Michael Rood in my view promotes false and dangerous teachings. He is not well studied and his supposed grasp of Hebrew is all smoke and mirrors. To someone who actually knows some Hebrew, this is blatantly obvious. But Rood plays to an audience which he counts on being ignorant of Hebrew and actual Jewish history and practices.
Since actual Hebrew speakers can attest to Roods total lack of knowledge, any claims he might make to mis-translations have no backing as he does not know enough Hebrew to make such an assertion.
Dr. Michael Brown did a review of one of Roods books. Dr. Brown is a Messianic Jew, who is known for his expertise in Hebrew and Greek. Dr. Brown is considered an expert on the Hebrew text. Brown's review of Roods book 'The pagan Christian connection' in the Messianic Times newpaper in 2005 says the following (
REVIEW OF ROOD’S PAGAN-CHRISTIAN CONNECTION by Dr. Michael Brown; The Messianic Times: April/May 2005 issue, Vol. 15, No. 2) :
"...Michael J. Rood, The Pagan-Christian Connection Exposed (Gainesville, FL: Bridge-Logos, 6004[2004] sic!, xvii, 123 pp.)
This is a shockingly poor book with almost no redeeming qualities, and it is best dismissed as a mere sensationalistic curiosity. If taken seriously, the extreme rhetoric and exaggerated statements that dominate the book could prove dangerous to unsuspecting readers. ... it bears several marks of cult-like teaching,something which is especially unfortunate, since it is published by Bridge-Logos.
... Each chapter is clearly based on Rood’s TV shows ...Pictures of the author, depicted in full priestly regalia, appear a dozen times in the book, including the front and back cover, and the message is simple: Michael Rood alone has the revelation. Others – meaning the great majority of believers throughout the world, especially in America – are in darkness and willful ignorance, blinded by their “Western Gentile mentalities” (pp. xvi, 59; see also p. 69).... Actually, it is his calling other parts of the Body “cults” that is cultlike, and it should be recognized as such.
Yet the rhetoric is more extreme than this: “Easter is the rehearsal of child sacrifice and fertility rites of pagan sun god worshipers” (p. 64) while a Christmas tree is “an evergreen phallic symbol” (p. 87). ... many believers – especially Messianic Jews – are not comfortable with Easter and Christmas customs, but would they join Rood in saying, “I will not subject myself to their perverted, disgusting forms of satanic worship. . . . I have died to their world, and I will not return to the vomit of Tammuz worship” (pp. 91-92)?
Space forbids me from citing other, similar examples – and there are many – but it should be noted that Rood, who claims to think Hebraically and who somehow claims access to otherwise hidden and secret information (see, e.g., pp. 43-44), cannot even get simple Hebrew names right, using non-existent forms like Yahshua (instead of Yehoshua, p. 77) as well as Azriyah and Haninyah (instead of Azaryah and Hananyah, p. 54, and see Dan 1:7). He even makes the wildly inaccurate claim that the Greeks “called all their gods, from Adonis to Zeus, Christos” (p. 76), while in reality, in the Greek, Gentile world, christos had virtually no spiritual significance and was normally misunderstood as a proper name.
...there are a few good points that Rood does make, they ...are not new at all, while the new points he makes are anything but good. Bridge-Logos would do well to consult with biblical scholars who are sensitive to the Jewish roots of the faith before publishing more books of this kind. The inflammatory rhetoric, often based on wrong information, will certainly not promote truth." ..."
