Leaving the Hebrew Roots Faith Lured by Seducing Spirits

In this installment we reflect upon a recent Zachary Bauer posting  related to folks leaving Hebrew Roots after being lured by doctrines of seducing spirits.

Taken Aback

I was quite taken aback after viewing a Zachary Bauer YouTube video this past weekend, to learn that folks are leaving Hebrew Roots. These individuals were not leaving Hebrew Roots in the classic sense of leaving a group or organization as we see happening in Fundamental Christianity today (see Barna 2011 survey). Turns out that these folks are leaving our Faith through a change, or what could be considered, a complete reversal of belief in certain core aspects of Hebrew Roots and the Messianic Faith.

Zachary Bauer hosts a YouTube program called New2Torah.

Zachary Bauer reported that he had recently received correspondences from or had had communications with certain individuals, claiming to have been formar Hebrew Rooter and Messianics. These individuals informed him that they had determined, convinced by the teachings of certain “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and shysters (my word choice), that either the keeping of Torah is improper for believers in Messiah or that Yeshua is not The True Messiah.

Hard for Me to Justify

Now,it’s hard for me to justify why I am in such a mournful state after hearing such news from a well-respected and well-informed leader in our community. I guess it comes down to the difficulty that I have processing how any individual could at one time arrive at The Truth, and then reject The Truth after hearing information that is contrary to what they claimed to have once received and accepted.

All Manner of Teachings and Belief Systems in Hebrew Roots

Since my coming into this Faith, roughly a decade and a half ago, I have been exposed to all manner of teachings and belief systems that have over the course of time called Hebrew Roots and the Messianic Community their home. Some of those teachings have been completely off-kilter and anti-Torah, anti-biblical, anti-Messiah, racist, hateful, and just outright wrong. Despite hearing such teachings, often delivered by some talented orators and presenters, when time for the “spiritual smell test arrived,” I had no problem rejecting the teaching, shaking the dust off my shoes and moving on in my biblically-centered walk with Messiah. I can honestly say that since converting to Hebrew Roots and the Messianic Movement, I have never wavered nor questioned the tenets of our Faith.

I know of others in our Faith Community who have had similar experiences as I just described who did essentially the same thing I did when they applied the “spiritual smell test” to those unsavory teachings and half-baked belief systems.

Yet of late, I’m hearing more and more about former Hebrew Rooters who are happily leaving the True Faith once delivered after receiving and accepting so-called “new” knowledge; revelation; and teachings that not only betray the tents of our Faith, but I would go so far as to deem heretical.

Wolves in our Midst

Zachary Bauer went on to describe the situation and explain that many members of our Faith community are being subjected to wolves that are operating out there in our midst; preying upon the less spiritually grounded of our community.

Bauer’s impassioned post reminded us that our Master warned us that this very thing would take place and that there’s little that we can do to prevent such occurrences.

Looking for Answers and Direction

As Zachary’s video continued, I scrolled down the comments section of his YouTube post and was bothered to find comments from some who criticized him for not detailing for his listeners how to convince these departing believers that they were making the greatest mistake of their lives. Zachary lamented in his monologue as well how he had received criticism for his seeming ambivalence towards those individuals who were leaving the Faith.

Let me just say that I found no fault whatsoever with the way Zachary Bauer handled this situation nor in the fact that he did not track down these departing individuals and attempt to convince them to stay in the Faith.

We Cannot Convince Anyone

We cannot convince anyone to convert to this Faith of ours, nor can we convince anyone to stay committed to a Faith that they were never chosen to be a part of in the first place. This is not the order that Father established for admission of souls into the Kingdom. No eloquence of speech or persuasive manner will alter the minds and hearts of potential candidates for the Kingdom of Elohim.

Now, I realize that this truth may not resonate with our compassionate sensibilities as caring Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah. Indeed, we would want nothing more than for everyone that we care dearly about to become vibrant and happy members of the Body of Messiah and of the Kingdom of Yahovah. Unfortunately, this is not how Father set this thing up to be. Truth be told, it comes down to our having to trust the wisdom, providence and purpose of our Heavenly Father.

The Bible Warns of Unstable Believers and Instigators in the Faith

Many instances are given in the Holy Writ where God’s anointed warned us that there would be, disappointingly so, some who would at first, seem to have been devoted members of our Faith community, who we later learn were never truly invested or grounded in the Body of Messiah.

19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1Jo 2:19 KJV)

Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

1Co 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Deu 13:13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

Defending Zachary Bauer’s Actions

The question that should be asked of those who would criticize Bauer’s inactions or his seeming heartless stance toward those who choose to leave the Faith for whatever stated and unstated reasons is: why would you want anyone to be strong-armed into either coming in to or remaining in the Kingdom of Yahovah and Body of Messiah?

Keep in mind that we are not talking about defending the Faith and giving every individual who asks an answer as it relates to why we believe what we believe and why we do what we do. We are compelled to treat our Master Yeshua as holy, and with gentleness and respect and with a good conscience, be ever so ready to defend our beloved Faith (1 Peter 3:15). However, that’s not at all what we are talking about here. Zachary was not asked by these departing souls whether or not their new-found understanding and revelation was biblical. These individuals were simply informing him that they no longer held to the beliefs central to the Hebrew Roots and Messianic Faith.

No One Likes to be Strong Armed

Have you ever been strong armed into doing something that you did not genuinely want to do? Or for that matter, have you known of individuals who have been coaxed into committing to an endeavor of which they had not been originally invested? The general outcome, with few exceptions, is that the efforts expended by those coaxed into participating in the endeavor is pathetic, pitiful at best. In fact, the lives of those who are forced to endure the strong armed ones’ whining and miserableness are made all the more burdensome and even perilous. Besides, how fair is it to force someone to give up the life they wish to live for the life that you have chosen to live?

Let’s look at this from a secular standpoint and maybe this will help to shed some perspective on this critical issue. In this country, every citizen that works or receives an income of some sort is required to pay income taxes. I would submit that no worker, be they the lowliest fast food worker or the corporate elitist, relishes paying taxes to the government. Yet each year citizen workers of this country endure the self-deprecating exercise of filing their income taxes and having to pay money out to a government that only abuses and misuses those funds; that is, unless they are able to find loopholes in the system that would aid them in not paying out those taxes. Everyone dreads paying taxes unless they know for a fact that they will reap a massive return of their withholdings. Nevertheless, is it no wonder why there is so much widespread cheating and endless searching by citizen workers to avoid paying out taxes to the government? The citizen worker, out of a viable fear of being punished by the government, is forced to do something that they do not wish to do, and therefore, they will do whatever they can to avoid giving up their hard-earned moneys to the power brokers in Washington and their local and state leaders, in more ways than one.

I believe the same sentiment holds true when we seek to strong arm souls into the Kingdom of Yahovah. Any who would be admitted to and remain in the Body of Messiah and the Kingdom of Yahovah must pay a steep price. The price to be paid, if one is truly invested in converting and coming in to the True Faith, is a full and complete change in his/her heart, mind and soul. The true Torah Observant Believer in Messiah must give up the life they once knew, and likely held dear, for a life unlike any the world at large will ever understand and truly know. If the convert is true to their profession of Faith, they will stand out like a sore thumb in the secular world. They may be ostracized and brutally criticized by members of their family; they may endure long periods of loneliness and isolation. The true convert must say no to things that they once said yes to with great pleasure and acceptance. Conversely, they must say yes to Father but no to the world.

Entrance into the Kingdom and Body of Messiah is not something that should ever be taken lightly by the would-be believer; nor should such a commitment be forced upon anyone. For one, their commitment to the Faith has nothing to do with our commitment. And two, as disciples and members of the Body of Messiah, we are only tasked with being disciples and discipling those whom Father sends; teaching them to observe all things that Master taught us. Does that discipling aspect of our journey require us to act as gatekeepers of the Faith—determining who to admit and who to let out? Absolutely not. Again, our human sensibilities may say otherwise, but the Kingdom of Yahovah does not operate based upon our human sensibilities. May seem cold and callous, but it really is not. It is God’s way over our way.

The Father’s Plan of Salvation

Abba’s plan of salvation factors in those who are not going to be a part of His eternal Kingdom and the Body of Messiah. In fact, the Apostle Paul reveals to us in his cepher to the Assembly of Messianic Believers in Rome, that Father gives those who reject Him and His ways, and who persist in their ways “worthless ways of thinking” (Romans 1:28; Stern, CJB).

Addressing Those Who Reject and Turn From the Faith

So then, how must we address this situation of individuals who are rejecting and turning away from the tenets of the True Faith once delivered?

Well, I would say that we need not address it at all. Master did all the addressing on this matter that is required. Consider the following Gospel passage where Master is recorded to have addressed Jewish synagogue goers of Kfar Nahum (i.e., Capernaum) about the Kingdom of Yahovah when He was challenged by a handful of attendees:

What shall we do that we might work the works of Yahovah? Yeshua answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of Yahovah, that you believe in Him whom He has sent’ They replied, ‘What sign will you show us then, so that we may see and believe in you? What miraculous work will you do? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

Let’s stop briefly at this juncture of the story. Are there not significant parallels being played out in this story with those who would today be convinced to either come in to the Body or even stay in the Body? You see, Master was being challenged to produce solid proof that what He was teaching and preaching about was indeed true; and that He should prove those things with some sort of sign or wonder.

Prove to Me the Bible is True

In the natural world, the human psyche often has to be convinced that a matter is true in order to internalize it and adhere to it. Generally, we believe things are so by proofs that are manifested and supported by our five natural senses of sight, hearing, taste, feel and smell. If we walk out of our homes and see on the horizon smoke, smell something burning and hear the sounds of fire engine sirens, we will feel pretty certain that a fire is nearby.

Bear in mind that we also factor into our decision-making whether to believe a thing or not our knowledge base and life experiences.

Thus, if the issue in question is certified by any one or a combination of our natural senses, knowledge base and life experiences, then we will normally accept those things as valid and true; unless those verified things are somehow challenged by opposing known and established facts that we’ve tucked safely away in our psyche. Case in point: we may see what would appear to be a murder being committed on a movie or television screen, but we know that that murder did not occur because the actor or actress that was shown to be murdered on the screen was known to have cashed that very hefty check he or she made and received a Best Acting Award for being in that movie.

The Natural Versus the Spiritual

This verifying of things as true or not through our natural senses, knowledge base and experiences, are of the established natural order. And there is nothing wrong with how this order plays out in our lives and how we make determinations of things being true or not in our lives. Father set this order in operation within us for our safety, health, wellbeing and so on.

Nevertheless, when we move from such natural things on over to the spiritual, the natural order no longer applies. In the case of Zachary Bauer and the convincing of souls to come in or stay in the Faith, there is a process that must take place that in some respects defies the natural order. That process involves the intervention of the Holy Spirit in the heart and mind of the would be believer. Master expounds on this as we continue with the above cited passage out of the Gospels:

“Yeshua said to them (those demanding that He show them a sign so that they will believe), ‘TRUTH I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father, and He now give you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of Yahovah is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ Then they said to Him, ‘Master, give us more and more of this bread.’ Yeshua said, ‘I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never hunger, and He that believes in me shall never thirst. But I also say to you that you have seen me, and yet believe not. All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and he who comes to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the Father’s will who has sent me: that of all whom He has given me I should lose none, but should raise them up again at the last day…No man can come to Me except the Father, which is has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day…The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who will not and cannot believe.’ (For Yeshua knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him.) Then He said, ‘That is why I said to you that no man can come to me, except it is given to Him by my Father.’ From that time many of His disciples went away and walked with Him no more. Then Yeshua asked the twelve, ‘Will you also go away?’ Shimon Kefa answered Him, ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that you are that Messiah, the Son of the living Elohim.’” (John 6:28-66; Rood’s Chronology of the Gospel Record)

It took a rather long time for me to be convinced of this reality: that being only the Father can bring a bona fide, would be disciple into the Body of Messiah and into the Kingdom. Thus, I have stopped trying to convince people that this Faith of ours is THE TRUTH that they must hearken to and live. Instead, I have taken on the stance of planting and watering the seeds of the Word, but allowing the Father to bring about the germination and growth that leads a convert into the Body and the Kingdom. Otherwise, my efforts are contrary to that of the teachings of my Master.

Paul brilliantly expounded upon this whole issue of conversion and maintaining the body when he wrote the following to the Messianic Assembly of Believers in Corinth:

Who then is Shaul, and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom you believed, just as Yahweh gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but Yahweh gave the increase. So then, he who plants is not anything, neither is he who waters, but IT IS YAHWEH WHO GIVES THE INCREASE. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor (I Corinthians 3:5-8; The Book of Yahweh).

I say: let us not get worked up by news of those who have departed from the foundational elements of our Faith, nor by those who refuse to accept the Truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Faith once delivered. Their ultimate destination, though it should be our concern, is really NOT our concern. These individuals’ fate are in the providential hands of our Creator. Instead of worrying and consternating over those resisting ones, let us pray and intercede on behalf for them; make ourselves accessible to them if they have any questions; and leave it to our God to do the work that He has started.

Father will build the increase to our Faith Community and ultimately to His eternal Kingdom. It is not for us to worry how He will do this and to insert ourselves into the mix. We simply must plant and water and allow Yah to germinate and grow that seed within His chosen ones.

Everything is Being Shaken

Everything on this planet is now being shaken with a tensity and frequency unseen in our time. Governments, economies, families, societies, entertainment, religion, and yes, even our Faith Community. As the days of human existence grows dim and begins to devolve towards ever increasing chaos and ultimate, complete takeover by the evil one, lawlessness will abound and the love of many will grow cold. There will be a falling away from the Faith as more and more believers’ professions are challenged by heresies and the increasing cares and infringements of this life. Where it may have once been a safe haven for some, our Faith for some will seem a hindrance and relic of days long ago. For all we know, our numbers may dwindle to just a small, precious few—the small flock our Master spoke of, but that’s entirely okay. It is okay because our God and our Master are still seated upon their thrones in heaven and Father’s great plan of redemption will not be voided by the works of hasatan, halleluyah!

Eventually, our Jewish cousins will do a 180 and turn fully back to Yahovah and become tremendous disciples of Yahoshua our Messiah and Redeemer. Father will bring us who are of True Nation of Israel out of every nation of this world, to Jerusalem and Messiah will establish His illustrious millennial reign over the peoples and nations of this world. Peace will reign and Torah will be established as the world’s sole constitution and way of life.

As troublesome as such things may be to us, these are times of great hope. Knowledge of Yahovah and our Master Yeshua abounds and is readily accessible for any who would seek it out. Yes, people are departing from the tenets of the True Faith once delivered for doctrines of devils, but truth be told, more and more people are waking up to the True Faith once delivered as well. These are indeed exciting times. Yet these are times where we as a faith community must rally around one another and certify and uphold the pure and undefiled foundational elements of what it means to be a Spirit Filled Torah Observant Believer in Yeshua Messiah.

Let us stand firm in our convictions, neither turning to the right or left, ever so ready to give any who would seek of us a reason for the hope that is in us, and let us glorify and uplift the eternal Name of our God until Master Yeshua returns.

I Did Some Shoobing Around

I did some snooping, or should I say, Shoobing, to try and find some information on one of the main leaders Zachary Bauer had identified as putting out such doctrines of seducing spirits within the Body of Messiah. I learned that one individual in particular, a Mr. Scott Shoob, apparently has put out written material that many who have read or heard his materials are stating that he denies the Messiahship of our Master Yahoshua. I have personally NOT read nor heard any of his teachings, and quite frankly, am not the least interested in doing so.

Now, a lot of us may find ourselves in an uproar over the shanaghans of such teachers and their spurious doctrines, but again, this is all expected and even addressed by the Apostles of Old.

People have been denying the Messiahship and person of our Master Yeshua from virtually day one. The bigger problem I personally have with these wayward purveyors of anti-Biblical and anti-Messiah rhetoric, along with their followers, is that they tend to be aggressive and quite rambunctious when operating in and around the Body of Messiah. These are not above inciting discord in the Body of Messiah and setting spiritual fires within the hearts and minds of some of the less grounded of our Community. Their actions occasionally, as we see happening even today, cause our less rooted brothers and sisters to question the foundations of our Faith.

To Keep/To Guard

Father has, in this dispensation, made provision for folks to believe and follow whatever doctrine appeals to them. Yet it falls to the most grounded of our community to “guard” the essentials of the Faith. Over and over throughout the whole of the Holy Writ, we are told to “guard,” that is to “keep” (which in Hebrew it is “mishmereth” and in the Greek it is “tereyo”):

• Guard/Keep the Word of God (Luke 8:15; 11:8)

• Guard/Keep the teachings of our Messiah, Yeshua (John 8:51,52; 14:15, 23; 15:10,20)

• Guard/Keep Father’s Feasts (I Corinthians 5:8; all of Torah)

• Guard/Keep the Unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:3; Jude 1:21)

• Guard/Keep ourselves unspotted from the world (James 1:27; I John 5:21)

• Guard/Keep God’s commandments (I John 2:3, 22; 5:2; Revelation 12:17; 14:12; all of Torah)

For me, the concern then becomes, not one of convincing those in our community who have been mislead to rethink their path, but one of us being able to stay on point and not allow the enemy to continue to bring disharmony into the Body of Messiah.

Thus it behooves us to be ever more set in our resolve to “keep;” to “guard” the very foundations of our Faith. That’s not to say that we, as individuals and as a collective Body of Believers in Yeshua Messiah are to never examine how we’re doing in our walk with Messiah. Are we:

• Properly keeping/guarding Father’s Torah according to Father’s written instructions? Not according to someone’s “private” interpretations as we see happening in greater frequency and numbers (2 Peter 1:20).

• Following and living out the instructions of our Master Yeshua HaMashiyach.

• Doing our part in the Great Commission.

• Producing the fruits that Master Yahoshua instructed us to produce.

• Safeguarding against heretical, anti-Biblical, anti-Torah, anti-Messiah belief systems and teachings that serve to separate us from Truth and purity of the Gospel and the Kingdom of Yahovah.

• Serving the members of the Body of Messiah with our gifts and talents.

Itching Ear Syndrome

We recently met up with a Hebrew Roots based couple last week, who we did not know personally prior to the meeting, but we had heard of via a YouTube video that they were featured in. Upon meeting them, we exchanged information as it related to our profession of Faith and what ministries we followed and so forth. When it came time for the couple we were conversing with to tell us of their ministry preferences, I was slightly taken aback by the mention of one ministry in particular they strictly adhered to, with the comment that they as a couple had moved beyond the fundamental tenets of the Hebrew Roots Faith. In other words, the ministry they were now closely following was bringing to the select few, new knowledge and revelation that somehow put them into a higher plain of holiness—understanding—spiritual savoir faire—I don’t know.

We thought these folks, based upon what little we’ve come to know about them through watching their YouTube video, were well rooted in the foundations of our Faith. Turns out that they may be suffering from “itching ears syndrome;” an ailment that seems to be plaguing so many in our Faith Community these days. What I mean by “itching ears syndrome” is simply that which the Apostle Paul counseled the Evangelist Timothy:

Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove (i.e., refute), rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables (2 Timothy 4:3,4; KJV).

Be On Guard

It is what it is my friends. Challenges to the tenets and foundations of our Faith—the True Faith once delivered—whether they be external or internal challenges will abound and plague us till the time our Master cracks the sky and orders His angels to collect us from the four-corners of the earth. That is an indisputable fact of Faith reality.

As crazy as this may sound, some days I feel as though that such internal and external challenges to our Faith are the least of our worries. I believe our greatest problems lies within the realm of the spirit, whereby our adversary hasatan, is ramping up his military operation against the saints.

Knowing his time is growing shorter by the day, hasatan, as he’s done in the past, is setting up for a full frontal assault against the Body of Messiah, and I am concerned that some of us may not be up to meet that assault.

Satan Means Business

Hasatan means business, and he aims to wipe us out.

Although not Hebrew Roots, just a couple weeks ago, a young man entered a Sutherland Springs Texas Baptist Church and murdered some 26-parishioners in cold blood.

The Sutherland Springs Texas Church Massacre was not about guns but about an attack on people of Faith.

Massive attempts by liberal elements of our government and society to turn this horrible tragedy into a national referendum for “gun confiscation,” does not in the least hide the ominous truth that this event was a full-frontal attack on Faith. It just so happened, tragically so, that this attack was perpetrated against fundamental Christians and not members of our Hebrew Roots/Messianic Community. Truth be told, it’s just a matter of time before such an attack could potentially be levied against one or more of our Hebrew Roots/Messianic fellowships.

Nevertheless, this is not a Christian versus Messianic situation. There is a much broader agenda being played out here that we must be cognizant of as a people of Faith.

Dear saints, let us not be, as Paul customarily cited in many of his epistles, ignorant of what is going on about us and what is going to happen to us in the future. Our government and elements of the social order—so to speak—would have the world believe that the Sutherland Texas Church Massacre (as it has infamously become referred to in the press) was all about a troubled, lone gunman who seized upon an opportunity to abuse the freedoms that the U.S. Constitution affords to her citizens to bare and possess firearms, and infringe upon that freedom to harm innocent people. It just so happens that the innocent people who were harmed were no-doubt well meaning Christian believers enjoying their Constitutional Freedom of assembling to worship their God in a way and manner that seemed fitting to them and their established religion.

Make no mistake, that attack was leveled against people of Faith. (I told you earlier that everything that can be shaken is being shaken these days, and that includes Faith.) I have tried to nail down some statistics on church killings of recent years, but hit a brick wall. There were a handful of articles written just around the time of the Sutherland Texas massacre, and those pieces attempted to downplay the significance of such murders—yes, believe it or not. One article in particular, written by Francie Diep, of the Pacific Standard, on November 6, 2017, asserted that, “Church shootings are becoming much more common, yet the existing data suggests churches aren’t more or less vulnerable to gun violence than other publicly accessible spaces.”

Certainly, if one has an agenda that is not in alignment with Truth, but more geared to social reform and even enacting gun confiscation laws, then of course, church murders by the numbers will seem relatively insignificant. The truth of the matter, regardless of numbers and agendas is, that such murders of people of Faith portend of a much darker time ahead when, like the Body of Messianic Believers of the first-century C.E., our beloved Faith and the true Body of Messiah will face an existential threat to our very existence. My purpose here is not to alarm or trouble you, but to simply alert us all to the fact that hasatan is on the prowl and he means business; he means business now, and he definitely will mean big business tomorrow.

What’s a Messianic to Do?

So what’s a Messianic to do with all that I’ve laid out before us today?

The Apostle Peter wrote a most brilliant piece in his first general epistle addressing in great part some of these issues that we are, and will be soon facing, as a Body. He write:

Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time He may lift you up. Throw all your anxieties upon Him, because He cares about you. Stay sober, stay alert! Your enemy, the Adversary, stalks about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (Do we fret or hide our heads in the sand? Not at all saints. Peter admonishes…) Stand against him, firm in your trust, knowing that your brothers throughout the world are going through the same kinds of suffering. You will have to suffer only a little while; after that, Yah, who full of grace, the one who called you to His eternal glory in union with the Messiah, will Himself restore, establish and strengthen you and make you firm. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amein (I Peter 5:6-11; CJB)

Everything is Going to be Alright

Saints, everything is going to be alright. It’s gonna get rockier as the days grow darker. Many more of us are going to leave the Body and the Kingdom in pursuit of “fables” and “myths.” Sadly, many of us may face martyrdom at the hands of the evil one. Nevertheless, our beloved and older brother, Yeshua HaMashiyach gave us a wonderful hope that we would be wise to keep in the back of our minds as we continue our walk with Him. He said:

He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (Matthew 24:13; KJV).

And what awaits us who endure and who refuse to waver and who earnestly and tirelessly await His appearing?

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth…Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Yeshua and because of the word of Yahovah, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Messiah for a thousand years…Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of Yah and of Messiah and will reign with Him for a thousand years (Revelation 5:10; 20:4,6; NAS).

Be well and blessed fellow saints. Warmest Shalom.