Blessings and Curses
Part 1
I had somewhat of a short week this past week as I was returning from attending to a family emergency on the East Coast. I sort of alluded to this situation in my last podcast entitled Defeating Satan. If you’ve not had the opportunity to listen to that episode and you have the time, I would humbly encourage you to do so. There is no time like now to refresh our understanding of how we defeat hasatan’s temptations and that posting was something that came to me in the midst of my dealing with my family emergency. I needed that revelation from above and frankly, it came at the right time.
Regardless the situation, I made time each day to stay up with my Torah readings, very loosely following the established Jewish Torah Portions. I picked up from Parashah 47 which is found in Deut. 11:26 through 12:10.
Once again I came upon passages of Torah that seem to hammer home the principle that there are blessings to be had when we “listen to the mitzvot of Adonai our God,” as well as there are curses if we don’t listen to the mitzvot of Adonai. The overriding concern of Father seems to be the chance that we would turn aside from the way of life that He had given us through Moshe and thus begin following other gods that we had not known (vs. 28). These blessings and curses admonitions are referred to by Commentator Matthew Henry as the “great sanctions of the Law.” According to Henry, “Here we learn without vagaries where we stand with Yehovah.”
The traditionalist who so passionately holds on to the belief that we have fallen from grace simply by contemplating the keeping of Torah, on the other hand, goes through his/her daily spiritual walk in complete looseness and uncertainty. As it stands with our misguided cousins in churchianity, there are no formal indicators as to what pleases our Creator or what, for that matter, displeases Him. This of course is not taking into account the traditions and rules that each denomination chooses to enjoin their members to follow at the risk of being dis-fellowshipped when those traditions and rules are broken by them. I submit that these traditionalists go about their lives in total ignorance and depending upon their personal relationship they have with their “church,” fear of crossing the leadership; rejection and abandonment by their church brothers and sisters; or drawing attention unto themselves.
Interestingly, most of the world nations—be they of the West or of the third-world nations—live under and within a set of expectations, rules, laws and to a great extent, cultural-traditions and social norms. This of course does not apply to those rogue nations that exist only as pariahs to the so-called civilized world such as Somalia. Citizens of every so-called civilized nation, unless if they are of the lawless-type or not, live and flourish (and in some cases flounder) within the confines of their nation’s legal and social constructs. Take our nation—the United States for example. I was a child of the 60’s. I remember a time when one could drive in his/her car and not even think about wearing a seatbelt. Despite seatbelts being in American manufactured cars as early as the 1950’s, most folks never gave them any thought. It wasn’t until the late 70’s and early 80’s when seatbelt usage by all passengers of any automobile became the law of the land. I remember vividly how the nation’s lawmakers embarked upon a full-court press to impress upon the people of this nation as to the wisdom and requirement that ever passenger of an operating automobile wear seatbelts. To push this law to its fullest extent, the various regional and local jurisdictions aggressively publicized the positive aspects to be gained from regular and mandatory seatbelt use as well as the penalty to be incurred by the driver of any auto where his/her passengers failed to wear a seatbelt. If the rhetoric wasn’t enough, we began to see evidence that these laws were being enforced by local and state law enforcement officials. Before we knew it, we have then and continue to now buckle-up whenever we get into a car to go to and fro. The act of buckling-up is essentially automatic for most of us. Why is this act so second-nature to us? I believe it is because the essential nature of this act has been so ingrained into the American car-driving psyche for the past 40 or so years.
A more recent legal push can be seen in the whole texting and driving thing that became law in virtually every jurisdiction in the nation. The campaign against texting while driving was so aggressively pushed before the nation’s citizenry in recent years that most us today automatically see those whom we see texting while driving as outlaws and criminals and in most cases we actually become outragged at the sight.
Why then does the traditionalist balk at any mention of Torah observance on the part of believers in Jesus Christ (Y’shua Messiah)? Why would anyone even remotely contemplate that Christians are free to live their lives anyway they so damn-well please? How can one rationalize that virtually every aspect of Western life is governed by some law or set of laws, but when it comes to aspects of our walk with the Savior, there are absolutely no laws? The battle-cry of the traditionalist is “we have freedom in Christ,” this being an apparent reference to Galations 5:1. Indeed, we do have freedom in Christ. However, when we ask a traditionalist what the phrase “freedom in Christ” means to them, they essentially assert that they are free to worship the Trinity/God/Jesus/Holy Spirit and live their lives anyway they so choose or deem as right in their minds and hearts—or for that matter, what is deemed right in the minds of their chosen denominations. Sadly, this to them includes freedom to live outside Torah. Little do these realize that their interpretation of “freedom in Christ” is grossly misunderstood.
An essential cross-reference to Galatians 5:1 is John 8:31-32 where it is recorded of the Master speaking to Jewish followers: “And Y’shua said to those Yehudeans who believed in Him, ‘If you should abide by my words, truly you are my disciples. And you will know the truth and that truth will set you free.’” (AENT) Hebraic Roots teacher and overseer of the House of Israel, Arthur Bailey teaches that one can not truly understand Torah unless they first gain an understanding of Y’shua HaMaschiyach. And as we can clearly see in this passage, one cannot become truly free from the bondage of religion—and when I say religion I mean churchianity as much as I mean Catholicism and Judaism—unless he/she first abides in the Words—the teachings and example of our Master. Doing so embeds the Word of Yah in our hearts and minds and if and when that happens we can discern, know and live out this Faith that was once delivered to the first century saints by Maschiyach Y’shua. Thus I would sadly assert that those currently abiding in churchianity are not abiding in Messiah as Y’shua taught His Jewish followers. These are unfortunately abiding in their religion’s doctrines, beliefs and traditions that serve only to nullify Torah (reference Mat. 15 and Mar. 7).
Why did Y’shua make such a bold statement to His Jewish followers? I believe it was necessary for them to understand that their spiritual, physical and eternal wellbeing was not tied to Judaism, their national religion and government system that in the first-century C.E. was under Roman occupation. Contrary to what their sages, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes and their peers might say in opposition, the Jewish nation was heading down the path of certain destruction. Contrarily, their spiritual, physical and eternal wellbeing, like ours today, would be wholly dependent upon the Words of Father (aka Torah), which He, our example, redeemer and older brother Y’shua Messiah, taught and modeled for us. There is no other way to truly live and understand Torah. Granted, this would be a hard pill to swallow in first-century Judah, because Judaism was so ingrained into every Jew’s psyche and life. Judaism defined who and what a Jew was. But truth be told, no religion must ever define who or what we are as individuals or a people. In the eyes of Yah, one should be defined by strict adherence to that which proceeds from the mouth of Yahovah. Otherwise, we become known by the world’s standards which rates extremely poorly in the eyes of Father.
If our careers are our primary focus in life and we are company people so to speak, then we are defined by our jobs. If our families are our primary focus (and let me say that I absolutely contend that families are important, but that they should never supersede one’s relationship with Father and Messiah) and everything we do in our lives is tied to our families, then our families define who we are. If our material possessions consume us to the point that we obsess over them, then our material goods define who and what we are. Ever heard of status symbols? Our homes and cars and gadgets define who and what we are in Western society. People know us in accordance to the things we possess. When was the last time that anyone could say of us: “oh, those people are Torah people or those folks are into Hebrew Roots stuff or they are people of Yahovah?” As awkward and negative as that may sound to the uninitiated, it would actually speak volumes as to who and what we are in the eyes of the Almighty. And this is my Torah Living Daily Challenge today: that we assess that which defines us and make the appropriate adjustments in our lives so that what defines us as a people is not our careers and the things we own, but that which is hallow in the eyes of our Creator. Whatever it takes to make that adjustment must be done and done sooner than later. The only person who can determine and make that happen is you and I.
Have a blessed day. May you walk in the power and might of His Rauch haKodesh and experience and perform great and wonderful exploits such that the world will be led to the One true God. Shalom.