by Rod Thomas | Aug 11, 2015 | Blog, Podcasts
Idolatry-False Prophets and Teachers-and Clinging to Father
Deuteronomy 12:28-13:19
Picking up where we left off in parashah 47, we come upon this portion that addresses three key issues: (1) the consequences associated with inquiring after the gods of those nations we were positioned to destroy; (2) dealing with false prophets and those who would influence us to pursue false gods and stray from Father and Torah; and (3) maintaining a sound and healthy relationship with Father. Each of these key issues are of such importance as it relates to our relationship and walk with Father and they are individually substantive in their scope and practicality.
When I study Torah, the first thing I do is to step back and try to gain as much of an understanding of the global situation at play–at the time that portion was written–as I possibly can, using the best resources that I have available to me at the time. I am a huge proponent of context. In conjunction with this contextual approach, I rely fully upon the leading of the Ruach Kodesh. This bi-fold approach to Torah study, as well as Bible study in general, has never failed me. I may not receive the answers to my questions at that moment, but the answer ultimately comes. And if there’s anything I can say to you to encourage you in your Torah journeys, it would be, to utilize a contextual approach in conjunction with the leading of the Holy Spirit. I do no crack open my Bible—actually fire-up my BibleWorks software—first thing in the morning, until I commune with Father and press Him to reveal His Word to me—His will—His truths, utilizing whatever means He sees fit to do so.
Since coming into the true Faith once delivered, I do not rely upon a church pastor, teacher, preacher, or even denomination to instruct me on how my walk with the Creator should work. Been there, done that. Instead, I’ve learned to rely exclusively upon Yah’s Word and His Ruach haKodesh to learn of His ways. That’s not to say that I am not a student of Torah under the instruction of Yahovah’s Torah teachers. Certainly Father can reveal His truths to me and you through His anointed teachers. But I’ve evolved to realize that in order for each of us to gain the fullest understanding of Torah Yshua-style, we must be as the Bereans were during the time of Rav Shaul (ref. Acts 17:10-15). Essentially, Shaul and Silas had been run out of Thessalonica as a result of their evangelistic work. Shaul and Silas then shuffle into Berea, located southwest of Thessalonica near the Olympian Mountain range in Macedonia. Berea had a thriving Jewish population. These Jews were described of noble demeanor and disposition. These continued in the study of the Scriptures each day and when Shaul delivered the gospel to them they naturally “searched the Scritpures” to verify all that Shaul was teaching was indeed true. As a result of Shaul’s ministry in Berea, many a Berean became a follower of Y’shua Messiah via Shaul. Unfortunately, those troublesome Thessalonicans took it upon themselves, upon learning that Shaul was operating in Berea, to high-tale over to Berea and attempt to put a stop to Shaul’s evangelical operations.
So I’ve come to learn—painfully so I might add—that proper study, prayer, meditation are essential to gaining a firm grasp of the Torah life abundant.
So that brings us to the crux of this portion: that being three key issues of concern Father had regarding us as His people. And quite frankly, as I read through the Deuteronomic portions, I am so taken by the obvious concern Father has regarding how we would fare in the land of promise. Over and over, throughout this book, Father tells us—don’t stray from me! Don’t even think about the lifestyles of the soon-to-be disposed inhabitants of Canaan. Obey my Torah without exception. I am you everlasting portion. I am your focus. I am your all-in-all. You will be my priests of light to a dark world.
I wondered as I read through this portion—what did Yahovah know about the people in the land of promise that we didn’t know? What was so bad about those people? What did they worship that would present such a threat to our relationship with the Creator of the Universe? Well, I found it with relative ease that indeed there were some pretty bad folks residing/inhabiting the land of promise. Canaan was a subregion of The Levant which also included the subregions of Ugarit, Ebla and Mitanni (reference Wikipedia.com—Religions of the Ancient Near East). The gods, or as scholars refer to them as deities, were many: Adonis, Anat, Asherah, Asima, Astarte, Atargatis, Attar, Baal, Berith, Chemosh, Dagon, El, Elhyon, Eshmun, Hadad, Kothar-wa-Khasis, Melqart, Moloch, Mot, Nikkal, Qetesh, Resheph, Shahar, Shalim, Shapash, Yam and Yarikh. Human sacrifices and disgusting sexual practices were common to the worship of many if not most of these false gods. So powerful were was the draw that these gods and their associated worship had on those who would adopt these gods as their own, that Father had no other choice than to put lay the Law down to us—over and over. And as harsh and inhuman as the penalty for falling for or pursuing after these religions and their gods may appear to our “enlightened” and civilized world of today, the threat that these nations and their idolatrous ways and their pagan gods posed to mankind’s salvation could not be left up to the hopeful good will of us as a people. Yah had to insist and had to get our attention.
As it would relate to our potential interest in learning about the people whom we’d dispose in the land of promise, nothing holds true more than the old adage that “curiosity killed the cat.” Verse 30 in certain translations suggests that showing or adopting an interest in the prior nation’s practices, culture and religion would naturally lead to our entrapment. The most popular translations utilize strong terms to describe this threat such as ensnare, snare, fall into a trap. The LXX versions do not employ such strong terms of admonishment but simply to take heed not to follow after their ways.The term used in Hebrew is “piel” which translates into English as “to set a trap”
The Babylonian Talmud has an interesting take on this passage of Torah. According to the opinions of the so-called sages and rabbis, one is guilty of seeking after the ways and gods of the disposesd nations if they “say I will worship” or “I will go and worship,” or “we will go and worship.” On the surface and to a Y’shua rejecting Jew, such a stance would be most acceptable. But to a Torah Observing Believer in Y’shua Messiah, there are some inherent problems with this talmudic ruling. As much as it may appear that the rabbis and sages were protecting us from overstepping the boundaries of Torah but insinuating that commission of a violation of Torah comes from utterance of the desire to pursue after false gods. But our Master clearly taught us that our allegiance to Father and rejection of paganism and false religion falls within the category of the “heart.” If we desire after or are consumed within ourselves to adopt the ways of the pagan; if we are taken by the ways of the pagan; if we are not disgusted by the ways of the pagan, then “we have a problem Houston.” Rabbi and sage, it’s not an action that brings about guilt and violation of Torah—it’s the inherent desire, the heart, the mind to commit a violation of Torah that becomes the violation of Torah. And this is the biggest challenge facing the would-be disciple of Y’shua: that being able to discern when and where sin starts and that being in our hearts and mind. As admirable as many might think—that being the sages and the rabbis created the Talmud to put a fence around Torah for us so that we would not violate Torah—their actions were in and of themselves a full-on violation of Torah. Father told us: “Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it.” (Deu. 12:32—CJB) “In order to obey the mitzvot of Yahovah your Elohim which I am giving you, do not add to what I am saying, and o not subtract from it.” (Deu. 4:2) Joshua admonished in the land of promise: “Only be strong and very bold in taking care to follow all the Torah which Moshe my servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or to the left; then you will succeed wherever you go.” (Jos.1:7-CJB)
The talmudic actions of the rabbis and sages did not rescue us from violations of Torah. On the contrary, their actions imprisoned us. These created a religion, that being Judaism. This is what Y’shua came to deliver us from–the thoughts, beliefs and traditions of the so-called elders, sages and rabbis. To the spiritless rabbi and sage, to state one’s desire is the start of the violation of this mitzvah. However, Y’shua came and taught us that by simply “thinking” or entertaining in our hearts to do wrong is violation of Torah.
Verse 31 is interesting for the various extant English translations provide slightly differing takes on pagan worship in comparison to worship of the true God, Yahovah/Yahweh/Yahuwah. Most English translations simply state that we were “not to do this” nor were we to “behave thus toward Yahovah.” My question upon reading this verse was: what exactly were we not to do toward Yahovah? The NLT and the NET actually expounds upon this passage by stating that we were not to worship Yahovah the way the other nations worship their gods. It came to me to consider how churchianity has over the centuries fused pagan practices into the worship of the true God to the point that knowledge of the origins of many of the traditions, practices and beliefs of churchianity have been lost to antiquity. The celebration and observance of pagan holidays, the wearing of crosses and Sunday worship are prime examples of this.
Of particular disgust to Yah was the worship of Molech:
Lev 18:21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
Jer 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Deu 18:10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
Jer 19:5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
The religion that surrounded Molech worship appears to have been one of the more heinous religions to come our way in the Ancient Near East. Molech worship entailed human sacrifices and gross sexual immorality. Some scholars have even contended that the tradition of coloring easter eggs has it basis in Molech worship where the blood of the babies sacrificed to Molech were used to color eggs for the associated religious festivities. ( Rev. Alexander Hislop’s “The Two Babylons” and Michael Rood’s “The Chronological Gospels”) And even today, we train our children to practice this heinous tradition as the centuries have all but eliminated the repulsive foundation upon which this seemingly innocent children’s tradition was based. Does forgetting the origin of certain traditions make the practice today okay or acceptable? Some would answer in the affirmative. But I hope that those of us who have been freed by Master from the scourge of religion know better and behave better.
Verse 32(13:1)–provides the prescription that will inoculate us from falling into the snare of following after other gods. That prescription quite simply is to carefully keep every Word of Yahovah and not add to or diminish the Father’s Torah. But we’ve the redeemed of the Most High know that we’ve been called to a much higher state of being. Master says that it is not enough to simply avoid physical violations of Torah. We are required to internalize Torah and worship Father in Spirit and Truth. Master taught:
27 ¶ Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.1
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
31 ¶ It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. (Mat 5:27-32 KJV)
Verses 1-4 I found very interesting. Here Yah is insinuating (to me He seems to be insinuating) that some of the things that false prophets proclaim may very well come to light. Just because the prophecy of an individual comes to light doesn’t mean that that prophet is of Yah. In fact, Torah is the only means by which we are to gauge truth and to gauge whether that prophet is of Yah. Prophetic manifestations are not guarantors of truth. I use to be of the mind that the only way to tell a false prophet is if his/her prophecies fail to come true. Certainly these verses helped change my mind and heart on this subject. If a would-be prophet teaches that something is going to happen and it happens as he/she promised, but that prophet also directs or teaches us to abandon Torah and Yahovah, he is a full-on false teacher and preacher. We see this today. We’ve had countless incidents of people who have prophecied about this thing or that thing, and those things have come to light. Many have clung to these individuals despite those individuals teaching a doctrine that is contrary to that of the true Faith once delivered. These individuals, despite their prophecies coming to light, are still false prophets and teachers. These must reject and even avoid. Since we no longer live under a theocracy, we can not nor should we not execute these false ones. Their lot will then be decided by the Master on the last day. All indications are that in the end times, prophetic manifestations will be the undoing of many a believer as the great serpent and his chosen one will perform many lying signs and wonders and trick the world into following his human proxy. That is why we must meticulously study Yahovah’s Word so as to not be bamboozled by the works of the enemy, not only today, but in the future. In this passage, these were to be executed and eliminated from our community because they served no purpose but to incite rebellion against Yahovah and according to the LXX “thrust us out of the way which Yahovah our Elohim commanded us to walk in (verse 6). It gets very personal–even those whom we love, honor and respect in our lives, if they attempt to draw us over to paganism, it became a mandate that we be the first at putting that individual to death along with the rest of the community found to be in violation of Torah. Father instructed that we not have pity or remorse for those whom we have to destroy and who have meant so much to us. (verses 7-12) Thus, it becomes our personal “skin in the game,” so to speak, that we must head the punishment that comes as a result of our accusing the loved offender(s). Heading the execution of the loved offenders would serve to preclude us from making false accusations and then hiding behind the executioners and escape having blood on our hands. This would be done via stoning.
Furthermore, those individuals of the community that Father refers to as “worthless men” (belial) who take it upon themselves to sway our community to “inquire” after false gods and these are found successful in swaying the citizens of that community into a life of idolatry and paganism, the entire town including their livestock was to be destroyed by the sword and all the remains burned in an open space. The resulting ruin would remain as a heap forever (verses 13). Again, the present day westerner is appalled by such a passage. I recall recently watching a television program on Netflix—I believe it was “West Wing.” A discussion broke out between characters of the show on things concerning the Bible and living a Christian life. The lead character of the show, in utter indignation, spoke out against Torah and whom He described as the “God of the Old Testament,” whom He could not tolerate. He could not tolerate the so-called God of the Old Testament because of passage such as this one. That God was barbaric and uncaring. The other character, trying to stick to his steadfast position on Christianity and living in accordance with the things recorded in the Bible ultimately was talked over and his position on the Bible, in particular the Old Testament was demeaned. The lead character quoted numerous Bible verses that supported his position that the so-called God of the New Testament was a much better choice, whose values and proposed religion aptly fit the beliefs and values of the American republic and democracy. Certainly the writers of this show were expressing their true and personal positions on Scripture and Yahovah and I would say, given the popularity of the show at the time, many Americans and members of the Hollywood elite. I recall thinking that such thinking that I could be one of those who felt that way about Yahovah if not but for the grace of Father to free me from my westernized—pagan-based—godless worldview. Sure, from a western perspective, passages like this are hard to swallow—hard to accept. Yah says to those who would balk and be appalled by such commandments and teachings:
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says ADONAI.
9 “As high as the sky is above the earth are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For just as rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return there, but water the earth, causing it to bud and produce, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth – it will not return to me unfulfilled; but it will accomplish what I intend, and cause to succeed what I sent it to do.” (Isa 55:8-11 CJB)
Despite our erroneous belief that we are civilized and the life we live is virtuous, Isaiah reveals the truth about us as a race of beings: 6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isa 64:6 KJV) What do we know about compassion? Righteousness? Holiness? What is and isn’t true? None of this comes without revelation from Yahovah and that revelation comes through obedience and study of His Torah and through His Ruach haKodesh. We are a sad lot who think that our righteousness exceeds that of Father. We only delude ourselves and with such ideals and beliefs launch ourselves on a course of certain destruction.
Verses 5 tells us that we are to (1) fear Yah; (2) obey His Torah; (3) listen to what Father says; (4) serve Him; (5) cling or as the LXX reads–attach ourselves to Him (my personal favorite rendering) and (6) follow Him. As I read this I wondered: what does it truly mean to fear Yahovah. I could certainly come up with an explanation that would be based upon my western mindset of what fear of God means and entails. But given that our ways are not His ways and that our ways are often influenced by our own petty desires, hopes and fears, my understanding of what fear of Yahovah looks like would probably be off. Furthermore, what does it mean to keep His Torah; to obey His voice; to serve Him; to cleave to Him and to walk with Him? What does all this look like? What are the practical applications that we as disciples of Y’shua haMaschiyach should apply to our day-to-day lives? Does popular churchianty hold the key to understanding what all that looks like? I seek to examine and arrive at an answer to these crucial questions my next continuation on this parashah and Torah Living Daily Challenge. May you walk in the power and might of His Ruach haKodesh. Until next time—Shalom dear Saint.
by Rod Thomas | Aug 7, 2015 | Blog
Where Do You Worship Yahovah
Deuteronomy 12:10-28
Continuing on in my Torah daily Torah studies, beginning with verse 10 and reading through verse 28, Yahovah provided us clear instruction as to where “Central Station Worship” would be. At this early juncture, that is, just prior to entering in to the Land of Promise, Yah had not revealed to us the exact location of that “Central Station Worship.” In this portion, Yah simply laid out before us that any worship of Him must legitimately be done only where He says it shall be done. In this directive, there was no varying of locations or regions. Leaving to the whims and desires of our forefathers as to the location of Central Station Worship would certainly result in chaos and turf-wars among within our nation. Not to mention, we’re talking about worship of the Creator of the Universe—thus how and where He desires for us to worship Him should be of no concern of ours apart from our strict obedience to these mitzvot (aka commandments). Thus, so as there to be no confusion as to where we would give our “burnt offerings, sacrifices, tenths, the offering of our hand and all our best possessions,” Yah in His infinite design and purpose would chose where Grand Central Station Worship would be stood up. (Verse 10-12) For our worship of Him, which would include sacrifices and offerings—sorry, no praise and worship bands with their rock/hip hop music; no coffee socials; no perusals of bookstores and gathering together of friends to socialize the days away. No, this place of worship would be established for the purpose of honor Yahovah as He stipulated; as He commanded; in accordance with His desires and purpose.
Oh how churchianity has through the centuries taken the concept of the place of the worship of Yahovah and turned it into a forum where man has determined how it would look and function. Gone was the concept of Yahovah establishing the place and content of our worship. Once again, our ego (that is man’s ego) has superseded the commands and desires of our Creator, as it has in every aspect of our individual lives. Fortunately for us today—that is those of us who have come under the Father’s covering and governance—our worship of Him is localized within ourselves. How can I make such a statement? Well, it is common knowledge that the Temple that Father instructed be erected in Yerushalayim had not only become corrupted by our forefathers’ greed and carnality, but also superseded or done away with by the sacrifice and resurrection of our Master Y’shua HaMashiyach. Thus the Temple in Yerushalayim was destroyed in 68 C.E. according to Rood (or 70 C.E. according to most Bible scholars). This void that Father left us with ultimately gave way to a completely different way and place to worship Father. Rav Shaul received a profound revelation directly from our Master Y’shua Hamashiyach about how the renewed covenant had, since His sacrifice, resurrection and administering of the Ruach Kodesh to each of us, had superseded the Temple as being the place of our worship of our Father. He wrote to the Corinthian assembly:
“Everything is in my power: but everything is not profitable to me. Everything is in my power: but none (of them) will have dominion over me. Food is for the belly; and the belly is for food; but Elohim will bring them both to nothing. But the body is not for illicit sex, but for our Master (Y’shua); and our Master (Y’shua) for the body. And Elohim has raised up our Master; and He will raise us up, by His power. Don’t you know that your bodies are the members of the Mashiyach? Will one take a member of the Mashiyach, and make it the member of a harlot? May it never be! Or don’t you kow, that whoever joins himself to a harlot, is one body (with her)? For it is said, the two will be one body. But he that joins himself to our Master (Y’shua), is with Him one spirit. Flee from sexual sin. For every (other) sin which a man commits, is external to his body; but he that commits sexual sin, sins against his own body. Or don’t you know, that your body is the temple of the Ruach haKodesh who abides in you, whom you have received from Elohim? And you are not your own. For you are bought with a price. Therefore you glorify Elohim with your body, and with your spirit, which are Elohim’s.” (1 Cor. 6:12-20 AENT)
Shaul shares some very enlightening things in his correspondence to the Corinthian assembly. Primary and central to all that he wrote it the transition from Temple to body. I believe this was always the goal and purpose of Father; to move us from the flesh/carnal to that of the spirit. Oh how the Master hinted of this to the unknowing, unsuspecting first-century world, as he conversed with the Samaritan woman at the well:
“Y’shua said to her, “Woman believe me, the hour is coming that not in this mountain nor in Urishlim (Yerushalayim) will they worship the Father. You worship something that you do not know. But we worship that we know, for life is from the Yehudeans (Jews). But the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, indeed. For the Father, He seeks worshippers as these. For Elohim is Spirit, and those who worship, they must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (Yochanan 4:21-24 AENT)
This revelation Y’shua spoke in response to her question, found in the same chapter, “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain (that is Gerizim), but you people say that the place where one has to worship is in Yerushalayim.” (Yochanan 4:20) In other words, one of the several schisms that separated the Samaritan people from their cousins the Jews is their belief and practice as it related to where they worshiped Yahovah; that of course being the Samaritan believed Mount Gerizim and the Jew Yerushalayim. But Savior revealed that a time was just ahead when the whole debate about where we must worship Father will be a moot point because worship of Yah will become spiritual in nature and the place of worship will be within each and every true believer. This is what the Father has always wanted—”…for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping Him.” (vs. 23)
Certainly, destruction of the Temple took the Jewish nation by shock. The Temple was the center of commerce and national and religious pride at the time, although Father’s spirit and glory had long left the edifice and never truly returned—reference Eze. 10. That same Spirit that filled the house in Yerushalayim is the same Spirit and glory that now fills each of us who would be true sons and daughters of the Most High. Despite religion’s efforts to contain Father in a brick and mortar construct that wants for an infusion of funds and manual labor to keep it running, we of the Hebraic Roots/Netzari/Messianic community realize that the focus of worship is no longer a building made by hands. The focus of worship has now become the building that is our bodies. What that worship looks like now—today under the renewed covenant—is somewhat beyond the scope and intent of this posting. However, I would like to invite each of you to take the time out of your busy schedules to listen to two episodes of It’s Not As You Perceive (our sister podcast ministry) that we posted in April of last year. In these two episodes we spoke to the issue and topic of worship as it now stands under the renewed covenant. Here are the links to these two episodes for your convenience.
Until next time, may you be most blessed fellow saints in training—Shalom.
by Rod Thomas | Aug 5, 2015 | Blog
There is a beautiful doe that has chosen our “back four” as her favorite place to give birth to her baby every year. Why here, is anybody’s guess, but it seems she feels safer on our fenced property in the underbrush of a dry creek bed than she does in the forest, which is a couple miles down the road. It’s as if our property is her “Torah” – a place of refuge from “the world” where danger lurks around every corner. Because she keeps returning, we’ve named her “Aliyah” (Hebrew for “return”).
In the early days after Aliyah gives birth, we don’t have the privilege of seeing the babies very often because she always keeps them well hidden. But as they get older, they get to venture out with her, and within a few weeks, they simply vanish into the forest.
What always amazes us during the time she’s here and we get to watch the babies grow strong enough to leave, is that somehow the babies know to stay put while Mama goes off to graze, and somehow they “just know” to follow Mama into the underbrush when they’re out with her and she senses danger. And somehow, the doe knows exactly how long to remain here on our property until the babies are strong enough to travel….
Watching this miracle unfold in our backyard somehow reminded us of YHWH and His Torah – His Divine Instructions in Righteousness for mankind. For just a few days, our fenced-in acreage is similar to Torah for that mother deer. It provides safety and protection in an otherwise dangerous world on the other side of that fence where predators and highways and cars pose serious threats to the doe and her little ones.
YHWH gave mankind His Torah to keep us safe “the world” – a place where, after Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we could know the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. In short, He gave us a Divine blueprint for moral, holy living. Basically: “I am the Creator who made you; worship me only. Do this but don’t do that, or else you and others will get hurt. Eat this but don’t eat that because it could make you sick or kill you. Treat your fellow man thusly. Follow my rules and all will go well with you and yours.”
Unfortunately religion and religiosity crept into the world and broke the relationship with YHWH and His people, most of whom insisted on “jumping the fence.” Like Adam and Eve, He gave us all the choice to obey Him, or not. They chose not to, as have most of their offspring! But the thing is, if we don’t obey YHWH, then we are catering to Satan. There is no in between; no “tolerance” which seems to be today’s buzzword….
YHWH outlined via his Torah (the first five Books of Moses) exactly how He wanted us to live. But since the very beginning, we have refused to abide by it! Back in Adam’s day, there were only a few commandments that we know of: Name the animals, be fruitful and multiply, and don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (see Genesis 1-3). Unfortunately, our original parents chose to “jump the fence” and, consequently, mankind was placed in bondage to Satan. The only way out of that bondage was to return to YHWH and His Torah. Naturally, as the world’s population grew, YHWH was forced to expand His Torah commands to encompass all the new ways man could get into trouble.
Suddenly, man was killing and eating animals, murdering his brother, taking more than one wife and committing all manner of sins that required the blood of innocent animals to be shed as atonement. (See Genesis 4 and beyond.) Because man’s decadence grew to unbearable proportions, YHWH decided to wipe out the earth. However, because Noah was righteous in His eyes, He promised to let him live and ultimately repopulate the earth (see Genesis 6-9).
Yet, no matter how many times YHWH forgave His Creation, man kept chosing to “jump the fence.” Biblical history is replete with a yo-yo cycle of man’s willful sinning and eventual return to Torah. Beginning in Genesis 12, YHWH made a covenant with Abraham to set him and his ancestors apart from the rest of His Creation which had totally strayed from His ways and became pagans. He made promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that basically required nothing of them except their loyalty, obedience and – oh yes – circumcision (Genesis 17:10-14).
The patriarchs were called Hebrews (which means, “to cross over”). Abraham, the first patriarch to cross over both physically AND spiritually, was commanded to move out of his country, away from his kinsmen and his father’s house and go to the land that YHWH showed him (Genesis 12:1-3). They and all their offspring were Torah observant, doing their best to please God through obedience. Unfortunately, when the Hebrews went into captivity in Egypt (beginning in Exodus 1), they ultimately forgot about Torah and began to pick up the customs and traditions of their captors.
But YHWH remedied that when He caused Moshe (Moses) to single-handedly take on Pharoah (beginning in Exodus 4) who (after YHWH caused the death of all the firstborn in Egypt, including Pharoah’s son) finally allowed the Hebrews to leave. And then He ultimately kept the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years while they had to re-learn and readjust to YHWH and His Torah. This, of course, kicked off the Mosaic Covenant in which YHWH wrote the Ten Commandments in stone….
Eventually, to make it easy on His wayward and ever-straying Creation, YHWH sent us His Son Yeshua (a name which means, “YHWH is Salvation”) to represent Him in human form to speak directly to man to proclaim the Kingdom of YHWH, to show man first-hand who YHWH is and how to worship and obey Him. Yeshua ultimately martyred Himself on our behalf and thus became our Final SIN Sacrifice, thus forever abolishing the need for us to kill innocent animals to atone for our sins (See the Gospel accounts.)
(NOTE: Our use of the term “martyr” is intentional because traditional Jews love to point out that “G-d never required human sacrifice!” Well, Y’shua wasn’t a “human sacrifice” because nobody “sacrificed” Him. He was a Divine Sacrifice who willingly went to the cross/stake. As a human being, He had the choice to obey YHWH or not. As we see time and time again, He CHOSE to obey. He KNEW who He was….)
Contrary to popular belief, NONE of the above actions ever abolished Torah! Without Torah, we would have no blueprint for moral, holy living; no fenced-in area to keep us safe.
Most people don’t realize it, but the Constitution and Bill of Rights on which our country was founded, are based on the Torah! All rules,all laws were written to protect us from ourselves and from each other. But, as with God’s laws, we’ve more than just “jumped the fence”; we’ve gone way overboard and abused those rights and freedoms, and are well on our way to getting run over and squashed on Satan’s sin-filled freeway – all in the name of “doing our own thing”.
In modern day America where we have thrown God out of our schools, along with prayer and Bible reading, we have raised several generations who not only don’t want God in their lives, but they hate any form of godliness and are embracing the occult, instead! We are not only condoning occultism and pagan “religions”, but everything else that YHWH calls an abomination, such as homosexuality, idolatry, bigotry, adultery, etc.
These days we are even seeing major denominations splitting over whether to ordain homosexuals. Lying, stealing, and murder are condoned in the cases where the perpetrator might have had a bad childhood, or is able to plead temporary insanity. Good is now bad, and bad is now good – all in the name of “tolerance”. The world seems to be turned upside down!
In Deuteronomy 6 YHWH said: “And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.”
How many people actually do that? Christianity teaches that Torah is a curse and that we don’t have to do anything except “believe in Jesus”! Because of this Torah-less Jesus, all our sins are somehow automatically forgiven and we are free to do as we please….
Yeshua came to proclaim the Kingdom of YHWH and to do everything His Father commanded. He tore down the fences of man’s legalism. Neither He nor His Apostles ever advocated against Torah!
Deuteronomy 18: 15 “ADONAI will raise up for you a prophet like me from among yourselves, from your own kinsmen. You are to pay attention to him, 16 just as when you were assembled at Horev and requested ADONAI your God, ‘Don’t let me hear the voice of ADONAI my God any more, or let me see this great fire ever again; if I do, I will die!’ 17 On that occasion ADONAI said to me, ‘They are right in what they are saying. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I order him.
John 12: 44 But Yeshua cried out and said “He who believes in me, it is not in me he does believe, but in Him who sent me.”
Yeshua was sent by the Father NOT to do His own will, but the Father’s! So many seem to think He came to replace the Father and abolish Torah….Yet He came to restore man’s relationship with YHWH and remind us to totally rely on YHWH for everything. We are to be “as little children”:
Matthew 18: 1. At that moment, the disciples drew near to Y’shua and said, Who indeed is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? 2. And Y’shua called a child and made him stand in their midst. 3. And said, Truly I say to you, that unless you change and become like children, you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4. He therefore who humbles himself like this child, he will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Like that little fawn that automatically did whatever its mother wanted it to do, without hesitation – that is how we are to follow God’s commands! He has our best interests at heart; HE knows what is best for our lives. HE told us exactly how to become righteous – yet most ignore Him. The Bible tells us we must be like little children; not like bull-headed teenagers who want to go their own way. Even Yeshua did what the Father commanded:
Luke 4: 43 “But he (Yeshua/Jesus) said, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”
Acts 28: 23 “From morning till evening the Apostle Paul explained and declared the Kingdom of God and tried to convince people about Yeshua from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.”
Acts 24: 14. But this indeed I (Paul) acknowledge, that in that same doctrine of which they speak, I do serve the Elohim of my fathers, believing all the things written in Torah and in the prophets.
YHWH gave us His Torah to keep us safe and on His path as long as we are “inside the fence” of Torah and playing by the rules.
Proverbs 16:25: There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Torah has given us tremendous freedom – Freedom to know our Creator and His awesome Messiah through whom we are able to gain eternal life merely by “believing” in Him, and allowing the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) to help us change from the inside-out to become the “new creatures” we were always meant to be!
Our beautiful Aliyah and her babies inevitably leave the premises. They, in effect, leave our “Torah”….We always pray that YHWH would keep them safe wherever they go. And we pray that all mankind will soon wake up to the realization that we are IN the end times as outlined in the Books of Daniel and Revelation; and that the safest place to be is not hiding in the hills, hoarding canned food and bottled water and arming themselves to the teeth; but, rather, taking comfort in the arms of YHWH and His Torah….
Carmen Welker
by Rod Thomas | Aug 4, 2015 | Blog
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.
by Rod Thomas | Jul 7, 2015 | Blog
Occupying Territory
Deuteronomy 11:22-25
This passage brings us to the end of Parashah-46. As it has been throughout this lengthy portion, we see again Moshe’s admonishment that we love Adonai our God. This concept of love in the Ancient Near East continues to be misinterpreted and misunderstood; primarily within churchianity circles. Love has always been understood or interpreted from a purely emotional perspective. Certainly, emotions are a big part of love as it relates to human relationships. Interestingly, that which we deem as love is not consistent across the board of human experience and relationships. We love our spouses differently than we love our parents. We love our children differently than we love our close friends. We love possessions differently than we love the people in our lives. But at the end of the day, those relationships that we place into the category of love are based primarily on emotions. Now bear in mind, I am not a psychologist nor am I a psychiatrist. I just call things that way I see them. And the reason I contend that much of our human relationships that we assign the classification of love to are based on emotions is because that form of love wanes and ebbs–often depending on how we feel at any given time. For instance, when say our spouse really upsets us–I’m not talking about when one’s husband leaves the seat up ladies–I’m talking, when one of us really does something wrong or bad, love for the offending party is typically the furthest thing for the offended party’s mind and heart. What then happens are arguments, tantrums, remonstrations, cold-shoulders, and whatever else is common to individuals who are upset over the actions or inactions of a loved one. Often, when a situation reaches a level of being really bad or hurtful, the relationship suffers to the point of not being recoverable and the relationship is severed. Despite all affirmations and proclamations and displays of love in the past, that incident that upset the apple cart has caused a complete rift in the fabric of that relationship and love goes away.
The love that Yahovah is speaking to us about throughout Torah is not that same human emotion-based characteristic. The love Yahovah is speaking about is not based upon emotions, but based upon loyalty. Loyalty is hardly ever addressed in churchianity circles as it relates to love for God. Relationships that are built upon a firm affirmation of trust and loyalty, as Yahovah has required of us, will weather any relational storm that could possibly come in our midst. When we affirm our relationship with Father based upon our trust in Him and we back up that trust with obedience that is unwavering, we are loving our Creator. When our human relationships are based upon trust and loyalty first and foremost, then any potential problems that come within the realm of the relationship will be just a speed bump that does not impede our walk with the Father and His Messiah. Can we or should we eliminate emotions from the love equation? I’d say no. Emotions have their proper place in all relationships. The problem with emotions come when we based the relationship on emotions. Emotions, when properly factored into the relationship, can have a positive impact on the relationship, especially in our relationship with Father. In fact, dedication and loyalty and trust will often have as byproducts, emotions. Emotions can bring us joy and peace of mind; emotions can help us perform or work behalf of Father with vigor and zeal. Emotions can help us create and imagine what is and can be in our relationship with Father. Emotions can draw us closer to Him. But at the end of the day, we must always be loyal, trusting and obedient. That is what the Father is looking for in us. And Father wants that loyalty and trust and obedience to be built upon pure desire to serve and relate to Him, devoid of outside influences, prejudices and personal agendas.
This last section of Parashah 46 speaks to our love for Yahovah translating into possessing the promised land. The land of promise was significant, especially compared to what the land of Israel is today. Father assigned the land perimeters from the desert or otherwise rendered, wilderness which is south of Jerusalem; to Lebanon which would compose the northern boundaries; to the Euphrates which defined the eastern border; then to the hinder sea or the Mediterranean which composed the land’s western boundary. Because of our love for Father–that is our obedience and loyalty to Him–our nation would be a most formidable entity that no nation in the known world would be able to withstand–assuming it would ever come to that. Interestingly, this scenario–that being a formidable nation that no nation could withstand–was actually realized during the reign of Solomon. During the reign of Solomon, the full extent of land boundaries was realized and Israel as a nation was unchallenged as the one world power not to be trifled with. Although not perfect and certainly straying from Torah during his reign, Solomon and his nation Israel enjoyed unparalleled peace, prosperity and power in the whole of the region. It was the closest to paradise that we have displayed since the Garden of Eden. But once Solomon died, and the fullness of Yahovah’s promises to Solomon were completed and met, the nation of Israel plummeted into idolatry, disobedience to Torah and fragmentation into two nations. Never more would the land be as this passage described.
Our Torah Living Daily Challenge today is that we honor Father by obeying His Torah and that we obey His Torah with the greatest zeal and dedication and trust. As a result, we have a land that is promised to us that we will occupy. Oh we could rationalize that that land of promise is within us today as grafted in Israelites. But looking ahead in the future, there is coming a time when those of us who have sold out to Father and who have been obedient to His Torah and to the service of His Messiah, we will occupy that same land of promise that physical Israel currently possesses. But this go around, that occupying of the land will be unlike anything ever recorded in the annals of man. That go around, as the Tanakh says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no one’s heart has imagined all the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” (1Co 2:9 CJB) Let us occupy today Saints. Be blessed and Shalom.
