Every covenant has a sign. The wedding ring is the sign of a covenant in a marriage. Years ago a simple handshake was the sign of a gentlemen’s agreement. The rainbow was God’s sign of His covenant with Noah, and those who followed right up to this very day, (Genesis 9). God made a covenant with Abraham and  circumcision was the sign, (Genesis 17).

God made a covenant with the nation of Israel in the wilderness when He gave them the Ten Commandments. God said, “Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine,  you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ (Exodus 19:5-6)

And God continues with “ Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.”

(Exodus 31:13)

So did God speak to our forefathers and make a covenant with America, and if He did, what was the sign?

First we must say this, a covenant is binding and it should never be broken. It is made between two entities ,either a man and a woman or a king and his people, each vowing to do their part of the agreement. Yes, there was a covenant made in 1607 and it is called the Virginia Covenant and it was written upon a cross for all to see. It was made by Pastor Robert Hunt and it states this 

“We do hereby dedicate this Land, and ourselves, to reach the People within these shores with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise up Godly generations after us, and with these generations take the Kingdom of God to all the earth. May this Covenant of Dedication remain to all generations, as long as this earth remains, and may this Land, along with England, be Evangelist to the World. May all who see this Cross, remember what we have done here, and may those who come here to inhabit join us in this Covenant and in this most noble work that the Holy Scriptures may be fulfilled.”

The Mayflower voyage consisted of Believers who wanted the freedom to practice their faith. It was a voyage to bring glory to God. In 1620 the Mayflower Compact was written for the sole purpose of law and order for the Mayflower pilgrims and non-pilgrims who were merchants and various skilled workers who created a new colony. One of the main laws was that the colonists would live in accordance with the Christian faith and in the compact there are many references to God. 

In 1631 John Winthrop led 700 Puritans to Massachusetts. He said it like this: “‘Others may come to the New World for wealth and furs.  We have another goal, another end. We have entered into an explicit covenant with God to be His people in this New World.’  And they wanted to be that city on a hill. They wanted to be a model of Christianity for the rest of the world to see.”

David Barton of Wallbuilders said as these early settlers wrote out their covenants, “They were very cognizant of the fact that we answer to God. We need to get God at the center of what we do. If we do, He’ll bless us.  If we don’t, we’re in trouble.”

According to historian William Federer, such compacts became the model for the US Constitution, whose authors were also very much guided by their Christian faith. David Barton goes on to say, “They saw the Constitution as being a very religiously-based document. It was also a very covenantal-based document. We made a covenant. The Constitution is a covenant of these states.” Barton pointed out they studied 3,154 direct quotes from these Founders’ political writings and discovered how much God’s Word figured in them. He summed up, “The number one source was the Bible: 34 percent of all those quotes in those political documents, etc., came out of the Bible.”

Where did we get the three branches of government?  In Isaiah 33:22, “For the Lord  is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord  is our king;  it is He who will save us.”  “The Lord is our Judge {Judicial Branch}…Lawgiver {Legislative Branch}…and King {Executive Branch}.’”

We see on our Liberty Bell the words from Leviticus 25:10a: “Proclaim liberty”.  What was the sign of our covenant with God? Freedom! What was God’s part of the covenant? Protection, provision and prosperity,  like Abraham, God gave us the land. Like Moses, God provided in the wilderness, food and water. He protected them from the heat of the sun, and the cold of the nights. He led them and He never abandoned them. This is true of America. God made America the greatest country. He made us to be the leader of the world and to be a light to the nations for over 200 years. God protected us from our enemies and allowed us to provide food to the world, and we became the wealthiest country ever.

America was a Christian nation. Thirty years ago 90% of the people said they were Christians, but not so today.  Today we have broken faith with God. We have gone our own way. We have  become a lawless nation, a nation who has turned to other gods, like the god of wokeness and the god of climate change, and the god of social justice, all of which is nothing other than the god of politics. We have taken God out of our schools, out of the marketplace and out of our government. No more prayer, no more of God’s Word, no more of God’s Commandments, and even our religious institutions and congregations, have embraced these pagan ways, and pagan holidays . We no longer think that the Ten Commandments are relevant for our times. We no longer see the blessings of God, but only the curses of God. We no longer win wars, we no longer are considered the greatest nation that we once were. We no longer produce the world’s food or even the world’s goods. We are overrun with crime. Our streets are not safe. We call good evil and evil good. We have lost our children and so many are committing suicide. We are losing our freedoms more and more.  The world knows that we have seen our better days and now we are in decline. Our enemies no longer fear us.  Our borders are open and God’s protection is in question. We have broken our covenant with God that this country made when it said “In God We Trust.” The church is not leading the way in setting the right example. It has changed its mission to go out and make disciples, to bring the Good News to those who need to hear the message. It is no longer the True Light.  We apologize for being who God created us to be, as if God did not make everyone to be who they were born to be.  This is an insult to God our Creator, and it is nothing more than bowing down to a pagan god. We must repent and return to God like the prodigal son returned to his father. 

God gave birth to this country, God taught us how to walk as a new nation, God protected us, because we were His children. But now God has to look away because of our sin. There is no holiness, no godliness, no obedience, the light has gone out and the darkness only gets darker. America is making the way for another to take its place, and the one who will replace America will be the New World Order and the leader of this new world will be the antichrist and all will bow down to him.

Those who do not walk by this world’s way will walk under the shadow of the Almighty, and those who are being deceived and falling away from truth will not come under His protection. It’s time to reflect, repent, and return to a Covenant relationship with God, and begin walking in His ways.

It was many years after Joseph died in Egypt that the Hebrew people were put into slavery by the Egyptians.  Because they had become so many,  the king of Egypt feared that they would one day side with Egypt’s  enemies.

So because of this, the King ordered that all the baby boys should be thrown into the Nile River. Moses’ mother waited as long as she could before putting Moses into a basket. She then sent him off in the Nile, hoping that someone would find him, and care for him. We know that Moses was found in that Nile River by the sister of the King, and she kept him, and raised him as her own. Moses grew up in the courts of the king, because he was to be next in line for the throne. So Moses was very educated in the Egyptian ways. One day Moses longed for his people so he went out to the building site to speak with them, but when he got there he saw the foreman beating one of his people.  Moses reacted very strongly and hit the man and he died. Moses was very fearful  and  he quickly  hid his body under the sand.The next day Moses went out again to see his people, but they did not receive him. In fact, they asked him if he was going to kill them like he killed the foreman.  Moses once again feared that the news would get to the King so he ran to Midian. When he got there he sat down and rested by a well. Seven daughters from a Midian priest came to water their flock. Also other shepherds came and began chasing the girls away  when Moses got up and came to their rescue. The girls ran to tell their father what had  happened.  The father told the girls to go and bring this man home. Well Moses ended up staying with them, and he married Zippora, one of the daughters, and they  had two children. Many years had gone by, and one day when Moses was tending the sheep,  the angel of the Lord  appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up.   Moses thought to himself, “I must go over and see this strange sight.  Why does  the bush not burn up?” When he came close God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ God said, ‘I am sending you back to Egypt’. Well, this made Moses  fearful all over again. Moses made one excuse after another, but God would not have any of it. So Moses gathered his family and headed back. On the way back he met his brother Aaron who was coming out to meet him. When Moses and Aaron and the family returned to Egypt  Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83.  They gathered the elders of the people.  Moses showed them the signs that God spoke to him, and the people believed him.

Now Moses and Aaron went to the king of Egypt, and told him that their God wanted them to go and offer sacrifices in the wilderness, but the king said, “Who is this God that I should obey Him? I will not, and I will not let Israel go.”  So the king  made it harder for the people to do their work, and the people no longer believed Moses. This only made Moses discouraged and he cried out to God,  “Why have you brought trouble on this people?” God said, I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.  Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the labors of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments.  Then I will take you as My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord  your God, who brought you out from under the labors of the Egyptians.  I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession; I am the Lord.’”

So as God told them, Aaron threw down his staff before the king, and it  turned into a snake, but his magicians could do the same, but only Aaron’s snake  ate up their snakes. Again the king was not impressed. The next day Moses and Aaron went back to the king and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let my people go that they may serve me,’ but the king refused, and so according to God’s command Aaron took his staff again, and struck the Nile River, and it turned to blood. The fish that were in the Nile died, so that the Egyptians could not drink the water from the Nile.  But the magicians could do the same, so the king’s heart was hardened once again. Moses and Aaron went back to the king, and once again said, “The God of Israel says, “Let my people go.” The king once again said “NO.” So Aaron took the staff, and once again struck the waters of the Nile and swarms  of frogs  came up and went into their houses, and into their bedrooms and in their beds, and houses of their servants, and into their ovens, and  their food. But once again the magicians could do the same. Then the king pleaded with Moses to stop the frogs. But when God stopped the frogs, then the king once again hardened his heart.  Now God tells Moses and Aaron to strike the dust of the earth, and when he did, gnats came upon the people and the animals. But this time the magicians could not do the same, so they told the king this is truly the hand of God, but once again the king would not be moved. So God brought about flies, but this time the flies were only on the Egyptians while  God’s  people were not touched. The king told Moses,   “I will let you go, so that you may sacrifice to the Lord  your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away.” And so the flies left, but then the king hardened his heart once again.

 Moses and Aaron went back to the king once again and told him that the hand of the Lord  will come with a very severe plaque on their  livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks.  But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that not one  will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel. And so it happened,  many of  the  livestock of Egypt died,  but not one of the Israelites’ animals died. And yet once again the king refused to let them go. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of soot from a kiln, and Moses shall toss it toward the sky in the sight of the king.  Then it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and will turn into boils breaking out with sores on every person and animal through all the land of Egypt.” So all of the Egyptians were plagued with boils. But again the king refused to let them go. God said, “Tomorrow I will bring about a very heavy hail as never seen before.  I tell you, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every person and animal that is found in the field and is not brought home, when the hail comes down on them, will die except in the land of Goshen where the Israelites live.” Everyone among the servants of the king who feared the Word of the Lord  hurried to bring his servants and his livestock into the houses;  but everyone who did not pay regard to the Word of the Lord  left his servants and his livestock in the field. The king realized that he had sinned and pleaded for the hail to stop and that the people could go. By now the flax and the barley crops were ruined and many of their livestock had died. When the hail stopped, the king once again hardened his heart and said “No”!  Now God’s message was this, “I will bring locusts upon you, and they will cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has survived the hail and they will eat every tree of yours which grows in the field.  Then your houses will be filled with them, together with the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians. And they did!  For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Therefore nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.  And the people were crying out to the king, “Do you not know that Egypt is destroyed.” But when the locust stopped, the king hardened his heart once again. Moses said to the king, “You must let us go with our children and our livestock so we may sacrifice to our God, if not, God will bring about a darkness, a thick darkness which will  last three days.” So it came, and everyone had to stay in their place because they could not see even one another. So all of the Egyptians stayed in place for three days but where the Israelites  lived there the sun was shining.” Afterwards as usual, the king realized that he sinned, so when the darkness left and once again the king went back on his word. But this time the king said, “Get away from me! Be careful that you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you shall die!”  Moses said, “You have spoken correctly; I shall never see your face again!” Now the Lord  said to Moses, “One more plague I will bring on the king and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will assuredly drive you out from here completely.  Speak now so that the people hear, that each man is to ask of his neighbor, and each woman of her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.”  And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And the man Moses was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of the king’s servants and in the sight of the people. Then Moses said to the king, “The Lord  said: ‘About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the king who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the servant  girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well.  So there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again.  And all these servants of yours will come down to me and bow themselves before me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who follow you,’ and after that I will go out.”

So Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before the king; yet the Lord  hardened the king’s heart, even though he just heard the words of Moses, he still would  not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

Before God brought on the last plague upon Egypt, He first gave His people these instructions “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you.  Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month each family is to take a lamb for themselves.  Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old.You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight.  They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it and when I see the blood I shall pass over it. They must  eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall completely burn with fire.  Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry—it is the Lord’s  Passover.  And you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever.  When you enter the land which the Lord  will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this rite.  And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’  then you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but spared our homes.”  For I will go through the land of Egypt, and fatally strike all the firstborn , from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt. Now it came about at midnight that God’s judgment fell on the land.  The Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of the king who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.  And the king got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.  Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said.  Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”

 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders. Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children.  A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.  And they baked the dough which they had brought, and made unleavened bread. Because they left in haste there was no time to prepare any provisions for themselves. So at the end of 430 years of Israel living in Egypt, on this very day, departed from the land of Egypt. So the people head toward the Red Sea.  Then they came to Succoth and camped, at the edge of the wilderness.  And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from the presence of the people.

 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the king and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this that we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”  So he had horses harnessed to his chariot and took his people with him;  and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.  So the Lord hardened the heart of the king of Egypt, and the king chased after the sons of Israel with all of his horses and chariots,  his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea. As the king approached, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were coming after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.  Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?  Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness!” But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will perform for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again, ever.  The Lord will fight for you, while you keep silent.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.  As for you, lift up your staff and reach out with your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.  And as for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through the king and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots, and through his horsemen.”

“Then the angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.  So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Therefore the one did not approach the other all night. Then Moses reached out with his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.  So the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right and on their left.  Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all the king’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea.  But at the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion.  He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians each said, “Let me flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”

  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out with your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.”  So Moses reached out with his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.  The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, the king’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.    When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses. Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying: I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.  The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name. Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.  And Miriam answered them, “Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea.”

 And so Israel was free and they continued on in the wilderness as God led them.  God provided for them water and food, and protection from the heat of the sun, and the cold of the nights, and from wild beasts and enemies. God was faithful to His people.

After 40 years in the wilderness, Moses gathered the children of those whose parents died during the journey in the wilderness  and spoke to them, remembering all that had happened leading up to the time when they were going to cross into the promised land.  The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

Then I said to your parents,  See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Then they came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.” The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve men, one man from each tribe.  They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol and explored it. Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.”

But they were unwilling to go up; they rebelled against the command of the Lord  God. They said, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. Then I said to them, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,  and in the wilderness.  When the Lord heard what they said, He was angry and solemnly swore:  “No one from that evil generation shall see the good land that was sworn to your ancestors, But your assistant, Joshua  will enter it. So Moses went on to say,   I taught  your parents decrees and laws as the Lord  God commanded me, so that they may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. I told them to observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”  What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?  And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.  Remember the day we stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”  They came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the Lord spoke to us out of the fire. We heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.  He declared  His covenant, the Ten Commandments, which He commanded all to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.  And the Lord directed me at that time to teach everyone the decrees and laws for all to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. We saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to us at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,  so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,  or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,  or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.  And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.  But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you now are. Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?  Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?  Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? Because He loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them,  to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their own land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today. And I summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them.  The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.  It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.  The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. And He said:  “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  “You shall have no other gods before me.  “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,  but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.  “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 

 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.  “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 

 “You shall not murder.  “You shall not commit adultery.  “You shall not steal.  “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.  “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” 

Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me. He said to me, tell  the people,  be careful to do all that I have  commanded them; do not turn aside to the right or to the left so that they should walk in obedience in all my commandments and so  that they may live and prosper and prolong their days in the land that they  will possess. And all the people said that they would do as the Lord asked.  No sooner that I received God’s commands He said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed!  Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.” So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.  When I looked, I saw that they had sinned against the Lord their God; for they  had made for themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before their eyes. At that time the Lord said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”

  All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel,  together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.  You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath,  to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you  who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today. This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,  I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all the people:  “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’  The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said.”

 Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan,  all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea,  the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.  Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”  And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said.  He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.  Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.  The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over. After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:  “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.  I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.  Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.  No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.  Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

 so all the people set out to cross the Jordan River. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,  the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.  The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,  “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,  and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”  And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.

 So  the people of the next generation all came into the promised land as God had promised

Taken from 1 Kings 17-18, 2 Kings 1-2

There was a man whose name was Elijah. He lived in a town called Gilead. Elijah was a righteous man. Elijah was called by God to be a prophet. A prophet is a person who speaks out the words that God gives him to speak. Sometimes he speaks out warnings of things to come. Other times he speaks of God’s love toward us. But in no way is a prophet a fortune teller who looks into his crystal ball. God holds His prophets to strict account, if they do not speak what God tells them to speak. There have been many who have been called false prophets but  they were not, but because the people did not like what God had to say to them they simply ignored them, and told them they were lying.  One of these men was Jeremiah. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet, because the people would not take heed of God’s warning through him. Let’s take a closer look into Elijah and all of his mighty miracles.

Let’s start by looking at what Elijah says to the people. He tells them that until he gives the word, there will be no rain or even dew till then. WOW! Can you imagine if someone told you that he could control the weather and only till he says so will it rain once again? You would think he was nothing but a troublemaker.  Well, this is exactly what the king thought because it did not rain, not in a month, not even in a year. James 5:17-18 tells us this about Elijah, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.  Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”

God tells Elijah to go to the brook east of the Jordan River and stay there. While the brook still had water in it, Elijah drank from the brook, and God sent a raven to feed him twice a day with bread and meat. But the day came when the brook ran dry, so God told Elijah to go to a town called Zarephath, to a widow, who the Lord had called to care for him. As he entered the town, he saw a woman gathering sticks, and he asked her for a drink of water and a piece of bread. The woman told him that she had no food, but only a handful of flour left, and a little jar of oil, and with the few sticks that she had gathered she was going to prepare for her and her son to eat their last meal. Elijah told her, “Do not fear, only go and do as I have said, and afterward you can make bread for you and your son.” Elijah went on to say this, “For this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘The bowl of flour will not be used up, nor will the jar of oil run dry, until the Lord provides rain upon the earth.” The widow did exactly what the prophet told her to do, and sure enough, she had flour and oil till it rained once again.

The days went by and one day the widow’s son was very ill and he died. The woman was in such grief that she began to blame Elijah for this tragedy. Elijah understood her grief and he took the boy and laid him upon his bed. Elijah began to pray to God and he said, “God have you brought this misery upon this widow whom I am staying with by killing her son?” So Elijah stretched himself over the boy three times and called to the Lord and said, “Lord, my God, please let this boy’s life return to him.” Can you guess what happened? Yep, the boy came back to life and he gave him to his mother. The widow tells Elijah , “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the words of God you speak are true.”

Now it has been three years later and God spoke again to Elijah and told him to ‘Go back and see the king and I will have it rain once again on the land.’ As Elijah was walking along the way, he saw his friend Obe, and Obe cried out, “Is it you Elijah?” Elijah asked Obe to go to the king and tell him that he was back in town. Well the king had been looking for Elijah, but could not find him and so Obe said, “Have I done something wrong that you would send me to the king? Don’t you know that if I tell him your back, and God decides to send you away  again, that when he does not find you that he will kill me?  Did you not hear that the queen had begun to kill the prophets of the Lord and that I hid one hundred prophets from her in two caves and fed them bread and water? And now you want me to go and tell the king that you are here?” Elijah reassured his friend that he would go and see the king today and he did. When the king saw Elijah, he said, “”Is that you, you troublemaker.” “No, my king, you are the troublemaker,” said Elijah. 

“You have broken away from God’s commandments, and began worshiping false gods. Now give an order that all of those 450 false prophets be gathered at Mount Carmel, along with all of Israel, and we shall see who is real and who is  false.”

 So they did gather and  Elijah said to the people of Israel, “How long will you go straddling the fence between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if these false gods are the real thing, then follow them, but now we shall see.” So Elijah gave orders to build two altars, one for him, and one for the false prophets, and place the wood upon them.  Then he said, “Let each of us sacrifice to our god. You call upon your god, and I will call upon my God, and the God who answers with fire, He is the true God.” So they did just what he said, and they began calling on their false god from morning to noon saying, “O Baal answer us!” But there was no response. At noon Elijah began mocking them saying, “Cry louder, maybe he is asleep, and needs to be woken up, or maybe he went on a journey.” So they began to cry louder and they began cutting themselves to please their gods, and by the afternoon they were all in hysterics, jumping around and crying to their false gods, but there was no answer, no voice to be heard, nor fire to consume the altar. So by evening time Elijah said to the people to come and gather around him. He took twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes of Israel and placed them around and upon each other.  Then he had them dig a trench around the altar, and had them fill the trench all around with water, and he had them place the wood on the altar, and had them pour four jugs of water upon the wood, not just once but three times, so that everything was well saturated with water. Then Elijah began to pray, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that You are the God of Israel, and that I am your servant, and I have done all of this according to Your words to me. Answer me now so that Your people may know that You O Lord are God, and that You have turned back the hearts of your people.”  Then the fire of the Lord fell, and it consumed the wood, and the fire  licked up the water till it was dry, and the people saw it, and fell on their faces, and began to praise God. Elijah had all of the false prophets arrested.

 Elijah did great things during his life, he was truly a man of God. The day came when God told Elijah that he was being replaced and that he needed to go to a man named Elisha, who would replace him as the prophet to Israel. So Elijah went to anoint Elisha as the new prophet, and they traveled about the countryside till the day that God was going to bring Elijah home. God told Elijah to go to a town called Bethel, which means “House of God.” So Elijah told Elisha to stay in the town that they were in,  but Elisha said, “No, I am not leaving your side.” And so he went with him to Bethel. When they got there the students from the school of the prophets came out and asked Elisha if he was aware that God was taking Elijah home this very day? And Elisha said,  “Yes, I am aware of it.”

Again Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here for God has summoned me to Jericho.” But once again Elisha said, “No, I am not leaving your side.” 

Three times God moved Elijah on, and three times Elisha said he would not leave Elijah’s side.  Elisha had a great love for his teacher. This reminds me of  Peter when three times he denied knowing Jesus. But one day by the seashore there was this discussion in John 21:15-17,

“Now when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My Sheep.”  He said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”  He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was hurt because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

Well, when they came to Jericho, once again, the student from the school of the prophets came out and asked Elisha if he knew that God was taking Elijah home this very day? And once again Elisha said,  “Yes, I know!” Then a third time Elijah said to Elisha, “God has called me to go to the Jordan and you must stay here.”, But Elisha would have none of it, and he went with Elijah. So the two of them went to the Jordan River.  Now fifty men stood opposite of them,  and two men stood by the Jordan.  Elijah took off his coat, folded it, and struck the waters, and they divided, and the two of them crossed on dry ground. Wow! This sounds  like something right out of the Exodus story, when Moses raised his staff and the waters also divided, and when Joshua and all of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground.

When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask me what I should do for you before I am taken from you.”  Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” Elijah said, “If you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, then it will not come upon you.”

As they were walking along, a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and they separated the two men. Then Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. And Elisha was watching it, and he was crying out, “My father, my father, the Chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” And Elisha no longer saw Elijah, and he was filled with great grief. He picked up Elijah’s coat which he had dropped and went back to the banks of the Jordan River, and struck the water with Elijah’s coat, and once again the waters parted and he crossed over.

Elisha went on to carry out God’s works, and he did have a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, and with that, he did even greater miracles than Elijah. This is a great story of how God uses His people for the work of the kingdom of God. We all have different callings, and we all do a different work. 

1 Corinthians 12: 4-7 tells us,  “Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving.  There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are His.  The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.”

Ephesians 4:11-13 says,  “And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ;  until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

But we all have a part to do as members of the body of Messiah. Elisha wanted a double portion of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 goes on to say this, “To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; someone else may be especially good at studying and teaching, and this is his gift from the same Spirit.  He gives special faith to another, and to someone else the power to heal the sick.  He gives power for doing miracles to some, and to others power to prophesy and preach. He gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through those who claim to be giving God’s messages—or whether it is really the Spirit of God who is speaking. Still another person is able to speak in languages he never learned; and others, who do not know the language either, are given power to understand what he is saying.  It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have.”

What about you? God wants to use you. He has a purpose for everyone’s life and that means yours’ also. You may say, but I want to be a fireman, or a nurse, or even a teacher. God can use you wherever you find yourself in life.  God does the calling and He equips us for that calling. He gives us the abilities and the gifts. We just have to be willing vessels.  We have to say, not my will, but let Your will be done.  God uses people in all walks of life, so what about your life? God used Timothy, even in his young age.  Maybe you will be the next Elijah or even another Elisha.

Let’s pray, Father, I ask you today to come into my life and use it for Your glory, to advance Your kingdom. Equip me to do Your work  and let me do great things in Your name. Begin today, and plant those seeds in my heart that will grow to become a tree bearing much fruit in my life. Let me be like Elijah who brought back Your people to you. Let me bring back those who have lost their way.

Genesis 3:8-18 speaks to us about God in the Garden with Adam and Eve. It begins by saying this, “They heard the voice of  the Lord God, walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze.” We know that God must have met with them often and spoke to them because they knew His voice. They heard Him coming. But the question is, how did God appear to them  that they could hear Him coming?  Let’s take a closer look. 

Exodus 13:21-22 says, “And the LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from the presence of the people.” Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:1a tells us this, “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and they all passed through the sea; and they all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”

Paul tells us that God led them by a cloud. He not only led them by a cloud, but He was in the cloud. Let’s continue.

Exodus 16:10 says, “And it came about, as Aaron spoke to the entire congregation of the sons of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.”

Exodus 19:9, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also trust in you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.” Exodus 19:16 says, “So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.”

Exodus 24:15-16 tells us, “Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.” Exodus 24:18 goes on to say, “Then Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.”

We see here that Moses entered the cloud. He entered into the presence of the Lord.  Let’s continue to read further.

Exodus 33:10-11 says, “Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the LORD would speak with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would stand and worship, each at the entrance of his tent.  So the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.”

WOW! Moses saw God face to face or did he?

Exodus 33:18-23 goes on to say this, “Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!”  And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.”  He further said, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!”  Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;  and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.  Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”’

So did Moses see God’s face or not, for certainly the Scriptures would not lie? When the Scripture tells us that Moses spoke to God face to face, it is speaking about the amount of revelation that he received. Let’s look at 

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 which I think will give us the answer. “Love never ends; but prophecies will pass, tongues will cease, knowledge will pass. For our knowledge is partial, and our prophecy partial; but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, argued like a child; now that I have become a man, I have finished with childish ways. For now we see obscurely in a mirror, but then it will be face to face. Now I know partly; then I will know fully, just as God has fully known me.”

So we see that Moses, when he entered the cloud, was in God’s presence, and so he received revelation, not like we receive it, which is partial at best,  but he received it like one who was face to face with a friend. One day we too,  will no longer know in part, but in full, for we  will see the face of God.

So let’s continue.

Exodus 40:34-38 says this, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.Throughout their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up.For throughout their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.”

When God had the people build the Tabernacle it was to recreate the Mt Sinai experience.  God wanted to dwell with man like He did in the Garden of Eden.  Exodus 25: 8-9 tells us this, “Have them construct a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.  According to all that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, so you shall construct it.”

God did not want them to build any sanctuary, but one that resembled the sanctuary in heaven. He wanted the people to experience a little bit of heaven on earth. He is a God of holiness, and He calls us to be holy also, and so the Tabernacle was to be holy, from the utensils, to the furnishings, to the clothes the priests wore, to even the unblemished sacrifices. The Tabernacle was truly a picture of God. And of course, the cloud sat upon the Tabernacle.

Leviticus 16:2 tells us, The LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the atoning cover which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the atoning cover.” Leviticus 16:13 goes on to say, “ He shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, so that the cloud of incense may cover the atoning cover that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die.”

It was the cloud of incense that mingled with the cloud over the ark of the testimony that became as one. God wants us to be one with Him as John 17:8-9 says, “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word,  that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” 1 Corinthians 6:17 also says, “But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

The cloud was not just in Moses’ time as we see here in 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 , “In unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the LORD, and when they raised their voices accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments, and when they praised the LORD saying, “He indeed is good for His kindness is everlasting,” then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not rise to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.” We also see in Matthew 17:5 that God appeared in a cloud  to the crowd in Yeshua’s day.  “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!”  And even  Revelation 14:14-16 says, “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.” 

We see this in Acts 2:1-2, “ When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” John 3:7-8 tells us this, “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.” We see on the day of Pentecost that there was the sound of wind. Did not the Scriptures tell us that God would walk with Adam and Eve during the evening breezes? We also know that on Pentecost and at Mt Sinai there was fire, and fire causes clouds, and we know that God is fire (Ezekiel 8:2) and even His angels are as Psalm 104:4 tells us, “He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.” So I think that we can say that God met with Adam and Eve, and  spoke to them out of the cloud. And how did they know He was coming? Because they could hear the sound of the wind. Let’s conclude with this, one day God is going to create a new heaven and earth, (Revelation 21:1). Revelation 22:3 says this, “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;  they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.” There will be no need for the cloud for now perfection will have come, and we will see God face to face.  1 John 3:2-3 says, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.  And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

The Bible speaks about the second coming of the Messiah in Revelation 19:11-16 . 

It says this,  “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.  His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.  He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.  From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.  And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”’

Why would the Messiah have a sword in His mouth versus in His hand? We know that the armor of God tells us this in Ephesians 6:17,  “And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” 

So is the sword in His mouth the same sword that we are to take into the battle? Does this mean that we are to put the sword into our mouths? Isaiah speak about this in Isaiah 49: 2, “He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me; And He has also made Me a sharpened arrow, He has hidden Me in His quiver.”

Isaiah 51:16, “And I have put My Words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to ]establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

Isaiah 59:21, “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: My Spirit who is upon you, and My Words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”

We know that God is able to put His Words in our mouths. In Deuteronomy 18:18, God says this, “ I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him.”

Psalm 19:14, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Jeremiah 1:9 also says,  “Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put My Words in your mouth.”

But as we see, God’s Word can be fire. Jeremiah 5:14, “ Therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of armies says: “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making My Words fire in your mouth, and this people wood, and it will consume them.”

Hosea 6:5 tells us, “Therefore I have cut them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the Words of My mouth; and the judgments on you are like the light that shines.”

Hebrews 4:12-13 say this,  “For the Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer.”

God’s Word is powerful, and we must tremble at His Word.

Isaiah 66:1-2 says, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,’ says the Lord. ‘But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My Word’” 

 With His mouth He can build up, or He can tear down.  When we speak God’s Word it is just as powerful. Yes, by His Word we too, must protect those who need protection, those who are in need of healing or deliverance, those who need to come to the saving knowledge of God. But we can only do that if we speak the truth. God’s Word can only be spoken in truth by the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit is truth.

John 16:12-15 says, “ I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the present time.  But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Beware of false prophets and teachers who do not speak God’s truth. One day the Messiah will return, and He will divide the sheep from the goats with a spoken Word from His mouth.  We must pick up the Sword of the Spirit, and place it in our mouths, not in our hands, because it is not a club, and follow in Messiah’s footsteps, fighting the spiritual battles that need to be fought every day. Remember, Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

So pick up your Sword in the Spirit, and pick up your cross, and follow Messiah today

Welcome

With the coming of summer and families planning for graduation parties and vacations, this can be a very busy time.  During busy times we have a tendency to pull back on other things that may be considered less important or things that we can do later. So many times people will put off things like going to volunteer at a hospital or nursing home or even giving blood or taking the time for an elderly neighbor. Whatever it may be, let’s try to find someone who could replace us for a few days. The Bible tells us to do good, and when we have to take a pause, well, those we do good for, they are not able to take a pause. So doing good can also be finding a replacement when you are not able to be there.

The Mishkan, the House of Holiness, Part 5

We have seen that the most important thing to God is holiness and purity, in the book of Leviticus it is mentioned 152 times alone. We ended last month with Scriptures about purity. Peter tells us that we are a royal priesthood,  but if we do not understand the priesthood, how can we be that priesthood? Let’s look at

 1 Peter 2: 9-10, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Peter was quoting Exodus 19:5-7, “Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.” 

Peter lived in the time of the temple, he was there when Yeshua drove out the money changers. As Matthew 21:13 tells us what Yeshua said, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.”

Yeshua was quoting  Jeremiah 56:7, “‘Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I Myself have seen it,’ declares the Lord.”

Yeshua knew that God’s house was to be holy. Peter also knew all about the “Garments of Splendor” that were worn by the High Priest. Exodus 28: 1-5 says, “Send for your brother Aaron and his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. They are the ones I have chosen from Israel to serve as My priests.  Make Aaron some beautiful clothes that are worthy of a high priest. Aaron is to be dedicated as My high priest, and his clothes must be made only by persons who possess skills that I have given them.  Here are the items that need to be made: a breast piece, a priestly vest, a robe, an embroidered shirt, a turban, and a sash. These sacred clothes are to be made for your brother Aaron and his sons who will be My priests.  Use only gold and fine linen, woven with blue, purple, and red wool, for making these clothes.”

The white linen represented purity. The Hebrew root word bd for linen is also the same root word used for separation. John 19:23 tells us that Yeshua’s tunic was seamless, like the kind that the high priests wore. Yeshua was also set apart or separated from the world as we too must be set apart and separated from this world.  Yeshua prays in John 17: 17-19, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.  Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world.  And for their sakes I sanctify (set-apart) Myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”

He goes on to say, and all those who come after them; that’s us! Yeshua is our great High Priest, (Hebrews 4:14),  and now He wears the garments of the priesthood. Revelation 1:13b says this,   I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and wrapped around the chest with a golden sash.” 

Exodus 28 : 36-38 also tells us this about the high priest’s garments, “You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, ‘Holy to the Lord.’  You shall fasten it on a violet cord, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be at the front of the turban.  It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take away the guilt of the holy things which the sons of Israel consecrate, regarding all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be accepted before the Lord.”

Revelation 3:12 says,  “The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”

Revelation 22:3-4 says, “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.”

The forehead also represents our thoughts as Philippian 4:8 tells us,  “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” The Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17) which is used to fight the spiritual battle is not just garments and weapons, but it also represents a lifestyle that we are to walk in with the Lord.  This is what Isaiah says about our garments.  Isaiah 61:10, “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a groom puts on a turban, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Revelation 19:7-8 says, “Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself.  It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

Now we are a royal priesthood being built into the temple as Ephesians 2:19-22 says, “ So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah Yeshua Himself being the cornerstone,  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says, “Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that the Holy Spirit dwells among you?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

1 Peter 2: 5  says, “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by people, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,  you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Messiah Yeshua .” 

This reminds me of the song, “Lord Prepare Me to be a Sanctuary” by Randy Scruggs,

“Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true; with thanksgiving, I’ll be a living sanctuary for you.”

If we are to be holy because God resides in us, then we are to offer sacrifices to God. Hebrews 13:15 tells us this, “Through Him then, let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips praising His name.  And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

But God even goes further than this as Romans 12:1-2 says,  “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

So let’s conclude with this, if God is so particular about His sanctuary, and about holiness and purity, then how about our sanctuary of worship, our churches?

Today our worship leaders think they are in a rock band and people are on their phones and some even drinking their coffee and others either talking or not participating in worship. Our church leaders are not setting the example either, many of our pastors do not even believe in what they are preaching . People do not prepare their hearts before worship, and they come with sin, and a lifestyle of worldliness. There is no repentance from the heart. There is no separation from the world. There is no longer a reverence for God or the things of God. Our dress and our ways prove that we are not prayerful people or godly people and God sees it all and He rejects it all. God is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow. We think that because of the Messiah, God has changed, but He has not. God is holy and we are to be holy also, and that means in our homes, our churches, and at work or school, everywhere we go, and in everything we do. Remember, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. God said, “Build Me a Mishkan, and I will dwell among them,” (Exodus 25:8).  Is God dwelling in your Mishkan?

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY

For three years now we have put out our monthly Clarion. 

So we want to start our fourth year with some new changes. 

We hope that you have enjoyed the Clarion these past 3 years, 

but as everything goes in life things change,

 and  we hope that our changes will be to your liking.

Kids Corner: Coloring Sheet : 

Your children will enjoy the Inspectors’ videos on our website.

Just in case you missed it:

Back in December we started a new website for teens and young adults, it’s called

Safety Zone for Teens.com.  This website is a place where teens and young adults can take a pause, and turn around, and reset. We have had good results and we ask that you pray for this website that it will help those who come on it.

Our Social Media Videos have resulted in many people heading over to our “First Aid Kit” on both our websites. If you have not seen any of our social media videos stop by either website today, or you can view them on YouTube. If you are going through a crisis today or know someone who is,  visit the “First Aid Kit” on either of our websites.

Our Podcasts are on a variety of subjects, and the Clarion Call is a shout out about things that everyone should be concerned about.

We have  Teaching Videos for teens and young adults and for your 3-6 years old on both websites. 

We have five different Bible Studies you can do on Judeochrisitanclarion.com, either by podcast on our website or wherever you listen to your podcasts, or simply read them on our website, or maybe you may want to print them, all is possible. Start at: In the Beginning and work your way to Paul and the Elementary Principles are great for new church members or believers.

We also have the Weekly Torah Portion and teachings on all the Jewish Feasts on podcasts or written at JudeoChristianClarion.com.

Kids Corner is great for coloring sheets and puzzles for kids and adults on Judeochristianclarion.com.

 And every month we have a new Teaching Moment and quarterly a new Teaching Letter that you can read and share with others.

If you have not read our Sandigrams then you are missing an opportunity for you to share with those who may be in need to read just this. Our Encouraging Moments on podcast are also good to share with those who need to hear an encouraging word.

And our Brochures are on many topics and you can print them out.

Welcome

July is a great month to remind us of our freedom, but with freedom comes responsibility. First, we must never take our freedom for granted. Second, we must never let ourselves become bound again. Galatians 5:1 tells us, “It is for freedom that Messiah has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Yes,  I’m speaking about our freedom in Messiah, but this can also go for our freedom here in America. Galatians 5: 13-14 also tells us, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.  For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”

As believers in Messiah, and as Americans, either way, we must love one another, and in so doing we will have freedom. We must let go of being divided. We must allow each one to have their own opinion, or else we will consume each other, and that will lead to bondage, and our freedoms will be gone. And as far as believers, there is nothing that takes down a congregation faster than gossip and dissension. But sin in itself, will also destroy a congregation. So as we celebrate, let us remember all those who gave their lives for freedom, and let us also remember our Messiah who gave His life, so that we too, may be free.

Two-Thousand Years Ago

On a cross I hung two thousand years ago. I died for everyone’s sins. I died that you might live—live in eternity with Me. My heart was broken because of sin. Thirty-nine stripes I bore. Because I love you so much, I did not say a word. You spat at Me and hit Me, but even then I loved you. From the dead I rose, and now I sit at the right hand of the Father. On a cross I hung two thousand years ago, and now you are redeemed. Sandiegram/ Hail the King/copyright 2010

Egypt: The Patriarchs, Part 1

We want to take a closer look into Egypt since it has had a significant role in Israel’s history. 

Genesis 9:18 tells us this,  “Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.”

It is believed by Scripture that Noah’s son Ham lived in Africa. During those days the land of Canaan was part of Africa. Ham had four  sons. 

Genesis 10:6 gives us their names.  “The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.” Mizraim could be called the father of Egypt, he was the founder of the Egyptian race and from him sprang the 1st Dynasty. The ancient historian Eusebius thought that the first king of the 1st Dynasty, which was Menes, was Mizraim.   Egypt is called Mizraim by the Hebrews. 

Genesis 10: 13-20 tells us about Mizraim’s sons, “Egypt was ancestor to the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, the Pathrusim, the Casluhim (the origin of the Philistines), and the Kaphtorim. Canaan had Sidon his firstborn, Heth, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanites spread out, going from Sidon toward Gerar, as far south as Gaza, and then east all the way over to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and on to Lasha. These are the descendants of Ham by family, language, country, and nation.”

There is so much that took place in the Prehistoric Age or in Egypt we can call it the Pre-Dynastic Age, which is before the 1st Dynasty. The Bible goes on to tell us about another son of Noah, Shem, who lived in the Middle East and from his line came Abraham.  It is believed that God spoke to Abraham in the year 1894 B.C, when Abraham was 75 years old.  Genesis 12:1-7 tells us this, “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the people which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; so they came to the land of Canaan.  Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time.  And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.”’ It is believed that Abraham arrived in the land of Canaan in 1893 BC.It seems as soon as Abraham came to the land of Canaan, and God told him that He was giving him the land, that he was leaving it, as  Verse 10 goes on to say this, “Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was severe in the land.”

Abraham seemed to feel comfortable in going to Egypt, coming from the land of Ur of Babylon, a great distance away.  According to Donovan Courville in 1893 it is also believed that Osirophus was the first Pharaoh of the 4th Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled 23 years (1901-1878BC). He was also known as Khufu. Khufu is credited for building the largest pyramid, also called the “Great Pyramid.” It is believed that when Abraham went to Egypt, and being a great tribal leader himself, Khufu would have taken notice of him. Josephus, the Jewish historian says this about Abraham, “He communicated to them arithmetic, and delivered to them the science of astronomy, for before Abram came into Egypt they were unacquainted with those parts of learning; for that science came from the Chaldeans into Egypt.

 Josephus could not have known at the time of his writings what we know now about the ancient UR of the Chaldees. Sir Leonard Wooley excavated that area from 1922-1934 and found it to be virtually the world’s first civilization with a remarkable knowledge of astronomy and arithmetic. The early Sumerians were the first to invent writing. They made dictionaries and could calculate square and cube roots. Wooley wrote, “After grammar came mathematics, and we find tables of multiplication and division, tables for the extraction of square and cube roots and exercises in applied geometry- for instance, how to calculate the area of a plot of ground of irregular shape by squaring it off so that the total of the complete square included in it added to that of the right-angled triangle which fill in its contour gives an answer approximately correct.” One other thing Josephus could not have known was that the earliest pyramids of Egypt were an amazing accomplishment, but that they were not exactly square, but Khufu’s pyramid was exactly square, exactly level, exactly orientated to the points of the compass. All this suggests that Abraham may have indeed visited Egypt during the reign of Khufu and imparted to his pyramid builders the knowledge that they needed to accomplish this great task. One other thing, let’s not forget the Tower of Babel and what a great feat that was, even God took notice of it, for the Tower of Babel was most likely taller and bigger in size than the pyramids. 

 Genesis 11:1-7 tells us this,    “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.  As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.  They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.  The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

According to the Biblical Archaeology Society they say that Egyptian historical sources that we now know because of extensive excavations that Egypt prospered during the period known as the Old Kingdom (c2600-2200 BCE.) This was the age of pyramid building and the government and economy were strong.

After Abraham returned from Egypt, he and his nephew Lot parted ways. And this is what Genesis 13:10 tells us how Lot compares the Jordan Valley to Egypt. “Lot raised his eyes and saw all the vicinity of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt going toward Zoar.

Genesis 16: 3 says this, “ And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.” 

It is interesting to see that Abraham had a slave woman from Egypt. 

Genesis 21: 9-10 says,  “Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac.  Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!” Does this sound familiar in any way? Here we have Abraham the father of the Hebrew nation sending the slave woman and her son free, and later we will see just the opposite, the Egyptians setting the Hebrews free.  God says this to Hagar in Genesis 21:18, “Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him”. Is this not what God said to Abraham in Genesis 12? Here is God saying that Abraham( who embodies his future children Israel) and his son Ishmael (who is part Egyptian) will both be great nations. We continue to find more interesting facts as we go through Scripture: Genesis 24:1-4 tells us, “Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way.  Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who was in charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh,  and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live;  but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” It seems that Abraham in no way wanted Isaac’s wife from the line of the Egyptians. So Rebekah, Isaac’s wife was more or less Abrahams flesh and blood, and so would his grandchildren be. After the death of Abraham a famine once again came to the land of Canaan. 

Next month we will look at Isaac and Joseph.

Kids Corner:                         NAMES OF GOD

P     A    E    O    M    A    L    P    H    A    O    M    E     G    A    E     R

B    N    L    Q     O    I      F    A    I    T    H     F    U     L     V    E      J

D    C    S    P     X    T      G   C    T    R     V     O    T    O    H   L      E

L     I    H    S     Z     O     R   H   J     Q    N     P    R     T     J   O    H

P    E    A    D    O    N     A    I    T     X     H     R     A     E    E   H     O

R    N    D    O   P     S     U   J    I     Y      O      F     B     L     H   I     V

I     T     D    X    V    Q     S    T    A    S     G      T     B     G    O   M    A

N    O    A    U    X    E     P    S    O   N     I       O     A     I     V     C    H

C    F     I     W    A    L    N     M    I    P     A       B     D    B     A    R    J

E    D    I     O     K    O    L     T     C    D    V      F     G    H    H    E     I

O    A   T    N     M    L     S    O     B    K     I      A    M    O    N    A    R

F    Y    Z    D     E     A     R    P     D    X    N      Y    Z     R      I    T    E

P    S    L    E     L     M    C    F      H   G    U      J    L     K    S    O    H

E    M    B   R     E     T     L    H      A    S   H     E    M    P    S    R     Q

A    Y     E    F     C    C     F    T      Z    K    E     L     R    O    I    P      N

C    V    P    U    H    Z     Y    A     H    W    E    H     L    B    C    E      L

E    L    E     L    Y     O     N    T     C    O    U    N     S    E    L    O     R

Abba    Adonai    Alpha omega    Ancient of Days    Avinu    Counselor    Creator    EL    ELELYON    ELGibhor ELOHIM    ELOLAM    ELROI    ELSHADDAI    EVERLASTING FATHER    FAITHFUL    HASHEM     I AM     JEHOVAH  JIREH     JEHOVAH NISSI   MELECH    MIGHTY GOD    PRINCE OF PEACE    WONDERFUL    YAHWEH

Hebrew Corner:          

The Omens in the Temple

Forty years before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, many things began to happen, omens, strange things that never happened before. At the time they could not figure out what was happening until its destruction. Of course, Yeshua predicted the destruction of the temple in Matthew 24. “Yeshua left the Temple and was going away, when His disciples came to point out to Him the buildings of the Temple. But He answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”  Here are just a few omens. On the Eve of Passover, the sun turned dark at noon. Several hours later, during the Passover sacrifices, the darkness lifted. At the same time, the earth shook and one of the lintel stones over one of the gates cracked and collapsed. Later that evening, the priests discovered that the great curtain, a very thick curtain, which divided the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, had torn down the middle. It was about that same time that the menorah began to exhibit a strange thing also. When the priests tended to it each morning they found that the lamp that faced the West, the lamp closest to the Holy of Holies, no longer burned through the night, even though it still had oil and the wick still remained. Then during the time of Simon the Righteous, the westernmost lamp burned continuously, even after the other six had burned through their fuel. Other things also happened. During the Yom Kippur service, the “lot” for the Lord did not come up in the right hand; the strip of red cloth did not turn white. The doors of the Temple would not stay closed, but they would open up by themselves. This all happened the same year that Yeshua was crucified. The Temple was destroyed as Yeshua predicted and the historian Josephus actually witnessed the siege and aftermath, and said… “Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury, Titus Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple…”

Other than a few towers and forts for the Roman garrison, everything was destroyed. “It was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe.” These huge stones lying at the base of the southern section of the Temple Mount are a testament to the fulfillment of Yeshua’s  prophecy. Between 70CE and 135 CE, the Roman soldiers stripped the Temple Mount bare — every stone was thrown down. The destruction of the Temple foretold by Yeshua was complete. These were the things that were to come, and did come, and Yeshua predicted them to be a warning to the people.

Romans 10: 6-10 tells us, “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Messiah down),  or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Messiah up from the dead).”  But what does it say? “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the Word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Yeshua as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Paul was quoting this verse from Deuteronomy 30:11-14  “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away.  It is not in heaven, that you could say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’  Nor is it beyond the sea, that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’  On the contrary, the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may follow it.”

Paul was speaking about the righteousness of faith, and Moses was speaking about obeying the Commandments. Could it be that both of them were talking about the same thing?

Paul starts with righteousness based on faith. What was Paul really saying here? Paul is basing  righteousness on the righteousness of Messiah. No need “Going up to heaven,” because the Messiah came in the form of a man and lived amongst us. No need to go down to the abyss, because Messiah rose from the dead. That’s pretty easy! 

Moses says the same thing, about the Commandments, and it is just as easy, for we do not have to go up to heaven or even cross the sea, because God gave us the Commandments on Mt. Sinai.  But Moses was speaking about the one who would proclaim it to the people. The one who would go and get it.

We see Paul was speaking about the same thing. Romans 10:14-15 goes on to say this, “How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?  But how are they to preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”’

 Genesis 15:6 tells us this about Abraham, “Then he believed in the LORD; and He credited it to him as righteousness.

Paul says this in Romans 4:1-5, 13, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God.  For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Now to the one who works, the wages are not credited as a favor, but as what is due.  But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.”

When we see the word Law, we think that we are not supposed to keep the Commandments of God. This is a  wrong translation of the word and we have been taught the wrong meaning. 

 In John 14:15, 23-24 “The Messiah tells us this,  “If you love Me, you will keep My Commandments.” “Yeshua answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will follow My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.  The one who does not love Me does not follow My Words; and the Word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

We seem to forget that Yeshua is the Word made flesh. He embodies the commandments.

Matthew 5:17-20 tells us this, “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.  For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished!  Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. “For I say to you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

In the Hebrew words for abolish and fulfill,  speak about teaching correctly. If you continue to read on in Matthew 5:21-48, you will see that Yeshua begins to correct the people’s thinking on the Commandments. In other words He begins to teach them correctly. Every society and every kingdom has laws. These laws are for the citizens to keep. God also has laws for the people of His kingdom to keep. These laws keep us in right standing or in righteousness. We keep them in faith. We say, by faith I walk out these laws and keep them to the best of my ability, and if I should break one of these laws, unintentionally or intentionally, there is the blood of Yeshua which will cleanse me when I confess with my mouth my sin before God’s court, the blood of Yeshua will wash me clean. I will go from unrighteousness to righteousness by the faith I have in His blood. This is standing by faith in the work of Messiah’s sacrifice, which makes me righteous. 

We want to look at Timothy. Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Greek father. In families today, so many children have parents of different backgrounds.  The Apostle Paul loved Timothy whom he called his son. This is what discipleship is all about. So often today our children are not disciplined, there are, so many children who come from single parent homes, or broken homes. Paul took Timothy under his wing  and taught him everything he needed to know. I’m sure that Timothy’s father taught him many things for life, but Timothy had a heart for God and he wanted to go into the mission field.

Let’s read from 2 Timothy 1: 3-4, “Every time I say your name in prayer—which is practically all the time—I thank God for you, the God I worship with my whole life in the tradition of my ancestors. I miss you a lot, especially when I remember that last tearful good-bye, and I look forward to a joy-packed reunion.”

Just think how Timothy must have felt when he read this, knowing that Paul was not only thinking of him, but praying for him and not once in a while but all the time? Here was Paul, whom Timothy looked up to, reading that Paul missed him and was thankful for him. Children and young adults need this today in their lives. There is so much out there to influence our children, and if we do not invest not only our time, but our heartfelt thanks and appreciation of our children, they will go and seek it out somewhere other than their families. With the internet and social media in particular they are constantly being bombarded with people influencing them from all directions. Even in our schools today they are being pulled in so many directions. 

Paul continues to say this in verse 5,  “That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you!”

Paul reminds Timothy that it was his mother and grandmother who taught him about faith, not by word, but by example. Yeshua did the same with His disciples as we read in Matthew 4:18-22,“ Now as Yeshua was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people.”  Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets; and He called them.  Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.” He took these fishermen and by His example, taught them to go out into the world and catch souls for the kingdom. But Paul did not stop at reminding Timothy of his faith, no, he told him that he must pay close attention to his life.

2 Timothy 1:6-7 goes on to say,  “And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze!  For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”

Paul tells Timothy to fan the flames that burn in his heart for God and His kingdom. We must always keep the fire going in our hearts for God, because if we don’t, we will become nothing but ashes, dead in the grave, cold in our hearts. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, “Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as to avoid hitting air;  but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

Paul goes on to say in 2 Timothy 2: 2-7 this, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful people who will be able to teach others also.  Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Messiah Yeshua.  No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him.  And if someone likewise competes as an athlete, he is not crowned as victor unless he competes according to the rules.  The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.  Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

Discipline helps fan the flame. It keeps you going forward. It keeps you from falling back into old ways and habits.  Paul tells Timothy this in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth.” 

It takes work to be a disciple of Yeshua. We are to let our light shine before men continually. We must follow Yeshua’s example in all things and we too, must fan the flames to keep that light shining before men. We are God’s soldiers fighting the battle, no matter if we  are pastors or teachers or lay people living out our lives for God. We all are in the mission field gathering  in the harvest, no matter if it is at work, or at the marketplace, or in our families. Our faith must keep us in the faith and so we too, must fan the flames to keep before us the purpose to which we were called. Salvation is not exclusive, but inclusive. We are all to be fishers of  those in the sea called this world.  Let’s take Paul’s advice to Timothy.   

Welcome

Well, Summer is going by so quickly,  it’s like the clouds that keep rolling on by.  This is just how life is, it just keeps moving along.

 Psalm 37:23-26 tells us, “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled down, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand. I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging for bread. All day long he is gracious and lends, and his descendants are a blessing.”

We hope that you will have a great rest of the Summer, praising the Lord for each day.  Here is one of our Sandigram’s. They are a great witnessing tool, and feel free to print off a copy or two and hand them out to your neighbors or friends, even your co-workers.

The Wings of the Wind

Lord, let me ride on the wings of the wind as I soar to Thee. Along the way, let me sit on a cloud as I look in wonderment at the beauty of the sky. Look down upon me and bless me as I lift up my praises to Thee. As I ride on the wings of the wind, fill my heart with joy as the excitement swells within my soul as I reach Thee.

Sandigram/The Robin/copyright 2010

As our study continues with Israel’s time in Egypt, we hope that you enjoy the next several months. This study is full of interesting thoughts and connections in God’s Word.

Egypt: The Patriarchs, Part 2

Last month we read about Abraham and his journey to Egypt. Now we want to move forward with Isaac.

Genesis 26 :1-6 says this, “Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you.  Live for a time in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.  I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,  because Abraham obeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws. So Isaac lived in Gerar”

Why did God not allow Isaac to go into Egypt and yet He allowed  Abraham?

Maybe because his children had been born and Jacob was to go into Egypt later in his life.  So this takes us to Isaac’s son Jacob, who will take a journey into Egypt, because of famine in the land. While Abraham was in Egypt during the 4th Dynasty, his grandson Jacob did not migrate there till the 12th Dynasty.

Hyksos Dynasties. 

So who were the Hyksos?  According to the Harper Atlas of the Bible, these were foreign rulers and the name Hyksos, in Egyptian  means Chiefs of foreign countries. They were Semitic people and they had more in common with the Hebrews than the Egyptians, maybe this is why Abraham felt comfortable in going to Egypt at the time of the famine. From the time of Abraham to Jacob, a growing number of Semitic foreigners from Canaan lived in Egyptian society, from the poor to the rich. They attached themselves to large households or served in temples and in their administrations.  During an excavation one large Egyptian household contained the names of 79 domestic servants, over half of them being with Semitic names such as Jacob, Issachar, and Asher.  During the 13 Dynasty the population grew and we find Semitic names, and at least one  had a Semitic name Pharoah Khendjer, ( Semitic: Hanzir meaning boar). During the century 1750-1650 BC one or more West Semitic chiefs became part of the East Delta, the so-called name of the 16th Dynasty. 

From almost the beginning of the Middle Kingdom people from Canaan were infiltrating the eastern Nile Delta and King Amenemhet I built a wall to keep “Asiatic” out of the country. Through excavation the eastern Nile Delta shows that at the end of the Middle Kingdom, in the period known as the Second Intermediate Period, Canaanites who had lived in the region had expanded and taken over much of the eastern Nile Delta, essentially conquering Egypt from within. Egyptian text refer to them as heqau khasut which means “rulers of foreign lands,” a term that the Greek historians such as the Third-Century BCE priest Manetho, corrupted into “Hyksos.” Manetho explains that Dynasties 14, 15, 16 were all Hyksos dynasties. The Hyksos kings adopted Egyptian royal style and retained a basic Egyptian bureaucracy as they welcomed fellow-foreigners  into the administration as they transitioned into the 14th Dynasty worshiping their pagan gods as they ruled from canaan and out of this, the Egyptians were determined to keep such invaders at bay and so was born the Egyptian empire in the Levant. So let’s look at the Joseph story beginning at his sale into slavery. The brothers of Joseph hated him because he was Jacob’s favorite and their father gave them no attention whatsoever. Genesis 37:21-28 tells us this, “So they plotted to kill him. But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands by saying, “Let’s not take his life.”  Then Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that later he might rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father.  So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the multicolored tunic that was on him;  and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. Then they sat down to eat a meal. But as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying labdanum resin, balsam, and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt.  And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?  Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.  Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. So they brought Joseph into Egypt.”

We see here that this Ishmaelite caravan  (remember Ishmael was Abraham’s first son and his mother was Egyptian) was carrying labdanum resin, balsam and myrrh on their way down to Egypt, and what does Jacob tell his sons to take back to this man that they did not realize was Joseph? Genesis 43:11 tells us, “Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and carry down to the man as a gift, a little balsam and a little honey, labdanum resin and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.” (So we know that Israel prospered with the export of these items, though some have been lost over the years, but are now once again beginning to be produced.)  But as we read carefully Genesis 37:28,  it was some Midianite traders who got to Joseph first, and pulled him out of the pit. Abraham had more sons than just Isaac (by Sarah) and Ishmael (by Hagar). He also had six sons by Keturah, his wife after the death of Sarah: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah (Genesis 25:2). The Midianites were the descendants of Midian and therefore children of Abraham. They settled in “the land of the east” (Genesis 25:6). We will see how the Midianite play a role once again in the time of Moses. The sum of twenty shekels is correctly written in the Bible for they have found legal tablets from the city of Mari that this was the price for a slave. But the Scriptures make it sound like the Midianite traders were the ones who sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites and not the brothers.  Let’s look again at Genesis 37:28  along with 29-30.  “Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. So they brought Joseph into Egypt. “29-30” Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments.  He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?”  

Yes, the brothers put him in the well, but they did not sell him, even though most of them wanted to. The story continues in Genesis 39:1-2, “Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.  And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.”

We saw earlier in this article that many people found themselves in Egypt as servants to royalty and to the very rich. Now we know that Joseph finds himself in prison over the lie of Potiphar’s wife.  Genesis 39: 21-23 says, “ But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison.  And the warden of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it.  The warden of the prison did not supervise anything under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him; and, the Lord made whatever he did prosper.” 

Here we get insight into how the Egyptian prison system worked. They have discovered records from ancient prison registers and they had a director, who was the captain of the guards and keepers or wardens. Prisoners were filed under seven listings from name and sex and their time spent right up to discharge , which closed their case. We learn of butlers and cup holders who held prominent roles in the courts of Pharaoh. Nehemiah 1:1 says, “ Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa (Shushan) the capital. Nehemiah 2:1 says this, “And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I picked up the wine and gave it to the king.”  We see Nehemiah was a cup holder for the king. 

Joseph was forgotten by the baker and cupholder till one night Pharaoh had a dream. Genesis 41:14-32 tells us that Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams.

We will continue to look closer into Joseph next month.

Kids Corner:

 How many words can you make out of  the word

FAITHFULNESS

1.____________________________                                             2._______________________

3.____________________________                                            4.________________________

5____________________________                                              6.________________________

7.____________________________                                             8.________________________

9.____________________________                                            10._______________________

11.____________________________                                         12.________________________

13._____________________________                                        14._________________________

15_____________________________.                                        16._________________________

17._____________________________                                        18._________________________

19._____________________________                                        20.________________________

21.____________________________                                          22._______________________

23.___________________________                                          24._______________________

25.___________________________                                          26._______________________

27.___________________________                                          28._______________________

29.___________________________                                          30._______________________

We found 40 words.

Hebrew Corner:       The Apostles Teachings

After Yeshua ascended back to heaven, the apostles were now on their own. 

Acts 2: 42-47 says,  “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,  praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” 

The body of believers had a real sense of community. We must remember that all the believers were Jewish, and they believed in hospitality. Don’t forget Abraham as we read in Genesis 18:2-5,   “When he raised his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground,  and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.  Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree;  and I will bring a piece of bread, so that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do as you have said.”

Hebrews 13:1-2 says,  “Let love of the brothers and sisters continue. Do not neglect hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

1 Peter 4:9 tells us, “Be hospitable to one another without complaint.”

But they did not only share with each other, and were hospitable, but they devoted themselves to the apostles teachings. There is a book called the Didache, that is strongly believed to have been written by the apostles which was used as a catechism book for new believers. Of course there were the writings, and the Scriptures itself which were all part of their teachings. But this is like the “How to do it” book. Our Bible study on Elementary Principle is a great study for new believers or old, with the Didache written into it. We think you will enjoy it and find many things interesting as the apostles believed it to be.

https://judeochristianclarion.com/elementary-principles-bible-study/elementary-principles-bible-study/

Many states today still have the death sentence. Many people are still in favor of it for crimes of  murder. Though many of our Supreme Court Justices are not in favor of it, because they cite that an innocent person may die by mistake. They have softened their stance over the years, and they believe that, well, if it is a brutal killing maybe. They have also been concerned that dying by the electric chair is brutal, or even by injections can be brutal if the person dies slowly, of course, none of this takes into consideration how the victim died, and the fear and anguish he suffered. Years ago we would hang a person for stealing a horse. Today, in many states and cities, they can steal all they want, and it is well with the souls of our DA’s. We want to take a closer look into this, and see exactly what the Scriptures speak to us about this topic, but we will have to take the long way around. We know that all crime is sinful. The Ten Commandments tell us this in Exodus 20:13-17,  

“You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery. 

You shall not steal. 

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. 

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Many people do not believe that they have to keep the Commandments, but Yeshua, not only believed in keeping the Commandments, but He even expounded on the Commandments as He tells us this in 

Matthew 5: 21-22, “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you,  leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Come to good terms with your accuser quickly, while you are with him on the way to court, so that your accuser will not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will not be thrown into prison.  Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last penny.”

Yeshua says this because the spirit of anger and rage, bitterness and unforgiveness are all the same spirit as murder. He also says to quickly make things right between you and your brother, neighbor or friend. Also this is in Matthew 5:27-30, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;  but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  Now if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.”

Yeshua tells us that coveting is a serious matter, that all you have to do is to look with lust. You see that coveting and lust are the same spirit as adultery. Yeshua even adds this in verses 31-32, “Now it was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away is to give her a certificate of divorce’; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

This verse is completely ignored!

Yeshua goes on to say this in Matthew 5:33-37, “ Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’  But I say to you, take no oath at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God,  nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  Nor shall you take an oath by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.  But make sure your statement is, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil origin.”

God takes vows very seriously and we should too. We see Yeshua saying this right after He speaks about divorce. In Exodus 19:5-8 God makes a covenant with His people, asking His Bride if she would follow the marriage vows, and they said this, “Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”  So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak.  The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.”

Today we are swearing to all kinds of things using God’s name in vain, swearing by heaven and this is totally against God.

1 Peter 2:9-12 tells us that we too, like Israel, have been called to enter into that marriage agreement. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  Beloved, I urge you as foreigners and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.  Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God on the day of visitation.”

In Matthew 5: 43-48 Yeshua says this, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same? Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Once again Yeshua tells us about hate which is murder and He tells us that even our enemies, those who cause our lives to be difficult, those who persecute, and murder us, are to be forgiven and loved. Paul also tells us in Galatians 5:19-21 this, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior,  idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions,  envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

These are just a few examples, but Yeshua made it quite clear  in  Matthew 5:17-20 “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.  For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished!  Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. “For I say to you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

You see breaking one of God’s commandments is breaking the covenant. Scripture tells us that the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. Yes, the death sentence will be pronounced by God, who is the judge over all things. People think that just because Yeshua died for our sins that they can now live how they want, or that they do not need to repent of their sins, but this is not true. Yeshua did not abolish the law. He made the way for us to repent, which means to turn back from your sin, and become righteous in God’s eyes.  Paul tells us in Romans 2:1-13 “Therefore you have no excuse, you foolish person, everyone of you who passes judgment; for in that matter in which you judge someone else, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.  And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, you foolish person who passes judgment on those who practice such things, and yet does them as well, that you will escape the judgment of God?  Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,  who will repay each person according to his deeds:  to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life;  but to those who are self-serving and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give wrath and indignation.  There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of mankind who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek,  but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law;  for it is not the hearers of the Law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law who will be justified.”

There has been a lot of wrong teaching over the years, and it is time that we begin to live according to God’s Word. He is holy and we are to be holy, 1 Peter 1:16. Holiness is in the keeping of that which sets us apart from the world and that is keeping the Commandments of God and walking in His ways. The Bible was written for those who intend on walking in God’s ways, not for those who have no intention of doing so. Over and over again God makes it clear that He is the Righteous Judge, and He will judge accordingly. Sin separates us from God and if we continue in sin Hebrews 10:26-31 says this, “ For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,  but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.  Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?  For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”  It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

 2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us,  “ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Messiah, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad.”

And again in Romans 14:10-12, “But as for you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you as well, why do you regard your brother or sister with contempt? For we will all appear before the judgment seat of God.  For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, to Me every knee will bow, And every tongue will give praise to God.”  So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Yes, there is a death sentence to all who refuse to repent of their sins, and turn to God, the Righteous Judge, for we will all stand before Him one day.

We are first introduced to Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18. Abraham’s nephew Lot was taken captive during a war amongst several kings. When receiving the news, Abraham and his men went to rescue Lot. “After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). Then Melchizedek, king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,  and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,    Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High,    who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”’ So people ask, “Who is this Melchizedek?” Hebrews 7:1-4 says this, “This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him,  and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.”  Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!”

Let’s take a closer look. Let’s start with the fact that he was a priest of God, but not any priest for he was without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.  Now let’s start at the beginning. What we  know is this, the Angel of Light, the Shining One, yes, Lucifer was the first high priest who stood before God. Ezekiel 28:12-19 says this,  “Son of man, take up a song of mourning over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared.  You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.”

What Scripture is telling that he wore the Breastplate as we read in Exodus 28:15-20, “You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, the work of a skilled embroiderer; like the work of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, of violet, purple, and scarlet material, and fine twisted linen you shall make it.  It shall be square and folded double, a span in length and a span in width.  And you shall mount on it four rows of stones; the first row shall be a row of ruby, topaz, and emerald;  and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond;  and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;  and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold filigree.” 

Remember, Moses was to build the Tabernacle with all of its vessels and furnishings, and even garments, according to the heavenly pattern he saw. So the Shining one fell and Melchizedek took his place. The Scripture says that he was without father or mother or genealogy or beginning or end which would describe an angel. You see with God there is no time. The angels were created before the foundation of the world. They were created to be immortal, and much like Adam, who also had no mother or father or genealogy, and would have lived forever except he sinned and the result of that was death. Many people think that Melchizedek was Yeshua because of Hebrews 5: 8-10  which says this about Yeshua, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” And again in Psalm 110:4,  “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Yeshua was made a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, instead of the order of Levi, because we are talking about heavenly things. God resided in the earthly tabernacle, the Mishkan, where earthly people ministered, and so God chose the tribe of Levi to be its priests. Yeshua came down to earth momentarily, but then He ascended back to His Father, in which time God appointed Him to be the High Priest who stood before Him, thus replacing Melchizedek. Now let’s continue with the story.  “Then Melchizedek, king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,  and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,    Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High,    who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” Melchizedek brings out bread and wine. Where else do we see this in scripture? Well let’s put this in context. Abraham won a great battle. He saved many people.  For you to totally get the picture, let’s  jump to Yeshua and then go back. Matthew 26: 26-29 says this, “Now while they were eating, Yeshua took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”  And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you;  for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.  But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it with you, new, in My Father’s kingdom.”

Yeshua was partaking in the Passover Seder which happens to have bread (unleavened)  and wine. This of course was before a great victory (on the cross) to save a people. Melchizedek, who was the king of Jerusalem, (of which one day Yeshua will sit on the throne of King David and rule and reign for one thousand years in Jerusalem, Revelation 20) was showing Abraham something very remarkable. In John 8:56 Yeshua gives the people a great revelation. “Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” Now let’s go back  to after the war of the kings where God says this to Abraham, in Genesis 15:13-14, “Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.  But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with  many possessions.” God shows Abraham another revelation, that his people will be enslaved in a foreign land but He will set them free. Now we know that Moses was told to keep the first Passover, and they too had a great victory.  Finally Abraham tithed a tenth, not in money, but in the spoils of war to Melchizedek, because he was a king, and also, he was a high priest of the Most High God, so in tribute, Abraham tithed. Again a foreshadowing of the Aaronic priesthood who also received tithes back in its day. So many times God gives a foreshadowing of things to come, and if we are paying attention to it we will see God’s revelation before us, Matthew 24, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 2 Peter 3:3-4, Luke 21:25-26, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3. We must know the signs of the time.

Welcome

It’s amazing how fast time goes. It seems like it was just yesterday that the year began, and now we will be entering into Autumn. Soon the holiday season will be upon us. Psalm 90 which is a prayer of Moses says this, “Lord, You have been our dwelling place  in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth,  or You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God. You return man to the dust and say, “Return, you children of men. For a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a night watch in the night time. You carry them away as with a flood;    they are as a dream, like renewed grass in the morning: In the morning it flourishes and grows up;     in the evening it fades and withers…The years of our life are seventy,  and if by reason of strength eighty; yet their length is toil and sorrow,   for they soon end, and we fly away…So teach us to number our days,   that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” Yes, it is a sobering thought, but it teaches us to appreciate life.

Ephesians 5:13-16 says, “But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and the Messiah will shine on you.” So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

Colossians 4:2-6, “Continue in prayer, and be watchful with thanksgiving,  while praying also for us, that God would open to us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Messiah, for which I am also in chains,  that I may reveal it clearly, as I ought to speak.  Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, wisely using the opportunity.  Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you should answer everyone.”

As we see the time go by, and our lives are fleeting, we need to consider not only our length of days, but our opportunities to advance the kingdom. It’s time for us to be saving up our treasures in heaven and not on this earth.

Egypt: The Patriarchs, Part 3

We have been looking closely into the relationship between Egypt and Israel. We stopped last month with Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams, and so we want to continue looking at this story. I think you will find it very interesting.

 Genesis 41:33-37  tells us what Joseph’s plan would be to bring the people through the famine. “So now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and appoint him over the land of Egypt.  Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him take a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt as a tax in the seven years of abundance.  Then have them collect all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and have them guard it.  Let the food be used as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.”  Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.”’

We know that the Holy Spirit is the giver of  wisdom, knowledge, understanding and discernment. 

 Isaiah 11:2 says, “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD.”

We find in Acts 6:3, that the apostles also needed to choose wise men. “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.” Genesis 41:38-44 continues to say, “Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom there is a divine spirit?”  So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are.  You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people shall be obedient to you; only regarding the throne will I be greater than you.”  Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I have placed you over all the land of Egypt.”  Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen, and put the gold necklace around his neck.  And he had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed ahead of him, “Bow the knee!” And he placed him over all the land of Egypt.  Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”  

It is believed that the Pharaoh who would have made Joseph second over Egypt would have been the Pharaoh Sesostris I.  So we see here that Joseph was elevated  to second-in-command and all Egypt bowed down before him. We see this in the Esther story with Haman  

Esther 3:1-2 says, “After these events King Ahasuerus honored Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and promoted him and established his authority over all the officials who were with him.  All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded regarding him.”

When reading the Scriptures on Joseph we can only conclude that God had His hand on Joseph’s life. Every event, good or bad, was all directed by God to prepare Joseph for a time like this. We see the same thing  with Queen Esther and you will find that to be true with anyone who walks with God. Genesis 41:45 continues to say, “Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of  Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

Scholars have tried to determine the meaning of this name. The best they came up with was “revealer of hidden things,” but others say it means, “sustainer of life,” which is more in line with his mission. What is interesting is that Pharoah gives Joseph Asenath for his wife. You see that enath ending of her name is in his. Asenath means “she who belongs to Neith (goddess).” So who was this Asenath and who was her father Potiphera, priest of On? The city of On was  northwest of Cairo. It was a cultic center of the sun-god Re (Jeremiah 43:13).  The city had outstanding architectural features with columns and colonnades. Potiphera’s name means “He whom RE has given.’ The Father, being a priest, would have had the title, “Greatest of seers.” So Joseph would have married into elite Egyptian nobility. We know that it was common to have your name changed when in a foreign land, Daniel was changed to Belteshazzar, Hananiah to Shadrach,  Mishael to Meshach, and Azariah to Abed-nego. Esther was changed from Hadassah. Gen 41:50-52 says, “Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.  Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh; “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all of my father’s household.”  And he named the second Ephraim; “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” We know that Joseph was a godly man and he would have raised his children with the belief that there was only One True God. If this was not true Jacob would not have included these children in his blessing. Genesis 48:5-6a says, “Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.  But your children that you have fathered after them shall be yours.”

Genesis 41: 53-57 goes on to say,  “When the seven years of plenty which had taken place in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said, then there was famine in all the lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.  So when all the land of Egypt suffered famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do.”  When the famine was spread over the entire face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Then the people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.”

Wait! Did we just read that Joseph sold them their own grain? Was that what he told Pharaoh in the beginning when he told him the plan? They already gave the gain as a tax and now they have to buy their own grain back? I can see charging the people who came from other places, but not the people who already gave of their own crop. We will continue to look into this as we go. Now let’s continue with the story. In Genesis 42:1-5 we see that Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy some food. Genesis 42: 6-9 says, “Now Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.  When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. He said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”  But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him.  And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them, and he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land.” 

Let’s look at these dreams of Joseph. 

Genesis 37:5-8 tells us about Joseph’s 1st dream. “Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.  He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had;  for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf stood up and also remained standing; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”  Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.” Genesis 37: 9-11 goes on to tell us his 2nd dream, “ Then he had yet another dream, and informed his brothers of it, and said, “Behold, I have had yet another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”  He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Am I and your mother and your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you?”  And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.”

Next month we are going to bring all this together and unravel the Joseph story

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Hebrew Corner:       Stephen the First Martyr.

Acts 6: 8-12, “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.  But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.  But they were unable to cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.  Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”  And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away, and brought him before the Council.”

  The Apostle Paul was a member of the Synagogue of the Freedmen. These men were mainly freed slaves or prisoners of Rome, and after they were freed settled in Jerusalem. Stephen was put on trial because he spoke out about Yeshua being the  Messiah. Many false witnesses spoke out against Stephen. Stephen was not against the Temple, nor the Torah, nor Judaism. Stephen went through the whole history of the Patriarchs and Moses, and yet, they could not see that  he was not speaking to them about anything different than what they believed. It seems that the more he spoke the more they grew angry. Then he said this in Acts 7: 51-53, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.  Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, and you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him;  you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.” 

So many people today do not receive the truth, because they are not taught the truth.  According to statistics, we have many pastors today who do not even believe, let alone live, by what they are preaching, and when you speak to them about the Scriptures, they too, get angry. These men did not believe Stephen, and they dragged him out of the courtroom and stoned him. It was like in the old west when people thought you were guilty they took the law into their own hands and hung you. One witness pushed him over the precipice, and another threw a heavy boulder on his chest. This is what their anger and hatred did to Stephen. Acts 7:59-60 says, “They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Yeshua receive my spirit!”  Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.”

As Saul of Tarsus stood holding their cloaks Stephen died in the arms of the Messiah. The first of many who would die for the truth of the Gospel.

We want to start by looking at the Scriptures about the Tree of Life Genesis 2 :8-9, 16-17 says this, “The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.  Out of the ground the Lord God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” “ The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat;  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Genesis 3: 1-3 tells us, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”  The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;  but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.”’

So let’s fast forward to Proverbs 3:13-18, “Blessed is a person who finds wisdom, and one who obtains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver, and her produce better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are those who hold on to her.”

The question is why did one tree bring life, and the other tree brought death? Wisdom is God’s Word. He and His wisdom are one. So then who is wisdom? Wisdom is the Holy Spirit. In fact there are seven spirits to the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 11:2 speaks of these seven, “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD.”

1 Corinthians 12:7-11, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,  to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines.”

Now Yeshua, He and the Spirit are one. Ephesians 6: 17-18a says, “And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit.” So now we have gone full circle. The Spirit and the Word are one, and Yeshua is the Word made flesh. So the Tree of Life was like eating the Word. As Proverbs 3 tells us, it is better than silver or gold or jewels but long life is in her right hand and God’s riches (wisdom) which brings honor in her left hand. Yeshua is the Bread of Life and we must eat of Him (the Word), so God never told Adam or Eve that they could not eat from the tree of life. On the other hand, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a different story because  2 Corinthians 3:7-9 tells us, “But if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones, came with glory so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,  how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?  For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness excel in glory.”

Romans 7:7-13 also says, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? (Commandments) Far from it! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”  But sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.  I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin came to life, and I died;  and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;  for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it, killed me.  So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? Far from it! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by bringing about my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.”

2 Peter 2:20-21 says, “ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Messiah Yeshua, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”

So you see, when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it opened their eyes to just that, good and evil, and now there was no turning back. Sin brings death, and so they now knew the way of righteousness, but their sins would only bring them death.  Today, take hold of the Tree of Life (God’s Word) and it will bring you life.

Welcome

Don’t you just love the Fall colors? God is the God of abundance. He did not just give us one shade of red or yellow or even green. No, He gave us many shades and many varieties and so He also gives us many options. We can go right or left or up or down, but each option may have a different result. We have the option to do right or to do wrong, to do good or to do bad, to help or to neglect. Everyday we make these kinds of decisions. If we make the right decisions then life takes on a beauty like those Fall leaves. If we make the wrong decision, then life takes on the death of Fall. God is life, and sin is death, so we should celebrate life, but too often, especially lately, believers want to celebrate death.  Halloween is just that! It is a celebration of death. It in no way honors God, at least not the one true God. Yet, believers today think that they can participate if they use it to witness to unbelievers , so they dress up like Bible characters. Yeshua never went to pagan celebrations to preach to the crowd. In fact, we are to be set-apart, holy, like God is holy. We are not to go to a bar to witness to unbelievers, nor take part in their revelry. 1 Peter 4:1-5 tells us this, “Therefore, since Messiah has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,  so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human lusts, but for the will of God.  For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of indecent behavior, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries.  In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excesses of debauchery, and they slander you;  but they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” You may think that it is harmless for your children to go trick or treating, but it is not harmless, for it tells your children that they can sit on the fence of good and evil. Dying to your past life can be beautiful, just like an Autumn day, but when we return to our past ways, it is like Proverbs 26:11 tells us, “It is like a dog that returns to its vomit, so is a fool who repeats his foolishness.” Today, enjoy the beauty of the season, for while the leaves are on the tree, there is still life. John 15:5-6 says “ I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” Choose life, not death! 

Happy Autumn

Egypt: The Patriarchs, Part 4

We ended last month with the two dreams that Joseph had when he was younger. It seems that these two dreams showed Joseph was in power and his family were all bowing down to him. Pharaoh has just made Joseph one step away from being Pharaoh of Egypt. So let’s continue on with the story. So the people of Egypt were already buying back their own grain, and here comes Joseph’s brothers, to buy grain for their families. Joseph, after being in Egypt all those years, dressed, and talked, and even looked Egyptian, so the brothers would not have recognized him. But what is interesting here is that they were all bowing down to him just like in his dream. Now, if we get into Joseph’s head we can surmise that this gave Joseph a great feeling of satisfaction. I’m sure that just being second in command gave him an empowering feeling. So Joseph begins to play a little cat and mouse game with his brothers by calling them spies. Genesis 42:15-17 says, “And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.  Send one of your numbers to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”  And he put them all in custody for three days.”

Joseph felt he had a right to test his brothers to see if they were the same as when they put him into the pit. Genesis 42: 18-21 continues, “On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God:  If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households.  But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.” This they proceeded to do.  They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.”

It was certainly working because he questions their honesty, and they begin to question the past. Joseph does everything he can to cause them to fear and to question and to be distressed.  I’m sure he felt distressed when in the pit, and then being taken away from his family and being sold. Well, the story goes that they had to come back and they brought their younger brother Benjamin, and seeing Benjamin, Joseph had to express his feelings, and expose his identity. Everyone hugged and kissed each other and all was forgiven. Joseph sends for his father and the whole household of Jacob to come and live in Egypt. So now Jacob finds himself in Egypt during a famine like his grandfather Abraham. Genesis 46:26-27 says this about who came to Egypt. “All those who went to Egypt with Jacob, those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives numbered sixty-six persons.  With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all.”

It is important that the Scriptures tell us the number who came to Egypt with Jacob, and we will see why as we go on. Like Abraham, Joseph’s family is welcomed with open arms from Pharaoh. Genesis 47:1-6 tells us this, “Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.”  He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?” “Your servants are shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our fathers were.”  They also said to him, “We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.”  Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you,  and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

Well, now that Joseph and his family are reunited let’s get back to the famine. Joseph is still 2nd in command of all of Egypt and the famine still had many years before it was going to end. Genesis 47:13-17 goes on to tell us this, “There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine.  Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace.  When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.” “Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.”  So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.”

We see here that Joseph has collected all the people’s money and now their livestock. You have to wonder why? Let’s take a moment to consider a very important thing here. Joseph originally told Pharaoh that he should collect a fifth of everyone’s grain. The people for seven years lived on 4/5th of their crop, now you have to wonder how then can they now live on only 1/5 of their crop? And not only that, but people from all over came to buy grain. This had to be a miracle of multiplication from God. We see this in 2 Kings 4:42-44, “A man from Baal Shalishah came to Elisha. He brought 20 loaves of barley bread from the first harvest to Elisha. He also brought fresh grain in his sack. Then Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.” Elisha’s servant said, “How can I feed 100 men with so little?” But Elisha said, “Give the bread to the people to eat. This is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and will have food left over.’”  Then he gave it to them. The people ate and had food left over, as the Lord had said.” We also see Yeshua doing this same thing when feeding the 4,000 and then the 5,000 with just a few fish and loaves. (Matthew 14:13-21, Matthew 15:29-39) We see that God was in control during this whole famine, and in the bringing back of Joseph’s family not in the land of Canaan but in Egypt. With that thought we must look at the end of the story. Genesis 50:5-21 tells us this, “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”  So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died:  ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.  So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.” 

No one knows the plans of God, what we may think is a wrong being done to us, or a bad situation, can be used by God for good, so we must learn to trust God in all situations. We will end here at Genesis 47:18-25, “When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land.  Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.” So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s,  and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other.  However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had enough food from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground.  But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.” “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.” We will continue next month with Moses.

Kids Corner:    Match Game

Test your younger children with this match game.

Can you match the name with the place?

Adam                                   Wilderness

Noah                                     Jail

Joseph                                   Nazereth

People of Israel                   Ark

John the Baptist                  Garden of Eden

Jesus                                      Lion’s Den

Paul                                       River Jordan

Daniel                                  Tent of Meeting 

Aaron                                   Mountain

Moses                                   Egypt

Hebrew Corner:                 The Martyrs

James the Great.

After the death of Stephen we see James the Great. James was the son of Zebedee. His younger brother was the Apostle John. Matthew 4:21-22 speaks of Yeshua’s first encounter with James and his brother John. “Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets; and He called them.  Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.” James and John were related to Yeshua, their mother Salome, was Mary’s cousin.  James along with his brother John, and Peter, formed an informal triumvirate among the Twelve Apostles in the Gospels. Yeshua allowed them to be the only apostles present at three particular occasions during His public ministry, the Raising of Jairus’ daughter, Mark 5:37, Transfiguration of Yeshua, Matthew 17:1, and Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane Matthew 26:37.

Ten years after the death of Stephen, Herod Agrippa was appointed governor of Judea around CE 44. Herod Agrippa, began to persecute Christians and he thought a good place to start was with their leaders. Now do not get confused with James the brother of Yeshua, who was the head of the Jerusalem Council. Matthew 20:20-22 tells us this, “Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Yeshua with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.  And He said to her, ‘What do you desire?’ She said to Him, ‘Say that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine shall sit, one at Your right, and one at Your left.’  But Yeshua replied, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’ They said to Him, “We are able.”’

Acts 12:1-2 says this, “ Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church, to do them harm.  And he had James, the brother of John, executed with a sword.”  Clemens Alexandrinus tells us that when James was led to the place of martyrdom, his accuser, overcome by conviction, repented of his conduct when he saw the Apostle James’ great courage in the face of death, that he fell at James’ feet and asked for forgiveness. He also asked if he too could be beheaded alongside him.  The day came when James did finally drink the cup that Yeshua was speaking of.  The site of martyrdom is located within the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of St. James in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem. The Chapel of St. James the Great, located to the left of the sanctuary, is the traditional place where he was martyred. His head is buried under the altar, marked by a piece of red marble and surrounded by six votive lamps. With much of church history, there are legends, and myths, and so often embellished by people, that the correct account may never be known, but we do know that the Bible records history correctly.

 Just as there is day so too, there is night, and just as there is light, there is also darkness.  We can also say as there is life, there is also death.  We find this is true of people. The Bible speaks to us about a falling away from the true Light, the Light of His Word. It speaks about people of the day and people of the night.  John 3:19 says,  “Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.”  Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 this, “You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.  Therefore let us not sleep as others do. But let us be alert and sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

Matthew 24: 10-12 speaks of  people falling away from the light and into the darkness, with great lawlessness. “And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another.  And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people.  And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold.” 

We see that the darkness brings a change in a person’s life,  2 Timothy 3:2-5 says this about the falling of mankind, “For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,  unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”

The Lawlessness that is in the world will usher in the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness. There is more than just crime that is included in darkness. It includes the celebration of holidays here in America and around the world such as Halloween and even Christmas. Over the decades Halloween has exploded with popularity. It is no longer dressing up and going trick or treating after school. Today there are adult parties alongside the kids going door to door, in fact even churches are getting in on the day. So how did this day come about? Well, according to the History Channel the tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats. We are horrified when we see pictures of death and destruction and yet once a year we glorify death and darkness and we spend, as a nation, billions of dollars on portraying death and rewarding those who dress up as people who bring death. Why wouldn’t we find people who go out and reenact just horrific crimes? According to the Library of Congress, the Festival of Samhain marked the transition to the new year at the end of the harvest and beginning of the winter. Celtic people believed that during the festival, spirits walked the Earth. Later on, Christian missionaries introduced All Souls’ Day on November 2, which perpetuated the idea of the living coming into contact with the dead around the same time of year. In order to avoid being terrorized by all the evil spirits walking the Earth during Samhain, the Celts donned disguises so that they would not be mistaken for spirits themselves and be left alone. There is much debate around the origins of trick-or-treating, but generally there are three theories. The first theory suggests that during Samhain, Celtic people would leave food out to appease the spirits traveling the Earth at night. Over time, people began to dress as these unearthly beings in exchange for similar offerings of food and drink.  The second theory speculates that the candy boom stems from the Scottish practice of guising, which is a secular version of “souling.” During the Middle Ages, generally children and poor adults would collect food and money from local homes in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls’ Day. Guisers dropped the prayers in favor of non-religious practices with the inclusion of songs, jokes, and other “tricks.” A third theory argues that modern American trick-or-treating stems from “belsnickle,” a German-American Christmas tradition where children would dress in costume and then call on their neighbors to see if the adults could guess the identities of the disguised. In one version of the practice, the children were rewarded with food or other treats if no one could identify them.

The traditional Halloween colors of black and orange also traces back to the Celtic festival of Samhain. For the Celts, black represented the “death” of summer while the orange symbolized the autumn harvest season.  Playing pranks often varies by region, but the pre-Halloween tradition known as “Devil’s Night,” is credited to a different origin depending on the source. Some say that pranks started as part of May Day celebrations. But Samhain, and eventually All Souls Day, also included good-natured mischief. When Irish and Scottish immigrants came to America, they brought with them the tradition of celebrating Mischief Night as part of Halloween.

The game of bobbing for apples has been a staple at Halloween parties for many years, but its origins are more rooted in love and romance. The game traces back to a courting ritual that was part of a Roman festival honoring Pomona, the goddess of agriculture and abundance. While multiple versions existed, the gist was that young men and women would be able to predict their future relationships based on the game. When the Romans conquered the British Isles in 43 AD, the Pomona festival blended with the similarly timed Samhain, a precursor to Halloween.

The tradition of carving  Jack-o’-lanterns originated in Ireland using turnips instead of pumpkins. It is allegedly based on a legend about a man named Stingy Jack who repeatedly trapped the Devil and only let him go on the condition that Jack would never go to Hell. But when Jack died, he learned that Heaven did not want his soul either, so he was forced to wander the Earth as a ghost for eternity. The Devil gave Jack a burning lump of coal in a carved-out turnip to light his way. Locals eventually began carving scary faces into their own turnips to frighten away evil spirits.

The idea of being spooked by black cats dates back to the Middle Ages, when these dark felines were considered a symbol of the Devil. It didn’t help that centuries later, accused witches were often found to have cats, particularly black ones. People began to believe that the cats were a witch’s “familiar”–supernatural entities that would assist in their practice of dark magic–and black cats and spookiness have been linked ever since. 

For much of the early history of Halloween, towering bonfires were used to light the way for souls seeking the afterlife. These days, lighting candles have generally replaced the large traditional blazes. Bats were likely present at the earliest proto-Halloween celebrations, not just symbolically but literally. As part of Samhain, Celts lit large bonfires, which attracted insects, which in turn, attracted bats. Soon spotting bats became connected with the festival. Medieval folklore expanded upon the eeriness of bats with a number of superstitions built around the belief that bats were harbingers of death. 

The act of going door-to-door for handouts has long been a part of Halloween revelries. But until the mid-20th century, the “treats” children received were not necessarily candy. Things like fruit, nuts, coins, and toys were just as likely to be given out. Trick-or-treating rose in popularity in the 1950s and it inspired candy companies to market small, individually wrapped candies. People began to favor the confections out of convenience, but candy did not dominate at the exclusion of all other treats until the 1970s when parents started fearing anything unwrapped.

You may say that may be true, but who knew, or we don’t celebrate to honor paganism. That is the lie of the devil. You do not see a child of the devil, one who hates light and hates God walking in His ways. We do see people today who practice darkness and still think in their mind that they are in the light , but they are not. Yes! Every time you sin and do not repent knowing that it goes against God’s Word you are not in the Light. Believers should know that God is a God of life and not death. He is a God of Light and not darkness. The Bible uses words like the hint or the appearance of darkness or evil.  We must be witnesses of the Light, the True Light and we can not sit on the fence and still be a witness to True Light. It is this True Light that will lead people to God, not some version of light that will only keep people in the darkness. Truth never comes from a lie. We want to look at the celebration of the Birth of our Messiah. This too came from a lie. The Emperor Constantine, in the 4th Century, declared that the religion of the Roman Empire would be Christian, to please his mother, but he himself worshiped many pagan gods including the sun god, this is why today we worship on Sunday and not the 7th day Sabbath. How can we even be a witness to His Creation, declaring that He is the Creator, if we ourselves do not rest on the 7th day Sabbath?  Because of the worship of the sun god, we have what they call halos in every Christian painting, the sun bursts, to honor the sun god, but the halo is used in many pagan religions. Wikipedia tells us this about halos:  They are on painted wares from south Italy, radiant lines or simple halos also appeared on a range of mythic figures: Lyssa, a personification of madness; a sphinx; a sea demon; and Thetis, the sea-nymph who was mother to Achilles. The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the sun-god Helios and had his usual radiate crown (copied for the Statue of Liberty). Hellenistic rulers are often shown wearing radiate crowns that seem clearly to imitate this effect.  So the Church made it their own and reimagined it as the Light of God. Once again taking pagan symbols and trying to mix the light with the darkness. We also celebrate the birth of the Messiah on December 25th, because Constantine ordered that date to celebrate the birth of the Messiah to coincide with the birth of his pagan sun god. As the head of the church he also changed Passover and called it Easter after a pagan god. So we now have Christmas trees and Easter bunnies, eggs and mistletoe, yule logs and Santa Clause, all pagan, in which they have their roots in pagan worship. It does not matter if we know the root of it all or not. We still are practicing paganism which God does not accept in any form, if we have the knowledge of it or not. God gave us His Biblical Feast days. These are not just for Jewish people, they are God’s Appointed Times for all those who call themself God Fearers. It is widely believed that Yeshua, (and we should use His real name, because it is the only name which means God’s Salvation), was born on the first day of Sukkot. The Feast speaks about God with us and He being our dwelling place. The eighth day, which is called Shimat Torah, is the celebration of the Word of God. It is also widely believed that Yeshua was circumcised on this eighth day. God does nothing outside of His Appointed Times. If it has to do with anything Biblical it happens on one of His appointed times. December 25 is not one of God’s Appointed Times. We must be a true witness to the world, a true Light, if people are going to be saved. A lie will not save people. There is no holiness outside of God’s Word. No godliness. No life, for only God’s Word brings Life. Yeshua said that He was the Bread of Life. Proverbs tells us that God’s Word is the Tree of Life. The Holy Spirit will cause us to have Springs of Living Water flow from within us. This is light, this is life and when we turn from this in any way shape or form we begin to fall into the darkness.

2 Corinthians 6:14-16 tells us this, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Messiah with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?  Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God.”

And again in 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, “I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.  You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”

Let us not be deceived. Let us not ignore the truth. Let us not fall from the light into the darkness, because everyone else is doing it, or because this is what we have done all these years, or but it is just innocent fun. The night of the Devil is just that, for the Devil, and not for the people of the day!

Every year we celebrate Christmas and usually it is a very fun time of year, with food, gifts, parties, mistletoe, lights and I’m sure you could add a few other things to the list. We begin with Good Ole Saint Nick at the beginning of December and we end with Santa Clause, with Father Time bringing in the New Year.

So let’s look at these people who have contributed to this season called “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year,” a great song which was sung by Andy Williams back in 1963 which was written by Edward Pola, and George Wyle. Here is the first verse to the song. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year with the kids jingle belling, and everyone telling you, be of good cheer, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

This along with other favorite Christmas music has generated what we feel today about Christmas. But is this all true or maybe it’s all make believe. We want to take a closer look into Christmas. Let’s start with Santa Clause that began centuries ago. Santa Clause, sometimes called the Father of Christmas, also has a dark side to him.  Let’s start with Saint Nick. Nicholas of Bari was a Bishop of Greek descent in the 4th Century, from the city of Mrya which is today Demre in modern day Turkey.  He was imprisoned and likely tortured during the persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor Diocletian but was released under the rule of Constantine the Great. Constantine began Christmas as a tribute to his mother so she could celebrate the birth of her Son of God, while he celebrated the nativity of his god who was the sun, which was celebrated on December 25th along with the Winter Solstice.  According to Britannica, Nicholas was known for his generosity and giving to the poor. Today we celebrate St. Nick on December 6th by giving children little gifts, maybe filling stockings hanging on a fireplace, all of which begins the Christmas Season.

There are many stories of his giving, but Nicholas is best known for being what we call Santa Clause today. It all began in Holland, where his legend persisted as Sinterklaas (a Dutch variant of the name St. Nicholas). Dutch colonists took this tradition with them to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the American colonies in the 17th Century. Sinterklaas was adopted by the country’s English-speaking majority under the name Santa Claus, and his legend of a kindly old man was united with old Nordic folktales of a magician who punished naughty children and rewarded good children with presents. But kindly he wasn’t.  Evidence of this comes from the ways that the Sinterklaas ‘universe’ expanded to include a host of frightening, violent characters who dished out punishments to naughty children – including Krampus, Pere Fouettard (‘Old Man Whipper’), Ru-Klaus (‘Rough Nicholas’), Pelsnickel (‘Furry Nicholas’) and Knecht Rupert (‘Farmhand Rupert’).

The Norse god Odin played a role in the development of Santa for pagan Germanic peoples. Yule was the celebration of the god Odin riding through the sky on a great hunt and meant a time of feasting, drinking and festivity. With the spread of Christianity, the pagan traditions of Yule were altered to reflect the teachings of the church, but there are still some notable similarities between Santa Claus and Odin, a mythical man with a long beard and omniscient power.  Legend has it that Odin also had two ravens who would listen at the chimney’s edge to hear which children were bad and good, and rode an eight-legged horse called Sleipnir, who could travel across the sky in a single bound, just like a magical reindeer! Forget cheery elves jingling with bells: many traditional companions of Saint Nicholas are terrifying figures. Krampus, for example, is an Alpine legend. A companion and counterbalance for the good-hearted St. Nicholas, he is a goat-like demon  who will snatch misbehaved children away on December 5 (Krampusnacht), the night before St. Nicholas comes to deliver presents to good children.  The Yule Lads of Iceland play tricks on naughty children and leave rotten potatoes in their shoes instead of treats, and in France, Père Noel has a foil named Père Fouettard, who whips the badly behaved. And you thought coal in your stocking was the worst that could happen… In Finland, the Santa tradition started with a goat. Pagan Yule in Finland revolved around Odin’s son Thor, who was associated with goats and the harvest. On Yule feast nights, villagers dressed as nuuttipukki, a combination of a malevolent spirit and a goat, came from door to door demanding leftovers. Over time, the nuuttipukki combined with the St. Nicholas tradition to form the friendly Joulupukki (Yule Goat). Now more a man than goat, he goes door to door, politely ringing the bell to ask if there are any good children within. Yule Goats continue as a popular form of decoration in Scandinavia as a whole, and some become larger than life town centerpieces! Much of this came over to America by way of those immigrants who settled here. The resulting image of Santa Claus in the United States crystallized in the 19th century, and he has ever since remained the patron of the gift-giving festival of Christmas.

Words like yuletide or yule log come from this dark side of Christmas. Christmas has been more of a pagan ritual celebrating the Winter Solstice, than it has been in celebrating the birth of the Messiah. Over the centuries Father Christmas and Santa Clause seem to merge into one character. By the 20th Century popular songs of the time created a new image of Santa and Christmas. This beloved jolly man warmed the hearts of many of children, and their parents that the old seemed to have been forgotten. The roots lie beneath the tree and the fruit now seems to look good enough to eat. The modern Christmas trees have been related to the “tree of paradise” of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24th of December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays, a tree decorated with apples (representing fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thus to the original sin that Christ took away) and round white wafers (to represent the Eucharist and redemption) was used as a setting for the play. Like the Christmas crib, the Paradise tree was later placed in homes. The apples were replaced by round objects such as shiny red balls.  Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmas time.  But between the root and the fruit there lies the birth of the Messiah, which was all man made from the start. Are we like Eve who ate of the forbidden tree? Not everything that glitters is gold. Today we don’t seem to care about the beginning of things. The roots are down deep and we don’t see them so like Halloween and Christmas, it’s all about the fruit we see. That is what Eve thought also and she found out that it’s the fruit that brought death. The spiritual forces that play themselves out during these pagan times are very much active and their only goal is to get you to eat the fruit, and once you do you are sold a bill of goods that says, “I am participating in a pagan holiday if I know it or not and I am participating in demonic activity if I realize it or not.” Because the roots of the tree is what supports the tree and good fruit can not come from a bad tree as this harsh warning in Matthew 7:15-23 says it all. “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?  So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  So then, you will know them by their fruits. ‘Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and in Your Name cast out demons, and in Your Name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice Lawlessness.”’

Anything that God has ever done He has done during His Appointed Times (Leviticus 23). December 25th is not one of God’s Appointed Times. Constantine was not a Christian but a pagan who worshiped the sun god, it was the nativity of the sun god that Emperor Constantines included the Savior as the day of His birth. It is well believed that Messiah was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. You may want to think twice before eating the fruit of the tree called Christmas.

We are living in a time of great uncertainty. The world is at a crossroad.  The things of old have passed because in this new millennium, it seems that we have done away with the old, the traditions and the time tested truths. Today’s generation thinks in a totally different way. But the enemy of our soul  still has the same ambitions and that is to conquer the world. The Bible speaks of one who will come and do just that. He will rule the world as Revelation 13:7-10 says,  “ It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given to him over every tribe, people, language, and nation. All who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slaughtered.  If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”

So first there must take place a great apostasy, a great falling away from God and truth, and everything that leads to holiness and godliness and, quite frankly, everything that leads to civilization as we have known it in the modern era. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 tells us ,”Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Messiah Yeshua and our gathering together to Him,  that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,  who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

 We want to begin by looking at this little book of Jude. Jude was the half brother of Yeshua, the Messiah. He gives us great insight into today’s world. We begin at Jude 3-4, “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints.  For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Messiah Yeshua.”

Jude wanted to begin by writing about salvation, but not just anything about salvation but our common salvation. You know the things we have in common, like we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord. We have all been created by God. We all live on this planet together which was created by God. We have all been saved by Yeshua’s shed blood. You know the common things we share. But then the Holy Spirit grabbed hold of his heart and said, Wait! I have more pressing issues. There is a great spiritual battle taking place and everyone must fight this battle. So, earnestly contend for the faith. This faith, the bedrock of our walk with God.  The foundation of what we believe is being uprooted. It is being challenged, it is coming under attack by spiritual forces behind the scenes by people unnoticed.  You have to ask yourself, if someone comes into my congregation and is an enemy of God, you would think you would notice?  No, that is too obvious. The devil is cunning, he is LIKE an angel of light.  Jude wants to remind his readers of a few things and tell us what we are contending against. Jude 5-16 continues to say, “Now I want to remind you, though you know everything once and for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.  And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling place, these He has kept in eternal restraints under darkness for the judgment of the great day,  just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in sexual perversion and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet in the same way these people also, dreaming, defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak abusively of angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him an abusive judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’  But these people disparage all the things that they do not understand; and all the things that they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.  Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have given themselves up to the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.  These are the ones who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, like shepherds caring only for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;  wild waves of the sea, churning up their own shameful deeds like dirty foam; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these people that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord has come with many thousands of His holy ones,  to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’  These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”

Jude  gives us a short history lesson into the different ways people  rebelled against God. The people of  Sodom and Gomorrah who were like the fallen angels who left their own habitat and went after strange flesh. Israel who rebelled in the wilderness, Cain who killed his brother over jealousy and Baalam who sinned because of the love of money, and Korah who rebelled against Moses’ God given authority.  Jude goes on to write this about the ungodly sinners. He says, that they are hidden, their deeds are done in darkness.  John 3:19-21 tells us this, “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.”

 He speaks of  shepherds caring only for themselves. Who are these shepherds? They can only be pastors or bishops, people who tend the sheep. Jude is warning us that those that have crept into our congregations are hidden, because they are cunning. No one goes around saying things like I’m in it for the money or because I have a problem with godly people and so I want to deceive them. Many of our shepherds belong to the Masonic Lodge and have made vows to idols. Many of them are plants who have been assigned to deceive those who are weak. Most of all, our forefathers of the church changed God’s Word to fit their doctrine, instead of their doctrine fitting the Word of God. Many pagan ideas came into church doctrine through these founding fathers and so called doctors of the church, and they stripped the Jewish foundation to the Word of God in all of their counsels and have reduced Yeshua to Jesus who now is more Greek than Jewish, ( see the series on the Sins of our Forefathers). 2 Timothy 3:1-8 says this, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,  unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.  For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak men and women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith.  But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres.”

Ephesians 5:6-13 says,  “See that no one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them;  for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light  (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), as you try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  Do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;  for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.  But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

Even Jude is warning us of such things as he continues. “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Messiah Yeshua,  that they were saying to you, ‘In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’  These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.  But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,  keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Messiah Yeshua to eternal life.  And have mercy on some, who are doubting;  save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy,  to the only God our Savior, through Messiah Yeshua our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and   forever. Amen.”

We know that church attendance is down. We see that teens and young adults are not sitting in pews. We know that less and less people are identifying as Christians or church goers. We see that we are in the end times according to the Scriptures. So what  does this all mean? It means that it is time for revival.

Revelation 12:17 is one of many Scriptures that speaks of persecution by the antichrist. “So the dragon was enraged with the woman (Israel), and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Yeshua.”

Revelation 13: 15-17  speaks of those being killed who do not worship the beast. “And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause all who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.  And he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, and he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.”

Revelation 2:10-11 says this, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Messiah may rest upon me. For the sake of Messiah , then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

So we know by just a few of these Scriptures that persecution is coming, and in fact, is already here. So how is the best way to prepare for what is coming, that is actually right before us? Revival, true Revival. A true revival is more than a month or two, it actually can last for many years. In April 9, 1906, Los Angeles experienced a revival that lasted for at least three plus years and it spread to over fifty nations.  Wm. J Seymour, a black preacher, is credited for the start of the Azusa St. Revival. Here is a little excerpt which was written at the beginning of this revival. “On the night of April 9, 1906, Wm. J Seymour and seven men were waiting on God on Bonnie Brae Street, when suddenly, as though hit by a bolt of lightning, they were knocked from their chairs to the floor, and the other seven men began to speak in tongues and shout out loud praising God. The news quickly spread; the city was stirred; crowds gathered; services were moved outside to accommodate the crowds who came from all around; people fell down as they approached, and attributed it to God; people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and the sick were said to be healed.” From there they moved to a building at 312 Azusa St. It is recorded that even the bars closed in the area and people from all over headed for Los Angeles, 312 Azusa to experience the closest thing to  the day of Pentecost. So how does a revival begin?  Well, it begins with much prayer and fasting. Acts 1:12-14 says,  “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.  When they had entered the city, they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying, that is, Peter, John, James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.  All these were continually devoting themselves with one mind to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Yeshua, and with His brothers.”

It was also recorded worship at 312 Azusa Street was frequent and spontaneous with services going almost around the clock. Among those attracted to the revival were not only members of the Holiness Movement, but also Baptists, Mennonites, Quakers, and Presbyterians. An observer at one of the services wrote these words: “No instruments of music are used. None are needed. No choir for the angels have been heard by some in the spirit. No collections are taken. No bills have been posted to advertise the meetings. No church organization is back of it. All who are in touch with God realize as soon as they enter the meetings that the Holy Ghost is the leader.”

Acts 2:1-4 records this, “When the day of  (Shavuot) Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and a tongue rested on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different tongues, as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out.” This was their revival. 

Exodus 19:18-19 tells us about what happened on Mt. Sinai at the giving of the Torah (Shavuot) and how it compares to the same day we call Pentecost.  “Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the entire mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder.”

And this was their revival.  We too, must be praying and fasting so that we may have our revival with great signs and wonders  and miracles.  Like minded people need to gather and have genuine prayer and calling out to God, with true repentance, forgiving those we need to forgive and seeking God for His will in our lives,  letting go of this world and preparing for what is coming to those who believe in the Messiah Yeshua.   Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

In Jeremiah 33:3 God also says this, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

Isaiah 57:15 says ,“For this is what the high and exalted One says— He who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”’

Acts 3:19 tells us this, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Not only do we need to be revived, but so does our country.

 2 Chronicles 7:14 says,  “ If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

We also need our places of worship to be holy.  Matthew 21:12-13 says, “And Yeshua entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.  And He said to them, ‘It is written: My house will be called a House of Prayer; but you are making it a den of robbers.’”

Our sanctuary must also resemble God’s heavenly sanctuary. If it was important for Moses to build it exactly the same then it has to be important for us. God is Holy and we too, must be holy. Today, start praying earnestly for revival and begin by changing your lifestyle and you will be prepared for the coming persecution.

This teaching is for those who truly want truth.

Church History

Over the centuries our faith has changed, the gospel message has changed and even our Scriptures have changed and yet God never changes, He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So why do we think that we must change God or His Word?

You will find most of this documented in our series called, 

“The Sins of Our Forefathers”

https://judeochristianclarion.com/special-teachings/sins-of-our-forefathers-part-1/

We will see exactly how and why the truth was changed. To do that we must look at church history so we can see how we got to this place today.

The truth did not change all at once but over time. This was not evaluation, but mutiny. We see at the end of the First Century that the teachings of the Messiah were being preserved because the Apostles were teaching the people what they had learned from the Messiah. In fact, it was all written down and later put in a book called  “The Didache.” It was what we would call a Catechism book for new believers. But from the start we are warned in the Scriptures about the antichrist and many who had his thinking even back then (1 John 2:18).

 Peter tells us that Paul was being misunderstood. 

2 Peter 3:14-18 tells us this, “Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, (about the end times) be diligent to be found spotless and blameless by Him, at peace,  and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,  as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.  You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unscrupulous people and lose your own firm commitment,  but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Messiah Yeshua. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 

(See our Bible Study on Paul.) https://judeochristianclarion.com/paul-bible-study/paul-bible-study/

Days of Darkness

In part four of our series on the “Sins of our Forefathers,” 

https://judeochristianclarion.com/special-teachings/sins-of-our-forefathers-part-4/

we read this: The early church writers traced all the Gnostic Christians from the 2-4 Centuries back to Simon Magus. These false Christians slipped into the church like a contagious and leperous disease teaching gnosticism in the manner of their forefather Simon Magus. Justin Martyr once said, “Simon Magus established a cult of followers who worshiped him like a god.” Even Peter confronted Simon Magus when he was in Rome.  After the death of James, Peter went back to Jerusalem, but legend has it that Yeshua spoke to Peter in Jerusalem and told him to  immediately leave and go to Rome to fight the enemy, the adversary of the Master and the brethren. https://judeochristianclarion.com/special-teachings/sins-of-our-forefathers-part-5-2/

There were many who came out of Alexandria, Clement for one. Alexandria, Egypt was one of the most important cities of the First Century. It was the center of learning anything Greek, science, literature, mysteries and Christianity. There was a theological school for the instruction of new Christians and this is where we find Clement. Clement was the first member of the Church of Alexandria who was a distinguished teacher. He united Greek Philosophical traditions with Christian doctrine and he valued spiritual mysteries.  Like Justin Martyr he developed a Christian Platonism, which were ideas from Plato and was well versed in pagan literature. We must stop and understand that God’s chosen people were the Jewish people. Yeshua went about preaching and teaching and doing good in Israel. The first recorded counsel was located in Jerusalem, Acts 15. Romans 3:1-2 says this “Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First, that they were entrusted with the actual words of God.” 

Romans 9:4b-5 also says this, “Who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and daughters, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the temple service, and the promises;  whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Messiah according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”

So we see first, we went from the Jewishness of Yeshua and His disciples to Greek philosophers. Let’s continue with Clement. Clement is best known for his famous pupil and successor Origen who was only eighteen when he became head of the school in 203 CE. 

Origen interpreted the Scriptures allegorically and showed himself to be a stoic, a neo-pythagorean and a platonist. He wrote  that the soul passes through successive stages before incarnation as a human and after death, eventually reaching God. He imagined even demons would be reunited with God. Origen taught the allegorical method of interpretation of the Scriptures which denies the literal meaning of God’s Word, as to say, “This is what God meant.” This way you can make it mean whatever you want it to mean. Many of Origen’s students became leading theologians of the early church. Clement also taught that the Jews were guilty of plotting to kill Chrisitans. Origen’s fame and influence was recognized throughout the Roman world, even by the Emperor. The Gentiles wanted to completely separate themselves from the Jews and to do this they had to have their own interpretation of God’s Word. This came with the method of interpreting the Bible allegorically, this was the Greek method of interpretation. The Bible is meant to be interpreted literally , unless it states otherwise, like Paul using Sarah and Hagar as an example, in Galatians 4:24, when Paul says,  “This is speaking allegorically, for these women are two covenants: one coming from Mount Sinai giving birth to children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar.” It is important to know the background of the Scriptures to know when something may even be an idiom or a metaphor, or even irony, all of which are figurative language. 

Eusebius was a great admirer of Origen. He wrote the history of the first three centuries of the church and is considered the “Father of Church History.”  He taught that the promises and blessings in the Tanakh were for the Christians and that the curses were for the Jews. He declared the church was the “true Israel of God” that had replaced literal Israel in God’s covenants. It was this teaching that Hitler used to justify the Holocaust.  Eusebius became the bishop of Caesara and he became a very close friend and advisor to the Emperor Constantine. 

It Was Never the Same Again

Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, the Emperor of the Roman empire, changed Christianity forever. You can say that he was the biggest factor in the way we worship today.  Constantine became a Christian though he continued worshiping his sun god. His mother Helena was a Christian, and so Constantine declared that the whole Roman Empire would be Christian in the edict of Milan in the year 313. He now ruled over the  empire not only in its politics, but also in its religion, the church and the state together. The state and the church merged as one, as in a marriage and Constantine considered it to be the kingdom of God. It was considered to be the bride of Constantine, the combination of his military and political might and Origen’s allegorical interpretation of Scripture, made the way for Constantine to rule over every area of the church.  Most of the Roman Empire was pagan, and this made the way for paganism to flourish within the church, because these people now had to consider themselves Christians, even though they had no personal relationship with God. Constantine’s goal was to have a one world religion, but it did not turn out that way so Constantine had no choice but to  divide the empire into East and West and to this day we have the Catholic Church in the West and the Greek Orthodox Church in the East. This eventually led the way to the Byzantine Era and western Medieval culture and the Papal States. 

The Papal States also referred to as the Republic of Saint Peter tells us how Constantine had such an influence in church history even more so then the Messiah or even His disciples. When Constantine made the church a state church it was more about power than about Salvation. Beginning in the 8th Century the church went from teaching their doctrine to powerful political leaders. From 756 to 1870 the church was in control of central Italy and even part of France. As early as the 4th Century , the popes had acquired a considerable amount of land around Rome. It was called the Patrimony of St. Peter. In the 5th Century with the separation of the east and west, Pope  Gregory I had even more influence in Central Italy with the Byzantine Empire, and it increased as the people relied on the church for protection against barbarian invaders, like Attila the Hun. Church history is so vast that we cannot discuss all that went on throughout the years, but many popes came and went and many countries got involved and even for a time Rome shared its power with France. There was a period from 1378 to 1417, when there were two  rival popes, each with his own following, his own Sacred College of Cardinals, and his own administrative offices and for a while there were even three popes. I wonder if all three of them were infallible, and took the place of God here on earth? Of course, all of this put an end to Christian persecution by the Romans which was the only good thing to come from Constantine. He was now the Pontifex Maximus, the Great Priest. He was building cathedrals and churches. Many of his decisions were based on superstition, like if he did not do right by Christians that God would punish his empire. He made new teachings and laws which did not pertain to the Scriptures at all. His worship of the sun god influenced artists for centuries with their halos around their heads. But it still, to this day, affects each one of us. Constantine changed the day of worship from the 7th day Sabbath to Sunday, enacting that all courts of justice, and all people of all towns and places of work were all to rest on Sunday as the “Venerable day of the sun.” This goes back to ancient Babylon and their cult worship of the sun and continued all throughout history up to the Roman Empire and to the church today. So we have begun to see the gap grow wider between Yeshua’s teachings which were upheld by His disciples, and those who began bringing in pagan ideas. Like the Bible tells us that the antichrist would change times and dates, Constantine changed Passover to the pagan Eostre, the goddess of fertility.  The former pagans in England called April, or the month marking Jesus’s resurrection, “Ēosturmōnaþ” — Old English for the “Month of Ēostre,” or Easter, this is why we have the Easter bunny and eggs. He also created Christmas, (notice the colors of Christmas are the Roman colors of  green and red) to line up with the birth of the sun god and many other things that we hold dear in the church. From this point on there was one council after another and from these councils the Word of God all changed. Rome was the new headquarters, not Jerusalem. I suggest that you continue in our series, “The Sins of our Forefathers.” Everything is documented. But we must address 

“Sons of Our Forefathers” Part 12 https://judeochristianclarion.com/special-teachings/sins-of-our-forefathers-part-12-2/

All For One and One For All

2017 marked the 500th anniversary of the protestant reformation. But since the council called Vatican II the Catholic Church has been once again uniting all faiths together under the guise of peace. There was a statement of faith which over 1500 people signed who were theologians and college professors and prominent people in the church from all over the globe. In this series we have seen a few statements from the Ecumenical Councils of the past, so here are a few statements of faith from the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. THE REFORMING CATHOLIC CONFESSION WHAT WE, PROTESTANTS OF DIVERSE CHURCHES AND THEOLOGICAL TRADITIONS, SAY TOGETHER

A “Mere Protestant” Statement of Faith to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation

“That the world is divided – by race, class, age, gender, nation, politics, and religion – is as obvious as it is tragic. That Protestants are divided is equally obvious and, given our Lord’s prayer for unity (“that they may be one” – John 17:11), even more grievous. While we regret the divisions that have followed in its wake, we acknowledge the need for the sixteenth-century Reformation, even as we recognize the hopeful possibilities of the present twenty-first century moment. Not every denominational or doctrinal difference is a division, certainly not an insurmountable one. We dare hope that the unity to which the Reformers aspired may be increasingly realized as today’s “mere” Protestants, like Richard Baxter’s and C. S. Lewis’s “mere Christians,” joyfully join together to bear united witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to its length, depth, breadth, and width – in a word, its catholicity. We therefore aim to celebrate the catholic impulse that lies at the heart of the earlier Reformation even as we hope and pray for ever greater displays of our substantial unity in years to come.” (You can read it in its entirety at https://reformingcatholicconfession.com/) This series is too long to put all of it in this special teaching but we do highly recommend that you take the time to read it all. But we will end with this from part thirteen. As we saw in part 12 at the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, that 1500+ people had signed an agreement with the Pope, which started back at  the Ecumenical Council in 1962 that the Lutheran Church, for the sake of unity, would now recognize the Pope’s purpose as it was given to the Apostle Peter to keep the Church united. But let us look at other things that have been going on to unite believers under one universal church. According to Wikipedia, The Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, also known as the Abu Dhabi Declaration or Abu Dhabi agreement, is a joint statement signed by Pope Francis of the Catholic Church and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, on 4 February 2019 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. According to Vatican News, An Appeal for Peace was signed in Rome by Pope Francis and by leaders of world religions gathered at the International Prayer Meeting for Peace, “No one is saved alone – Peace and Fraternity.” According to CNA,  in October 2020 Pope Francis was joined by representatives of the world’s major religions in his appeal for peace in the Campidoglio Square, designed by Michelangelo. The Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, and Buddhist representatives each gave speeches, lit a candle in a candelabrum, and signed a scroll containing an “Appeal for Peace.” Candles were lit in the basilica as the Christians prayed together for peace in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, and the Holy Land.”  

On the surface you may say,  “I see nothing wrong with any of this.” But that is what it is supposed to look like, but that is not the goal.  

Jeremiah 6:14 tells us, when they say “Peace peace but there is no peace.”  

 Also in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-8, “Now as to the periods and times, brothers and sisters, you have no need of anything to be written to you.  For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night.  While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” Then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, so that the day would overtake you like a thief;  for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;  so then, let’s not sleep as others do, but let’s be alert and sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk, get drunk at night.  But since we are of the day, let’s be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

Today we see that churches are not growing. People are just going from church to church trying to be fed but to no avail. Churches are more interested in what they call seeker friendly because so many pastors do not believe in what they are preaching. To find young people in our churches today is a scarcity. But there is a reason for all of this. Let’s take a closer look. After Yeshua’s victory on the cross, these last 2,000 years, we have seen an attempt by Satan to push forward his agenda, that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Satan’s only goal is to have his own kingdom, and have people bow down to him and call him a god. The Book of Revelation speaks about two beasts who will come, one will be a world religious system. One will be a global government. God separated man at the Tower of Babel and what God had separated let no man reunite.  

Revelation 13 speaks about two beasts, the antichrist and the one who will lead the way.  Constantine wanted a one world religion and so did Adolph Hilter and so does the Catholic Church “Sins of Our Forefathers” Part 9

https://judeochristianclarion.com/podcast-teachings/the-sins-of-our-forefathers/the-sins-of-our-forefathers-part-9/

In our brochure, The History of Mystery Babylon we read about the beginnings of Humanism which go as far back as the Garden of Eden and as far forward as today. In our Bible study “In the Beginning,” Lesson 10, https://judeochristianclarion.com/bible-studies/in-the-beginning-bible-study/in-the-beginning-lesson-10/

We say this,  Today in the 21st century we now have a global Secular Humanist movement. Social media and the digital age has caused the Humanist movement to explode. Its creation resembles a semi-constitution, which enables those who participate to actively engage within the community. The understanding is that this religion (Secular Humanism) has been a powerful force in the world because it gives people a sense of contributing to something larger than themselves. However, the difference here is the shift from supporting a deity to supporting ourselves, based on our own common humanity. The model is as follows:

1. God does not exist: human beings do.
2. If we contribute to what actually exists, all of us will benefit.
3. Helping others will allow others to help each other.
4. Humanism is a self-preservation system as well as a system that moves us forward.

Today all restraints are off, and the Humanist feels empowered and free. Yes, we call it by many names, Wokeness, Marxistism, Racism and any other “ism.” But it all is the same Humanism. The global effort has begun to control governments and laws and even has affected modern day religious thought. The years of pushing their ideas in the world of academia and the media with Hollywood at its side, about this new age of “the Human Right” and “Social Justice” and basically this: “All for one and one for all.” Socialism and even Communism that they have been pushing for decades has begun to pay off.  Even if we realize it or not, Secular Humanism, or should I say the religion of Babylon, has played a part throughout history. We have seen the breakdown of every area of our lives. History has been repeating itself over and over again, but with greater influence as the population has exploded over the centuries. 

We see Paul’s words to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:1-4) about how the people will be in the end times is totally correct. Our walk with God has become cold.

 We see, in Revelation 2-3, Yeshua telling the 7 churches that they need to come back to their first love and do the things they did at first. He tells them they are holding on to the teachings of Baal and the Nicolatians (Humanism) and committing acts of immorality. They were tolerating the false prophetess Jezebel (Humanist teachings) who was leading them astray to commit immorality. Yeshua calls it Satanic teaching. He tells them that they are soiling their garments. They thought they were alive, but actually they were dead. Yeshua calls it all a lie. He tells them that they are lukewarm and that He will spit them out. They think that they are rich, but they are poor, miserable, and naked. He tells them that they need to repent. This was for the church then, and this is for the church now. So let us say, this is not something that we can take lightly.  The devil has deceived man and what better way to deceive man but through his beliefs.  As we hope that you have seen from this teaching that all throughout history the Christian faith has been changed. It no longer is the faith of Yeshua and His disciples. It no longer is the faith of our forefathers. It no longer is the faith of even Martin Luther, and the Reformation, and tomorrow it will not even look like it does today.  Today all religions are being brought together under the guise of peace, and everyone, once again has changed their doctrine, no matter if you are Baptist or Lutheran or even Catholic, no matter if you are Hindu or Buddhist, or Morman.  We have seen over the centuries religion and politics mixing as if Yeshua was an activist who got  involved in the Roman government in His day.  All these religions that signed a peace agreement do not preach the blood of Yeshua, nor do they even believe in Yeshua.  

God told His people this in Exodus 23:31-33, “I will set your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River; for I will hand over the inhabitants of the land to you, and you will drive them out from you.  You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.  They shall not live in your land, otherwise they will make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it is certain to be a snare to you.”

And yet we make peace agreements with them and we all begin to revise our beliefs again. There is always a new version of the Bible. Luther said, “The Scriptures Only!”  There are over 3,000 versions today.  I say, which version?  Here  is one example how they changed the Scriptures, and there are many examples.

We hope that you will continue reading on in part 2

This teaching is for those who truly want truth.

One Word Can Make The Difference

I said all of this to bring us to today.  We know that Martin Luther, when he translated his version of the Bible, added the word alone to read, we are saved by grace alone. Here is one of his sermons on this topic. “So he [Paul in Titus 3:5-7] discards all boasted free will, all human virtue, righteousness, and good works.  He concludes that they are all nothing and are wholly perverted, however brilliant and worthy they may appear, and teaches that we must be saved solely by the grace of God, which is effective for all believers who desire it from a correct conception of their own ruin and nothingness. Yes, dear friend, you must first possess heaven and salvation before you can do good works.  Works never merit heaven; heaven is conferred purely of grace. The delusive doctrine of works blinds the Christian’s eyes, perverts a right understanding of faith, and forces him from the way of truth and salvation.” “He who does not receive salvation purely through grace, independently of all good works, certainly will never secure it. “Truly, then, we are saved by grace alone, without works or other merit.”

This is one of those teachings that was misunderstood.  James 2:15-18 says, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,  and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?  In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.  But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 

The works of the law was about becoming a Jew ceremonially.  Paul said that we did not have to become a Jew to be saved and all agreed in Acts 15, but we still have to keep God’s Word. We still have to do good and do what is right. We must still keep the commandments of God, and Yes, even the Biblical Feast Days because they are God’s Appointed Times for His people, Jew and Gentile. Remember it was Constantine who did away with the Passover, not God, who changed the seventh day Sabbath to be Sunday, not God. We know that the ways of the antichrist have been with us since the death of our Messiah. The Devil knew that he had lost the battle and so he was going to deceive as many of God’s people as he could and he did.  The song written in 1772 called  “Amazing Grace” written by John Newton helped in changing minds and hearts of people. This song was written based on Martin Luther’s teachings. Luther, in his Bible translation, added the word alone to make everyone think that we are saved by grace alone. This is false. Yes, it is a fact that God so loved us that He sent His only begotten Son. Yes, this was God’s grace (His unmerited favor), His mercy to us. While we were still sinners, the Messiah died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

The Blood That Saves.

All of this takes us to this, we have rid ourselves of the blood of Yeshua. Ask anyone and they will say that they are saved by grace alone. Our most precious gift is our salvation and it was by the shed blood of our Messiah that we are saved. 

 Hebrews 9:22 says this, “And almost all things (in the sanctuary service) are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

What are we forgiven of ? Our sins! Sin separates us from God.   

Isaiah writes in 59:2, “But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

We were not only separated because of our sins, but Ephesians 2:13 tells us this, “But now in Messiah Yeshua you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.” 

Yes, it’s the blood of Yeshua that brings us into the body but also into the larger body as Romans 11:17-21, “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,  do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.  You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”  Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;  for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.” See our Bible Study on “Grafted In.” https://judeochristianclarion.com/grafted-in-bible-study/grafted-in-bible-study-1/

This means that All of God’s Word is for us, not just to read but to live by. You see, all of the Hebrew Scriptures paint a picture of Yeshua (God’s Salvation) and the shedding of His blood, Yeshua was the sacrifice of Yom Kippur. He was the Passover Lamb that was slain and His blood was smeared on the doorposts in Egypt. He was the Ram that Abraham offered up instead of  Isaac. Remember when Adam and Eve sinned? God sacrificed an animal to cover them. This was the picture of the Messiah who one day would be slaughtered on our behalf and His blood would cover us for all eternity. His blood is our covering, so when God sees us, He sees the blood of our Messiah the precious Lamb of God and then there is peace between God and us. We wear His blood like a robe, for it is the righteousness of Yeshua. He is our righteousness and our lives are complete in Him. He paid our debt, a debt we could not pay.  

Hebrews 9:12 says this, “But when Messiah appeared as a high priest of the good things having come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation;  and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all time, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Yes, it was His blood that He entered into the heavenly sanctuary and poured out on our behalf. And we must remember that the heavenly sanctuary still exists today. It was not done away with. We are washed in His blood.  

1 John 1:6-7 says,  “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;  but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yeshua, God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.” 

We are saved by the Messiah’s blood. Salvation was not free, it cost Yeshua His life and because He gave His life we now can live. We are saved by the shed blood of Yeshua. The Messiah’s name is Yeshua, not Jesus! He is Jewish, not Greek. Yeshua and only Yeshua means “God’s Salvation.” Change the name and you no longer need the shed blood of the Lamb. Change the name and you no longer have salvation for there is only salvation in the shed blood of Yeshua (God’s salvation). That is why there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved,( Act 4:12). 

Yes, it was God’s mercy, His grace, that sent us Yeshua( God’s Salvation), but it was only by Yeshua’s shed blood that we are now saved. In 1771 William Cowper wrote a song called “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood.” In 1868 Elisha Hoffman wrote a song called “Are You Washed In the Blood” and “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” was written in 1876 by Robert Lowry. In 1899 “Power in the Blood” and “Oh The Blood of Jesus” both were written  by Lewis E. Jones. Then there were a few songs written between 1946 and 1968 but that was about it.  These were and still are great songs. We no longer sing about the shed blood of Yeshua, we no longer speak about the shed blood of Yeshua. Why? Because there is power in the blood of Yeshua and the Devil does not want us to know that fact. https://judeochristianclarion.com/teaching-letters/where-did-the-blood-go/

Better Be Ready

1 Thessalonians 5: 9-11 continues to say this,  “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Messiah Yeshua, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.  Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you also are doing.”

Here lies another lie that is told to us, that we will be raptured and not have to go through any end time suffering. Yes, God does not want us to come under His wrath, (which is damnation) but we must walk in truth and light. We must be keeping God’s Word. In our podcast on “The Big Distraction in the Church,” we speak about this.

https://judeochristianclarion.com/the-big-distraction/the-big-distraction-in-the-church/

We will suffer persecution as  2 Timothy 3:12 tells us, “Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted.”

We will suffer martyrdom. Revelation 6:9-10 says, “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed because of the Word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;  and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?” 

John 16:2 says, “They will ban you from the synagogue, yet an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering a service to God.”

1 Peter 4:12-19 says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you;  but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Messiah, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed.  If you are insulted for the name of Messiah, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, and of God, rests upon you.  Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;  but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.  For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God are to entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”

Don’t buy into that these are those who were not raptured or these are only the Jews,  because the Bible tells us we will be persecuted and martyred.  People, Christian people, are experiencing persecution and martyrdom every day all over the world. The pre-rapture is a false teaching that began in the 1800’ and it only exists here in America, and because of it, we are not prepared for what is coming. It is so important that we know our foundation and that foundation is based on Judaism. Yes, what we call the Old Testament is not old at all, in fact, it is the foundation to all things related to God and His Word.  We are Judeo-Christians, a term that has been used up to the end of the 20th Century. Today we hear about paying things forward.  Well, then we too, must lay down our lives for others. 

John 15:13-20 sums it up. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.  This I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My Word, they will follow yours also.” 

One more thing. Do not be deceived. The Devil is a roaring lion looking to find those he can deceive. Just because someone says the name of Jesus does not make him one of His disciples. We must know who is teaching our children and who is preaching to our congregations. Today there are many Pastors and church leaders who do not even believe in what they are preaching and that is why you do not hear about the shed blood of Yeshua, or even sin in many churches. But there is power in His Name, in His Blood and in the Holy Spirit, power to save your soul. According to a survey done by the  Arizona Christian University  of American Christian pastors shows that a majority of pastors lack a Biblical worldview. In fact, just slightly more than a third (37%) possess a Biblical worldview and the majority—62%—hold a hybrid worldview known as Syncretism which is a combination of different forms of beliefs and practices. Well, that sounds like the result of everyone signing a document stating unity for the sake of peace. It’s time we get back to the truth, it’s time to get back to the blood that saved us.  Today believers think that they do not need to repent of their sins. They think they do not need to keep the Ten commandments or be holy as 1 Peter 1:16 tells us.   Why? Because people believe they only need grace, anything else, is works.  The letters to the churches in Revelation were not written to unbelievers, but to believers, to congregations. The church of Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6 says, “He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, and yet you are dead.  Be constantly alert, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.  So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Then if you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.  But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.  The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way, in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.  The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

We must remember that this was written when the Apostles were going about teaching and preaching to the people and yet many were falling for deception and false teachings. In Revelation 3:19, The letter to the church in Laodicea says this, “Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” 

And why did this church need to repent? Because they had become worldly. They felt they did not need God. They did not need to commit to His ways. They did not need to make their garments white, because they thought that they had God’s blessings. God told them that they were blind. They needed to go through the fire. If we continue to believe that we do not need to repent because of grace, well Hebrews 10:26-30 tells us differently. “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.  Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” 

Remember the Spirit is also the Spirit of truth! If we continue to think that all we need is grace then we can live any way we please and if we think that we do not need to keep the commandments of God then we will walk in our ways instead of His.

 1 John 2:15-17 says this,  “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.”

Also James 4:4 says, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

If we do not love the precious blood of Yeshua, if we do not hold it dear to our hearts, if we are not thankful to the point that we are willing to change our lives and live only for God then we are negating the shed blood that cleanses us of our sins.  Many people will say this is all extreme, but this too, is a lie.  Remember, the first animal sacrifice was to cover Adam and Eve and the Passover lamb whose blood was smeared on the doorpost during the last plague on Egypt, all were a foreshadowing of the death of the Messiah, who is our Passover Lamb, and whose blood covers us. Yeshua fulfilled it all, so we too, will be covered for eternity.

Romans 3:22-25 says,  “Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives. All are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is provided in Messiah Yeshua.  Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment.”

Let’s get back to the blood that saves us. 

The Scriptures tell us that the truth will set us free and yet, sometimes we really do not want to hear the truth. You yourself will have to decide if you really want the truth by reading this to the end. Today there is a group that is well, can I say, ultra Christian. We have seen this extreme ultra Christianity before in history, the Crusades, the Inquisitions, to name a few.  Just as truth sets us free, God also wants us to have the freedom to choose truth. That is what life is about, the freedom to choose life or choose death, to choose His free gift of salvation or reject it. We can not force our religion on anyone, beliefs are as personal as our own name. As believers we must take the great commission seriously, but that not only is to take the salvation message to people but to make disciples. Like the saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  

Today there are so many branches or should I say, denominations that it’s hard to believe that one can divide God’s Word into so many pieces. You have to ask yourself, “Which one is the right one?” There are so many translations that the same question has to also be asked. When Yeshua told His apostles to go out and make disciples, they knew the truth, because they heard Yeshua’s teachings. They were there when Yeshua performed so many miracles that they could not all be recorded for history. His teachings were their teachings, His Words were their words. The apostles did go out and make disciples and those disciples taught the same words and spoke the same truths as the apostles, as Yeshua. Throughout history those words have been changed. In our series “The Sins of our Forefathers” we have brought the truths of those changes out into the open. We are Judeo-Christians and that means that we should have the same truth as the apostles. Yeshua and His apostles were all Jewish. They all kept Judaism. They all kept Torah. What we call old are the Hebrew Scriptures and they are not obsolete, except maybe to those who came up with the idea that they were obsolete, so that they could create a new religion called Christianity. For them to be obsolete would mean that all of Yeshua’s teachings were obsolete. The same teachings that He instructed His apostles to go out and make disciples, not converts, were all based on Judaism. This is why we put more emphasis on Paul because we consider him a Gentile, but he himself says, “I am a Jew.” When he refers to his message that message is not anti Jew. His message to the Gentiles was that they did not ceremonially need to become a Jew for salvation. He never said that they did not need to keep Torah. God’s Word is for everyone. God is One and He is not some three person God who is obsolete, nor is He a person. We have lowered God and made Him a person so that He is now on the same level as man. Throughout the ages man has taken out the Jewishness of the Bible and they have even taken out the shed blood of Messiah so that now we are saved by grace. NO, we are saved because Yeshua, the Passover Lamb has been slain and His shed blood covers us, like the doorposts in Egypt.  The death angel passed over when it saw the blood, so too, the shed blood of Yeshua covers us and when God sees us now there is peace between Him and us and the death angel passes over us. We need our foundation and our foundation is in the Hebrew Scriptures. Yeshua quoted them, the apostles quoted them and so did Paul. The early believers sat in synagogues and learned the Hebrew Scriptures. They kept the dietary laws and the Appointed Times of God. They were true followers of the Messiah, and God’s Word…there were no other words, there was no printed Bible, only the writings of the apostles.  Romans 9:1-5 says this, “I say the truth in Messiah, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,  that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Messiah for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:  who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;  whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Messiah  came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”

Paul wanted the Jewish  people to all accept the Messiah. He knew that they had God’s blessings in the covenants that are forever. He knew that for them to be complete, they needed the righteousness of Yeshua which comes by accepting His sacrifice on their behalf. The Jewish people are and always will be God’s chosen people. Romans 11: 13-16 says,  “But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Therefore insofar as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry if somehow I may move my own people to jealousy and save some of them.  For if their rejection proves to be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?  If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are as well.”

Paul had a true heart for his people. Yes, he was Jewish and continued practicing Judaism, as he tells us in Philippians 3:4-6, “If anyone else thinks he is confident in the flesh, I have more reason:  circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;  as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”

Paul continues in Romans 11:17-24 by saying this, “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,  do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.  You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’  Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;  for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.  See then the kindness and severity of God: to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too will be cut off.  And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.  For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”

We continue in Romans 9:6-8 as it says this, “I don’t mean that God failed to keep His promise to the Jewish people. But only some of the people of Israel are really God’s people. And only some of Abraham’s descendants are true children of Abraham. This is what God said to Abraham: ‘Your true descendants will be those who come through Isaac.’ This means that not all of Abraham’s descendants are God’s true children. Abraham’s true children are those who become God’s children because of the promise He made to Abraham.”

You see when we follow in the footsteps of Messiah, then we are the children of Abraham, then we are grafted into the vine. But walking in the footsteps of Messiah means just that, we must be as He was. We must do what He did, even crucifying our flesh, and picking up our cross. Philippians 3:7-16 says “But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of  Messiah. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Messiah Yeshua my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Messiah,  and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law (ceremonial laws), but that which is through faith in Messiah, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Messiah Yeshua.  Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Messiah Yeshua.  Therefore, all who are mature, let’s have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you as well;  however, let’s keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. Brothers and sisters, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.  For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Messiah,  whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things.”

These are not the Jewish people that Paul is speaking about. These are those who even call themselves Christians who have never let go of the world and its ways. These people who go to church, and yet, they have not crucified the flesh, let alone their appetite for everything, except denying themselves for others for the sake of the kingdom. They believe that Christians are the only ones who will be saved, because they have replaced Israel, and yet, they are the ones who have muddied themselves in the world and its ways. They are the ones who do not keep the Covenants of God. They are the ones who think that they do not need to repent, because Yeshua did it all, as if we do not have a part to play in salvation.

Philippians 2:1-16 tells us this, “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Messiah, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,  make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Messiah Yeshua, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,  but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,  so that at the name of Yeshua every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and that every tongue will confess that Messiah Yeshua is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;  for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining or arguments;  so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding firmly the word of life, so that on the day of Messiah I can take pride because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.”

By the way, not only was Paul a Jew, but also Yeshua’s disciples, and Yeshua Himself and the early believers. God’s people are the Jews, and Israel is God’s chosen land and we, we, are those who were grafted into Israel with all of its covenants. God is one and His flock is one, and we must read and live by His Word, because it is also one. And that is the truth!

The Revelation of John was not so much written for every generation, but to give understanding for those who would live during its fulfillment. Other than the letters to the churches which existed in the 1st century, which were given as a warning to every generation, the book of Revelation is to the saints that will go through the judgments and the persecutions described in this book, to give them hope and comfort by the ending chapters of victory and the return of Messiah Yeshua. We read in Revelation 18, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!” What is the Bible talking about when it is referring to Babylon the Great? We are going to take a closer look at Babylon because it has been such a mystery throughout the generations, and it seems to be a central focal point of the Revelation. We want to look at how the Babylonian Empire began, but first we need to start with Noah.

Ancient Babylon

Noah knew God because of Adam, because Adam was still alive during the time of Noah. The Bible tells us in Genesis 6:9 that Noah was a righteous man and a preacher of righteousness. But we also know from God’s Word that not everyone knew God. These people perished in the flood. From the epic creation poem “Gilgamesh,” we learn how man survived a Great Flood. The Biblical account of creation and the flood told by these ancient Mesopotamian religions are very close except for the mention of the One True God. Though the only survivors of the flood were Noah and his family, that did not stop the Evil One from continuing to tempt people into idol worship. Genesis 10 gives us the complete account of the new world after the flood. In verses 8-9 it tells us, “Cush (the son of Ham, the son of Noah) was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar.” So we see that Babylon had it’s beginning after the flood and Nimrod was the first ruler of what would become a great nation.

The capital of ancient Babylon was Babel, and we know from the Bible what took place in Babel. Genesis 11:3-4 tells us, “They said to each other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower (a ziggurat) that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'” God saw this and He confused their language so that people could not come together as one people for purposes of power, and as we see they wanted a name for themselves, not for God. We see here the beginnings of Secular Humanism, the worship of self as a god, for we all now become gods and so we have no need of the One True God.

We will take a closer look at the religion of Babylon, but first let’s continue looking at Babylon itself. We see that God scattered the people, the very thing that they did not want to happen. Since the Tower of Babel, people have gone out to conquer lands for the purpose of power and might. Ancient Babylon was about 55 miles south of modern day Baghdad. Babylon was ruled by Hammurabi after Nimrod. Hammurabi was an Amorite—a semitic group of people that settled in Mesopotamia in about 2000 BC. Hammurabi had his own code of laws and religion. We see that many of Hammurabi’s laws are still in effect today, such as an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and cutting off one’s hand for stealing. Hammurabi built Babylon to be a great city with intersecting roads and canals. Hammurabi had the people build many temples to many gods. They built temples called ziggurats. One of their chief gods was called Marduk. Shamash was the name of the sun god. From the “Enuma Elish,” the epic poem of this ancient religion, we learn how Marduk becomes the chief god. The people eventually called him “Bel” which means “lord.”

The Bible tells us that Abraham was from the town of Ur of the Chaldeans. Ur was a city south of Babylon, which is in the modern state of Iraq and about 200,000 people lived there at the time of Hammurabi. Ur could have been called Urak originally as it tells us in Genesis 10:10, listing it as one of Cush’s original kingdoms. We know that Abraham’s family worshiped all of the idol gods of Mesopotamia. Abram and his wife left with his father Terah, his brother Nahor and his wife, and Lot the son of Haran to go to Canaan, but they only went as far as Haran, which was on the border of modern day Syria, Turkey, and Iraq, and settled there (Genesis 11:13). It was from there that God called Abram to leave his country and relatives to go to the land that God would show him. It was here that Abram and Sarai left to serve the One True Living God, a God that he did not totally know. It is here that God tells the first of His chosen to flee what came to be known as the Babylonian Empire.

So let’s take a closer look at the religion of Babylon and how it got its beginning.

The History of Mystery Babylon’s Humanistic Religion

Humanism has its roots all the way back to when the Evil One spoke this in his heart, as we see in Isaiah 14:1-2, “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'” “How you have fallen,” and he did fall. The Evil One, the Devil, Satan himself, now was on a quest to bring people to himself, and to be their god and to have them worship him.

He was there in the Garden of Eden when he spoke to Eve as recorded in Genesis 3:1-5, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”‘ ‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'”

Here it is: “You will be like God.” Humanism is the belief that we are all gods. At the Tower of Babel the people wanted a name for themselves. They did not build to bring honor to God but to themselves. If we are not living for God then we are living for ourselves, and the worship of ourselves is the worship of the Evil One. When Yeshua (Jesus) was tested in the wilderness, what did He say to him, as we see in Matthew 4:8-10? “Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ Yeshua said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”‘”

The Father of Lies has been telling a lie from the beginning—that we can be gods. We hear it today: “You deserve a break today,” “You owe it to yourself,” “You earned it,” “If it feels good do it,” “Experience all that life has to offer.” In Genesis we see that the lie he spoke to Eve was that it is okay to question the Word of God. Man cannot trust God because God lies. Satan lied when he said, “We can be like God,” “We all can be gods,” “If God cannot be trusted then He is not supreme and therefore there are no absolutes, no morals, no truth, and so this now allows us to rebel against God, because God was and is the liar.” We are now free from all restraints.

Humanism’s emphasis is on secular concerns: “I am the center of the universe.” We have replaced the Word of God with science, philosophy, and man’s reason. We seek for man’s enlightenment and knowledge. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:1-4, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

Paul also tells us in Romans 1:18-25, “For God does not overlook sin and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who in their wickedness suppress and stifle the truth, because that which is known about God is evident within them [in their inner consciousness], for God made it evident to them. For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through His workmanship [all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made], so that they [who fail to believe and trust in Him] are without excuse and without defense. For even though they knew God [as the Creator], they did not honor Him as God or give thanks [for His wondrous creation]. On the contrary, they became worthless in their thinking [godless, with pointless reasonings, and silly speculations], and their foolish heart was darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God for an image [worthless idols] in the shape of mortal man and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their own hearts to [sexual] impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], because [by choice] they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”

And again in 1 Corinthians 1:20-21, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”

So what do Humanists believe? Let’s take a look at their own manifesto.

In 1933 the Humanist Manifesto I was published. Here are 15 key points.

1. It begins with there is no Creator.
2. Man is an animal and all life is a product of evolution.
3. Man has no immortal soul so there is no future judgement.
4. Religion is a by-product of evolution and social development. Secular humanism must replace outdated concepts as in Chrisitianity and Judaism.
5. There are no absolute values
6. Humanism rejects all religious morals and concepts of “right and wrong.”
7. Humanism is a religion.
8. Humanists are social engineers out to remake the world in their image.
9. Humanists want to create a heaven on earth through collectivistic (communist) socialistic utopia.
10. In that socialistic amoral utopia there is no room for traditional religion of any kind.
11. There is no faith or hope beyond this present world.
12. There can be no restraints put on humans in their pursuit for sensual pleasure (hedonism).
13. There is an emphasis on living for the moment.
14. Traditional religion and religious expression must give way to a global humanistic one world religion.
15. Humanists have a collectivistic/Marxist view of economics.

In 1973 the Humanist Manifesto II was published with an updated blueprint for a new One World Order. Even though the manifesto was updated, not much has changed because Humanism was founded upon principles of self-empowerment, critical thinking, reason, curiosity, and doing good for the sake of the other. Humanism requires no authoritarian figures to control one’s thinking or motivate one’s actions because what is right for me may not be right for you.

Global Humanism

Today in the 21st century we now have a Global Secular Humanist movement. With social media and the digital age it has caused the Humanist movement to explode. Its creation resembles a semi-constitution, which enables those who participate to actively engage within the community. The understanding is that this religion (Secular Humanism) has been a powerful force in the world because it gives people a sense of contributing to something larger than themselves. However, the difference here is the shift from supporting a deity to supporting ourselves, based on our own common humanity. The model is as follows:

1. God does not exist: human beings do.
2. If we contribute to what actually exists, all of us will benefit.
3. Helping others will allow others to help each other.
4. Humanism is a self-preservation system as well as a system that moves us forward.

Today all restraints are off, and the Humanist feels empowered and free. The global effort has begun to control governments and laws and even has affected modern day religious thought. The years of pushing their ideas in the world of academia and the media with Hollywood at its side, about this new age of “the Human Right” and “Social Justice” and basically this: “All for one and one for all.” Socialism and even Communism that they have been pushing for decades has begun to pay off. Even if we realize it or not, Secular Humanism, or should I say the religion of Babylon, has played a part throughout history. We have seen the breakdown of every area of our lives. History has been repeating itself over and over again, but with greater influence as the population has exploded over the centuries. We see Paul’s words to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:1-4) about how the people will be in the end times is totally correct. Our walk with God has become cold. We see, in Revelation 2-3, Yeshua telling the 7 churches that they need to come back to their first love and do the things they did at first. He tells them they are holding on to the teachings of Baal and the Nicolatians (Humanism) and committing acts of immorality. They were tolerating the false prophetess Jezebel (Humanist teachings) who was leading them astray to commit immorality. Yeshua calls it Satanic teaching. He tells them that they are soiling their garments. They thought they were alive, but actually they were dead. Yeshua calls it all a lie. He tells them that they are lukewarm and that He will spit them out. They think that they are rich, but they are poor, miserable, and naked. He tells them that they need to repent. This was for the church then, and this is for the church now.

So let us say this is not something that we can take lightly. The Bible tells us to beware in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12: “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Messiah. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.’ Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

We see that even with all the miracles and the mighty hand of God that moved in the lives of the Israelites, they still fell. Just like Adam and Eve who walked with God still fell, we can not take for granted such a great salvation. Satan’s counterfeit religion has come through the ages, and he has taken down so many before us because he is so crafty. Today, the world has a lot to offer, especially here in America. The church is not even close to what it was in the previous centuries. We have fallen into humanism if we realize it or not. So many people believe that they no longer need the Ten Commandments. So many people are into Social Justice that they believe that they, and not God, need to bring about an equal world. Today the church is seeker-friendly and so politically correct that sin and repentance are no longer preached. We believe that we can not fall from grace, even though we see in the parables of Yeshua that that is not correct. The door will be closed to many who think they are standing but are not. Yeshua tells us in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'”

We may go to church or to Bible studies, but do we seek God out for His will in our lives? Do we pray when we need to make a decision to find out what God thinks about it? I have known people who prayed for God to open a door and when several doors opened they believed that it was God opening every door, and so they chose whichever job had the better pay, never considering to ask God His will. This is all Humanism. We must learn to seek God out and to pray things through, and that takes time and even perseverance, waiting upon God and trusting Him. But if we do not, then we rely on our own intuition or our own resources, and that is all Humanism. Whenever we leave God out of our lives or He is not the center of our lives then it is Humanism. When we live outside of His word, it is Humanism. When we start to think that something is owed to us, that is Humanism. We cannot earn anything, because God is the one who gives us everything, and when we start to think differently, that is Humanism.

So we must beware lest we fall. We do not examine ourselves to see if we are still in the faith as 1 Corinthians 13:5 tells us, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Messiah Yeshua is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”

So now that we have seen how Mystery Babylon and its religion began, let’s go to the Book of Revelation and see just how this false religion will coexist with the Antichrist.

Revelation 13:1-10 tells us this about him: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

This beast is Babylon, a powerful one world government system by which its people are ruled by Humanism. Their king, who is worshiped and considered as God, is the antichrist, Satan himself.

Revelation 13:11-18 tells us this: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exercised all the power of the first beast before him, and caused the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had the power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six-hundred, sixty, and six.”

There will be a time of persecution like none other, a darkness upon the earth like never before. We have seen the beginning of this even today with hundreds of true believers suffering persecution and martyrdom every day all around the world. Antisemitism is also on the rise, and more and more Jewish people are finding their Messiah Yeshua as the Gentile age comes to a close. But one day Babylon the Great will come to an end with all those who worshiped the beast and took part in her sins.

Revelation 17:3-7 goes on to say, “Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Yeshua. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. Then the angel said to me: ‘Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.'”

Who is Babylon that the kings and the inhabitants of the earth will have this adulterated affair with her? And second, what are these waters by which she sits? God’s Word always interprets the Scriptures, and so we should not go outside of that interpretation. The Scripture gives us a riddle.

Revelation 17:8-18 explains, “‘The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with Him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.’ Then the angel said to me, ‘The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.'”

Many people over the years have thought that the ten horns were ten nations and those ten nations made up the return of the Roman Empire. It is not so important to understand or to know who these ten kings are, or where these seven hills are, or who the antichrist is. These things will be revealed in due time. But what is important is the call to come out from Babylon, because this one-world government along with its humanistic false religion will be judged with everyone who has fallen into her trap.

Revelation 17:1-2 tells us, “One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.'”

Revelation 18:1-8, “After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.’ Then I heard another voice from heaven say: ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given, pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, “I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.” Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.'”

Revelation 20:11-15 tells us, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

In Conclusion

You may think that all of this won’t happen in your life time, and yet we already have a global system in place. We have a world court, and agriculture, and a world bank, and a global stock market, and a world army in the UN, and with the internet we have global commerce, and I could go on and on. All we need is for one person to rise up and rule it all.

Humanism is now in the church. Today there are many preachers who do not even believe what they preach. They believe in same-sex marriage, they believe in abortion, they do not believe in a final judgment. They believe that God is only love and that He will not judge us or condemn us. Every denomination has made concessions and compromises to their creed of faith. Yes, every denomination. The heads of faith from all over the world have signed agreements, and heads of universities also.

Does your life bring glory to God? Do you walk in holiness as He is holy? Do you live a godly life reflective by the keeping of God’s commands according to His Word? Yeshua tells us in Matthew 12:36, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.” The only way that you can know if you are not under the trap of Secular Humanism is if you have made God the center for your whole life, as He tells us in Matthew 6:19-21, 24, 31-33: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. . . . For no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. . . . Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

If you have fallen into the trap of Humanism, repent and come back to your first love, or else as God tells us, “Flee, Flee Babylon,” for she will fall, and you will fall with her.

Is Thanksgiving more than just saying thank you? We see that the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving with their Native American friends. They were thankful that they taught them about the land and the seasons in America, and so they showed them their gratitude by their hospitality. But is there more to being truly thankful. Yeshua tells us this in Matthew 5:43-48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same?  Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18 says,  “See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek what is good for one another and for all people.  Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing,  in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Messiah Yeshua.” 

Thanksgiving and love go together. You see there is more to God’s Commandments than what was written on the tablets. Yeshua expounded on many of the Commandments and in Exodus through Deuteronomy God also expands on the Commandments.  Thanksgiving is “giving” with a thankful heart and a thankful heart is love.  Let’s look at a few examples. First, Psalm 136 is about giving thanks for God’s love. Verses 1-4, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His loyal love endures. Give thanks to the God of gods, for His loyal love endures. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His loyal love endures, to the One who performs magnificent, amazing deeds all by Himself, for His loyal love endures.”

2 Corinthians 9:6-15 tells us this about “giving” with thanksgiving,  “Now I say this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows generously will also reap generously.  Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;  as it is written: “He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness endures forever.” Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;  you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.  For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.  Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Messiah and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all,  while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

You see, when someone shows love to us, then we should be thankful, but in our thankfulness we also must show love.  1 John 3:16-18 says, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.  But whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him?  Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”  Colossians 3: 16-17 tells us,  “Let the Word of Messiah  richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

As we saw in 1 Thessalonians that prayer and thanksgiving go together, let’s look at a few more examples. Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Messiah Yeshua.” Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”

Romans 12: 9-13, “Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor,  not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;  rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”

This Thanksgiving show your love and gratitude (thanksgiving) by giving.

Matthew 25: 34-36, “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?  And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’

Welcome

November is a time to recall all your blessings from the past year, as we celebrate Thanksgiving. But I’m sure that you heard the saying , if you can’t sleep count your blessings. This is a true statement as far as counting your blessings. A day should not go by without thanking God for all that He has done for you that day. Psalm 118: 1 says, “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His mercy is everlasting.”

We are not only supposed to give God thanks, but we are to tell others about what God has done for us as 1 Chronicles 16: 8 says, “Give thanks to the LORD; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the nations.”

 We are to give thanks to God because He is good as 1 Chronicles 16:34 goes on to say, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” We are not only to give thanks to God for His mercy and His goodness, but also because He satisfies our souls with goodness as Psalm 107:8-9 tells us, “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.”

When we give thanks, we bless the Lord as Psalm 103: 2-5 tells us, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”  So this November start a new habit, before you fall asleep count your blessings and give thanks to God for all that He has given you including the day as  Psalm 118:24 says,  “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Messiah Yeshua concerning you, 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

Egypt: Years, Part 5

Last month we read the reuniting of Joseph and his family. We want to end with this. Why did Joseph take the Egyptians’ money and land, and he even enslaved them? Could Joseph have had aspirations of one day becoming the Pharaoh himself ? Remember he was second in command. That is one thing we will never know, but it is possible that God directed him. God did a miracle of multiplying the grain, and the people did not recognize it.  You see Egypt had many gods, and as we will see as we go forward that God will show the people who is really God. One thing we do know is that Joseph and his brothers reconciled and that was a good thing. We see that Joseph died; he was buried in Egypt, but only with a promise that one day his bones would be carried back to the land with Israel as Exodus 1:6-10 says this,  “And Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.  But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them. Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.  Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, otherwise they will multiply, and in the event of war, they will also join those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.” 

The End of the Hyksos Dynasty

 Remember the Hyksos Dynasty were foreign rulers, Pharaohs who were Canaanites.  The Hyksos period ended 1550B.C.E. when a Theban king named Kamose marched northward and waged war against the Hyksos by attacking the capital city of Avaris. His successor, Ahmose continued his policies by chasing the Hyksos into Canaan and also conquering Canaanite cities. So this is the reason why the new king did not know Joseph because the Hyksos Dynasty no longer ruled Egypt. According to the Biblical Archeology Society they tell us this, the Egyptians had good reason to be worried. During excavation in the Eastern Nile Delta Region by the end of the Middle Kingdom during the time called the Second Intermediate Period, the Canaanites who had been living in the region had expanded and taken over much of the eastern Nile Delta, essentially conquering Egypt from within. We know that this was Joseph’s family who lived in Goshen, which is east of the Nile Delta during this time and they did multiply and increased greatly.  We see that there were  wars during this time and so the king of Egypt rightfully so, had fears that these Canaanites (Joseph’s family) would side with their enemy.

Exodus 1: 11-14 continues to say,  “So they appointed taskmasters over them to oppress them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Rameses.  But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they dreaded the sons of Israel.  The Egyptians used violence to compel the sons of Israel to labor;  and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labor which they violently had them perform as slaves.”

You have to realize that there were several different Pharaohs during the time Joseph arrived in Egypt to even when the people eventually left. It is believed that Sesostris III was the Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites, while others believe that it was Rameses II. It’s hard to know because the Bible does not tell us, and there is much debate when considering the timeline of the Bible. 

 Genesis 15:13-14 does tell  us this, “Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.  But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.”

But the Scriptures make it sound like it was just the next day after Josephs’ death that the people went into slavery. According to Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld, he says, “Based on the above verses, (about the death of Joseph) it is clear that the slavery did not begin until Joseph’s entire generation died. When was this? Exodus 6:16 states that Levi lived until 137 (unlike Joseph who died at a youthful 110 (Genesis 50:22)). The Sages state that his age was recorded because he lived the longest of all the brothers. Thus, his death marked the beginning of the start of Israel’s enslavement. How many years did Levi live in Egypt? Joseph was 39 when he was reunited with his brothers. (He was 30 when he first became viceroy in Egypt (Gen. 41:46), and his family came down after 7 years of plenty and 2 of famine.) According to the Sages, Levi was about 4 years older. Thus, if he was 43 when he arrived in Egypt, he died 94 years later. Since Israel’s entire stay in Egypt was 210 years (see Talmud Megillah 9a and Rashi to Exodus 12:40), this would mean the maximum the slavery could have lasted was 116 years. Of course, the slavery did not start the day Levi died. The Sages (Talmud Sotah 11 and elsewhere) describe Israel’s descent into bondage as a gradual process – in which the Egyptians first pressured the Israelites to volunteer for public works (naturally to show that they’re good, patriotic Egyptians), and ultimately forced them into full slavery.We do not have a clear tradition how long this process took. Seder Olam Rabbah (Ch. 3), a work on the chronology of Biblical events (2nd century), observes that together with the maximum of 116 years, the minimum the slavery could have lasted is 86 years. This is based on another statement in the Midrash (also found in Pesikta Zutrasa, Shemot 15:20) – that Moses’s older sister Miriam was so named because of the bitterness of the slavery (mar = bitter). The Seder Olam assumes Miriam was 6 years older than Moses. And since we know Moses was 80 at the story of the Exodus (Exodus 7:7), the slavery lasted somewhere between 86 and 116 years.

So the people of Israel kept multiplying, and so Pharaoh had to put a stop to it,  so he commanded that all the baby boys were to be put to death and dumped  into the Nile River. Exodus 2:1-3 goes on to say this, “Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.  But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.”

Now we want to stop here and take a closer look. First we see here that a son was born to Amram (mighty nation), and Jochebed (God’s glory). Jochebed  saw that “her son was beautiful.” Why was no other name  given here? The parents must have called him by some name, especially when Jochebed will be allowed to continue carrying for her child for two or three years, Exodus 2:5-10.  We see that she called him beautiful but the Torah, the Hebrew scrolls, uses the word “good” (tov) instead of beautiful. The word tov is used seven times in the Creation story. “God saw that it was good” (tov).  We also see here that this child will see God’s glory and he will lead a mighty nation. So we can surmise that the birth of Moses was going to be a new dawn, or a new beginning, a new era, for the Israelites. The rabbinic comments suggest that this child was given the name Toviyah, because God saw that it was good! But this child will be called Moses, the one drawn out of the water. We see here the connection between Joseph and Moses. Joseph was taken out of the pit, and was sent to Egypt, and eventually became second in command, and the Pharaoh called him his son, and by all of this, Israel and his family ended up sojourning in Egypt. Moses is taken out of the water by Bithiah, Pharaoh’s daughter and she calls him  son, (mys) root means “to be born of” or to be a son, who also, becomes second to Pharaoh. We know that later in the story all of Israel will be drawn out of the water. Now under the heading of Judah’s descendants in

1 Chronicles 4:18  it says,  “His Jewish wife gave birth to Jered, the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. These were the sons of Bithia the daughter of Pharaoh, who Mered married.” It is understood that Bithiah became a Hebrew, and she was at the first Seder of Passover  when the Hebrews left Egypt

Hebrew Corner:                     The Martyrs

                                                Philip, the Apostle

Philip was born at Bethsaida, in Galilee.  Philip at first was a follower of John the Baptist until Yeshua spotted him. So Philip became the third disciple that Yeshua called as we see here in John 1:43, “The next day He decided to go to Galilee, and He found Philip. And Yeshua said to him, “Follow Me.”  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.”

John 6:4-7 says this,  “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.  So Yeshua, after raising His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?” But He was saying this only to test him, for He Himself knew what He intended to do.  Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough for them, for each to receive just a little!”

It seems that Philip had a few things that he still had to learn even after the feeding of the 5,000 like in John 14:8-10  when Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Yeshua said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own, but the Father, as He remains in Me, does His works.” 

There is not much written about the Apostle Philip and so we must not get confused with Philip the Deacon, also called the Evangelist,  who baptized the Ethiopian eunuch  in the book of Acts.

Philip mainly labored in Upper Asia and he was martyred at Heliopolis, in Phrygia. He was scourged and thrown into prison and then crucified. He died in the year 54CE

Next month we will continue our series on the martyrs. 

So what is a Reich? Let’s take some time to see who and what makes up the Reich.  The German name Reich means “realm” when used as a noun, or literally the realm of an emperor or king in reference to an empire or kingdom. The term Deutsches Reich (sometimes translated to “German Empire”) continued to be used even after the collapse of the German Empire and the abolition of the monarchy in 1918. There was no emperor, but many Germans had imperialistic ambitions according to Richard J. Evans. The continued use of the term “German Empire”, Deutsches Reich, by the Weimar Republic … conjured up an image among educated Germans that resonated far beyond the institutional structures Bismarck created: the successor to the Roman Empire; the vision of God’s Empire here on earth; the universality of its claim and in a more prosaic but no less powerful sense, the concept of a German state that would include all German speakers in central Europe—”one People, one Reich, one Leader”, as the Nazi slogan was chanted. The unified Germany which arose under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1871 was the first entity that was officially called in German Deutsches Reich. Deutsches Reich remained the official name of Germany until 1945, although these years saw three very different political systems more commonly referred to in English as: “the German Empire” (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933; this term is a post-World War II coinage not used at the time), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). In our series on the “Sins of our Forefathers” we see that even the pope gave his blessings to Hitler as he thought that he may bring about the return of the Roman Empire.

For more understanding please read:

Sins of our Forefathers, Part 9: The Roman Empire and the Blessings of the Pope

Tomorrow’s World put out an article written by Douglas S. Winnail that tells the history of the German people, and how their history could lead us into the 4th Reich. We won’t go into all the past history of the German people but here are a few quotes. “But what accounts for Germany’s tendency to undergo dramatic transformations in national character? Why did so many Germans accept the “master race” concept and the destructive policies of Hitler’s Third Reich? Part of the answer is found in the cultural history of Germany. It has been said that the character of individuals and nations determines their destiny. A nation’s character is molded by the religious and philosophical ideas of its people (ibid., pp. xxiv–xxvii). Ideas and ideologies have influenced cultural and political events in Germany “perhaps more than in any other nation in Europe” (ibid., p. xxvi).

A powerful mixture of ideas, traditions and opportunities appears to merge in the lives of individuals who have molded German history. The German lands were part of the territories Charlemagne conquered in his attempt to reassemble the Roman Empire. Charlemagne was a powerful warrior with a powerful idea. That same idea of uniting Europe under the banner of Christendom burned in the hearts of the first German emperors of the Holy Roman Empire: Otto the Great and Frederick Barbarossa (Frederick I of Hohenstauffen—proclaimed “master of the world”). Under these strong warriors, the Germans became the most powerful kingdom in all Europe (960–1150 CE). In the early 1700s, Frederick William I of Prussia revived the militaristic course of modern Germany. Following his Hohenzollern family tradition that land and military strength were keys to national power, he set out to build the strongest and best-trained army in Europe. When he died, Prussia was recognized as the most thoroughly militarized power in Europe and one of the most self-sufficient and prosperous.

The Prussian militaristic tradition begun by the Hohenzollerns eventually permeated all of Germany. Following Napoleon’s defeat of Prussia, the Prussian Army was reorganized. Gerhard von Scharnhorst, a brilliant theorist and organizer, established military academies, built a new type of army, and laid the groundwork for what became the great German General Staff. This group of professional soldiers planned for war even in times of peace, and prepared future generations of officers. Under Scharnhorst’s direction, the entire population of Prussia was indoctrinated into the purpose and glories of war. It was this Prussian tradition—authoritarian, anti-democratic, militaristic and expansionistic—that paved the way for the rise of Imperial Germany, the Nazis, and the military adventures, atrocities and disasters of the Third Reich. Both Assyria and Germany stand unique in history for exactly the same reasons: thoroughly militarized societies, the glorification of war, brutally efficient armies, deliberately calculated acts of extreme cruelty, mass deportations, slave labor camps, and genocide—all centrally administered with incredible efficiency. The histories of both nations reveal periods of powerful military resurgence after periods of decline. These parallels are striking and unique in the story of human civilization! Some historians have described the Assyrians as the “Prussians of the Ancient World” (The Ideal and Destiny, McCulloch, p. 224), submissive to centralized authority, with a “deep rooted feeling of superiority”—the idea of being a “master race” (Mass Deportations and Deportees in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Obed, p. 89). The Assyrians were extremely nationalistic, with “a strong sense of participating in a common and native way of life” (ibid., p. 66)—similar to the German idea of a volk or a people. After the fall of the Assyrian Empire, the Roman historian Pliny mentioned a tribe of the “Assyriani” among the Scythian peoples in the Crimea north of the Black Sea (Natural History, Bk IV. XII. 81). The historian Jerome, writing in the 4th century AD, said that the “descendents of Assur” were among the Celto-Scythian-Hun hordes then invading Europe (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Jerome Letter 123, section 16). Researcher Leon Poliakov notes the ancient Bavarian account that the people of Bavaria came into central Europe from the region of Armenia by the Black Sea (The Aryan Myth, p. 76). Considering this information, it is not surprising to find medieval Arab writers describing the Germans as “Assyrians” (Israelites und Hyksos, Germol, pp. 89–90). The links between Germany and Assyria can be found, and are neither far-fetched nor imagined. Just what is the significance of the striking parallels between ancient Assyria and Germany? Numerous Bible prophecies clearly indicate that at the end of this age, just before the return of Jesus Christ, Assyria will once again play a pivotal role in world affairs (see Isaiah 10; 11). Yet, when the Medes, Babylonians and Scythians conquered Assyria in 612 bc, its ruling class scattered to the north, east and west, leaving behind the conquered peoples the Assyrians had imported to work as laborers (White, p. 15). Some of those polyglot peoples are found today in Iraq, Syria and the Caucasus. The Assyrian nation ceased to exist, but history and prophecy confirm that its cultural heritage can be traced to the modern nation of Germany. When the Bible speaks of Assyria in the end times, it is speaking of Germany. No other modern nation fits the description so completely. Germany’s return to power in the years since World War II is no accident. God prophesied more than 2,500 years ago that He would bring certain events to pass to accomplish His purpose (Isaiah 46:9–10; Revelation 17:17). Germany is again the leading player in the effort to unite the nations of Europe. Events now underway in Europe will lead to the long-prophesied ten-nation beast power that will again rise out of the ashes of the Roman Empire  (Revelation 17:9–14).

The Bible shows that Germany will again use religion to help forge a unified European power (Revelation 13; 17:1–7), much as was done under Charlemagne. This emerging configuration will become a global economic power (Revelation 18:2–3, 9–14) and will use that power for political purposes. It will appear peaceful at first, but will be transformed into a devouring, war-making beast (Daniel 11:21; Revelation 13:2–3; Revelation 17:12–14). Daniel describes this end-time kingdom as a strong and ferocious beast with “iron teeth,” which Christ will conquer and punish at His return (Daniel 2:40–45; 7:7, 19–23). Yet, amazing as it may seem, Bible prophecy also indicates that God will eventually use Assyria—the remarkable German people—as a leading nation for peace in the coming Kingdom of God (Isaiah 19:23–25). God will use the outstanding intellectual and cultural strengths of the German people to help enrich the world during the coming millennial rule of Jesus Christ. As do all peoples of the earth, the Germans have in their national character both strengths and weaknesses. Just as God will use the modern descendants of Assyria to fulfill end-time prophecy in the years ahead, in Tomorrow’s World He will use the remarkable strengths of the German people to serve their fellow human beings!

But how do we see this today? The 3rd Reich under Adolph Hitler brought about a great genocide of the Jewish people. Their brutality against these people was only because of Hitler’s hatred. He wanted a perfect society with his man made religion and his one world government and was going to rule his kingdom. Yes, as 1 John 2:18 tells us, “ Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour.”  

The antichrist is going to go after God’s people, Jew and Gentile, and we saw this even at the time of Nero. Today we are hearing from tens of thousands of people around the world that Israel must be destroyed. Never before has Israel had so many enemies as today. We saw the death of babies being burned to death and their heads cut off and all kinds of atrocities done to men and women, young and old and yet, people cry out death to Israel, and they cheer these barbaric actions. It is like when they cried out in the days of the ‘Circus Maximus,’  when the believers were being thrown to the lions. You must realize that many of the believers were Jewish.  These people are Nazi Sympathizers, Pro Fascist, Anti God and they have the spirit of antichrist.  This is the 4th Reich, the return of the Roman Empire. The fulfillment of Hitler’s dream is taking shape and it will lead us to the next and final antichrist who will rise up and he will lead his followers forward. A people whom Hilter would have considered the perfect race, even though they will not all be German people.  This antichrist will also get the Pope’s blessing as Revelation 13 gives us all the details. Today as you read this, the world’s leaders have gathered together and already they have laid the foundation to this one world government and they have begun to implement it all over the world. Who will be the one who will rise up and lead this new world?

To get more understanding we ask the you go to our series, “Is History Repeating Itself” 

Is History Repeating Itself Part 4

Revelation 14:12, “Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Yeshua”

 Now is the time for wisdom and understanding. Now is the time to decide whom you will serve, God or the antichrist.

In this teaching we want to address “social justice.” Micah 6:8 tells us, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” We see that God wants us to do justice, but is that the same as “social justice” that we hear about today?

First we must ask ourselves, what is justice, specifically Biblical justice? Well, it is what is right and just and good—righteousness. We find our righteousness through Yeshua our Messiah. John 15:5 tells us this: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”

So then, what is social justice? Social Justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. According to Investopedia, historically and in theory, the idea of social justice is that all people should have equal access to wealth, health, well-being, justice, privileges, and opportunity regardless of their legal, political, economic, or other circumstances. In modern practice, social justice revolves around favoring or punishing different groups of the population, regardless of any given individual’s choices or actions, based on value judgements regarding historical events, current conditions, and group relations. In economic terms, this often means redistribution of wealth, income, and economic opportunities from groups whom social justice advocates consider to be oppressors to those whom they consider to be the oppressed.

You may say, well, this all sounds like something a Christian person should be concerned about. Social justice has been around for at least one hundred years, and yet it has become so politicized in the last fifty years. Social justice is often associated with identity politics, socialism, and communism.

All throughout history we see that people were not equal. We see the elite and the poor, or the master and the slave. What social justice does is it divides and separates. There has been slavery since man has gone out to conquer. Not that we condone slavery or justify it, but in God’s economy He made a way for justice even in slavery, even in poverty, but what man has not done is to follow God’s way.

1 Timothy 6:1-2 tells us the difference between God’s way and man’s. “All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare of their slaves.” We see that God wants all people to respect one another and serve one another as unto the Lord.

Ephesians 6:9 not only speaks to the slave, but also to the master: “And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that He who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.” Even though the status of each of these individuals was not equal, God says they were to act as though they were. Yeshua tells us that we shall always have the poor, but our concern should be spending time with Him. As Matthew 26:11 tells us, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.”

But as believers in the God of creation, are we supposed to treat everyone equal?

Psalm 113 tells us that God makes all things equal: “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; He seats them with princes, with the princes of his people. He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord.”

Leviticus 19:15 says this about equality: “You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.”

Even in the Body of Yeshua we are to treat everyone with respect and with love, for love is the perfect bond of unity even though not all the parts of the Body are equal. 1 Corinthians 12:15-26 says, “Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” When we do things God’s way we can rejoice in all things.

So what is the problem? Let’s look at the beginning of “social justice” as a good place to start, and it starts with Pope Leo XIII who was well known for his intellectualism and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. In his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum (The Evil of Equality), Pope Leo outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights of property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and capitalism. Leo believed if you don’t want the state to run everything, then what are you going to need? You’re going to need people who are able to cooperate and associate among themselves, to solve problems on their own level by themselves. If you want a playground for your children, you’ve got to cooperate with others in the neighborhood to build it. Leo believed in what we call today “networking.”

But Pope Leo XIII did not mean “social justice” to be equality. On the contrary, Leo held that it’s good that there’s an unequal society. Some people are fitted for different kinds of work, and it’s wonderful to be able to find the work that fits your talents. This had been an argument that the founders of the United States used to justify a commercial system: that it provided more opportunities for a wider range of skills than farming life did, so it allowed a much larger range of talents to mature and to develop as people found different niches for themselves.

So Rerum Novarum addresses the evil of equality. Equality is against nature and against the whole range of human gifts. Human gifts make us necessarily unequal in some sense. Social justice actually takes away human sovereignty and freedom because we no longer are who we are, but rather who we want to be or who others want us to be.

Friedrich Hayek wrote a really powerful little book called The Mirage of Social Justice, in which he picked up on the way the term “social justice” was being used in the first half of the 20th century. He said “social justice” had become a synonym for “progressive,” and progressive in practice means socialist or heading toward socialism. Hayek well understood the Catholic lineage of social justice, how the term had first appeared in Catholic thought, until almost 100 years later it became dominant on the secular Left. Hayek noted the Popes had described social justice as a virtue. Now, a virtue is a habit, a set of skills. Imagine a simple set of skills, such as driving a car. The social habit of association and cooperation for attending to public needs is an important, newly learned habit widely practiced, especially in America. Social justice is learning how to form small bands of brothers who are outside the family who, for certain purposes, volunteer to give time and effort to accomplishing something. If there are a lot of kids who aren’t learning how to read, you volunteer for tutoring. Tocqueville wrote, the first law of democracy is the law of association. If you want to free people, for them not to be swallowed up by the state, you have to develop in them the virtue of cooperation and association. It’s not an easy virtue to learn at first, but it soon becomes a vast social phenomenon. And that’s what, in a word, social justice is—a virtue, a habit that people internalize and learn, a capacity. It’s a capacity that has two sides: first, a capacity to organize with others to accomplish particular ends and, second, ends that are extra-familial. They’re for the good of the neighborhood, or the village, or the town, or the state, or the country, or the world. To send money or clothes or to travel to other parts of the world in order to help out—that’s what social justice is: the new order of the ages, Rerum Novarum. If the state has all the responsibilities, it gains all the power, and how do you stop that?

Wikipedia describes social justice like this: “Social privilege is a special, unearned advantage or entitlement, used to one’s own benefit or to the detriment of others. These groups can be advantaged based on social class, age, disability, ethnic or racial category, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and religion.” Social justice tells us that it is wrong to be what we are and tells us that one group of people have privilege while another group of people does not. It denies God’s sovereignty, for He is the one who created us and determines who our family will be and what our course in life will be. o if social justice has become political, why do we believers follow such practices and even go as far as to protest for this cause?

Today we hear about the Common Good. This term goes back to Aristotle, but the question we must ask is, who determines what is the common good? Well, in today’s society the common good is decided by the state, the government, those who are considered elites, people who can not relate to the poor at all because they are far from poor.

Maybe we do not see it as political but as the “religious” thing to do. But religiosity and God’s Word are not always the same. God’s Word addresses social issues, so as believers we do not need the government to tell us what is the Common Good.

Let’s take a look at God’s economy. Luke 12:27-31 tells us, “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will He clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” God gave us the Ten Commandments and explains them in Exodus 20-23 and all throughout Scripture. They tell us many things about how we are to treat the poor and treat one another, but they never tell us that everyone should have equal wealth or status. Colossians 3:12-14 says this: “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” These virtues of godliness never promote equal wealth or status either.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 tells us, “For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.

When we live in a secular world by its secular ways, that is Secular Humanism. We must do things God’s way, for His glory, for we are His children.

But if you want to learn about justice and equality, then you need not look any further than Yeshua. Yeshua, the Son of God, was born into a poor family. He was born in a stable and laid in a feeding trough. He said later in life that foxes have dens and birds have nests but the Son of God has no place to lay His head. An innocent man was crucified by the lies of others. This world is in no way equal. Life is not equal. So why do we try to make it equal? What we need to do is love one another, but not just by forming coalitions or organizations, but one on one.

1 John 3:16-17 tells us, “This is how we know what love is: Yeshua Messiah laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”

1 Timothy 5:3-4 says, “Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.”

And he continues on in 1 Timothy 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

If we all take care of our families and those we come in contact with, we can accomplish more in the name of the Lord than any community group or government agency. We read this in the book of Acts about the community of believers in Jerusalem. Acts 4:32-37 tells us, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Yeshua. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

Many people say, “See, even the Apostles lived by Socialism.” This Scripture represents one community of believers, believers who voluntarily gave of their resources. It was not the government, they were believers in the One True God, and this makes the difference as we will soon see. There would come many communities of believers, and not all of them lived like this, though they were willing to help support other believers. As we continue to look at God’s way, we see as believers we are to be content in our circumstances.

1 Timothy 6:6-10 says this: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

We have two basic commands that Yeshua tells us in Mark 12:30-31, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Galatians 6:10 says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

But Matthew 6:1-4 tells us this, “Beware of practicing your righteousness (justice) before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

James 1:16-17 says, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

God wants us to practice His justice in society, which brings about righteousness and godliness, and to do that we must follow His Word. God works through His Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit through us. His ways are not the world’s ways. His wisdom is not the world’s wisdom. His ways bring Him glory and bring peace and unity to us. The world’s way brings hatred and violence and division. God did not call us to conquer the world. Social Justice is a global endeavour to control lives. God’s justice must start with our own family and then our church family and then our neighborhood. If every believer around the world followed this model, then the world would be a better place for us all and the gospel would be preached one person at a time and everyone would know the name of the Lord. Anything else just does not work.