How Must We Deal with a World that is in Chaos?
Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections—Episode 66
Vanity of Vanities for all is Vanity!
Well, unless you’ve been completely off the grid—that is, in complete seclusion without access to news of any sort—you are no doubt aware of the chaotic and troubling events that have taken place in our world just in the last few weeks. At the height of this recent global chaos, my flesh nature was pushing me to speak out on these issues from both a personal and Hebrew Roots perspective.
I found myself vetting my views on social media almost instantaneously as these events transpired. I became a voracious viewer of both mainstream and off-mainstream news outlets throughout the day. I became emotionally connected to these stories and I found that I was allowing myself to be consumed by rage and frustration, losing sight of the bigger picture that we in Hebrew Roots should constantly be cognizant of at all times. And what are those things that we should be cognizant of at all times? That emotions, apart from our undying love and reverence for Father, our devotion to our Master, and I’d even say the love we have for our families and for one another; that emotions beyond these things must not influence how we react; how we view; how we see; how we cognitively filter certain world events. For what I’ve found as it relates to emotions and world events: as these events transpire and the world begins to react emotionally; and we allow ourselves to partake in the emotional outpouring in response to these events, that we are forced to take sides on the matter. Truly. I’ve found this to be true, at least in my case.
Emotional responses to highly emotional events will inherently force one to take sides on the matter. And I guess the billion-dollar question is: should we take sides on these matters based upon the emotions we find ourselves experiencing over such highly-charged global and national events? Should we be lending our voice to the social discourse on these often incendiary events? Should we personally get involved in activities designed to respond to these events like join the military, run for political office, join a protest or pour out our feelings on social media as I found myself doing throughout these recent events?
Black Lives Matter Protest
Islamaphobia on the Rise
In this country alone, we’ve had a couple of radical Islamic-inspired attacks on unarmed citizens resulting in the deaths of some 5-dozen souls. We’ve had several incidents of white police officers shooting and killing black-men on some of this nation’s inner-city streets and the sitting president, members of congress and mainstream media immediately rushing to criminally judge and convict those white officers of racially motivated homicide before the facts of the case can be objectively looked at by a court of law. Then in response to those shootings, widespread violent protests have taken place in several of this nation’s major cities, resulting in the injuries of multiple individuals and the widespread destruction of city-owned and personal property. As a result of those police shootings and subsequent violent protests, several police officers from at least 2-major city police departments have been summarily murdered by troubled individuals who for whatever reason, elected to personally impose justice—at least justice as they saw it.
An Assault on our Rights as American Citizens
In response to the above highly-charged national events, there appears to be brewing in the so-called “hallowed halls” of our federal government, a major assault on the 1st and 2nd Amendment rights of American citizens—that is to ban free speech and the right to own and bear firearms, which if and when it actually happens, will cause even greater violence throughout our nation. And if all this weren’t enough, we are in the midst of a contentious presidential election season, with the Republican-side putting forth a contentious, divisive and globally maligned candidate for voter scrutiny; while the Democratic-side proudly puts forth their candidate who is believed by many to have been, in her lifetime of government service, embroiled in multiple criminal acts along with a terrible government service record to boot. Again, all of these things have come together in seemingly a “perfect storm.” Our nation has become divided straight down the middle of every conceivable social, economic and political line you could ever come up with.
Another Image of a Black Lives Matter Protest
A World in Chaos
Internationally, the nation-states that make up the European Union have experienced unrelenting terrorist attacks by Jihadists who have waged what appears to be a war upon the very people that have given them sanctuary in their respective countries. No one—children, women and men—no one is spared by these hate-driven terrorists who believe they are about a noble work to forcibly convert the world to Islam and Sharia Law. And sadly, the elected and trusted leaders of these besieged countries, are incapable and seemingly unwilling to address this matter head on—actually in many cases, going so far as blaming their very own citizens whom they’ve been sworn to protect, for these heinous attacks.
The Brexit caused quite a stir, resulting in threats of other nations contemplating abandoning the European Union and the union itself blocking England’s exit. There’s also concerns that the European Union’s existence may be in peril over this, England’s most recent actions. China’s claim to island property in the South China Sea and an international tribunal ruling that China does not have rights to those disputed islands, recently prompted the U.S. to send a battle group into the region to ensure enforcement of that tribunal ruling. Venezuela is just days away from complete and utter economic and social collapse. Russia is threatening to go to war with the United States for a variety of reasons. Turkey recently suffered an attempted military coup that many so-called political experts believe was actually staged by Turkey’s very own president. This dubious coup has resulted in the deaths and imprisonments of countless Turkish government officials and citizens. Oh, and let us not forget that Turkey possesses an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Needless to say, all of these international, tragic events seem to be greasing the skids, so to speak, for the long-predicted, World War III. If not World War III, these events at the very least seem to be mounting up to something and what that something is, no one really knows—at least, those of us who are not part of the global elite or of hasatan’s human inner circle.
As I see it, clearly the inhabitants of this world, have entered into a period of time that was unimaginable just a half-century ago.Oh, we’ve had major wars and skirmishes; we’ve had sporadic terrorist attacks in virtually every region of the planet; we’ve had several instances of national economic collapses and social violence widely dispersed over many parts of the world over many years.
But instead of social violence erupting here at this time; saber rattling over here at another time; this nation invading another sovereign nation at some other time; world-class banks collapsing over here, fueled by a certain national referendum; yet quietly and all the while, the overall moral integrity of the world has been consistently eroding for decades. Islamic terrorism, once spontaneous in frequency of occurrence, the individual attacks being generally isolated but fundamentally interlinked in the causes for the attacks, such that when these terrorist incidents occurred, they commanded global attention and had eye-opening international impact. All of these things have been disjointedly going on throughout the last century or so. Nevertheless, I believe we’re seeing something that is moderately unprecedented in human history: the convergence of all of these things happening in our world simultaneously. Surely, if it were just these things happening one at a time, our world would be able to process and address them with relative ease. But when these things are happening concurrently and with combined frequency and happening at such a scale that we are seeing records broken in almost a daily basis: body counts; monies lost; the extent of devastation; and the mobilization of humanity in key places across the globe. I tell you, the level and intensity of the evil appears to be unprecedented and especially heinous. Human life has become marginalized and as nothing more than chattel. Children, the most precious gift we adults can ever have, are prime targets of much of this stated evil.
What is Going On?
Sadly, today, most of humanity has become numb over this onslaught of vicious evil upon itself. Frankly, no one seems to know what to do about all that is going on around us. Most tragically, our world leaders have no idea how to deal with this massive onslaught of evil. Some in the non-mainstream media have suggested that our world leaders–some to a greater while others to a lesser degree– actually are instigators of this evil throughout the world; that they are simply following the orders of a small handful of so-called global elitists—the wealthiest of the wealthy and the most powerful of the powerful—who have made it their mission in life, not only to keep and expand their power and wealth, but to exercise absolute control over the world’s population. Thus it has been suggested by these so-called conspiracy theorists that our present day world leaders are simply instruments by which the global elite are enacting their strangle-hold control over the nations of the world. Certainly if this were to be true—that the world is
under the control of a handful of so-called global elitiists—we who are in the spiritual know would have to conclude that those who believe they are in control of the world’s affairs are really themselves, nothing more than instruments by which the true title deed holder of this earth—that great manipulator of world affairs—that great liar, deceiver, murderer and destroyer—hasatan (John 8:44); that same being who audaciously sought to tempt our Master, certifying his claim to the earth and her inhabitants:
… the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (Mat 4:8-9 KJV)
Some teach, as does Michael Rood, that hasatan holds the so-called “title deed” to this world and thus the world and all its inhabitants are owned and operated by him. According to “Google,” the term “title deed” denotes a legal deed or document constituting evidence of a right, especially to ownership to property.” Now, I’ve not found any mention whatsoever in the bible of hasatan holding a so-called title deed to the earth. But what we clearly find in the Gospel record is a description of hasatan as being “prince of this world.” The descriptor “prince” in the Greek is “ar’-khone” which means a ruler or commander, a chief or leader. Interestingly enough, prince hasatan in addition to having absolute power over the earth, also has access to heaven (or at the very least he once held access to heaven) and it is in heaven that he assumes the role of accuser of the brethren before the counsel of Yahovah. Some believe, however, that hasatan still possesses access to the throne of Yahovah, while other mainline teachers believe quite the opposite—that upon our Master’s ascension to heaven and the very throne room of the Creator, hasatan was summarily cast out, forbidden to ever return. At this stage of my walk with Messiah, I believe this second scenario to be true: that hasatan has been cast out of heaven, no more to accuse the brethren as denoted in John 12:31 and Revelation 12:10. Which leaves quite open this idea that hasatan, having lost his throne room privilege in heaven so to speak, now has all his remaining time on earth to carry out his ultimate plan to undermine Yahovah and the redemptive work of His son Yahoshua. In so doing, hasatan must rely in great part, on the sinful nature of certain humans to carry out his plans. And I somewhat believe that’s where we find ourselves today: hasatan engaging certain world leaders to carry out his plans of anarchy, death, and destruction and then, when the world stands on the precipice of total collapse and chaos, he, hasatan, will come in and be the counterfeit of our soon reigning king on this earth. I truly believe we are in some of the most exciting but fearsome of times. As the world plummets towards chaos and self-implosion, the world cries out for a savior—but that savior at first will be a counterfeit savior. You may disagree with me here if you like and that’s okay. I love to hear differing perspectives on this subject. Nevertheless, despite what many contend and believe, no one individual has this all figured out. I do not believe the Father has revealed everything that is going to happen as of yet. All we have at this time are disjointed images of things that are to come such as this one from Rav Shaul to the Thessalonian Assembly:
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come (and Shaul is speaking about the coming Day of the Lord from verse 2 of this same chapter)—for it will not come except there come unless the apostasy comes first (i.e., a falling away from Torah and the commandments of Yahoshua and a substitution is made for a Hellenistic messiah that Christianity has become well known) and the man of lawlessness (i.e., in the Greek “anomia,” which refers to being “without Torah”)—and the man of “anomia” is revealed, the son of destruction (or more classically referred to as the son of “perdition)—that man who opposes Torah and who also 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—(that is he is a counterfeit of Maschiyach)…then moving on to verse 6—And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. (Note: the AENT renders this verse—”And now you know what hinders his being manifested in this time.”) Continuing on to verse 7—For the mystery of lawnessness is already at work—that is, many believing they are operating as grafted in Israel, but operating in opposition to Torah. Continuing—only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord (that is, revealed by our Master Yahoshua HaMaschiyach)—that lawless one will be revealed whom Y’shua will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of hasatan, with all power and signs and false wonders and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason Yah will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” (2 Thess. 2:3-12, NAS)
The Solution to the World’s Problems
So it would be safe to conclude that we will be or are now, going through a season of turmoil and tribulation that will ultimately serve to judge those who are not of our Faith (cf. Verse 12). So then, it is my belief, in great part, that what we are seeing going on around us these days—all this tragedy—all this chaos—all this craziness—is at the very least a foreshadow of judgment and curses that are coming to the nations of this world. And why would I say that? Well, let’s face it: most of the world is unfamiliar with Deuteronomy 28—to Natsariym, it is the well known blessings and curses portion of Torah. Verse 15 reads as follows:
“…if you do not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, by carefully observing all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, all these curses will be yours in abundance. You will be cursed in the city and you will be cursed in the field. Your basket will be cursed and also your kneading-bowl.” (Deut. 28:15-19, QBE)
And of course the remainder of the chapter continues with various curses that will come upon us if we do not remain true to Torah. And certainly, I can’t think of anyone that will ever say that the nations of the world are keeping Torah today. In so not doing—that is, keeping Torah and rejecting the teachings of Yahoshua, we are only able to exist in relative peace and prosperity or whatever, by the grace and patience of Yahovah. At some tipping point, Father’s patience and grace runs out and the curses associated with not being compliant with Torah, will take over that void where grace and Yah’s patience used to abide. Now many might take exception to all that I’ve just said—that the keeping of Torah only applies to those that are Yah’s elect or spiritual Israel and to a great extent, I agree with that thinking. But the simple truth of the matter is that Torah defines what is sin and how man should live his/her life. Without this set of instructions, no society—no nation—no people can live very long without an onslaught of problems—that is, curses and judgments. It’s just that simple. The only way for man to live in perpetual peace and prosperity is by that people’s adoption of Torah. For Torah was not just for the “Jews” as churchianity and even Judaism has taught for several centuries. It’s for God’s people and ultimately will be for the world. The key has always been: if we as a people keep Torah the way Father has always intended for us to keep it, and as a result, we live peaceful and prosperous and blessed lives (cf. Deuteronomy 28:1-14), the other nations of the world will see what we have and will naturally wish the same for themselves.
But getting back to the whole thinking that hasatan and his set of global elite minions are running the world and are responsible for much of the chaos that we are currently witnessing in the world today: I’m not sure if man is just inherently ignorant or has he actually deluded himself to believe that he actually is in control of world events, when clearly man is not. Shaul so aptly wrote of hasatan: 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Eph 2:2-3 KJV)
So I believe that hasatan is the man behind the curtain, pulling the strings of the global elite and causing all the mayhem in the world today? Yeah, I believe that to be true. But is it actually happening in the exact manner that many of us believe it to be occurring? Probably not. I believe there is evil at work in this world and most of us are simply oblivious as to what is really happening behind the world scene.
But should we worry about all that is happening in the world today—all that is going on around us and that is transpiring before our very eyes, instantly in many cases, given the amazing technology we have at our disposal these days—should we be doing something in response to the current worldwide chaos. How must we, as Natsariym, deal with a world that is in utter chaos? Should we insert ourselves into the fray? Should we mount campaigns on social media to let our outrage and dismay be known to the world? Should we assemble as peacekeepers in the midst of this chaos to quell the burgeoning violence in many of our major cities? Should we become active and participatory in politics or even seek out careers and jobs in government (military, police, national security, etc.) in a hope to do our part to make a positive difference in the world? Or should we simply bury our collective heads in the sand and hope that this all will quickly go away?
This is one of the many questions that I’ve been struggling with over the course of the last month as I see what appears to be a world falling irreparably apart, right before my very eyes. I know that I’ve gone to work on some mornings, after hearing the latest news related to some violent event that’d just occurred in some part of the world, carrying within my soul a depressed burden and sorrow—wanting to quiet the evil and hateful rhetoric that flows from all sides—wanting to reach out and console families of those devastated by death and violence—wanting the purveyors of hate, hatred and lawless throughout our nation and then throughout the world, to face swift but certain death at the hands of justice—wanting to yell to a lost and dying world that you’re all idiots and are heading down a path of certain destruction. What to do Father, what to do?
You know, in the midst of this worldwide mess, the famous saying of Thomas Payne has come so very strongly to me of late. The Payne statement was recorded in “The American Crisis,” a publication of his that was popular with the Continental Army, published December 23, 1776 and goes:
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
How Must We Deal with a World that is in Chaos?
So as I reflect and think about the current world situation that we are all facing today, I ask, how must we—as Natsarym—how must we deal with a World that is in Chaos? How must we react to incendiary events that force us to take sides? How must we view and interact with the world and its national governments? How deep should we become involved in world affairs—and I’m not talking about becoming an ambassador or some world leader—I’m talking about getting out into the world and getting involved in government and social work? Are we called to such enterprises?
The first thing that comes to my mind when I consider all that we should be about doing as disciples of Yahoshua is that which Shaul wrote to the Roman Assembly. He wrote:
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world—that is, do not schematizo—do not assume a certain form, figure—do not take on the ways of the world. Continuing, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind—that is, metamorphoo—change into another form by the renewed mindset and paradigm that we receive once we take on this walk with Messiah. In other words, let us abandon the ways of the world; and in the old world’s stead, let us taken on the appearance of Messiah in every aspect of our lives. And finishing: so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1,2, NASB)
What Shaul (aka Paul) seems to be saying to me here in this passage is that we must be of a mind that “abandons the world;” not in a creepy, cultic manner, but in a way that things are put into their proper perspective. I guess one can liken this process to, let say, moving on from a former relationship—be they girlfriend, boyfriend, acquaintance, friend, etc. We all go through periods in our lives when we accumulate a set of relationships. But eventually, life comes along and for whatever reasons, those relationships we once held as important, they diminish and ultimately fade away into distant memories. And those distant relationships are replaced by new relationships that take on different meanings and places in our respective lives. When we decide to walk with Yahoshua, and we embark upon a very difficult life journey as one of His disciples, it is by the very nature of what constitutes being a true disciple that everything in life that we once held dear, begins to fade and ultimately disappear in comparison to the intense and uncompromising loyalty we now possess as His disciple.
I find it very interesting that not everyone that follow Yeshua during His earthly ministry were considered Yeshua’s disciples. In fact, Yeshua probably had just 120-disciples by the time He concluded His earthly ministry, minus 11 that were His inner circle disciples who ultimately became known as apostles. (Reference Acts 1:15) And I believe we really have to put this into perspective here: Yahoshua had literally multitudes following Him during His earthly ministry. Yet out of those no-doubt hundreds, if not thousands of followers, Yahoshua netted but 120-disciples. The Gospel account talks about several individuals who entertained becoming one of Yahoshua’s disciples, but for whatever reasons, those did not meet the minimal requirements.
So for us, the stakes and requirements for discipleship are just as high as the 120 from Acts 1. And what was so different about these individuals who took on the moniker, disciple of Yahoshua Messiah? They gave up everything in their lives to follow Yeshua and to carry out His Great Commission. These did not get involved in government work; these did not get involved in social endeavors; these did not join the military. The 120 were focused upon being about their Master’s work and making disciples of the nations.
One of the most touching instructions we can find in the Holy Writ regarding the intense dedication that is required to be a true disciple of Yeshua is found in Shaul’s second letter to the then young Timothy. Shaul writes:
“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Messiah Yahoshua. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” (2 Timothy 2:2-5, NASB)
Scholars believe this written admonishment of Shaul’s to the Evangelist, to have been written approximately 66-67 C.E., from Shaul’s prison cell in Rome. Under Roman Emperor Nero, Shaul was condemned to death for his work of the Gospel. He was at the end of his life and was reaching out to Timothy to frame for him what was truly important in life and that which must be truly important in a disciple’s life is the work of the Gospel; it’s making disciples of all nations; it’s living righteous lives and being effective witnesses for our Faith. And certainly, for me, this passage puts everything in its proper perspective. Sure, I have my current life’s responsibilities of family and job, but my first and foremost responsibility must be my place and purpose in the Faith and the work of the Gospel, as it must be with all of us.
Don’t we place our freshly washed, dried and folded clothes into their assigned drawers or on hangers in certain places of our clothes closets such that we may retrieve them during the coming days as we see need for them. But don’t we do the same thing with our discipleship? Don’t we compartmentalize our discipleship into comfortable, convenient places in our day-to-day lives? When the reality of the matter is that it should be the other way around: we should be placing all of our life-matters—our jobs, careers, families, possessions, hobbies, habits, entertainments and every other daily activity—into convenient places where we can retrieve them when we are afforded the opportunity to do so. But the Faith must always remain the absolute single focus. The things of life must take on lesser and lesser importance in our lives. That’s not to say that we abandon our responsibilities. Indeed not. As true believers in Yeshua Messiah, part of showing forth Messiah in our lives requires that we be good stewards of the things that Father has entrusted to us. Shaul spoke on this very issue, in that he counseled that we should be not just disciples of Messiah, but trustworthy stewards. (Reference: 1 Cor.4:1-3) For if we renege on our responsibilities, we sully our testimony as servants of Messiah. But I believe the point is that we must put things in their proper perspective—Yahoshua first; and the rest in their proper places. And this is not easy. We must be masters at properly balancing our Faith commitments and responsibilities with our life responsibilities and commitments. Sadly, however, most of us fail miserably in this crucial task. We tend to become consumed with the cares of life which leads to the matters of our Faith naturally taking on a more convenient place in our lives. But as disciples of Yahoshua, we saw the example of Yahoshua when he rejected many of those who came to Him seeking to be His disciple—but having Godly discernment, Yahoshua handily saw right through them and knew that they were not in a place to put the discipleship He required of each of His followers, first and foremost in their lives. What was it that Master instructed:
“Do not think that I have come to bring calm on earth. I have not come to bring calm, rather a sword. For I have come to divide a man from his father and a girl from her mother. And a daughter-in-law from her mother-in-law. And the adversaries of a man will be his household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And anyone that does not take up his staff (although most Greek to English translations use “cross,” which appears to be a scribal addition to the original text)—anyone that does not take up his staff and come and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:34-38, AENT)
Now how many of us have read this and comparable passages over and over throughout our walk with Messiah? How many of us have ever taken this passage at its fullest face value? Did we take Yahoshua seriously enough after reading and meditating on this and its sister passages—did we take Master seriously enough to do as He said? I can tell you that I never took Him seriously. I took Him to be speaking euphemistically or should I say, I took Him to be speaking from more of a idealistic perspective—definitely not from a serious position of actually subjugating everything in my life for Him. And why should I believe such a thing? We were taught as self-professing Christians, that Jesus paid it all and thus by His Grace, we have nothing more to do but await His return. That being said, I can live as I see fit. There is freedom in Christ and I am saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost. I have nothing to worry about. But having come into the true Faith once delivered and now realizing the Master said what He said and meant what He meant, I don’t take liberties any longer with trying to determine the level of candor and seriousness in which He taught. Master was not here to play “church.” He was on an eternal business matter that we who are supposed to be His disciples better get in shape and do what He taught and commanded.
As in the 2nd Timothy passage I just read, Shaul uses the idiom of Timothy taking on the mindset of a good solider. Now those of you who, like me, served in the military, you might recall a period of time when we were not privy to being involved in the things of home and civilian life. As members of the military, our focus was our respective jobs in the military. We lived, ate and slept military. There were times when we weren’t privy to local, state, national and international news. And that was our lives at that time. And what a great illustration Shaul provides, for it really brings home what our focus must be in the Faith.
In so being a good soldier, we trained to perfect our craft. Our co-workers became our friends and family. We did what we were legally commanded to do without reservation and without contention. But the cares of the so-called “real world” were not our concern per se. Our concern became making our leaders pleased with our performance and hopefully at some point getting some much needed R&R (i.e., rest and relaxation). This is at a microscopic level. But from a macro-level, the military as a whole is tasked with enacting—promoting—carrying out foreign national policy. And what is Foreign National Policy? According to Google.com: “it is self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve goals within its international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries.” That national policy may entail: defense of our nation from enemies foreign and domestic; aiding and defending our allies; securing strategic oil supplies; protecting and securing trade routes; neutralizing our enemies who pose a threat to our national security; nation building; disaster relief; and the like. So transposing our Faith onto this idiom, we can see where our lot in life is like that of a soldier. We are not to become entangled in the affairs of the world and of life, at least not beyond that which we’ve been commanded to do by Master Yeshua. As good, trusting and obedient soldiers of Yahoshua, we are tasked with enacting and promoting God’s Kingdom Policy to all the world. And what is that policy? It is to go and make disciples of all the nations; immersing them them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Ruach haKodesh. Then we are to teach them to keep all that Master commanded us to do. (Reference: Matthew 28:19,20; AENT)
Dealing with Chaos as Hebrew Rooters
So taking all this into account: Our Master’s instructions and commandments; Shaul’s idiomatic admonishments to the Evangelist Timothy; the work of the Gospel that still remains left -undone became we don’t have the time to deal with it in our personal lives; the fact that we are most privileged to be living under the renewed covenant whereby Torah is written upon our hearts—I believe we Natsarym must ask ourselves when determining how we will deal with world events—what is my mission in life as a disciple of Yahoshua? If I choose to get involved in social activities such as riots, protests; fire off YouTube videos; fire off social media rants and engage Facebook friends in debates; get involved in the political and electoral process; become employed in government service; all these in response to social, national and international upheaval—am I acting on my own accord and am I shirking my duties as a true disciple and soldier of Yahoshua Messiah?
My dear friends—brothers and sister in the true Faith—I believe we are actually prohibited from getting involved in all such world affairs. For when we do, we are not carrying out the Kingdom Policies of our Father and our Master. We have not been called and trained and sent forth to engage in worldly affairs. We’ve instead been sent upon an entirely different mission. Too many of us find ourselves entangled in the affairs of this world—me included. And when we do such things, we neglect our role in Kingdom business. I’ve come across individuals who claim to be hard-and-fast Natsarym, but they get caught up in the affairs and cares of this world. They take the talents, and the drive, and the teachings of Master with them to fulfill the purposes of man while neglecting their roles in the Great Commission. Some delude themselves into believing that by them getting involved in the world’s affairs under the mantle of being a disciple of Messiah, then they are doing what they are supposed to do. Oh they will claim that they are fulfilling the role of being peacekeepers; being leaders; being the voice of reason; standing in the gap between those who would be about doing evil and those who are simply out there to do something positive. And I would not be so forward to suggest that any one disciple is not fulfilling their purpose in Yahoshua Messiah if indeed they so claim. Certainly that is between them and Father. But I will say that when our involvement in such affairs does not call people of the world to repent, learn the ways of Yahoshua and teach others to do likewise, then that which we believe to be our God-ordained mission has been compromised in favor of either making ourselves fill better about a situation or fulfilling the purposes and goals of men.
Master was clear:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24; NASB)
I realize this stated passage in context was speaking more to the love of riches over the love for Father. But we must be cognizant that Master’s prohibition against loving riches over Father crosses over to everything thing in life that supplants Father from having first place in our lives. And if being drawn into getting involved in the taking of sides on subjects and getting entwined in all the upheaval that is going on, we are missing out entirely on what we must be focusing on. For the only side that matters in our lives and ultimately in the lives of the world, is Yahovah side. We must resist the pull to get involved in such foolishness. Granted, much of it is serious foolishness. But as Shaul’s analogy suggests, that foolishness has nothing to do with us. Simply put: hasatan controls this world and there’s nothing that we can do to change any of it apart from speaking out against lawlessness and calling for a return to Torah—Yeshua-style.
Faithfully,
Rod Thomas