This is the scary part:
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

REALLY???  If you practice lawlessness (not follow the law given in Torah) Yeshua will not know you???
Well, scripture is pretty clear. These are not my thoughts, but simply what scripture says, what Yeshua tells us.

Just in case this is not clear enough, can we find other words of Jesus that tell us to follow the law?

John 14:15 is very simple, short, and straight to the point:
 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

Again Jesus speaks in John 14:23-24
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴ He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

Some will claim that Jesus gives us new instructions during His sermon on the mount.  But that is a false teaching. How can I say this with such authority?  Let’s take a look at His preface to the sermon on the mount.  In Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus tells us this:
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. ¹⁹ Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus tells us not one jot or tittle (pen stroke) will pass from the law until heaven and earth pass away.  We can’t get any more clear than that, now can we? He then goes on to teach why the Pharisees’ doctrine is false, and he corrects many of those false teachings.
Jesus is not doing away with Torah instruction, He is doing away with the false teaching of the Pharisees.

I could go on and on and on and do this all day.  But let’s evaluate the one sticking point that is difficult to get past.
Many of Paul’s New Testament teachings seem to indicate that we are NOT to follow the law.  In fact, the Mainstream message is built upon the ideas presented by Paul.

Question #2
How is it possible that Paul has the authority to change what God said was forever, and that we could not change it?  We looked at scripture where Jesus told us that even He does not have the authority to teach against what the Father had instructed. If Jesus did not have the authority to change God’s word, then Paul certainly does not have that authority.

Based on this one concept, you as a man or woman of faith are required to reject what Paul is teaching.

But, I say there is another solution.  I say that Paul’s writings do not mean what the Mainstream church has taught us they mean. How can I say this with confidence?
This misunderstanding of Paul’s writings was a problem in the first century, just as it is today.  WE ARE WARNED NOT TO MAKE THIS MISTAKE!
Check out 2 Peter 3:14-18
 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; ¹⁵ and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, ¹⁶ as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; ¹⁸ but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Wow, can you believe it?  We are told NOT to do what the entire Mainstream church does, teaching Paul’s writings incorrectly. Millions upon millions of people have accepted the teaching of the Mainstream church, for many generations, even though we are warned to not make this mistake.
How can this be?  This is tragic and sad.
And then Jesus will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Hopefully, this teaching has made you ask some questions…  I sure hope so.
Don’t be afraid to search out the answers to these questions.  And just in case you aren’t quite sure what to think about this, don’t forget that Jesus said not to add or take away from His revelation.

Revelation 14:12 tells us who the saints are:
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Revelation 12:17 tells us who the remnant of the church is, whom Satan will try to destroy:
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Yeshua tells us more than once in His revelation (which we are not allowed to change) that we are to keep the commandments of God and have faith in Jesus.

The church teaches us to have faith in Jesus, but NOT TO KEEP the commandments of God.

What did Jesus say would be the consequences of taking a statement away from His revelation?

“and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

WOW, that is pretty serious.
Houston, we have a problem…