Controlling Our Emotions for the Work of the Gospel–STAR-90

Shabbat Shalom fellow saints in training. Greetings and blessings to you on this day that Yahuah our Elohim has made—one that we were admonished by the psalmist to be glad and rejoice in it. This is especially so given that the Sabbath is a most sacred day to us Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah. This 7th day was the only day of the 7 days of our week that was blessed and sanctified by Father and we have been commanded by Abba to maintain its holiness (Genesis 2:3 and Exodus 20:8 respectively). And how do we keep it holy? Well, the best place to start is to treat the day unlike any of the other 6-days of our week by not participating in any servile labors and to set our focus squarely upon Him and His Word. The lighting of candles, citing of rote prayers and the serving of traditional meals are not commanded of us to do. Thus, it is between each of us as individuals and Yahovah our Elohim to flesh our the mechanics of how we observe and honor Sabbath. Regardless, let us guard this gift of the Sabbath with zeal, love, peace and obedience.

In case you are new to this podcast series, allow me to introduce myself: I’m Rod Thomas, your Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections partner and fellow disciple of Yahoshua our Messiah. Whether you are a veteran Torah Observant Believer in Yeshua or not, you are welcome here. All I ask is that you share these moments with me with an open heart, mind and spirit and whatever is presented here, that you take it in the spirit that it’s delivered and that you do your own research, prayer and meditation on the content herein.

As always, it is my hope, trust and prayer that this episode of Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections finds you, your families, and fellowships well and blessed.

Well, how goes it? How was your week? It is my hope and heartfelt desire that if you went through any hardships, trials or tribulations this past week, that your deliverance and healing is on its way. As I’ve said countless times on this program, this is an arduous journey that we’ve embarked upon as disciples of Yeshua and when you add to that difficult walk the cares and trials of this life, there can be moments in time when we simply want to throw in the towel; that we want to walk away from it all and find a corner or hole somewhere other than where we are at the moment and just let the world pass us by.

The enemy has studied and analyzed each and everyone of us and he knows our vulnerabilities. He is not above exploiting those weaknesses of ours to further his kingdom goals. I’ve come across a number of dear brothers and sisters over the course of the last couple weeks who are going through stuff: debilitating and consuming illnesses; financial struggles; family strife; depression; confusion and uncertainty. Why is this stuff happening to us in the midst of everything else that is going on in the world? Well, the Spirit (i.e., Father’s Ruach) clearly wants us to be aware of the ploys and tactics of hasatan that we not be fooled or taken off our established spiritual course. You see, if the serpent can distract us with stuff, then our effectiveness as workers in the Kingdom of Yahuah will have been successfully compromised.

Father’s plan for mankind includes us as essential workers in His fields, working the waiting harvest; fulfilling Master’s Great Commission (reference Matthew 28:19, 20). No, contrary to traditional/fundamental Christianity, we’ve not been commissioned to go out and get people saved nor teach and preach a gospel about the death, burial and resurrection of Master Yahoshua. Instead, we’ve been commissioned to go out and make disciples for Master and to teach them all that He’s taught us. And when we become beset by the cares of this world, our effectiveness in that Greatest of Commissions is severely diminished. Somehow, some way, we must not allow our lives to be waylaid by the enemy and the primary way we accomplish this is by our maintaining a steadfast vigilance; developing and maintaining a complete reliance upon the provision and guidance of Father; and obedience to His Word.

On this subject, the Apostle Peter (i.e., Kepha) wrote in his first letter to the first-century saints: “Submit yourselves to those who are elders. Yes, all (i.e., all of you) be subject one to the other, and be clothed with humility; for Yahweh resists the proud, but gives mercy to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of Yahweh, in order that He may exalt you in due time; casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom she may devour; resist her by remaining firm in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are fully endured by your brothers in the world. But may all merciful Yahweh Himself—Who has called us to His eternal glory in Yahshua Messiah, after you have suffered a while—perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you (I Peter 5:5-11, The Book of Yahweh)”

Saints, troubles are going to beset us, it’s just a fact of our spiritual life. But we’ve been given a method of overcoming troubles and that is humbling ourselves before our Creator through a strict regimen of obedience and honor; remain vigilant and knowledgeable of the ways hasatan goes about tripping us up; resist the tugs and pulls of hasatan and not give him one inch in our lives; and then casting our cares upon Him and trusting Him to deal with those issues on our behalf.

This is just as much a lesson on trusting in the Almighty for me as it hopefully is for you.

Part-1-Microchipping and the Mark of the Beast

Have you all seen the articles that have been written regarding microchipping that is being reported in the various news media around this country?

Over the last couple weeks, I’ve heard and read stories of companies that are pushing and even requiring their employees to be chipped—that is, to have a microchip placed in their bodies for purposes of tracking them and allowing them access to various electronic systems in their company’s facilities.

The troubling thing here is not that microchipping of people is actually being done out there in the world today (for we knew this was coming a long time ago and that for years it has become an expectation in our society to microchip our pets), but that mainstream media is not picking up on stories of companies and entities that are now microchipping their employees as common practice and not sounding an alarm to their readers and listeners to beware of this coming trend. This is something that the world needs to be made aware of, especially members of our Faith Community and Fundamental/Evangelical Christianity who subscribe to the concepts of freedom, truth, Faith and righteousness. Seems that the press is too concerned these days with what President Trump is doing at any given moment; so much so that they are missing and even intentionally bypassing stories of existential importance like the ones I’m about to speak briefly to you about.

In an article written 8/2/2017 by InfoWars Steve Watson entitled, “Creepy: Wisconsin Tech Company Parties After Implanting Employees with Microchips—Citing Need to Control Our Employees,” Watson reported that Wisconsin company “Three Square Market” got consent from her 41-employees to have RFID chips (i.e., Radio Frequency Identification chips) implanted in their hands. Company spokespersons cited a need to give their employees access and control of certain electronic devices and doors to various spaces in the company’s facility.

The company wanted to make it clear that the chipping of Three Square Market employees was purely voluntary. And isn’t that the way the introduction of most technologies and innovations are introduced to the public; that the implementation of such things are initially voluntary with a focus on communicating to the public how and why these products are going to greatly benefit society in the end.

This company cites that microchipping would conceivably be used to identify and even track people by law enforcement personnel as well as entities with a need to know who you are and what your business is in the place that you are found by them at any given moment.

So I thought to myself: well, that’s somewhat disconcerting, but knowing what I know about scripture and the high probability that the mark of the beast as mentioned in Revelation 13:16,17 could actually be implanted microchips, I will certainly not fall for such a shenanigans when microchipping goes full blown mainstream.

Well, that was the sentiment I had until I came across an article posted on qpolitical.com entitled, “NBC Warns All Americans Will Be Microchipped in 3-Years.” The unnamed author gives commentary on the Mark of the Beast and possible connections to that mark being that of microchips. However, I found that the real meat is found in the last two paragraphs of the article. The author rightly says that the government is quietly preparing the public to accept the implantation of microchips in every citizen of this nation.

The article goes on to describe how once the benefits of the new technology is sold to the public by our governments and you then get a few carefree individuals to partake in the technology implementation, all it takes is one major catastrophe like 911 to set the public into panic which in turn would cause the public to demand their government do something to protect her citizens. (Remember how 911 gave birth to the TSA because we demanded that our government protect us and assure us that another 911 would never occur. And it was not long before we citizens gave over total and complete control of our basic human rights to these goons who take great pleasure in demeaning and disrespecting the traveling public.) For the next such catastrophe, our government has an easy solution to address the problem—microchip every citizen of the United States.

The microchipping of every soul in the world becomes no longer a question of “what if” but of “when;” and according to this article we are just 3-years out from the microchipping of every U.S. citizen. It is a fair bet that the rest of the world will not be too far behind in their implementation of microchipping their citizens, if not that they beat the U.S. to the punch and begin microchipping their folks first.

Is microchipping the infamous Mark of the Beast? I don’t rightly know, but it certainly seems suspiciously so right about now, doesn’t it? Our Faith Community as well as Churchianity as a whole, has gone round and about on this question of just what is the Mark of the Beast. For years the prevailing theory of what the Mark of the Beast would be was something akin to what we’re talking about here—at the very least it was surmised to be something like a bar-code that would be imprinted on the hands and heads of every individual in the world in the end times.

Recently a new theory began to emerge throughout many Faith Communities that the Mark of the Beast would not be microchips or bar-codes as originally postulated; instead, the Mark of the Beast would be a written or stenciled form of Allah on the persons of this world and that Islam would control the citizens of this world and by not having this mark, one would be prohibited in buying or selling or working or whatever; that the world’s citizens would have to give over their independence and life to the tenets of Islam or die. And given all that has gone on the last couple years, especially in Europe with the refugee crisis and in the middle east with the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts involving ISIS, this current line of thinking seemed quite compelling to me. In fact, I watched a teaching series by Hebrew Roots teacher Rico Cortes entitled, “Is Islam the Beast?”, aired on the Hebrew Roots Network (i.e., HRN), in which Mr. Cortes’ presented a very compelling argument in favor of the Mark of the Beast being that of Islam.

Regardless which of these theories turns out to be true in the end (or for that matter, maybe it will be a combination of the two), there is no getting around the profound concern that we all should have as it relates to microchipping. At the very least, this thing when fully implemented and foisted upon the citizens of the world, will certainly be a tool to effectively control us and ultimately take our focus away from Yahuah our Elohim.

Let us stay informed, well and blessed as we continue on in this journey. Let us know with the greatest of shalom that our Father remains on the throne and that we have nothing to fear—as long as we stay within the confines of His perfect will.

Part-3-Holiness and Righteousness-Inputted or Practiced

This past week I came across a FaceBook post, along with that posts’ various responses, related to the question of one’s holiness and righteousness and whether or not one should be obedient to Torah. The writer of the post simply posted a commentary on the efficacy and validity of obeying and honoring the food laws and that post of his was met with a great deal of criticism and challenge.

Now the poster of the commentary I believe is an established and learned Torah Observant Believer in Yeshua Messiah and his intentions in posting the commentary was strictly to edify and encourage the Body of Messiah to not abandon this area of Torah—that being the instructions given to us by Yahovah relating to what He has deemed as food and what He has deemed as not food. I personally found his commentary to be sound as it relates to my understanding of this aspect of Torah.

The poster’s commentary was met, as I said, with a great deal of criticism and challenge by individuals who I have no idea as to their religious affiliation or Faith Communities. Nevertheless, what was being posted in opposition to this brother’s commentary was nothing short of the standard talking points and retorts to general keeping of Torah and how any thought of believers keeping any aspect of the Law was indicative of that individual’s fall from grace.

I felt bad for this fellow who I believe exercised nothing but noble intentions. So I came to his defense and stated in my often verbose way that that which the man is stating is spot on and instead of members of this FaceBook community criticizing and maligning this gentleman for doing what he as a believer was led by the Spirit to do, consider what the Bible has to say on the subject and not argue their denomination’s stance on the subject.

Much of the opposing side’s arguments against the poster’s food Laws comment involved the concept of holiness and righteousness. The contesters’ positions on the subject of the food laws and whether believers in Yeshua (really believers in Jesus) should continue to honor our Elohim by abstaining from consuming foods that were banned by Father centered upon the doctrines of “grace.”

Liberal, churchianity, as we all know, strongly feel that Torah was done away with upon the death, burial and resurrection of our Master 2,000-years ago. That doing away with the “Law” by the work of the Master was replaced by “grace,” which many have taken upon themselves to fashion into a belief that all righteousness and holiness is inputted—that is granted or bestowed upon us. Thus, there is no reason or purpose in continuing to observe and obey Torah, or as the Church likes to refer to Torah, the Law.

But the truth of the matter is that the Bible makes it clear that we are to be holy. Abba stipulated in His Torah that we are to be holy as He is holy (reference Leviticus 20:7). So as to not incur the criticism of those who would say that Christ had not done away with Torah or the Law when this portion of Leviticus was written, the same sentiment of being holy was spoken and written of by both apostles Paul (Shaul) and Peter (Kefa): that as Spirit-Filled-Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah, from the foundations of the world, we were called to be holy in love (Ephesians 1:4); that we be obedient children who do not conform to the former lusts we had when we lived in ignorance (I Peter 1:14-16). Where is this imputed holiness that churchianity demands that we hang our spiritual hats upon so that we can toss Torah into the scrapheap of history? Not in there now is it?

In terms of righteousness, Paul (Shaul) and James (Ya’achov) taught that Abraham’s faith was of such a high caliber that Father imputed righteousness unto him. Nevertheless, there is no one individual in and of themselves who is righteous according to the writer Paul (Romans 3:10), and the prophet Isaiah goes so far as to insinuate that that which we deem as righteousness when compared to the requirements of righteousness as dictated to us by Father, is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Thus righteousness, according to such individuals, as part of the plan of salvation, has been imputed to us. However, for us to exist and live holy and righteous lives, it becomes a must for every Torah Observant Believer in Yeshua Messiah. Peter (Kefa) wrote that we must die to sin and live righteous lives (I Peter 2:24). In other words, we cannot on our own achieve an acceptable level of righteousness to match the requirements of our Heavenly Father. Thus Father, through the agency and work of His Son, Yahoshua Messiah, we were given right standing before Him—that is, righteousness was imputed unto us. This was a gift of the Father to us. Therefore, as a response to that imputed righteousness, we are to tap into Torah as our instruction manual and walk out this walk as Father has prescribed and in so doing we live righteous, holy lives. The Holy Spirit (the Ruach Kodesh) empowers and enables us to live righteous and holy lives in the midst of a perverse and evil world.

Thus when it comes down to something in Torah as simple as eating pork or any other prohibited items deemed not food by the Almighty, it behooves us under the auspices of living holy and acceptable lives unto the service of Yahovah our Elohim, to be obedient to the instructions of Yahuah.

In coming in to this Faith, we gave up our independence and became bond slaves unto the Almighty. Thus we are not our own (I Corinthian 6:19). Whenever I read or hear of anyone saying that we can eat swine, dog, cat, buzzard, shrimp, possum, or any other forbidden items, I understand them to say to all of us in the clearest and loudest of voices, that they belong to themselves and not to Yahovah our Elohim. For Master admonished those of us who belong to the Father and who are His disciples, “ If you love me you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15; 2 John 1:6).

Maybe some of us should keep our thoughts to ourselves and not be so quick to reveal our true selves and intentions. Just saying.

Part-5-Closing Thoughts and Reflections

This Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections episode was more a lesson to me than a lesson to anyone else. Yet it is my heartfelt hope, trust and prayer that the content of this episode will be of some eternal spiritual use to you as you walk this narrow arduous path with Yeshua Messiah.

As I’ve said in so many previous episodes of this program, we are all on individual journeys with Messiah, but we are also a body—a living breathing body that happens to be also on a journey with Mashiyach. Whatever I can do to help edify and exhort the Body of Messiah as I explore these topics and issues of relevance to our Faith is in accordance with my obedience to Messiah and my good pleasure as I serve the Kingdom of Yahovah.

As we embark upon a new week and ask Father for the strength to make it through to the next Sabbath, I ask Father to let not His precious Holy Spirit leave us; that His Spirit abide in us ever so strongly such that our way is made clear and our obedient efforts remain effective and true. The funny thing is that I, like all of you hopefully, have the Spirit dwelling within me and thus I have available to me all the strength and authority required to overcome my old nature and to control my emotions. I just need to get out of the way and allow the Spirit to work His work in me unimpeded. Unfortunately, a great deal of the time I don’t get out of the Ruach’s way or I end up second guessing or even ignoring the leading of the Ruach when I most need Him in my life. Again, it’s that temperance—that self-control—that comes into play here.

May you walk in the power and might of His Holy Spirit this week. Until next time, may you be most blessed fellow saints in training. Shavuatov. Warmest shalom. This is Rod signing out.