The Gospel of the Kingdom of God-Part 2–What is the Kingdom of God?

Written By: Hilary - Jul• 17•16

Note Dear Friend: If you’ve not already done so, before you listen to this episode, please listen to “The Gospel of the Kingdom, Part 1.” 

  • Mark 1:15–“…repent and believe the gospel”–mandatory legal disclosure by Yeshua Messiah
  • The judgment of God will condemn those who do not obey His counsel
  • Yeshua made the legal declaration to all living things according to the righteousness and justice of Yahovah’s law.
  • He gave full legal disclosure to make sure that everyone has heard and is fully aware of what is soon to occur–Yeshua did the work that Yahovah sent Him to do!
  • In all He did, Yeshua represented the Kingdom of Yahovah who is our God by manifesting the gracious character of His loving, merciful, just and righteous Father!
  • Matthew 24:14–“This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness  (a testimony) unto all nations and then shall the end come.”

  • Yeshua is the judge–there will be no valid excuses!
  • Christianity has been preaching a message about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus which is the Gospel about Jesus instead of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God that Yeshua preached
  • The Christian Gospel is a watered down version of the true Gospel of the Kingdom message
  • HIS DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION ARE CRUCIAL, BUT IT’S NOT THE ONLY MESSAGE–THERE IS MORE!!!!!……HIS MESSAGE INVITES AND EMPOWERS US TO BECOME THE SONS OF YAHOVAH!
  • We have been cleansed for a purpose and that purpose is contained in the Gospel of the Kingdom of God!
the kingdom of god--lion and lamb
  • How do we fit into God’s plan…what does He want us to do?
  • There’s bigger hope!!!
  • The Gospel of the Kingdom is the message that speaks to the reign of Yahovah over the whole earth manifested through the rulership of Yeshua Messiah the righteous King
  • The Kingdom of God coming to earth tells us that: (1) King: the owner of the kingdom is Yahovah; (2) Body of laws: as King of the Universe, our God has a body of laws; (3) Territory: His appointed King, Yeshua, serves under the authority of His Father Yahovah, and He will govern the whole earth with the laws of the kingdom; (4) Subjects: those who are submitted to the authority of the king
  • Under the New Covenant we have only one rule: and the New Covenant makes us all His children–spiritual Israel
  • “The ax is laid at the root of the tree” (Luke 3:9)

  • Yeshua re-established the New Covenant in His blood!
  • Matthew 24–“…watch the fig tree….summer is near!” The time is closing for the gentiles–the harvest is near
  • If you’re not spiritual Israel, you’re not part of the Kingdom! Spiritual Israel is gentiles and Jews: they’re all one!!!!
  • Yeshua baptizes us with the Holy Spirit–necessary to being born again
  • Soon and very soon, the reign of Yahovah God is coming to replace the rule of man
  • Yahovah gave all power and authority to Yeshua
  • Currently the world’s population is under the government of the kingdom of darkness which is ruled by satan…but the coming Kingdom of God will replace satan’s kingdom!
  • Pray “…thy Kingdom come…they will be done…one earth as it is in heaven.”
  • Ephesians 6:11,12–“…put on the whole armor of God…we wrestle not against flesh and blood…but the rulers of the darkness of this world…against spiritual wickedness in high places”

  • The kingdom of darkness keeps us blind!
Global elite one world government
  • There are seducing spirits that cause us to war against one another…thus we operate blindly in the world, taking our eyes off Yeshua and causing us to miss the true message of the Kingdom of God
  • Deuteronomy 30:19,20–“Choose life!…..”
  • There will be no changes for the good until Yeshua returns and sets up His kingdom
  • Satan’s agenda is to implement a one-world-government to de-populate the earth through the global elite–Yahovah’s agenda is to be fruitful and multiple and to populate the earth
  • Without the blood of Yeshua, we could not be His subjects
  • The Gospel of the Kingdom tells the rest of the story
  • We choose to submit to His authority–when we choose to obey the commandments of Yahovah, we choose to submit to His authority
the law of god
  • Sins must first be forgiven in order to get into the Kingdom
  • John 6:53-56: ” Except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink His blood…they will have eternal life…”

  • We are in training for the kingdom
  • We walk in obedience: Deut. 30:19,20; Matt.28:19,20; Mark 16:15-18
  • The elect will be sent into all the world to teach Father’s laws
  • Yeshua will institute the laws of Yahovah in all the earth–Torah Law will be the rule of law in the world
  • Micah 4:1-4–“…let us go up to the mountain of the Lord…”

  • Isa. 2:2-4–“…for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem…”

  • Yeshua will head a One World Government

Thank you for joining us. Come back for part 3.

Stay blessed

Faithfully, Hilary Thomas

The Gospel of the Kingdom, Part 1

Written By: Hilary - Jul• 08•16

 

What is the true meaning of the Gospel of the Kingdom that Yeshua taught?
What is the true meaning of the Gospel of the Kingdom that Yeshua taught?

Many believers are not sharing the Gospel of the Kingdom of God because they do not understand the difference between: “The Gospel about Jesus” and “the Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” that Yahoshua preached.

Matthew records Yahoshua’s commission to us in Mat 28:18-19, saying: “All power and authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth. Go! Teach all nations to carry out all the things that I have commanded you, forever.”

Again, in Matt. 24:14, Yahoshua said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Then we read the same commission again from Yahoshua to us in Mark 16:15-16: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

In Luke 24:47 we read Yahoshua’s final command to his disciples just before he ascended to heaven. He told them, repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

While the death, burial and resurrection of Yahoshua is an important gospel, for the world, it is not the gospel that Yahoshua preached. However, it was important to start the gospel message by preaching about Yahoshua because he was the highlight of the current events; and it was well known that he had resurrected from the dead, a miracle that had everyone thinking! They also knew him well, and all the good he had done: a righteous man who did many miracles before their eyes through the power of God! Being aware of his life among them and being aware and the current events, which were fresh in their minds, made the topic of salvation in his name, the logical place to start the gospel message.

Before he was crucified, his followers and well wishers hoped he was the long awaited Messiah; but when he was crucified their hopes were dashed. Now that he was resurrected from the grave, and hundreds of people saw him with their own eyes, it was easy to preach the rest of the story of why he came and how he fulfilled the messianic prophecies.

As a result, Peter and the other disciples stood up on Shavuot (Day of Pentecost) and delivered the message that Yahoshua is Messiah and their only hope of salvation is to repent and be baptized in the name of Yahoshua for the remission of their sins and after which they will receive the baptism of the Holy spirit, like they have just received. Now that the people believed the truth about the Son of God, Yahoshua, that he is Messiah, they later learned that his rejection, suffering and crucifixion was ordained by God for the sins of the world.

But before they could preach the meat of the word, the disciples had to preach the death, burial and resurrection message to lay the foundation for the gospel of the kingdom of God, establishing that Yahoshua is the Messiah, Yahovah’s appointed King over Israel.

So do we have two gospels?

The answer is NO! Yahoshua preached one gospel and it is the gospel that the apostles preached in obedience to his commission.

Some Christian pastors who acknowledge that they are not preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, have concluded that there are two gospels: the gospel of grace; and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The Christian rationale is that the Jews were given the law, so they are under the law and must obey the law. But Christians are not under the law, they are under grace because Jesus nailed the law to the cross and the law is done away with. But, what they are preaching is not the gospel of grace. It is the gospel about Jesus: his death, burial and resurrection.

Yahoshua taught the gospel of the Kingdom of God starting with Genesis, and going through the Prophets and the Psalms, showing that the scriptures all spoke of him, and pointed to his coming and the work he would do. Remember, the New Testament was not written at the time of Yahoshua, and the apostles ministries so their sermons came from the Old Testament.

Therefore, if we want to get a good understanding of the gospel that Yahoshua preached, we must return to the Torah, the Psalms and the Prophets to see the text they used as references for their sermons and teachings, in order to put it all in context. This is the only way we will be able to fully understand the Hebrew mindset behind the language of the gospel of the Kingdom that we read in the New Testament.

“What does Paul really believe?”

Paul was a disciple of Rabbi Gamelial. Paul was astute in the Scriptures and he was an expert of the Torah. Therefore, it would be easier for Paul to quickly grasp Yahoshua’s teachings, compared the twelve disciples because of Paul’s advanced knowledge of the Torah, Prophets, the Psalms. I can just imagine how Paul was in awe when his eyes were opened to the truth that Yahoshua is the Messiah. How small, Saul must have felt, to know that he persecuted Yahoshua in ignorance. It is no wonder he changed his name from Saul to Paul, meaning small. But filled with the same zeal he had when he persecuted the followers of Yahoshua, Paul went forth to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God, expounding on the grace of God found in the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Legal Process

That is why in Luke 3:8-9, Yochanan as he baptized people in the Jordan River, rebuked the Pharisees saying, 8 “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.  9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

We see in Luke 7:30, that the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him (John). This is because the mindset of being a Pharisee blinded Paul to the fact that Yahoshua was Messiah. The Sanhedrin had an expectation that they would have the power to select who would be the messiah; and that they would brief him on the diligence of their activities while they waited for his arrival.

As a result, they generated volumes of data to present to the Messiah to bring him up to date on the laws they had created and enacted in his absence, so they would have either a smooth transition of leadership, or his blessings to approve their actions. But Yahovah had a different plan for how His appointed King, the Messiah, would take his position on King David’s throne, over the Kingdom of God.

Consequently, the legal process of the law had to be carried out with precision, dotting every “i”, and crossing every “t” because, Yahoshua’s ministry marked the legal process of the inauguration of the appointed King of the Kingdom of God as Messiah over the Kingdom of God.  Therefore, Yahoshua served official legal notice to the kingdom of darkness that its destruction was near. He also served official legal notice to the inhabitants of the Kingdom of darkness that they stand to be destroyed with that kingdom of darkness unless they elected to choose life according to Yahovah’s counsel.

In Deut 30:19-20, 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That  thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Because the crucifixion of Yahoshua was a legal process for the redemption of mankind from the kingdom of darkness, every segment of the redemption law had to be carried out meticulously, in order to remove the curse of sin, the death penalty of sin, and full redemption from the Kingdom of Darkness. That is why, Yahoshua proclaimed in Mark 1:15: “The time has come! The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Gospel!

Return for Part 2

What Does It Really Mean to be Born Again? It’s Not As You Perceive–Episode 71

Written By: Hilary - May• 23•16

What Does Being Born Again Truly Mean—It May Not Be As You Perceive it to be—Episode 71

How many of us entered into Christianity, regardless the denomination for the most part, under the assumption that we have or are “born again?” Or I should probably ask, how many of us have entered into Christianity having been told or instructed that we were at the time “born again?” What was the prescription or the protocol for being born again? Do you recall? Try this on for size: you responded to a call or some form of admonishment related to your eternal destiny; that is, where you will spend eternity. Along with that concern for where you’d spend eternity when you died came self-awareness: the awareness that you existed—that you existed in a state of total depravity—a state of condemnation that would ultimately end in you spending an eternity in hell. And let’s face it, no one wants to burn forever—it’s a “no-brainer” once you come to the realization that your life is missing something very important. That missing element from one’s life is different for each of us: for one, it’s sobriety; for another it’s healthy personal relationships; for another it’s finances; for yet another it’s a moment of emotional weakness that succumbs to a soul-rousing message that awakens feelings and thoughts about your unique situation.

We all have a breaking point—maybe better stated, a soft-spot that when we come to see the futility of our ways, that we naturally seek out a solution to our depraved state. Let’s face it: no emotionally healthy individual wants to go to hell nor do they want to go through the rest of their lives uncertain whether the centuries of talk in religious circles about a heaven and hell are actually true. It would stand to reason that it’s better to just hedge one’s bets and assume that a blissful heaven is a better place to go than a fiery hell for all eternity. What’s there to lose apart from maybe some ribbing from time to time as it relates to one having to act or live like a so-called Christian, right? Needless to say, some of the most well-known members of our society proudly wear the moniker of Christian and it has proved to be a positive experience for them. And then, there are those times when there is some emotional attachment to the religion that tugs at one’s being: be it the music; the messages of hope and positive living; or just being around people that at least pretend to really care about you. It’s not a bad thing is it? It can actually be good, right? In fact, everyone should be born again. No one wants to nor should go to hell to spend eternity.

I hope I did not offend anyone with the above monologue. I come from a place of having actually experienced this very thing in my own life. I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church where I gave my life to Jesus Christ and was born again. Or so I once thought.

It’s interesting how life takes the course it can take. I would never have imagined back in 1973 when I “said the sinner’s prayer” and “gave my life to Jesus” that I would some day question the whole Christian concept of being “saved” and being “born again.” And that is exactly what happened to me during the summer of 2004 in the city of Kingston, Jamaica. I actually experienced a crisis of belief or better a crisis of my Faith when I was asked: How did I know that I was saved? How did I know that I was born again? Of course I replied with all the canned answers that have been vetted after years of Christian doctrinal processing. But those “canned” responses were just that: “canned responses.” And it was those questions and my “canned” responses that ignited my crisis of Faith and started my search and journey for the truth about this issue of salvation and being born again. What I ultimately came to find out was that the truth about being “born again” was not as I had ever perceived it to be. For that matter, the phrase, “born again,” is really not what the vast majority of the Christian believing world perceives it to be at all. In fact, the Christian concept of being “born again” is entirely a misnomer. It is that misnomer that has extremely dire ramifications that is leading millions around the glob down a road of certain disappointment and in many cases, destruction.

It was on Saturday, April 12, 27 CE, in Jerusalem, during the Passover celebration, that a prominent Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin came to Jesus by night so as not to be seen by others of his sect. He is identified by the Gospel writer John as Nicodemus. It was this covert night meeting that would forever define and bring to the consciousness of mankind, what the establishment of a true relationship with the Most High looks like and what was necessary to enter into that relationship with the One True God. There was no discussion about a “sinners’ prayer” nor was there a “right-hand of fellowship” offered; not even a signing up for a church roster was proposed to Rabbi Nicodemus by Jesus. The content of this discussion is something that is completely foreign to that which is taught in today’s fundamental Christian Churches. The content of this conversation has and remains today, critically fundamental to the so-called Christian Faith. Sadly, few in all of Christiandom, throughout the last two-millennia have accurately fathomed its true meaning. Contained in this covert conversation is the truth of the ages; the fountain of life; that which separates the hangers-on—the chaff—the tares, from the Creator’s elect.

The Born Again Conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus

The Born Again Conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus

Nicodemus starts off this crucial conversation with what I would call, stage-setting, but profound accolades of our Master:

“Rabbi, we know that you were sent from Elohim, for a man teacher is not able to do these miracles that you do except he who Elohim is with.” But if John can be trusted to have not left anything in between, Master wastes no time getting to the crux of the matter and point of Nicodemus’ crucial visit. It is not entirely clear from John’s narrative why Nicodemus came to Jesus—clearly the fact that he came to Jesus by night is indicative of Nicodemus not wanting to be seen by certain others in his community. But curiosity seems to be a safe bet and certainly Jesus had by this point in John’s chronology been the subject of much discussion and debate in and around the Sanhedrin. But we must not marginalize that, based upon what we ultimately know of Nicodemus, he was destined to become a disciple of our Master, and thus this visit was simply a precursor to Nicodemus’ conversion to the true Faith that was once delivered. Of Nicodemus’ opening statement to the Master: “Y’shua (Jesus’ Hebrew name) answered and said to Him, ‘Amen, amen I say to you, that if a man is not born from the beginning, he is not able to see the Kingdom of Elohim.’” (John 3:2&3, Roth’s Aramaic Translation)

Now we find in the ASV, DBY, ERV, and the ETH (Etheridge Translation of the 1849 Peshitta, “born from the beginning” is instead rendered “born anew”; and in the KJV, NET, NJB (the New Jerusalem Bible); RSV, YLT and a host of other translations use instead the phrase “born again,” obviously the most familiar and the most widely used rendering.

At first I had serious problems applying the Roth Aramaic translation of the Greek phrase “gennao anothen” to the English phrase “born from the beginning” for it just didn’t make much sense to me. But when one actually teases apart the Greek terms of “gennao” and “anothen” and then reconnect them to see what the synergistic meaning would or should be, “born from the beginning” makes all the sense in the world.

The phrases “born again,” “born from the beginning,” “born anew,” all stem from the Greek phrase “gennao anothen” which according to Friberg’s Lexicon means: “a place from above; a past time from an earlier period from the beginning, from the first, and of a future time indicating repetition anew, again.” The Louw-Nida Lexicon further defines the Greek term “anothen” as “extension from a source which is above—from above, from the top of.” But the term “gennao” in the Greek generally refers to “men begetting children” according to the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. When the two terms are put together according to the Louw-Nida Lexicon, the phrase takes on a meaning of one “experiencing a complete change in one’s way of life to what it should be, with the implication of return to a former state or relation.”

Fundamental and Charismatic Christianity’s understanding and doctrinal stance on the issue of “being born again” or “born anew,” from my research, fails to adequately describe or support the Louw-Nida Lexicon definition, whereby the would-be born again believer experiences a change in their life to a state that it should rightly be and or a return to an established former state and relationship. Now that’s a lot of words simply to say that one’s entire life would change to a state that it always was meant to be—back to that state that Adam lived prior to the fall. A state that is completely different than any known to man. A state that is determined by the rules and regulations of the Creator of the Universe. A pure and undefiled state, devoid of man-made traditions and Satan’s influences. In my mind, it would sort of be like hitting the default button on our human existence and going back to a time when we were in a proper or right standing with our Creator. The Louw-Nida definition of “born-anew” or “born again” is in no way describing an idealistic or idiomatic concept whereby that change is somehow inputted or accomplished by Christ as our proxy. No, the Louw-Nida definition seems to be talking about a real-to-life change in one’s day-to-day life; a change in one’s perspective; one’s habits; one’s desires; one’s hopes; one’s demeanor; one’s loyalties.

But such a change is rarely if ever spoken of or alluded to by Christian leaders and teachers of the 21st-century, who push their man-made denominational agendas and doctrines that they claim defines what being “born again” is all about. Certainly I can attest to this from my upbringing in the Baptist Church of my youth. The act of being born again was more of a “going through the motions” of achieving a perceived state of regeneration and acceptance by both Christ and the believer, through an initial “accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her personal savior” (whatever that actually looks like); and in some circles, additionally being baptized; receiving the “right hand of fellowship” and one’s name on a church roster; in some Christian sects, speaking in ecstatic languages or tongues; still in others it may include the individual giving up cigarettes, alcohol, sleeping around, attending services each Sunday and Wednesday and the like. But the bottom line to being born again according to Fundamental Christianity, has become an exercise in doing exactly what the specific Christian denomination has required in their “rule books” (that is, their statement of belief in most cases). It’s following the instructions of the denomination’s teachers and leaders.

According to Wikipedia, being “born again” is a phrase used by Protestants to “describe the phenomenon of gaining faith in Jesus Christ.” According to gotquestions.com, being “born again” is more of an “act of God whereby eternal life is imparted to the believer.” According to gotquestions.com, there is a “renewal” or change in the believer’s life, but that change is more of a change in title or spiritual status, whereby the believer is then called or seen as a “child of God.” That change in status comes about through a trusting in the name of Jesus Christ (whatever that may look like or however it is manifested), even though Jesus Christ is NOT the Savior’s true name. Certainly, no one person or organization is more trusted and respected in this subject than Billy Graham. According to billygraham.org, “a born-again Christian is someone who has repented of their sins and turned to Christ for their salvation; and as a result has become part of God’s family forever. All this takes place as God’s Spirit works in our lives.” And then there are 100s if not 1000s more sites that declare essentially the same sentiments.

But nowhere in these definitions is there anything mentioned about a verifiable and actionable change in one’s life. Why is that? Oh, I can think of a few reasons: one being the fear of supporting a definition and practice whereby believers have an active role in that process of being renewed or starting over again. Protestants have never liked the idea of believers working out their salvation or being obedient to God’s eternal Laws. Grace—outrageous grace as some have dubbed it, has become the ordained spiritual process whereby a believer’s utter depraved existence or state makes it impossible for him or her to experience a Godly fundamental change in his or her life. There is nothing to do but say the sinner’s prayer and make the conscious effort to believe that Jesus Christ died for one’s sins. In so doing, salvation and the new birth is automatically inputted to the believer. The fundamental change in the believer’s life comes when he or she is raptured from this earth and is whisked away to heaven where he or she will live with Jesus Christ for the rest of eternity. If one’s salvation is guaranteed and the change in one’s life happens at the rapture, there is nothing to do but wait or occupy till Jesus returns. Could this be one of the reasons why there is no discernible difference in the lives of most individuals who do not profess Jesus as their Savior and self-professing Christians? But is this truly what being born again or anew or from the start really means? How does God view the Christian definition of “born again;” or for that matter, how does God view the average fundamental or charismatic Christian?

The Born Again Experience. What is it really about and what is it like?

The Born Again Experience. What is it really about and what is it like?

What if I were to tell you that the bible’s explanation of being born from the beginning or born from above or being born anew does not connect with Christianity’s explanation and practice of the new birth? What if I were to tell you that the phrase “being born again” was likely imposed, intentionally, upon the Christian psyche so as to further prop up the hijacked doctrine of “grace?” Would these revelations prompt you to maybe look into this subject more closely? Are you man or woman enough to put your denomination and her leaders and teachers and preachers and pastors and ministers off to the side so that you may uncover the truth of this matter? Are you capable and willing to take off your denominational glasses and see the truth of this matter through the unbiased lenses of sound biblical exegesis and the leading of the Holy Spirit?

Jesus (who’s true Hebrew Name is Yahoshua meaning God or Yahovah/Yahweh is our salvation)told Nicodemus that if one is not born from above or anew or from the beginning, he or she is not able to see the Kingdom of God. (John 3:3) This concept of being born anew or from above or from the beginning is so crucial to every would-be believer—that is it ranks up there to being a salvation issue—that every single person who desires to enter the Kingdom of God better get this thing spot-on right. There is no room for error here.

As with many passages of the bible, context-context-context is an absolute requirement to understanding this historical conversation between the Master and Nicodemus. The practice of taking single bible verse “soundbites” and making doctrines and teachings from them has been common in much of the Church’s history. So we’ve grown up hearing only that one must be “born again” in order to get into heaven. The entire Christian doctrine of salvation pretty much is based upon this single verse—verse 3 of the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of John. However, without a sense of context—that is taking into account the whole conversation between the Master and Nicodemus, the concept of being born again is easily misconstrued and can certainly be twisted to mean and say anything the imaginations of church leaders and organizations want it say. And indeed, that has been the case here.

If we continue to read along in this chapter of John and follow the conversation between these two men, we find some key concepts take shape: “water;” “spirit;” “flesh;” “heaven;” and “Moses.” All these elements must be placed into their proper perspective before we can even begin to understand what our Master meant when he said to Nicodemus that one must be born of water and spirit. The Father’s Spirit in us is the most important element of this whole equation, for without the Father’s Spirit taking up residence in a believer, all bets are off. For Father’s Spirit, once it takes up residence in our being, a process begins whereby a default switch is pushed in our lives—a switch that moves us to a place where we should have always been—thus the being “born from the beginning” rendering of this passage as found in the Aramaic translation of this passage. We then begin a steady transformation where we begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness; we have an unquenchable desire to please our Father; we see life in an entirely different perspective; all of which is evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Instead of blindly following directions from church leaders and organizations, we faithfully seek out opportunities to obey Father because of our love for Him. We don’t obey the Father and His Laws because we fear death or punishment as the nation of Israel once did upon coming out of Egypt and wandering in the desert for some 40-years. No, we obey because we seek to please our Father. We no longer seek to please men, but please Father. Before you know it, we start to conform to the image of our Master Jesus Christ (more accurately known as Yahoshua HaMashiach). We establish and maintain a true and meaningful relationship with the Creator of the Universe. We begin to despise sin and purge it from our lives. We search God’s Word frequently because we realize that our sustenance is really contained in its pages. Our minds and attention are more in-tune to spiritual matters than the carnal. We begin to realize that our bodies are true Temples of the Most High and we treat them accordingly. We abstain from forbidden foods despite what our counterparts in Church may say to the contrary. We structure our lives, no longer to suit ourselves and our individual conveniences and personal pleasures, but structure them around spiritual matters and the Feasts of our God. Our Faith in God is undeniable. We are heaven minded. We pray without ceasing. We’re willing to leave friends, communities, jobs and even families if given an ultimatum between serving man or serving the Most High.

No friends, the change begins here on earth, right after we commit to becoming disciples of our Master. In fact, Master paid our debt and His sacrifice set the default button back to the beginning of time where we are deemed righteous before the Almighty God (better known by His Hebrew Name as Yahovah). But that’s when we come in. We then strive to maintain and live holy and righteous lives. How do we do this: by becoming Torah observant, Jesus/Yeshua-style. To help us navigate this turbulent ocean, Father implants His precious Holy Spirit (better known as the Rauch Kodesh) within us and it is through this gracious act that we can live a holy and righteous life in the midst of a sick and corrupt world. Contrary to popular Christianity, being born again is not a sit back and enjoy the ride experience. It is a tough journey that takes everything you have in you, along with some help from the Holy Spirit, order to make it to the end.

Master taught that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees and sages before we’d be permitted to enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20). Yet Christianity contends that righteousness is inputted unto every believer upon he or she asking Jesus Christ to enter into their hearts and accept Him as their Lord and Savior. Indeed, righteousness is inputted unto all of us who become disciples of Jesus—or better, Yeshua. But that inputted righteousness sets things right between us and the Father—Yeshua’s work on the cross permanently paid our sin-debt and instead of being the wretched beings that sin has made us before Father’s eyes, we are deemed, instead, righteous. But that inputted righteousness then demands that we take up our crosses and follow the Master. Following the Master is not simply possessing a cognitive understanding of who He is and what He’s done on our behalf. Christianity defines that cognitive understanding of Yeshua’s work as faith. But having a cognitive understanding of who the Master is and what He did for us is not true faith. That is knowledge. Even the demons know who the Master is and what He’s done. James, the half-brother of our Master, wrote:

“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the scripture was accomplished which said that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness—and he was called a friend of God.” (James 2:19-23, ESV)

So with belief or cognitive understanding of Jesus Christ and what He did for us, must come some form of action. When we believe something in our day to day lives, we act upon those beliefs. It’s simply human nature to act according to one’s belief. If you believe a chair will sustain your weight, you’ll sit on it. If you believe your car will successfully operate and get you where you need to go, you’ll drive it. If you believe you have a job, you’ll go to work each day you’re suppose to in order to feed you and your family. Then why have we bought, lock-stock-and barrel, the belief that all we need to do is have a cognitive understanding and acceptance of Jesus Christ and then we’re good to go. It defies reason and it defies what the bible says about faith and the born again experience.

The born again experience is exactly what the name implies, but the Church fails miserably to fully grasp and teach the truth about the “born again” message/concept that was delivered to us by our Master. The true meaning and understanding of this message/concept has undeniable existential ramifications attached to it—that is, it is a salvation issue, no questions asked.

Bottom line friends: Being born again according to our Savior refers to a new beginning in a believer’s life, whereby he or she receives the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; is baptized; and begins to walk in strict obedience to the teachings and commandments of our Master. But make no mistake: our Master’s commandments are the very same commandments contained in Torah, or as popularly referred to today as the Law.

Master taught:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more. But you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day, you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (John 14:15-23, ESV)

In the next chapter of John, Master taught:

“If you keep my commandments and will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:10-12, ESV)

You may think that Jesus no where in these two passages mentions anything about our obeying or keeping the Law or Torah. Oh, but the above passage is not entirely as you may perceive it to be, for our Master did not give us a separate set of commandments. He did add some commandments to our plate, so to speak, such as the commandment to go into all the world and make disciples for Him; to wash one another’s feet; love one another, and to rehearse the last supper. But regarding the overall commandments that He gave us, most Christians believe that He gave only two: to love God and love our neighbor—Matthew 22:35. Simple, right? But how does one love Father and neighbor? Certainly there are at least 30,000 ideas or ways to love the Father and our neighbor, depending on one’s denomination. But Master never advocated nor intended there to be 30,000 denominations associated with the Faith that He delivered. For there is only ONE true Faith that He delivered—Jude 1:3. Additionally, there is only one way to love Father and neighbor. And where precisely do we find the instructions related to how we are to love Father and neighbor? Well, it’s actually found in your bible. In fact, it is found in Torah—the Law—contained in the first 5 books of the Old Testament. Surprise!

Now, Christianity would strongly contend that it is impossible to keep the Law of Moses or Torah. However, if one is given the spirit of the Living God, how in the world is it impossible to keep Father’s commandments. The bible shows that many of our Hebrew forefathers kept Torah. Luke 1:5,6—refers to Zachariah and Elizabeth—the parents of John the Immerser—who are described as being blameless in their keeping of the Law.

Speaking of his commandments and instructions and requirements of us, our Master told us that His yoke was easy and His burden light. How can this be? Especially given that the world believes it is impossible to keep the Law, which is a total lie from the pit of hell. To the contrary: our Master supplies us with the Holy Spirit and it is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that makes our obedience and loyalty to the commandments of Yahovah joyful and effortless. If we simply give ourselves over to Father and His way of life—the born again/born anew/born from above/born from the beginning experience will radically and profoundly change one’s life such that he or she will be in the place that Father has always wanted him or her to be.

INAYP-70–When Is the True Believer’s New Year’s Day?

Written By: Hilary - Apr• 15•16

When is the True Believer’s New Year’s Day?

It’s Not As You Perceive–Episode 70

When is the true believer’s new year’s day?

The vast majority of “Churched” believers in the world celebrated or recognized Jan. 1, 2016 as the beginning of the calendar year. It would not be too much of a stretch to say that many of these same “churched” believers celebrated with gusto that very day with various activities designed to usher in the beginning of a new year. That special day on the world’s calendar was celebrated and recognized as the beginning of the new calendar year of 2016 by churched believers and secular people alike.

That being said, of all the brick and mortar churches around the world, it is a fair bet that the overwhelming majority of pastors, ministers, preachers, teachers, etc.; none of these would have the wherewithal or understanding to refute or deny to their members that Jan. 1, 2016, is the actual new year. These church leaders, if they were brazen enough to stand before their followers and denounce Jan. 1, 2016 as not the beginning of the believer’s new year, but is actually of pagan origin, would likely be dismissed as a fool or actually dismissed from their position in the church. Simply put, the world is so intricately linked to the Gregorian calendar and the established Roman reckoning of time that any suggestion that Jan. 1, 2016 is not the beginning of the calendar year would be seen as cultic or something born out of ignorance or ridiculous folly. But the fact of the matter is that so-called cultic, ignorant or ridiculous church leader would be in the absolute right. Jan. 1st is NOT the true believer’s new year day nor is it the beginning of any true believer’s calendar year.

Sadly, the vast majority of self-professing Christians in the world believe themselves to be true believers or followers of Jesus Christ. Certainly, the majority of the world’s so-called Christians or believers in Jesus Christ are just what they say they are: these are believers in a Westernized–Greek–even pagan-based entity, some contending deity, certainly not the true Son of the Creator of the Universe as foretold of by the prophets of old and as documented in the Gospel accounts and the writings of the apostles. The nominal–2+ billion strong in number–Christian, believes in a savior that will return some day and snatch them from this earth and transport them to heaven where they will gaze upon the glory of their savior for all eternity. The Gospel according to these is based upon eliciting an emotional response from the would be convert who will go through the motions of inviting Jesus into their heart and accepting Jesus as their personal savior–whatever that actually means or looks like. For these, that is all that will ever be required of them until such time that they are whisked away to heaven at the rapture, apart from obeying the rules of their select church organization. But is this indeed the person that the Gospel records portray and describe? Or is this a formulated–packaged–fairy tale of a being that was made up under a Constantinian–religious system that has survived in the grandest of fashion, even to this very day?

And this widely accepted entity that a third of the world claims as their savior seems to mesh well with the world’s understanding and acceptance of the Jan. 1st new year’s day–as both are by-products of a man-made system that has captured the imaginations and hearts and lives of billions throughout time. Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, the vast majority of these individuals understanding and knowledge of when the New Year begins is NOT as they perceive it to be at all. Is it possible, then, that the true believer’s new year’s day is actually recorded in the true believer’s very own bible; the very place where he or she should consult as it relates to the understanding of their all aspects of their Faith? The instruction manual? And if they were to read it in their bibles, would they actually accept it or even recognize whether it pertained to them or not? Certainly, a great deal of their potential acceptance and recognition would have to rely upon their understanding of who they must ultimately become, who their true redeemer and Messiah is, and what they must do to become a true believer, not in a Westernized–Constantinian–pagan-based savior, but in the Messiah–the true Son of the Living God whose name is Yahovah.

Friend–you who are either reading this blog or listening to this podcast posting–would you be open to learning what the true beginning of the calendar year is? Would you be open to learning that the new year is actually not Jan. 1st? Would you be shocked to learn that a true believer in the Hebrew Messiah–not Jesus Christ–but Yahoshua–the Hebrew name of the Messiah–not Christ–but Messiah or Mashiyach–would you be shocked to learn that 4/10/2016 was the start of the true believer’s –or better, the disciple of Messiah’s new year?

First off, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, be you a Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, Charismatic, whatever, you would be best served to make a course correction in your Faith and consider accepting and adopting the true Faith once delivered to the first century saints by Y’shua Messiah–Jude 5, 5. What was it that the earthly brother of our Master wrote? He wrote–beginning with verse 3:

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation (speaking of their communal or general understanding), I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the Faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (speaking to those first-fruits of the first-century who braved all sorts of danger to live in accordance to the teachings of Y’shua Messiah).  For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (in Hebrew, Yahoshua HaMashiyahc).

Yes, it’s not until you realize that you are NOT on a highway to heaven but more so on a highway to destruction; that the Faith that you should actually be linked to is of Hebrew origin and not that of Rome, which the Christian is actually and truly linked to; that you are not your own–that you have been bought with a price (reference 1 Corintians 6:20) and that you can not simply live according to the old way in which you have been taught by the church that it’s okay to live; that we have been grafted in to the Hebrew tree that is our Faith through the agency and work of Yahoshua (reference Romans 11), then you will be in a position to make the proper course correction as it relates to your Faith and your eternal life. Yahoshua (erroneously referred to as Jesus Christ by churchianity–that is Christianity that believes in churching people as opposed to discipling people in accordance with the instructions of the Master just before he ascended to His Father in heaven–He said to his disciples–in Hebrew disciples is talmidim– He said to them,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey–obedience is something that most churches neglect to teach their members to do–obey everything I (remember this is Yahoshua speaking)–everything I have commanded you. And remember, I ham with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, NET)

Sadly, church–Christianity–teaches that you have come into you Faith to be saved and then churched, and that your job is to find someone else and get them saved and then churched. But I’ve been reading Matthew 28:18-20 over and over again, for a number of years, and I can not for the life of me find where we were instructed by our Master to get people saved and then get them indoctrinated and set up in a church. But it finally drills home to me, after I let go the church and the salvation thing, that our job is to make disciples of Yahoshua Messiah and to obey that which Master instructed us to do. It’s a simple formula that Christianity–that churchianity–has for whatever reason, elected to NOT tell you, but instead has elected to fill your head with the idea that you must escape eternal damnation in hell fire, get your singed bottom in heaven, and live out eternity in the glory of Jesus Christ–the 2nd Person of the Godhead, right? But what about the true instructions that Master left with His disciples on the Mount of Olives? Did He not say, make disciples of all nations, one; then baptize those who would become disciples; then three, teach those brand new disciples to be obedient to everything that Master commanded us to do? So where is the salvation thing that seems to always be tied to Matthew 28? Is it possible that the whole thing is a big misunderstanding? Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, certain folks crept into the early Assembly of true believers, and sold them a bill of good that was contrary if not diametrically opposed to the true Gospel message that Y’shau originally brought to the world?

Let me ask you this truth seeker–assuming you are open to learning truth–are you Catholic; are you Baptist; are you Methodist, Episcopalian, whatever; is your eternal destiny worth more to you than your relationship with your church organization? Is your eternal destiny and your true relationship with the Creator of the Universe worth everything to you? Are you willing to die for your Faith? Are you willing to walk away from everything you’ve ever been taught if what you’ve been taught is proven to be false? Is wife, children, friends, work, affiliations, community; are these more important to you than your relationship with the Messiah Yahoshua? Are you man or woman enough to say to the world that I belong to the one who purchased me from your previous owner, satan?

If you can not answer yes to any of the above, that’s alright? In fact, you are where you’re supposed to be my friend. You see, Father has never forced Himself on anyone and He never will. And I’m talking about the true Father–not some Constantinian concept of a Greek–Romish God out of the Greek and Roman Pantheon that the average “Christian” has been brainwashed to accept. Very little about the so-called “God the Father” is actually based upon what the Bible has to say about the Creator of the Universe. Instead, to the average Christian, if you will, God of the Old Testament is a cruel and callous deity that mercilessly destroys all those who for whatever reason, fail to conform to His rules and obey His directives. The Christian God of the Old Testament is all about death and harshness. Yet the God of the New Testament, whom they say is actually Jesus Christ, is all about love, inclusiveness, mercy and acceptance. But the fact of the matter is that Yahoshua (as opposed to Jesus Christ)  was in lock-step with His Heavenly Father Yahovah–yes that same Being of the Old Testament–and everything that happened in the so-called Old Testament, under the direction of “God,” was actually done for our benefit–1 Corinthians 10:11–that we may not think that we have “arrived” or that we somehow stumble upon a life of sin and be caught in sinful bondage–1 Corinthians 10:12, 13). But then, most Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God of the Old Testament. In so thinking, God to the average Christian is a multi-faceted Being with at least two personalities. This bifurcation of the Divine Being is something that we won’t tackle here today, but will certainly consider in future postings. But this non-biblical view of the Creator of the Universe and His Son, has left for the scholars and sages of history a blank pallet by which they can paint and augment their own concepts of God and from there, structure a system by which mankind, through their contrived rules (the sages and theologians that is), will connect with their Creator and their Redeemer.

Consequently, the true identity of the Creator and His Son has been lost to the world as a whole. The things that Father and His Son has revealed of themselves to man through their elect has been hidden from the world by the hubris and spite of  men who are loyal (be it intentional or unintentional loyalty) to their boss, satan (or in Hebrew, hasatan). Given the hidden identities and natures of the Creator and the Savior (whom Yahoshua said they were unified–John 10:30), all of the pertinent elements of the lifestyle that the Creator of the Universe requires of man to follow have also become hidden and lost to man for the most part; although those requirements have always been codified and protected in the bible by His eternal providence and grace. That’s why the world celebrated New Year’s Day on 1/1/2016 and by default rejected 4/10/2016 as New Year’s Day–even though every christian bible on the planet clearly states the following:

“Guard the month of Aviv and keep the Pesach unto Yahovah your God: for in the month of Aviv Yahovah your God brought you forth out of Mitsrayim (i.e., Egypt) by night.” (Deuteronomy 16:1, Cepher/CJB)

Some of you will no doubt say to yourself: what?????? And that would be a natural response, especially if you are steeped in the religion of Christianity that has taught you that such things as recorded in Deuteronomy and the other 38-books of the Christian Bible Old Testament were written and directed to the Jews; that we Gentiles; we Christians are under a new covenant that has nothing to do with the Jew or much of the Old Testament. Sadly, the hundreds of lies taught to the unsuspecting peoples of the world who come into Christianity, have all but alienated the average Christian from the truth and the life that Father has always intended for mankind–the true relationship that He has always insisted that He wanted with man, but wanted with man on His (Yahovah’s) terms; not on man’s terms–man’s religiosity–man’s contrived notions as to what constitutes a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. And one of the big issues in this equation is understanding the Creator’s reckoning of time that He entrusted to Israel and subsequently the Jews. Churchianity wrongly teaches that the Jew and their Laws have been done away with and that now is the age of the Christian who has the full attention of Father Yahovah. But recall dear friend, that when we come into the Faith, the true Faith once delivered that is, we have been engrafted into the commonwealth of Israel–we have been engrafted INTO Isreal–not Israel has been engrafted into the commonwealth of the Gentile. Thus, if we have been “naturalized” (if you will) into the commonwealth of Israel, all of the requirements and resulting benefits that Israel once enjoyed when they were in alignment with Father, naturally would now apply to us. And that includes adopting and following Yahovah’s reckoning of time.

Therefore, I would ask you to carefully read and re-read the entire chapter of Romans 11. For that matter, read the entire book of Romans in order to establish a fuller context of what Paul was writing to the Roman Assembly of believers about. But if you are truly seeking and open to receiving truth, seek the guidance and revelation of the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the true meaning of the concept of the true Believer in Yahoshua Messiah being grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. Just maybe you will come to see that the New Year or New Year’s Day may not be as you originally perceived it to be.

Be blessed friend.

Death and Eternity–It’s Not As You Perceive–Episode 67

Written By: Hilary - Jan• 04•16

Death and Eternity

It’s Not As You Perceive–67

In our discussion on Eternal life, a messianic believer recently told me that it doesn’t matter, we all get eternal life one way or the other; whether we go to heaven to enjoy eternal bliss or we go to hell to burn consciously forever. This jolted me into a sense of urgency to cover this topic of Death and Eternity.

As believers in Yahoshua, what is the focus of our faith and do we become immortal souls that go to heaven or hell when we die causing us to continue to live forever? So often we hear people say they are doing an activity or a challenge to make a relative, who has died, proud because the relative is watching over them from heaven.

 INAYP 67--Death and Eternity

Do our loved ones watch over us from heaven when they die, and do they come to visit and protect us? We were taught by the Christian church that our loved ones who died are happy now; have gone on to heaven and are in a better place.  Reference: The New Covenant–It’s Not As You Perceive–Episode 66

What happens when a person dies; and what can we expect after death?

Hilary answers many questions on this topic and debunks many myths taught by the christian church in this episode of Death and Eternity. 


What is the New Covenant? It’s Not As You Perceive 66

Written By: Hilary - Nov• 15•15

What is the New Covenant?

It’s Not As You Perceive 66


What is the New Covenant? Is it a simple rehashing of the Old Covenant as many in our Faith would passionately defend? Or an entirely new agreement between the Creator and His people? Who does the New Covenant apply to? How was the New Covenant brokered and applied?

The 10-Commandments on Stone

When was the New Covenant activated? What is different about the New Covenant? Is it a better covenant than the old? And what happened to the Old Covenant? Hilary discusses this fundamental issue of our Faith with passion and Biblically-based reasoning. The New Covenant may not be as you once perceived it to be.

 

From Stone to Flesh Heart

Feast of Tabernacles Celebration 2015–INAYP 65

Written By: Hilary - Oct• 10•15

Feast of Tabernacles Celebration 2015

David Rohl, Egyptologist

David Rohl, Egyptologist

Tim Mahoney, Filmmaker

Tim Mahoney, Filmmaker

Michael Rood, Historian

Michael Rood, Historian

Arthur Bailey, Apostle

Arthur Bailey, Apostle

By Grace are You Saved–Part 2 of the Grace and the Law Series

Written By: Hilary - Sep• 09•15

By Grace are You Saved

Part 2 of the series: Grace and the Law

In part one (1) of this series entitle Grace and the Law, we critically looked at some of the key bible passages that our cousins in fundamental and charismatic churchianity (or Christianity as popularly referenced) have used over the centuries to support their claim that Torah was done away with and replaced by the hijacked (my wording) doctrine of grace. Allow me to conduct a brief review of those controversial passages so that we all have a central place to begin our quest for a sound, biblically-based response to our Faith’s most staunch critics.

Restating the problem simply, traditional and charismatic Christianity contends that Torah has been done away with by the work of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Furthermore, our cousins in the Christian religion contend that any attempt or even thought of adhering to the Laws or Commandments of God (or as we prefer to call these collectively, Torah) are tantamount to a transgression of God’s grace through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ; that we are placing our eternal hope in works that could never pay the price of our redemption. Finally, the Jew showed us that it is impossible to keep Torah, thus any effort to keep Torah will be met with utter failure and any claim of faith in Jesus Christ, a total mockery. According to the Christian, Jesus kept Torah perfectly during His life and ministry here on earth. Therefore, we who would claim Jesus as our Lord and Saviour no longer are required to keep Torah. In other words, everything has been taken care of by the Creator or Jesus Christ—in other words, don’t worry, be happy—occupy until Jesus returns and raptures us from this earth and takes us to heaven where we’ll reign with Him for all eternity.

Conversely, we in the Hebraic Roots/Messianic Believers in Y’shua Messiah/Netzari communities contend that we are compelled by our love for the Father and in strict obedience to our Lord and Master, Y’shua HaMashiyach, to be Torah honoring, observant and obedient. We see our salvation as a free gift from Yahovah, the God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov. Furthermore, we contend that our freedom from sin and the resulting eternal life came to those of us who would claim Y’shua HaMashiyach as our Messiah, as a result of His atoning death on the execution stake on Calvary more than 2,000-years ago. It is our love for our Creator and our loyalty to our Master Y’shua HaMashiyach that we, without reservation, without the slightest hesitation, obey the Father’s Torah and adhere to His way of life for mankind. Our salvation is tied to Torah by way of our qualification for that free gift of salvation. We are able, contrary to popular Christian belief and teachings, that one may live Torah perfectly as a result of the infilling of the Ruach Kodesh (aka the Holy Spirit) and it is this divine arrangement that the Christian wrongly interprets as “grace.” Despite the many seeming anti-Torah passages in the Brit HaDashah (aka the New Testament), primarily from the pen of Rav Shaul (aka the Apostle Paul), we of the true Faith once delivered to the first-century saints by Y’shua HaMashiyach realize the truth of what Shaul was trying to get across to the recipients of his many epistles. We contend that Westernized—Paulinized churchianity has failed to properly execute sound biblical exegesis of his writings and thus it is really these (that is the westernized Christian) that have fallen from grace, not us. This is not a finger-pointing exercise, but a thing of seeking the truth as revealed to any who would seek it via (1) the revelation of the Ruach Kodesh; (2) bible scholarship that is devoid of denominational assertiveness and influence; and (3) commonsense that the Creator endowed each of us with at birth.

I, unfortunately, am of a mind that our two sides can not be reconciled to any appreciable degree without one side conceding to the claims and accusations of the other. It would mean we in the Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith abandoning a fulfilled life of discipline, love and peace in Torah for a contrived life of “live as you please” or “as you see fit” and “occupy until Christ returns.” It would mean we would become subject to the traditions, laws and rules of men. Essentially, it would mean going over to a life of religion that Y’shua came to free us from. I came from that and many of you came from that as well. We’ve come to realize and greatly appreciate the freedom that has come as a result of our giving ourselves over to our Master Y’shua as opposed to giving ourselves over to men; to a church; to a denomination; to a religion. Y’shua told us that He came that we would have life and experience that life in abundance. (John 10:10) As wonderful as life may appear in churchianity, her members have spoken loudly with their feet and their wallets. The Barna Group reported a few years ago that people are leaving tradition/fundamental Christianity in droves—some estimates place the number in the millions over the course of the last decade. The primary reason given by those who have left Christianity is a lack of spiritual fulfillment and their lives having not been challenged during the time they were members of the church. Conversely, all indications are (and unfortunately there is no data that I can find to back this up) that our Faith is growing and that large numbers of folks are coming to a knowledge of the Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith. These are finding rest for their weary souls and a refreshing for their diminished spirits. Indeed, the Ruach is moving in our Faith. It is a wonderful time to be a part of the true Faith once delivered.

Last episode we looked at a few controversial passages that may cause some of us problems when trying to defend and explain to non-Torah observant believers in Jesus Christ (or traditional/fundamental/charismatic Christians) why we believe Torah is still viable for every believer in Y’shua Messiah. As well as it’s important that we make sure within our own minds and spirits that we understand what Shaul meant when he wrote these seeming anti-Torah passages. Let’s go over them quickly before we move forward. They are as follows:

Ephesians 2:8,9— 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. Is Shaul saying here that grace through the simple act of faith eliminates any need for works in a believer’s life? What does Shaul mean when he says “not of works?” What is this “works?” What does a “workless” life look like as it pertains to those who depend solely upon grace through faith?

Romans 6:14—14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. I discussed last episode that sin, despite what Shaul appears to be saying, remains commonplace in many congregations and churches throughout the world. Since it would stand to reason that Shaul is not speaking to actual sin that believers are prone to commit—that is the violation of Torah; is it then reasonable to conclude that Shaul is actually referring to something else here? Could it be that Shaul is creating an analogy here whereby he is actually referring to any negative influences or affects that sin will have in opposition to the believer’s eternal life?

Romans 7:6— 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.1 According to this passage, it would seem that Shaul is saying that the law was not good for us and if we were to serve in the newness of spirit, then we had to be delivered from the law. Is Shaul saying here that the Law had problems associated with it? Was the Law problematic? Was the Law bad? Was the Law a mistake that needed correcting? Was the Law a failed experiment? If we choose to honor and obey Torah, have we placed ourselves in spiritual harm’s way, so to speak?

Galatians 3:10-14– 10 ¶ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Is Shaul here saying that Torah observers are under some kind or type of curse? If so, what is there about the Law that makes it a a curse? If the Law is deemed to be a curse through the auspices of the Holy Spirit that was working in and through Shaul, and that Holy Spirit was provided to Shaul as a gift from Y’shua HaMashiyach, why would Father have placed upon us a cursed thing such as Torah? What would that say about our Creator? Are we then victims of the Law?

Lastly, Galatians 5:2-4– 2 ¶ Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Are we who are Torah observant truly fallen from grace? For that matter, what does “fallen from grace” really mean? Do our cousins in churchianity, who love to use this passage as an assault upon us and our Faith, truly understand what this actually means? Is it true what our cousins in churchianity say about those of us who follow Torah—that if we choose to obey the Law, if we are found to have violated one of the 613-commandments or laws, that we are guilty of breaking the entire Torah? Does breaking one of the commandments actually nullify the rest or make one guilty of breaking the entire Torah? Is circumcision a dead or done-away with commandment? If we who are of the true Faith once delivered, who have chosen to be Torah observant, make the work of Y’shua Messiah of no effect unto us? If so, why?

Setting the Stage

As I stated in the previous post, these are some tough passages to confront for those of us Torah observant believers in Y’shua Messiah. What I find very interesting is that Christianity has gone out of her way to apply a very literal read of these passages and has effectively made Rav Shaul, or as the Westerner prefers to refer to him as the Apostle to the Gentiles Paul, into the most effective anti-Law (aka Torah) agent in all of history.

We inherently know that a plain read of these Pauline passages can be profoundly misleading. We also know that biblical illiteracy is at the heart of the misunderstanding and mistranslation of these passages. The purpose of this episode is to take each of these passages and determine whether or not the plain read of that passage provides an accurate meaning of that passage based on sound biblical interpretative practice and exegesis. We will resist denominational influences to guide our study. We will not allow our individual cultural and personal biases to prevent our gaining a true understanding of these passages. All we want to do is to resolve once and for all what Shaul meant when he wrote these passages and whether or not he stood for Torah observance in the life of the believer in Y’shua Messiah. I want to know if I truly understand why it is important for all believers in Y’shua Messiah to be Torah observant, especially in light of these seeming anti-Torah passages of Shaul. If we fail to prove that the plain reading of these passages does NOT reject Torah observance by us believers, then we are in a dilemma: are we Torah observant because someone told us we needed to be but we really have no true biblical basis for our beliefs and actions? Or are we simply making things up in our heads and living according to how we feel we should live? I don’t know about you, but I want to be in line with the will and commandments of Yahovah/Yahweh/Yahuah and His Son Y’shua HaMashiyach.

So let’s get started. But first, let’s establish some ground rules for this study: (1) we acknowledge the primacy of Scripture to determine how we live our lives in Y’shua Messiah. (2) We believe that Shaul was a sent one from Y’shua and therefore he has authority to instruct us in the ways of our God. (3) We acknowledge that the only way to gain a true understanding of the bible is through the revelation of the Ruach Kodesh (aka the Holy Spirit) and applying proper exegetical principles to our study of Scripture. Those exegetical principles include: (a) allowing the bible to interpret itself; (b) avoid taking one verse alone to establish doctrine, but to examine every other applicable verse in comparison; (c) studying each passage in question in context—that is, what is the true issue being addressed; who is writing the passage; what was going on in history at the time the passage was written; who was the author’s intended reader and audience; how do the surrounding verses connect with the verse/passage in question? And (d), when examining the use of certain key words in the passage in question, gain an understanding as to how that same word is used in other passages of the bible.

That which we don’t cover we’ll pick up where we leave off in the next episode. Again, I believe that we can not downplay the importance of this subject as it relates to our Faith and our being able to defend what it is we believe and why we believe that which we say we believe and practice. Too many of us assume that we don’t need to defend our actions or our Faith. Yet when we are confronted by someone who opposes our Faith, or we are asked by someone in search of truth to explain our Faith, we choke—we present a poor witness. Our Master gave His best for us when He walked this earth 2,000-years ago. Shouldn’t we do likewise? I don’t want to disappoint Him nor do I want to do anything that will diminish the opportunity for someone to find truth in the midst of a jacked-up world. We have all the answers to this world’s many woes. That being said, my goal, my intent, my mission in life is to be ready to give anyone who asks me about my Faith. Rav Kefa (aka the Apostle Peter) wrote in his first epistle:

ESV 1 Peter 3:15, 16 but ain your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, balways being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and crespect, 16 ahaving a good conscience, so that, bwhen you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

Does the Creator’s Grace Eliminate Torah Entirely?

Ephesians 2:8,9— 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

This verse seems to aptly support the doctrine of “sola gratia” that I referenced last episode/last posting. Sola gratia, if you recall, is the Latin phrase meaning “grace only” or “grace alone.” The concept of sola gratia came out of the Protestant Reformation and was to stand in stark contrast to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church that seemed to suggest that salvation was achieved through the grace of God and also by the merits of “one’s own works performed in love.” (Wikipedia-sola gratia) Although this was a hardcore belief of those behind the reformation, the truth of the matter was that the Roman Catholic Church “explicitly affirmed the doctrine of sola gratia in the year 529” in the Councils of Orange and of Trent. It was the doctrine of “sola gratia” that emerged from these councils and was explained as such: that salvation is made possible only by grace and that faith and works “are the secondary means that have their origins in and are sustained by grace.” The protestant reformers, however, seized upon and took the concept of sola gratia to a higher level, taking works entirely out of the equation and actually labeling works as Legalism. Bottom line, as it relates to the protestant reformer’s concept of sola gratia—which today constitutes the same view of most fundamental,traditional and charismatic denominations throughout the world—is that “salvation is entirely comprehended in God’s gifts (that is, God’s act of free grace), dispensed by the Holy Spirit according to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ alone.” (Wikipedia—sola gratia)

Now, one must agree that there is a problem with the doctrine or concept of “sola gratia” and that problem is what is referred to in Wikipedia as “Antinomianism.” Antinomianism argues that “if someone is saved, he/she has no need to live a holy life, given that salvation is already in the bag” so to speak. And isn’t this perspective a primary cause for the schism; the chasm; the thing that divides our two faiths? It is indeed clear that our love and obedience to Torah is nothing short of a gross offense to Christianity as a whole. The problem, however, is not with us but with the Christian who is sorely mistaken, not only in their understanding of the concept of “grace,” but also in their reasoning and understanding as to why we are Torah observant.

So as it relates to this passage of Ephesians, what do we know about the purpose and intent of this letter? Who was Shaul’s intended audience or readers? What could have prompted this statement from Shaul? Well, scholars tell us that Ephesus was located on the east side of the Aegean Sea in Asia Minor which is part of modern Turkey. Shaul’s first visit to Ephesus is recorded in Acts 18:18-23, which appears to be one of the stops Shaul made on his second missionary journey. The assembly in Ephesus appears to have been a mixture of Gentiles and Jews who seemed to be primarily congregating at the local synagogue, which was common place throughout the Roman Empire of the first century. With that, we know then, that a mixture of Torah observance, Judaism, and maybe even some paganism was being practiced amongst the members of that assembly. It so happens that Ephesus was famed for its Temple of Artemis or Diana. So like everywhere else that Shaul’s foot print was felt, Shaul had a rough road to haul—trying to coral believers from every walk of first-century life, into the true Faith, must have been an impossible task.

This portion of the Ephesian letter, interestingly enough, seems to be focusing on the Gentile half of the assembly. Shaul writes:

“For it is by His grace we are rescued, through faith; and this is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of Elohim: Not of works, or else anyone glory (in themselves). For we are His creation who are created in Y’shua the Mashiyach for good works which Elohim has before prepared for us to walk in. Wherefore be mindful that you formerly were carnal Gentiles; and you were called the uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision and which is the work of the hands of the flesh. And you were, at that time, without the Mashiyach; and were aliens from the regulations of Israel; and strangers to the covenant of the promise; and were without hope and without Elohim in the world. But now, by Y’shua the Mashiyach, you who before were afar off, have been brought near by the blood of the Mashiyach. He is Himself our peace, who has made the two (become) one, and has demolished the wall which stood n the midst, and the enmity, by His flesh; and in His flesh (the) enmity and regulations of commands (contained) in his commandments are abolished (so) that in himself (an occurrence of the divine nature or qnoma), he might make the two into one, establishing peace.” (Eph. 2:8-15 AENT)

Now there are a few things to consider as we examine this passage in context. Instead of taking just verses 8 and 9 at face value, we have now taken on a sizable chunk of Shaul’s letter to the Ephesian assembly. Now, most of churchianity when referencing Ephesians in their arguments in support of sola gratia and the abolishment of the Law or Torah, will focus only on verses 8 and 9. However, there is a severe problem in referencing just verses 8 and 9 when discussing the issue of grace and the law, and that is one receives an incomplete understanding of what Shaul has to say on the subject.

To begin with, Shaul goes on to say in verse 10 that we (Gentiles) have newly been created “for good works which Elohim has before prepared for us to walk in.” Does this not hit you like a brick wall as it hit me? What is Shaul saying here? He’s saying that we who were Gentiles, having been made new by the work of Y’shua, are now created “for good works” and those good works were prepared by Yahovah (as opposed to Elohim) for us to walk in. The NAS and ESV says of those good works, that they were “prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” And the natural question that we must ask is, what are those good works that were prepared beforehand that we should walk in them? Well, the phrase “good works” is found in 23 verses in the KJV. Now, we must be careful to discern the different Greek words used to describe “good works” which are “agathos” and “ergon” respectively. In some passages, the word “good” is “kalos” which means beautiful, handsome or excellent. Shaul uses “agathos” in this Ephesians passage. Invariably, however, the Greek word “ergon” is used to denote “work.”

As it pertains to this particular passage, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon suggests ”ergon” is “that which is required and approved of Yahovah (as opposed to God), in the same sense of Mashiyach.” And we can safely presume that which is required and approved of by Yahovah and Mashiyach as related to “works” is commandments or rules, or as I will boldly propose here, Torah. Yes, I believe Shaul is suggesting here that we Gentiles, through the work of Mashiyach, have been fashioned to do “good works” which I surmise to be Torah. There are several biblical verses that I point to as support for my contention:

Titus 2:11-14—For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

What is Shaul writing about here? He’s talking about the grace of Yahovah bringing salvation to the world and that grace teaching us to live Godly lives as we await the Saviour’s reappearing. And we know that it is not up to man’s discernment or determination as to what is Godly and what is not. Father alone is the stipulator of what is Godly. Yet Father has not left the determination as to what is Godly or not Godly up to chance or up to trying to read His mind. He revealed what is Godly and what is not by His Torah. It’s not rocket science.

Titus 2:1-10—But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.”

Hello! All of these qualities are not unique to Shaul’s teachings. They come right out of Torah. Good works!

2 Timothy 3:17—But thou hast fully known my doctrine (writing to Timothy), manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus (here’s that reference to living Godly lives again) shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou has learned and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures (none other than the Tanakh—the Torah, the prophets and the writings—but primarily Torah, because the New Testament had not been created as yet), which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all “good works.””

Here we go again, good works being tied directly to scripture, or better, tied to Torah.

And there are several others that I will not overtax with you. But suffice to say, that Shaul seems to be tying the concept of “good works” or “ergon agathos” to being Torah observant.

But then there is the other aspect of works that we must not overlook here and that has to do with Shaul tying works directly to “law.” The phrase “works of the law” is used some 5-times in the KJV. (Reference: Rom. 9:32; Gal. 2:16; 3:2, 5, 10)

So I think we have enough to put into some semblance of understanding what Shaul is saying in Ephesian 2: 8—and that has to do with providing a quasi definition of grace; that being grace through our faith in Y’shua HaMashiyach, has rescued us from the world and from eternal death. That rescuing came as a free gift from Yahovah/Yahweh and all we had to do is accept that rescue. In doing so, however, we have received the power to live godly lives. And what does living godly lives look like? It’s all contained in Torah. We have become new creatures. Being former Gentiles (but now Israelites—having crossed over and grafted in) we lived according to the ways of men—evil, sinful, without Yahovah in our lives. Taking on that newness of creation, we have the wherewithal to walk according to His ways or as Shaul wrote: created for good works which God “prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” What is this good works that Shaul is referring to? It’s Torah. So already we see that Shaul has not discarded Torah observance by believers, especially Gentiles. But Shaul clearly indicates here that grace has saved us from the world and from destruction and has provided us the means by which we may walk in accordance to Yahovah’s stipulated way of life for mankind.

Oh, I have no doubt that the more stubborn and obstinate Christian will insist that “good works” as referenced here by Shaul throughout his writing has nothing to do with Torah, but will instead provide a definition or explanation of the phrase “good works” that is consistent to his/her western understanding of what good works means. The problem with this line of reasoning is that there will be thousands, if not millions of perspectives on what constitutes good work. Like opinions, everyone has their own idea of what constitutes good work. But let’s break it down folks: our opinions amount to nothing more than “dung” in the sight of the Almighty. And if anyone is a serious believer in Y’shua HaMashiyach, or for that matter, Jesus Christ, and they are pure in their agenda, then he or she must concede that it’s all about Yahovah/Yahweh/Yahuah/God/Father. It is His opinion, and His opinion alone that matters. So let’s get off our high horses and stop being arrogant fools. Any concept of what is good, especially as it relates to works, must absolutely come from Father and can not come from man, as much as we may like to thing that we have the right stuff to determine what is good and what living a good and godly life looks like.

But let’s not stop here fellow saints, we’re heading towards the stretch as it relates to this Ephesian passage—and hang on, this is where it really gets exciting and brings home for us the truth about Torah living in relation to grace! Hallelujah.

Verse 11, Shaul, a Benjamite, a former Pharisee and at the time of this writing, an Apostle—a sent one directly from our Master Y’shua Messiah—lovingly reminds us of our past. We were carnal gentiles. The KJV, ESV, NAS, ASV words it, Gentiles in the flesh. But the literal rendering of the Greek text (along with the DBY and YLT) reads nations in the flesh. In other words, we were not Israelites and we were certainly not Jews. Thus looking at us from the Jewish and Israelite perspective–from Shaul’s perspective, we were so-called “uncircumcised.” Being of the so-called “uncircumcised,” we were aliens, devoid of commonwealth of Israel, or better rendered in the Greek, we were lacking Israeli-citizenship—verse 12. For all intents and purposes, we were “outsiders.” We were despised and rejected by the Israeli nation, especially by the Jewish nation. Being outside the realm of the true Israelites—not speaking of Judaism per se, but of true Israelis who’s lives were governed by Torah—we were NOT privy to the covenant promises that came by virtue of being an Israeli; especially an Israeli who had Mashiyach as their Master and Yahovah as their God. Thus we were in a hopeless state. Destined for eternal damnation. But the Father, in His infinite wisdom and love for mankind, made provision for even us, being, existing in our hopeless state. He inserted Himself in the affairs of men to offer a lifeline to any who would grab hold to it. It was no longer a case whereby we would have to live out our lives in a hopeless state. It was not situation that we had to convert to Judaism to have the remotest chance and part of the covenant. No! Not this time! It was an opportunity for complete inclusion in the commonwealth of Israel; full access to the blessings of the covenant. What should have cost us our lives for access and inclusion, cost us nothing—just acceptance. But with that acceptance comes responsibility. That responsibility is that we perform. Perform what? That we live and operate in the realm of “good works,” for we have been made—we have been prepared—for such. That is who we become—it is who we are identified as. It is what we look like. It is how the world sees us from then on. Good works. It’s not negotiable as the Christian would assert.

Being born here in America, my citizenship comes to me free of charge. However, if I am to be; if I am to remain a citizen, there are things that I am expected to do—obey the laws of the land; pay my taxes; make a living; contribute to society in some way or another. If I fail to obey the laws of the land or pay taxes or make a living for myself and my family, I will not realize the full benefits of American citizenship. In fact, I may even lose my citizenship (in a low-level way I would add) by being incarcerated.

Despite what the Christian believes and teaches and lives, there are no free lunches as it relates to our relationship with Father. He does indeed offer us the gift of eternal life that comes without charge to us—but oh what price was paid for that gift. In order to receive and keep the gift, we must qualify for it. Father is not going to promote any human to the place of being one of His children; a king; a priest; His elect in a state of rebellion; hating Him by virtue of being disobedient to His will and His commandments. Does it make any sense, Christian, to think and believe that we can live anyway we damn-well please, reject Father’s laws and commandments, and enter into His Kingdom as honored citizens? Would you allow your children to live in your house in total rebellion and disobedience and receive complete and unfettered freedom and privilege? Well, some of you do, and that’s a shame. But let me just tell you, Yahovah don’t play that. He has purchased us with the blood of His son. Shaul wrote to the Corinthian assembly: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price…” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20) We’ve accepted that gift. We now live in His house. He has house rules. Therefore, we are compelled to live in His house under His rules. His rules are contained in Torah. Thus, we must be Torah observant, even as believers in Y’shua Messiah. If we elect to not obey His rules—His Torah—well, that’s a story for another day.

Conclusion:

If there is anything to be gotten from this exercise, it is the absolute necessity of sound biblical exegesis that include contextual analysis—context, context, context. If we were simply to take verses 8 and 9 of this 2nd chapter of Ephesian, from a purely plain reading perspective, we could very easily walk away having an unshakable impression that sola gratia is the name of the game today and that Torah observance by believers in Jesus Christ is not only unnecessary, but completely in opposition to the sacrifice of the Saviour and the doctrine of grace. Employing bible sound bites to explain and support Christian doctrines is a prescription for destruction; at the least, a prescription for living an unfulfilled and potentially sinful life.

References:

  • Wikipedia—Sola Gratia
  • The Aramaic English New Testament (AENT)
  • Friberg Greek Lexicon
  • Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary on the Whole Bible
  • Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts
  • Michael Rood
  • Thayer’s Greek Lexicon

The Law and Grace–Hasn’t the Law Been Done Away With? Part 1

Written By: Hilary - Aug• 29•15

Grace and the Law

Hasn’t the Law Been Done Away With?

That Which Separates Us

Those of us in the Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith (Messianic Believers in Y’shua Messiah; Torah Observant Believers in Y’shua Messiah) are comparatively the smallest of minorities in the realm of self-professing Christians in the world. According to Wikipedia.com, approximately 1/3 of the world’s population consider themselves Christians. Christianity generally encompasses Protestantism, Eastern Orthodox and Catholicism. Now, I will step out on a limb and say that our group does not fall within any of these three (3) sub-groupings of Christianity. We are ostensibly a “forbidden” Faith that does not fall within the realm of the three (3) world Faiths—or better termed religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Probably the central-most element of our Faith—Hebraic Roots—is our adherence; our devotion; or love of Torah; or as the Christian-world prefers with excessive disdain, THE LAW!!!! It is our adherence and love of Torah that makes us pariahs to Catholicism, Christianity and the Eastern Orthodoxers. It is our love and adherence of Torah that, for whatever reason, causes our cousins, especially in Catholicism, to basically hate on us with the intensity of a hundred suns glaring upon the parched Serengeti plains. Furthermore, and this wasn’t even a distant thought in my mind until I met my dear friend Carmen Welker earlier this year, the Jews hate us because of our love and adherence of Torah and our devotion and loyalty to Y’shua HaMashiyach. And yes, there are other aspects of our Faith that just bug our cousins in fundamental Christianity. However, in this post I want to focus entirely upon the most glaring issue that separates us from our cousins in fundamental Christianity and that is our love and adherence to Torah and Traditional Christianity’s obsessiveness with the hijacked doctrine of grace. For whatever reason—mis-translations and misunderstandings of the Bible; doctrinal positions on both sides on the subject of the law or Torah; doctrinal opinions on the true meaning of grace and its role in the redemption plan; or just our conflicting respective views on the Bible, our Redeemer and our Creator–it would seem that our differences are irreconcilable.

It is the question of Torah’s efficacy and viability in a would-be Believer’s life that causes the greatest separation between Traditionalists and Messianics than any other issue. The fundamentalists strongly contend that those who would hold on to Torah as a staple of their Faith are grossly fallen from grace. We on the Messianic side believe that our churched cousins are living lives that are outside the way of life that our Master and our Creator commanded us to live. How then do we reconcile the two sides of this spiritual equation? Is there a right-side and a wrong-side to this equation? Or does this whole thing even matter? Can’t we just get along? (Rodney King)

Well, it does matter. It is the purpose of this post to explain why it matters and why any who would claim Jesus Christ as their Saviour is compelled to be Torah observant. Now I realize this may come across as disingenuous and I apologize for that at the outset. But my calling in this ministry is to tell the truth. The truth I tell is devoid of any denominational assertiveness and influences. It is purely derived from the Bible. And if the Bible is proved to be wrong, then my position on this subject will conversely be wrong. And with that sentiment, let me just say, if I’m wrong, my God, I have no problem saying to you all that I was wrong. But you better make sure that you are sure based solely upon what the Bible teaches and not what your denomination and your religion teaches. I don’t give a rat’s hoot what your denomination or your religion teaches on this subject and quite frankly, neither should you. Why? Because, when you stand in judgment before the Saviour who will judge the just and the unjust, you will have to give an account of your actions and inactions here on this earth during the time that the Father has allotted you. Your religion; your denomination; your pastor nor your teachers nor the scholars who give out their lame opinions without having the slightest in the way of a true relationship with the Master, these will not be able to answer for you. You will have to answer for yourself just as I will. I feel so strongly about this that I will absolutely hold no punches in this series. My love for you; the Saviour’s love for you, matters so much that you must be exposed to the truth without any dilution or alteration.

So stating the problem plainly, that which separates us is a firm disagreement over the issue of Torah and Grace. The Fundamentalist and Charismatic fervently contends that the Law was done away with at the cross and because of God’s grace, the believer in Jesus Christ has no responsibility but to await Jesus’ return. The primary father of this doctrine would be none other than Rav Shaul (aka the Apostle Paul). The Messianic Believer on the other hand, fervently contends that Torah remains in affect for any who would claim Y’shua as their Master and that grace is not a license to live a Torah-less, do-as-I-please, life. Grace according to the Messianic is the ability to live a holy and righteous life in the midst of a perverted and evil world. This doctrine is believed to have been co-authored by none other than Master Y’shua HaMashiyach and Rav Shaul (aka the Apostle Paul). Yes, as you will see in my argument here, Shaul falls out on both sides of this equation and this is why there remains a schism between our respective Faiths—this is why we continue to feud like the Hatfield and the McCoys. The crazy reality of this shameful split is that regardless which side you or I fall out on with this issue, we are all of Ephraim. And maybe once we all come to that realization, as strange as this may seem to some, we will be able to come to terms with the reality and truth of this crucial matter regarding grace and Torah.

I will tell you from the outset that I obviously fall out on the side of Torah being still in affect for every believer in Y’shua Messiah. I hope and trust that this episode will sway those of you who are opposed to believers being Torah-keepers over to my side, or that this episode clarifies for those of us who are unsure as to how this whole grace and Torah thing is supposed to work. To the Fundamentalist and Charismatic, this will be a defense for Christian Torah observance. For the Messianic/Netzari/Hebrew Rooters, this will hopefully be useful as an evangelistic resource. So let’s begin the discussion in earnest.

The Law (aka Torah) Has Been Done Away With

The Fundamentalist and Charismatic will vehemently contend that the Law was indeed done away with by the redemptive work of the Saviour upon the cross. Or, the Fundamentalist and Charismatic might equally contend that the Saviour kept the Law perfectly, therefore we don’t have to. At any event, God’s Law has been nullified by His grace. Sound familiar?

Well, the Fundamentalist and Charismatic have at their disposal a number of texts that they contend supports their position of the Law being nullified by God’s grace. Let’s take a look at these passages–especially the Pauline passages, that seem to be anti-Torah in content and fuel Churchianity’s claim that Torah was done away with and replaced by grace. I was originally going to use the Aramaic English New Testament to recite these verses, but given that the vast majority of Christians in the world use some form of the King James Version, I will use the KJV here.

Ephesians 2:8,9 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph 2:8-9 KJV) Here Shaul seems to be establishing a definitive teaching that would be hard to refute. Both Christian and Messianic agree that salvation can not be earned and that it comes by the grace of the Almighty. The Law or Torah on the other hand, has always been viewed in conjunction with works. Consider Romans 9:30-32–which reads: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles who have not followed after righteousness have attained righteousness, but that righteousness which is of faith: but Israel, who followed after the law of righteousness, unto the law of righteousness have not attained. For why? Because it was not by faith, but by the WORKS OF THE LAW: for they stumbled over the stone of stumbling.” (ETH)

In Galatians 2:16, Shaul talks about man being NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW but by faith in Jesus Christ. Shaul also wrote to the Galatian assembly that those who are of the WORKS OF THE LAW are under a curse—Gal. 3:10. So the works that Shaul was addressing the Ephesian assembly about must certainly be the works of the Law right? Thus, Ephesians 2:8 and 9, Shaul reasons that men would naturally gravitate towards trying to earn or achieve salvation through some type of effort; some type of process; some set of established rules and protocols. And in that effort to earn salvation, the whole aspect of salvation being a gift from the Almighty becomes obscured and even lost in translation, so to speak.

This is a critical verse in support of the Christian’s view of sola gratia, Latin for “grace alone.” But to the Netzari or Hebraic Roots believer in Y’shua Messiah, we don’t see this verse as being a problem at all. For we certainly agree that salvation comes via the Creator’s grace through our Faith in Messiah and that we can do nothing to earn it. We simply believe, however, that one must qualify for the free gift of salvation and one of those qualifications is obedience to our Master Y’shua’s commandments (John 14:15) and His commandments are the exact same commandments as His Father’s commandments or laws. Y’shua said, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” (John 15:10) Furthermore the Master said, “And He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.” (John 8:29)

If we can simply accept the free gift of salvation but ignore the Saviour’s directive that we keep His commandments, which I’m afraid most self-professing Christians have done today, then there’s a huge disconnect. Do we simply take Shaul’s instructions over that of our Saviour? I just have to ask; because it would seem that virtually every Christian bases their religion—and to some extent Faith—on the teachings of Paul and unknowingly, reject most if not all the teachings of Y’shua HaMashiyach. This is a tragedy that few in the Fundamentalist and Charismatic world are willing to address.

Let’s move on.

Romans 6:1414 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom 6:14 KJV) Now this verse may be somewhat damaging to the Messianic and Netzari community when defending the position of Torah still being in effect for the Believer in Y’shua HaMashiyach. What can one make of this verse other than what is printed on the page: we are not under the Law but under grace. And if Shaul were to have simply written that and not attached the first half which says that sin has no dominion over us, then the Fundamentalists might have a valid and powerful argument against Torah-keeping by Christians.

Interestingly, sin continues to dominate many a Christian’s life, no matter how devoted they might be to Christianity. Think about it, sin is rampant in the Christian Churches of the 21st century, just as it was in the 20th and 19th and before. I’m not trying to be judgmental by any stretch of the imagination. But infidelity, fornication, adultery, idolatry, backbiting, hate, stealing, lying, etc has and continues to exist in many Christian Churches around the globe today. And the problem is not getting better. Yet in this verse, Shaul writes to the Roman assembly that sin shall not have dominion over them. Seems like a terrible disconnect, or seems as though Shaul (aka Paul) doesn’t know what in the wide-wide-world of sports he’s talking about.

But Shaul most-certainly knew what he was talking about. Indeed. The Traditionalist, focusing more on the second-half of the verse disavowing the law in favor of grace, will naturally analogize the first-half of the verse. Instead of seeing sin as having direct influence over us as individuals who are striving to do the will of the Father, the Fundamentalists will surmise that sin has no influence over our destiny—that is, sin has absolutely no bearing over whether or not the born-again believer in Christ will go to heaven. When looked at from this analogized perspective, then the born again believer in Christ Jesus has not a thing to worry about, don’t they?

Well, the problem with analogizing passages of the Bible is that the true meaning and interpretation of the passages in question, is inevitably obscured; blacked out; summarily removed from the eyes, hearts and minds of the Bible student. Analogizing the Bible serves only to cause the seeker of truth to give over their quest to the agendas of men; men who are bent to control the hearts and minds of every believer they can coral and bring into their fold. Those who would create analogies of passages of the Bible, and completely ignore the true meaning of passages based upon sound Biblical, contextual Biblical study—rejecting the urge to latch onto Bible-verse sound bites to support Church doctrine—are building their spiritual homes on sand. I was once that person. I analogized everything in support of the doctrines that I received from the Baptist Church of my youth. How did that work for me? Well, at the time it made me feel good and I convinced myself that I was destined for heaven by way of the pre-trib-rapture-express B-A-B-Y. But all that changed when I miserably failed to adequately explain to someone who asked me to defend why I was a Christian. I had nothing but analogies upon which to make my defense. It was quite disconcerting to say the least. From that point forward, I wanted to make sure that I would always allow the Bible to interpret itself and not rely on jack-leg-preachers and teachers and televangelists to tell me what I am to believe. I have chosen to know, to the extent that the Bible, sound extra-biblical resources and the Ruach haKodesh provides, the truth of what Father has to say—regardless how distasteful that truth may seem at the time.

But back to Romans 6:14: here Shaul seems to be saying that sin no longer has dominion over us because we are no longer under the Law or Torah, but we are now under grace. If we simply take this verse at face value and as written on the pages of our Bible, the interpretation is quite simple to determine, heh? Well, the problem is that sin continues to be a problem for Christians all over the world. Now we must bear in mind that this verse says nothing about salvation or eternal life, so for one to attempt to analogize this verse to mean that sin will not impede one’s access to eternal life, would be a stretch. But as we all well know, Fundamental and Charismatic Christians have no problem stretching the content of the Word to match whatever wind and doctrine they’ve ever dreamed up over the centuries. But shouldn’t this thing go the other way: shouldn’t our doctrines stretch to match the true teachings of the Bible, and for that matter, match common-sense. We can not move anywhere until we adequately do something about that nasty, nagging statement about sin found in this passage.

What about sin? Well, what is sin? We know from Scripture that sin is lawlessness—that is, being without law. In context, being without The Law or being without Torah. Sin is defined by Rav Yochanan (aka the Apostle John) as the transgression or violation of The Law. (1 John 3:4) The funny part of this whole equation is that believers all over the world talk about sin; preachers preach against sin; Bible teachers teach against sin; we admonish those of us who are backslid to abandon their sinful lives. Yet we summarily reject even the thought of Torah having any role in a believer’s life. We can not know or truly understand what sin is unless we know and embrace the Law or Torah. Rav Shaul (aka the Apostle Paul) wrote: “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, aI would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if bthe law had not said, “You shall not covet.” (Rom 7:7 ESV) It’s right here folks! In black and white! Shaul unceremoniously reveals all we need to know about sin; that being, without Torah, we can not truly know what sin is. Oh, we can be told what constitutes a single incident of sin. Heck, we can become thoroughly indoctrinated into a rather full understanding of what activities are sinful. But at the end of the day, understanding of what activity is sinful comes only via an understanding of Torah. And let’s face it, we all grew up knowing a great deal about what activities are sinful—stealing, murder, adultery, fornication and the like. But then, there are a ton of other things that go on around us, and we unknowingly may even be party to, that are sinful such as eating pork and shell fish; rejecting the seventh (7th)-day Sabbath and honoring the Creator’s annual Festivals. Thus, we can not know that an activity or behavior is sinful unless we know from Torah that it is prohibited or is mandated.

So, does knowing the Law or Torah and thus knowing what is sin, eliminate sin’s dominion over us? What did Shaul mean by “sin shall no longer have dominion” over us? The problem is not that men can’t or won’t learn Torah and thus can’t or won’t understand what constitutes sin—because the truth of the matter is that we can learn Torah and thus we can know what sin is. The problem is that man is prone to sin despite knowing what sin is. You see, when we were wandering in the Sinai desert and were being taught by Yahovah through Moshe (because we were too afraid to receive the teachings directly from Father—but that’s beside the point) His commandments—His Laws—His precepts and ordinances and statutes—His Torah, we continued to violate. We sinned and we sinned with gusto! So many of us died because we simply couldn’t resist sinning. We have a nature that is prone to sinning. But just because we have a hard time resisting sin, doesn’t make us any less responsible for obeying the Laws and Commandments of the Almighty and thus, not sinning. Yahovah still holds us responsible for keeping His Torah. Fast-forward 1,500-or so years, around 28-CE, when the gift of the Ruach Kodesh was given to us on the Temple Mount that fateful day of Pentecost—from that point on, when we become Y’shua HaMashiyach’s disciples and the gift of the Ruach is imparted unto us, we receive the wherewithal to resist sin and live Torah perfectly just as our Master lived and demonstrated Torah to us flawlessly. Sin has no dominion over us any longer, as it once had over us in the Sinai desert and throughout our history dwelling in Palestine. Thus, that bull that a million and one preachers throw out there in their varied and many pulpits each Sunday—that we can’t possibly keep Torah so don’t even think about trying to keep it—is a lie from the pit of hell. If what these jack-leggers say was even remotely true, then the Gift of the Holy Spirit was and continues to be a lie and a fraud. I don’t think so!

Moving on to another verse that the anti-Torah crowd uses–Romans 7:6— 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.1 (Rom 7:6 KJV) Certainly, another damaging blow to our pro-Torah stance it would seem. A simple read of this passage would have us understanding the Apostle Paul to say to the Roman assembly that “we have been delivered from the Law.” Boy, this carries a rather harsh tone to it, for it implies that Torah was such a negative thing, that we needed to be delivered from it. And the one thing that I don’t recall ever hearing an explanation of is, what about Torah was so bad that it necessitated our being delivered from it? The best I can come up with are those handful of Torah passages that commanded us to put the offenders of certain of God’s Word/God’s Law/God’s commandments, to death; those handful of passages that commanded us to wipe out the nations that were occupying the land of promise ahead of us; those handful of passages that locked us into a lifestyle that was in utter opposition to that of carnal man who sought to live in accordance with his/her desires and preferences. If indeed being under complete subjection to God’s commandments and His ways was and is so distasteful and undesirable—which to the carnal man it absolutely must be that way—then it would absolutely stand to reason that one would need deliverance from it at the very first opportunity. Again, to the Roman assembly, Shaul writes: “For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God’s Torah – indeed, it cannot.” (Rom 8:7 CJB) So then, what aspect of the Law have we been delivered from? If Torah or the Law provides the measuring stick for righteous living and it defines sin for us, why was there a need to be delivered from it? What was so bad about it that it necessitated our deliverance from it? As we saw with Romans 6:14, there is likely something about Torah that is not readily apparent in this verse that Shaul was clearly aware of, but his writings fail to adequately dispense to us living in the 21st century.

Rav Kefa (aka the Apostle Peter) wrote of Shaul: 14 ¶ Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. (2Pe 3:14-18 KJV)

I humbly submit to you that Shaul’s writings have been at the center of most every schism that exists between the denominations and between our Faith (i.e., the Hebraic Roots) and Churchianity. Shaul’s brilliance is undeniable and accepted across the wide spectrum of Christian believers, scholars, teachers and preachers. What isn’t understood by most, however, is Shaul’s deep understanding of Torah and its unbreakable connection to grace, faith and truth. Most of us are in the dark about this. Shaul gives his pedigree to us, in part, in his epistle to the Galatian assembly. The first chapter gives us a slight glimpse of this man, who was selected to be a sent one of Yahovah from his mother’s womb; who was trained not only at the feet of Gamli’el as a child (Acts 22:3), but one-on-one by Y’shua HaMashiyach in Arabia for upwards of three (3)-years. He was to be the twelfth-disciple to replace Judas Iscariot, not Matthias (Acts 1:23-26) whom we never heard from again after his appointment. Shaul would, because of his unique mission, be special and he would have to be brought on-line unlike any who would have preceded him. Shaul was uniquely qualified to be the apostle to the Gentile. The situations that he had to deal with during the course of His ministry can not possibly be fully understood by 21st century folks, who are prone to explain away Shual’s writings and behavior and life and ministry from a western worldview. Embarking upon such a course—that is attempting to read and understand Shaul’s writings from a westernized worldview—will invariably falter and ultimately find us heading for destruction.

Galatians 3:10-14— 10 ¶ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:10-14 KJV) This passage is filled with some tough to swallow seemingly anti-Torah rhetoric. Let’s itemize them: (1) those of us who are Torah observant are under a curse—seemingly implied and my wording only applies here. (2) We, claiming to be righteous, must live by faith only since Torah can not make us righteous before Father. (3) Torah has nothing to do with faith, thus by living in Torah, we live a faithless life. (4) Torah is a curse and Torah is what Y’shua Messiah came to deliver us from. Christ took on the curse of Torah so that we don’t have to. And (5) we Gentiles have replaced the Jew in the promises of God our Father—i.e., replacement theology. But is all that I’ve listed in the way that I’ve stated them true? Is Torah a curse that believers in Y’shua Messiah must reject or avoid? Are Torah Observant Believers faithless people who have fallen from grace? Has Torah been completely done away with and we, born-again Christians, the new Israel that have replaced our forefathers who sadly proved that we humans are incapable of keeping Torah? But I pose a rebuttal question: if Father chose Israel to be His “chosen” ones, why would He saddle us with something that we couldn’t possibly keep and that would be considered a curse? How does that work? Is our Creator schizophrenic? Yet we sing the praises of God our Father each Sunday, proclaiming how wonderful He is. How could we say He’s wonderful, loving and caring, when we believe that He cursed us with Torah? Makes no sense does it? So like the previous verses used by the anti-Torah crowd, there must be something to this passages about Torah that eludes us as well. We’ll take a closer look at this too.

And the last seeming anti-Torah passage I wish to cover in this episode is Galatians 5:2-4— 2 ¶ Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. (Gal 5:2-4 KJV) Ah yes, the ole “ye have fallen from grace” passage that those of us who are Torah honoring and observant have been accused of—having fallen from grace. The traditionalists and fundamentalists and charismatics are quick to reference this passage to prove that we who honor and obey Torah have, by our Torah-keeping lifestyle, nullified for ourselves the work and sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They contend that by our keeping Torah, we are saying that we are not reliant upon Jesus to be our redeemer and our savior. I remember vividly holding this very belief in the Baptist and inter-denominational churches of my youth. The rationale is, if Christ kept Torah perfectly and by His death, He has paid our sin debt—then Torah has in effect been nailed to the cross with Jesus and has been done away with. What’s that Pauline passage that the anti-Torah crowd loves to use to explain this eliminating of Torah? Colossians 2:14—”Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross…”

Closing Thoughts and Call to Action

Now I will say as I bring this bad boy to a close, that we of the Hebraic Roots/Netzari communities, have contributed to a greater or lesser degree, to the Fundamentalists’/Traditionalists’/Charismatics’s anti-Torah argument. Why do I say this? My observations over the years, having started this journey into the Hebrew Roots of the Christian Faith for over a decade now, is our extreme focus on Torah. Many of the ministries associated with our Faith focus so much on Torah and over-analyzing the written Torah (i.e., getting deep into the Hebrew and numerology and even Kaballaism), that Y’shua Messiah is factored entirely out of the lives of those believers. We focus on the nuances of what we can and can not do on Sabbath. We worry about the best ways to celebrate the Feasts. We delve into the Talmud/Mishnah or the Oral Tradition for direction on how to be Torah compliant. Before we know it, we’re facing east and touching passing Torah scrolls with our tzitzits at a torah service. [By the way, I discuss this whole Mishnah-Talmud thing in-depth in my latest Torah Living Daily Challenge episode entitled “Obey My Laws (Mitzvot)”—this is a must read/must hear episode of Torah Living Daily Challenge that fits so well with this subject of Grace and the Law. Please check it out.]

In some circles, the very mention of Jesus and the Holy Spirit makes us uneasy. I remember when I first entered into this Faith, I attended one of the Worldwide Churches of God splinters, the United Church of God in Garden Grove, California. After a couple years of attending, I found that I had completely outgrown the church spiritually and I transitioned to a spirit-filled Sabbath-keeping congregation located in the inland empire of Southern California. The pastor of this church was a former member of that United Church of God church I had just left. He explained to me that he had left that United church because the singing group he was part of sang too much about “Jesus” according to the pastor of the United church. So he left that United church and started his own church.  And it wasn’t too long before I found that this new church I had begun attending was indeed focusing entirely upon Jesus and discouraging the members of following Torah. I remember hearing one sermon from that pastor when he told us, “don’t even think about trying to keep the Law—it can’t be done—and if you do try, you better keep the whole thing and not falter on any one law…” And that’s me paraphrasing of course.

Well, what can you say to that? Certainly some would focus entirely upon Jesus as in many charismatic churches, while the other side focuses entirely on Torah. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles so to speak. I am of a belief that the two are inseparable–Torah and Grace (Y’shua). It is not one or the other. I believe that Y’shua is the living Word of Yahovah—the living Torah. It is through Y’shua HaMashiyach that we have our being; whom we serve; whom we imitate; whom we obey. Obeying Y’shua means obeying and honoring Torah. Y’shua’s sacrifice on the cross made atonement for our sins once and for all, eliminating the need to sacrifice animals every time we transgressed Torah. Y’shua’s gift of the Ruach Kodesh provides a means for us to keep Torah the way He did, in the midst of an evil and perverted world. Y’shua is our soon coming King–He is our Master today. He will establish His eternal kingdom here on earth. That kingdom, like any other kingdom that has ever existed, has a legal code that the citizens of that kingdom are required to adhere to. We operate in the spirit within Yahovah’s kingdom and thus we live by His code. It is imperative that we keep everything in perspective. It is imperative that we know what it is we believe and are able to articulate those beliefs to whoever may ask us to explain our beliefs. The Apostle Peter wrote: “Be not terrified by those who would terrify you, nor be in uproar: but sanctify Master YHWH the Mashiyach, in your hearts. And be you ready for a vindication before everyone who demands of you an account of the hope of your faith, in meekness and respect, as having a good conscience; so that they who speak against you as bad men may be ashamed for having maligned your good conduct in the Mashiyach.” (1 Peter 3:14-17 AENT)

This is the point behind this Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections for today dear friends: being able to “give an answer to every man that ask of us a reason for the hope that is in us.” (KJV rendering of verse 15). I found myself lacking when this issue confronted me last weekend. Thus, I did not post an episode, but went into deep study and preparation for this episode that you have before you today. Next week, we’ll start putting together an impregnable defense as it relates to our keeping and honoring Torah. This may be the most important series of postings that we’ve ever done. This issue is the dividing point between us and our sorrowfully mistaken and misled cousins of the Christian religion.

Please, as always, don’t simply take the content of this posting as gospel. Study, pray, meditate and maybe even fast. Allow the Ruach Kodesh to reveal to you the truth of this matter. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have on this or on any other content we’ve posted. We’re all on a journey with Messiah. We must each give an account on that fateful day as to how we lived our lives during the years the Father has allotted to us here on earth. We will have to answer alone. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t bless one another with the knowledge and understanding that Father has blessed each of us with today. Isaiah wrote: “Come now, let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa. 1:18 DBY)

We are a community. We can and must learn from one another, if we are to face well the tasks assigned to each of us by our Master. The road ahead is not going to be easy. By virtue of us signing on to be His disciple, many of us are destined for martyrdom, contrary to the pre-trib-rapture Christian belief. It’s gonna take everything we have to make it through the tribulation, that is if we live to see those days. So while it is still day and we still have the freedoms afforded to us to practice our Faith, let us dig deep and hard and rely in some part upon one another for our spiritual sustenance. The writer of Proverbs wrote: “Just as iron sharpens iron, a person sharpens the character of his friend.” (Pro. 27:17 CJB) And with that, I’ll start preparing for next week’s episode. Please come back next time and let’s get into part 2 of this series Grace and the Law.

In the interim, may you be most blessed fellow saints in training. Shavuatov. Shalom.

Music by Dan-O–“The Experiment”
Terms and Names:
  • Y’shua HaMashiyach–Jesus the Messiah
  • Yahovah–Yahweh–Adonai–the sacred names of Creator or as Christians refer to Him as simply God
  • Hebrew Roots/Messianic Believers/Netzari–Torah Observant Believers in Y’shua the Messiah
  • Torah-1st five books of the bible believed to be written by Moses (aka Moshe in Hebrew)

The Prayer Shawl Controversy–Part 1–INAYP 63

Written By: Hilary - Aug• 08•15

The Prayer Shawl Controversy–Part 1

In recent months we’ve noticed a rather disturbing trend taking place in traditional Christianity, especially in the more charismatic circles of the Christian Faith. As more and more adherents/believers/Christians, if you will, are feeling the tug towards the Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith, the church’s leaders are seeing and actually acting upon opportunities to take advantage of their members’ and followers’ interests in things Hebrew or more popularly, Jewish. And again, this seems to be more localized to charismatic churchianity.

It wasn’t but 3-short years ago that so-called Rabbi Ralph Messer, in a rather disturbing and strange ceremony, wrapped Bishop Eddie Long in a Torah scroll and crowned Eddie Long some kind of king. This of course upset to no small degree many traditional and orthodox Jews around the nation and possibly even the world. You can actually see this travesty on youtube.com–simply type in the search term Ralph Messer Torah Scroll Eddie Long and you’ll have a number of video clips that clearly show this incident.
prayer shawl
Other Christian leaders have taken it upon themselves to take hold of the ever burgeoning interest in the Jewish/Hebrew roots of the Christian Faith, taking it upon themselves to teach, preach, produce videos and CDs, and write books on the subject. The vast majority of content on the subject that these preachers are putting out to their flocks is based upon horribly twisted theology, doctrine and Jewish tradition and even mysticism that in the long-run serves only to severely damage their credibility as men and women of Yahovah/Yahweh/Yahuah or whatever name you refer to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by, and worse, lead their followers down a path of spiritual destruction.
The Eddie Long incident is an extreme example of what can go wrong when money and power hungry preachers and teachers see an opportunity to tap into a new trend that they identify as being of potential interest to the so-called Body of Christ. As more and more people who once identified themselves as Christians are leaving Christianity for various and sundry reasons–mainly because they’ve come to terms that Christianity is in and of itself hollow and it is an irrelevant aspect of their overall spiritual lives–these jack-legged preachers are finding themselves scrambling to come up with new, thought-provoking schemes and themes to capture the imaginations of their followers and to keep the cash-flow going.
In this multi-episode series of It’s Not As You Perceive, we explore and discuss one of the latest trends seemingly taking charismatic churchianity by storm in recent months–that being the Jewish Prayer Shawl. As you will see, the issue we will present to you in this series has nothing to do with Christians, or for that matter Jews, owning or using prayer shawls. The issue, as you will hear dear friends, is the false teachings and prophecies that these men and women of churchianity are putting out to their members and followers, potentially leading them astray. Seemingly gone are the days when sermons and teachings were based primarily on what is contained in the Bible. Instead, the sermons and teachings are geared toward appealing to the itchy ears, the greed, and desperation of believers looking for anything that their beloved religion could offer to make their unfulfilled lives match the ill-perceived abundant life that the Master promised to those who would be His disciples.
We warn you that a great deal of what you will hear in this series as being taught, preached and advocated by various preachers and teachers may disturb you as much as it disturbed us when we first heard it. If you are indeed disturbed, then it’s a sure bet that your spiritual discernment meter is properly functioning. After gaining a clear understanding of such false teaching, the challenge then becomes, what do we do with that which we’ve just learned? Let’s discuss and sort this thing out.
This is a combined episode of It’s Not As You Perceive, Episode 63 and Sabbath Thoughts & Reflections 25–The Prayer Shawl Controversy, Part 1.
References:

 

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