by Rod Thomas | Dec 24, 2014 | Blog
My Torah studies brought me to Deuteronomy 7: 8 this morning and the passage reads accordingly:
But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deu 7:8 KJV)
cf.
Jer 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Deu 10:15 Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
I recall a few years ago having a conversation with my boss about the dichotomy in character of the Godhead. Before I go too much further, let me be transparent and say that I do not believe that the Father or God is made up of 3 or 2 persons as much of churchianity* believes and teaches. Nor do I believe that Yeshua was pre-existent and the God and creator of the Old Testament as many myopic Messianic Believers do, based upon their read and understanding of John 1 and other isolated passages of the Renewed Testament. This subject is a huge and controversial topic that I wholly plan to get in to the early part of next year. But for now, this is not the forum to discuss this matter. But I wanted to point out that from that conversation with my boss about the dichotomy in character of the Godhead, she put forth her obviously taught and indoctrinated position that the God of the Old Testament was harsh, uncaring, unforgiving, brutal, impatient, angry and without love towards His creation. Conversely, Jesus in the New Testament is forgiving, compassionate, benevolent, nice, patient and filled with love. Now I actually used to believe all that, especially after reading throughout the Tanakh about the harsh exploits of the Almighty. He seemed to always be on Israel’s case for something they had done or would do. Typically Israel’s plight was seemingly always on the cusp of devastation or destruction. And certainly if one were to simply read the various passages of the Tanakh outside of context and treat this half of the Bible as a separate entity that is distinct from the Renewed Covenant, then most certainly one could naturally develop an erroneous conception about the character of Yehovah.
I guess this myopic and uninformed perception about the Father is partly the reason why churchianity is so “Jesus-centric” and focused on the person of the Son, with very little alluding to God the Father, apart from the occasional utterance of the title during a reciting of the trinity during Baptisms and other liturgical exercises. I believe that this mindset is one of the most injurious issues facing Christianity over the last one and three-quarters of a millennia. With a complete rejection of Yehovah (a brilliant tactic and ploy of the enemy) as a result of postulating such an erroneous mindset about the character of the Father, churchianity has to her pending doom, pinned most of her faith on the grossly misunderstood, twisted and manipulated doctrine of grace. More than even the teachings and example of the Master Yeshua Himself, grace is the central over-riding theme of Christianity. Grace has all but eliminated any thought on the part of believers to be obedient to the Word of the Almighty. Additionally, this entire mindset has covered over the simple beauty of this pivotal verse where Moshe is rehearsing for Israel the Father’s steadfast love for them and His faithfulness in keeping His end of covenants when men would so easily default on their end of covenant with the Almighty. With the undeniable love of the Master as a clear and prominent backdrop in the Renewed Covenant, the love of the Father for Israel–and also for the Gentile–is the overarching theme of the whole of the Bible! In other words, without the steadfast and faithful love of the Father for His creation, there could never have been a Yeshua, much less a nation of Israel to this day. It is the Father’s declared love for Israel that has translated into the mission and work of Yeshua HaMaschiach and we must not forget that.
Oh how it must hurt the Father when He sees His beloved in adulterous abandon pursue after a Hellenistic Savior that has been created to replace Him. Hasatan is so conniving and all encompassing in his efforts to separate man from His Creator. It must be our mission to keep this thing in its proper perspective. Living Torah is the absolute best way in which to maintain this proper balance. It is also our mission to somehow teach our wayward cousins who are emeshed in the muck and mire of religion (i.e., Christianity) the truth about the love of Yehovah and how that love has translated into the mission and work of His adopted Son.
Happy beginning of the 10th Biblical Month (as the renewed moon was sighted over Israel yesterday) and a blessed remainder of Hanukkah. Shalom.
*Churchianity–a term that some Hebrew Roots folks use to describe denominational Christianity and the overarching concept of being “Churched” (my perceptions of the term which is not an official terms by the way).
by Rod Thomas | Dec 23, 2014 | Blog
Continuing my Torah studies, I’ve come to Deuteronomy 7:7 &8:
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deu 7:7-8 KJV)
Does this not describe accurately the situation of our Faith? Upon first coming in to the knowledge of the Hebraic Roots and the Messianic community, I was often concerned about the relative size of of our group. Indeed, our numbers in comparison with the number of orthodox-traditional Christian adherents is infantismal. I remember at one point conducting a google search in relation to the number of Hebraic Roots believers in the world today, only to be disappointed that no such numbers existed. In fact, simply trying to nail down what constituted a true Hebraic Roots/Messianic Faith was challenging. The overwhelming majority of websites and data that were associated with the Hebraic Roots/Messianic Community were Messianic Judaism in one form or another. I wish to make it known at this juncture that we are in no way associated with Judaism, Messianic or otherwise. Yeshua fought against Judaism during His 70–Week Life and Ministry, only to be crucified by the leaders of this religion that calls itself Hebraic Roots or Messianic. I’m not casting judgment upon those dear brothers and sisters who know about the Jewish Messiah but are in bondage to religion, which is what Judaism really is. Yeshua came to set His people free from the slavery and bondage of religion, and that includes Judaism. And I’m a firm believer that many who find themselves in Messianic Judaism, got into that mess unaware that they actually were not adhering to the true Faith spoken of by the brother of our Master Yeshua HaMaschiach. Heck, I came very close in my early years of examining the Hebraic Roots of giving over to Messianic Judaism as I became more and more convinced that Torah had to be my consuming passion and focus. As I focused solely on Torah (that is the rote obedience to Torah), I became slowly removed from Yeshua and the true Faith delivered to the first century saints. I began to identify more with the teachings of Jewish sages and rabbis than I did with the teachings of Yeshua Himself and His chosen apostles. This all happened quite slowly and over the course of time as I searched for teachings of Jewish leaders and instructors and began doubting the efficacy and applicability and genuiness of the teachings of the Apostle Shaul. In fact, I can pinpoint the time when much of my confusion over Shaul and his teachings occurred to me and I began leaning towards Messianic Judaism: and that was when I began reading Robert Eisenman’s book “James the Brother of Jesus.”
Eisenman’s book opened my eyes to the historical Jesus and many of the individuals associated with the first century Faith. Eisenman’s primary focus in part was on James’ role as the chosen leader of the Jerusalem assembly over the erroneously perceived teachings and doctrines of Paul and Peter being the head of the first-century Church. Beyond this, Eisenman compared and contrasted a mystical, unidentified-somewhat evil-character in many of the Essenes’ ancient writings (i.e., the primary occupants of the Qumran settlement and the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls) that was constantly in an insidious conflict with the righteous James. Eisenman argued that this unidentified-somewhat evil-character was Paul the apostle, who was actually a wolf in sheeps’ clothing, who was agressively attempting to hijack the Faith from the true head of the nascent Christian Faith. It was my reading of Eisenman’s material that set me on a journey that led me dangerously close to adopting Messianic Judaism “lock-stock-and barrel.”
Fortunately I was introduced to the teachings of Michael Rood and Arthur Bailey soon thereafter and it was their teachings that broke the hold of Judaism over my life. I accept a goodly amount of the information presented by Eisenman regarding James the Brother of Jesus. He provides what seems to be sound historical data. The problem with Eisenman’s work is that he attempts to apply match one of Yeshua’s chosen apostle, Shaul, to some mysterious, crazed, overly ambitious and evil character bent on taking over the Christian Faith to fulfill his evil desires. But then, we’re on a journey aren’t we. And I guess that’s why we must resist judging others who may not be grounded in the true Faith once delivered. Indeed, that old saying, “There but by the grace of God go I” rings ever so true. Yes, we are in a very very small group, outside the so-called orthodox and the traditional. To the orthodox and traditional, we appear as strange, abberant, cultic and lost. But then, so thought the other nations that surrounded ancient Israel. It may seem daunting at times, especially when we are trying to put forth the truth to a lost world. But here in Deuteronomy 7:7, we are reminded that we weren’t chosen because of our size, but because Yehovah loved us and He purposed to keep His word and it is through His wisdom and the work of His son Yeshua that we have been engrafted in to the heritage of Israel. Be blessed.
by Rod Thomas | Nov 19, 2014 | Blog
Read each of these translations of Deuteronomy 6:4 and see for yourself how the Shema (incorrectly referred to by many) states the “oneness of Yehovah:”
ASV Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:
(Deu 6:4 ASV)
CJB Deuteronomy 6:4 “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, Isra’el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one]; (Deu 6:4 CJB)
DBY Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;
(Deu 6:4 DBY)
GNV Deuteronomy 6:4 Heare, O Israel, The Lord our God is Lord onely,
(Deu 6:4 GNV)
KJV Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (Deu 6:4 KJV)
LEE Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel! The Lord, our God, is the One Eternal Being. (Deu 6:4 LEE)
NJB Deuteronomy 6:4 ‘Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one, the only Yahweh. (Deu 6:4 NJB)
YLT Deuteronomy 6:4 ‘Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;
(Deu 6:4 YLT)
How does anyone get 3 or 2 out of 1. Well, the only way to accomplish this task is to slice and dice the 1 into 2 or 3 pieces. That would be the human way of doing things. But when Yehovah implicitly says over and over and over that He is the only God there is and that there is NO other, why do believers feel so compelled to add another or 2 to this very simple equation?
I have a theory. Polytheism is clearly an invention of hasatan. Since there are countless demons in the world, these demons exist or take-on the identities of gods. Since we have countless demons who masquerade as gods, then it would stand to reason that we would have a ready inclination to accept the existance of a godhead composed of 2 or 3 beings. And as simple a theory as this is, I guarantee you that most evangelicals and traditional Christians will ignore this most nagging, obvious reality and insist that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are equal partners in the God-family, all 3 existing from the beginning. Yet here, in Deuteronomy 6:4 and the many other supporting passages in Deuteronomy (i.e., Deut 5:9f.; Deut 7:9; Deut 10:14ff., 20f., Deut 13:6; Deut 30:20; Deut 32:12), Yehovah is implicitly stating without any wavering or mysticism that He alone is God of all and that there is no other. Additionally, the Shema as this verse has come to be known to many Judaio-Christians throughout the world (which by the way is somewhat inaccurate since Shema means to hear, listen and obey) is in no way a precursory application or expository on the Trinity or a Binary godhead doctrine and belief. Certainly the verse as it reads in many translations, especially in the King James Version, leads one to ask: why didn’t Moshe simply say: “Hey, Yisra’el, there ain’t no other gods but Yehovah. Yehovah is all there is? There ain’t no gaggle of gods up there in heaven. Yehovah is all by Himself. So if you ever come into contact with some pagan dudes who try to convince you that Yehovah is simply one of many gods floating about in the heavens, you shut them down immediately and never have anything to do with them ever again. And oh by the way, in a few centuries, some of your descendants will try to develop a doctrine that teaches that Yehovah is really a family name for 2 or 3 other gods. Ensure that you maintain strict control over the teachings that come out of Yisra’el and whatever it takes, make sure that those distant cousins of yours know that Yehovah ain’t no trinity or binarian concept. I will, in the future, adopt a man child who will fulfill and embody my entire purpose for man. That man I will call my son and I will give him my name and give him a seat at my right-hand on my throne in heaven. He will be the first of many who I will adopt and elevate to such a status. I will start over my purpose and plan (my Word) with this one, where hasatan plotted and attempted to derail my plans for men. My Word will succeed. I AM Yehovah.”
by Rod Thomas | Nov 18, 2014 | Blog
My Torah studies brought me today to The Shema, which remains the pearl–the gem–the beacon that stands out in the whole of the Holy Writ. It certifies that Yehovah is the one and only True God of the universe. It crushes (in my mind) any doctrine that insists that God is a trinity or a binary. The Shema remains Yisra’el’s acclamation that Yehovah is the only one and there is no one other God. Allow me to site various translations of this passage:
ASV Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:
(Deu 6:4 ASV)
CJB Deuteronomy 6:4 “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, Isra’el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one]; (Deu 6:4 CJB)
DBY Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;
(Deu 6:4 DBY)
GNV Deuteronomy 6:4 Heare, O Israel, The Lord our God is Lord onely,
(Deu 6:4 GNV)
KJV Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (Deu 6:4 KJV)
LEE Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel! The Lord, our God, is the One Eternal Being. (Deu 6:4 LEE)
NJB Deuteronomy 6:4 ‘Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one, the only Yahweh. (Deu 6:4 NJB)
YLT Deuteronomy 6:4 ‘Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;
(Deu 6:4 YLT)
Yet, at times I feel like a lone wolf in the spiritual wilderness when it comes to this issue. Orthodox-traditional-popular Christianity believes fully that God is either a triune or binary entity. Even some Messianics and Hebraic Roots folks contend that Jesus is God of the Old Testament who created all that has ever existed. Indeed, this great spiritual debate has existed for centuries. The primary challenger to the Shema seems to be the Apostle Yochanan who records in his gospel and epistle:
KJV John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Joh 1:1 KJV)
KJV 1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (1Jo 1:1 KJV)
Now I do NOT believe that Yochanan believed in the pre-existence and eternal divinity of Yeshua; well not in the sense that Christianity has come to believe and teach. But I’ll touch upon the reasons why I believe Yochanan is saying something entirely different in future writings and audioblogs.
The true identities of the Father and the Son have plagued me for most of my life. Growing up in the Baptist Church, the Trinitarian concept of God was pounded in my head for years. By the time I left home and embarked upon a life of my own, I was a hard and steadfast trinitarian. In my mind there could be no other existence for God. And if by chance a question of the Shema was brought up in a discussion, opposing the godhead, any doubt could be easily explained away by debating the oneness of God from a “substance” perspective; the same approach used by the trinitarian bishops who fought against Arius at the Council of Nicea in 325 CE. And to this day, the vast majority of believers hold to one form or another of a polytheistic godhead. It wasn’t until just a few years ago (about 6-years to be more precise) that I began to question the logic of a godhead comprised of 2 or 3 equal gods, especially when one really reads this passage in Deuteronomy and understands how the Hebrew conceived of Yehovah. I then wondered to myself how the first century saints conceived of Yehovah and Yeshua; did they see Yeshua as every much Yehovah as the Father is considered Yehovah? We know that the first century saints adhered to the Hebraic Roots of the Faith and the teachings of Yeshua HaMaschiyach, so to imagine that these folks conceived of a triune or binary godhead is quite frankly: inconceivable. I consider myself to be of the Hebrew Roots of the Faith, so how can I believe in a godhead? It just doesn’t jive with the tenets of Torah and the Hebraic worldview.
Oh, I get it! Progressive revelation! Quack! I do believe that the Ruach Kodesh reveals certain things to His people through His chosen teachers in His set time throughout the ages. But one must ask one’s self: Does Yehovah change? Well the answer is no (Mal. 3:6). Thus, if the Ruach Kodesh were to reveal things to us that weren’t understood by folks in previous ages, He must do so within the framework of His “changeless” persona. And oh, by the way, don’t bother throwing at me God’s sovereignty and that He can do whatever He choses to do. That is a clever ploy of hasatan that believers for centuries have fallen for lock-stock-and barrel. Yes, Yehovah is sovereign, but He does NOT change nor does He lie! He is NOT a frail human being who would do such a thing. He remains as He has throughout all eternity. If He were to change, let’s say on a whim, then our salvation would be in jeopardy. What would prevent Him from changing His mind about us and condemn us to eternal damnation? Oh, the average Christian would bauk at that prospect I tell you. Yehovah, according to the Christian, can change His mind on anything else but He best not tamper with the Christian’s salvation!
This issue is of such great importance that I am in the process of putting together an audioblog series to address this very issue. I’m certain that I will ruffle some feathers and that is fine. It is an issue that must be addressed and a question that must be answered, otherwise we go on with our spirit lives in darkness and in lies. Have a blessed day in Messiah! Shalom!
by Rod Thomas | Nov 14, 2014 | Blog
Continuing my Torah studies, I come to Deuteronomy 5: 24 (the corresponding Complete Jewish Bible’s verse is 21). The CJB reads as follows:
and said, ‘Here, ADONAI our God has shown us his glory and his greatness! We have heard his voice coming from the fire, and we have seen today that God does speak with human beings, and they stay alive. (Deu 5:21 CJB) (cf. Deu 5:5 I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;)
Moshe reiterated to the nation that the apparent longstanding myth that Yehovah never communicates with His creation unless He meant them harm or if He were to communicate with His creation by happenstance it would not occur without dire consequences, was indeed a big ole lie. What a trick of hasatan upon the human race that he would cajole men to distance themselves even further from their Creator out of fear that they would die if they had a personal interaction with Him.
I guess there is a 180-degree difference today whereby humans are flippant about communicating with the Creator. We see numerous examples of evangelists who make a spectacle out of communicating with the Almighty and then attempting to tap into the supernatural through self-serving works of healing, slaying folks in the spirit and speaking in ecstatic tongues. It’s as if hasatan has flipped the whole thing on its head where once humans feared God to death and avoided interacting with HIm but today we treat God as if He is like one of us. I remember attending a United Church of God service one Sabbath and one of the senior men in the congregation got up to pray and the first words out of His mouth was: “hello God.” Now, I’m not trying to be hypersensitive on this issue, but this to me was just another example of man’s ubber-familiarity with the Almighty. Churchianity has convinced us that we need to have a “personal relationship with the Lord” and we take that inference to the greatest limits.
This passage reminds us (a recurring theme throughout Torah–that of being reminded) that indeed Yehovah does communicate with His creation. The reality of the matter is that Yehovah has and continues to communicate with His creation in a number of ways. Sadly, He doesn’t always choose to do so via a burning mountain event as He did at Horeb. But He is known to communicate to His creation via dreams and visions, nature, natural events, prophets, His Word, His Ruach Kodesh, day-to-day happenstances and even direct utterances to our spirit. Have you ever heard the voice of the Almighty speak to you directly on a particular issue, clear as if it was another human being speaking to you? I’ve had such things happen to me. Sometimes I’ve heard the utterances and other times I’ve not. I think the Spirit of the Most High speaks to all of His chosen ones. Yet, obviously, most of us don’t hear Him when He speaks. The cares of life drown out the oft-times wee small voice of the Ruach Kodesh and we miss tremendous opportunities to hear what the Lord has to say to us. Sometimes we simply don’t believe that Yehovah cares enough about our individual situations to intervene and provide us instruction and direction. Thus, we falter along in this life, often heading the wrong way and sometimes even towards destruction. I’ve had this happen to me a million-times over. I tune Father out and effectively take life (that is matters) into my own hands. I’ll even admit that there have been times when I really didn’t want Yehovah’s input, out of fear that He would instruct or direct me to do something that I really didn’t want to do. In those cases, when we actually fear the direct intervention of the Almighty in our lives, we become no better than the Children of Israel at Horeb, fearing the presence of the Almighty; essentially rejecting His direct influence in our lives. It was that event–that one-time key event–that set the tone for how the Father would interact with His creation from that day forward. No longer would He manifest Himself to His people in such greatness and glory. He would henceforth interact with His people via other, less overt means. How sad! How disappointing! Oh what I wouldn’t give to have been at Horeb that day. I would venture to guess that many of you feel the same way. To experience and see Father’s unmatchable wonders and hear His voice speak directly to me His Torah would have been the capstone to my life.
I guess it goes without saying that the Children of Promise in general did not have a full understanding of who they were and their ultimate potential through Yehovah. If one were to maintain a mindset that there’s this God out there doing a whole-bunch of things that are fantastical and at times scary, and I’m this poor, unwitting soul who is being somewhat forced and thrust into these events that are completely beyond one’s control, then a Horeb event might be just a little overwhelming. But when one realizes just who they are (or who they can be) in the Lord and that Yehovah so desperately wants to have a relationship with His creation, then a Horeb event would be very much desired and invited. I long for a Horeb event in my life. I long each day to hear the voice of Yehovah speak to me in whatever form or manner He chooses for me at the time. I want to communicate with Him beyond prayer and through His Word. I want to experience His glory in every aspect of my being. How about you? Well, it’s not out of the question. I believe if we seek Him constantly with a pure and righteous heart, abandoning all other gods (be they real idols or idols that are the cares of this life) for Him and Him alone, He will manifest Himself to us in great glory. There is coming a day though, when we will see His immense glory. It will come when Yeshua, cracks the sky and gathers His chosen from the 4-corners of the earth, and assembles us together with Him on the sea of fire and glass. Then, we will begin to witness forever more, the glory of Yehovah and reclaim that opportunity that was once offered to the Children of Promise at Horeb. Come even now Lord Yeshua…Come now! Be blessed Saints.
