by Rod Thomas | Jan 5, 2015 | Blog
My Torah studies have stopped for a time to examine portions of the Gospel that correlate to this time of the year as it relates to the Creator’s Calendar. During this period, the Master is believed to have been teaching His disciples in the Dead Sea region as winter had by now settled in. It would have been about the 10th Biblical Month in the year 27 C.E. The passage of interest is found in Luke 11:1-36. Here we find one of the disciples observing the Master as He was praying and that disciple (unnamed) approached Yeshua and asked Him to “teach us to pray like Yochanan (John the Immerser) also taught his disciples to pray.” Obviously, this disciple felt some inadequacy in terms of the method or procedure he and the others were using to pray. Seeing the method and pattern of prayer used by the Master, the disciple wanted to learn how to pray as Yeshua prayed. And this is what a true disciple of the Master does. He sees His Master doing “stuff” and he/she, by virtue of being a disciple, naturally wants to imitate their Master. This is a unique concept to our western culture and world-view, is it not? More so, this is a unique and even foreign concept to Christianity and the Hebraic Roots/Messianic communities (although to a lesser degree than Christianity). This whole concept of discipleship and discipling is something that I will be looking into in future blog and podcast postings, for I believe that this is a crucial topic that needs serious addressing.
Being a disciple of the Master is not being a Christian nor is it being a believer in Christ as churchianity so adamantly teaches. The term disciple as found in this and virtually every other mention in the Gospel record is “mathetes” in ancient Greek which means a “learner, pupil and or disciple.” According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, mathetes refers to one who follows one’s teaching. As it is used throughout the Gospel record, the term is usually referring to the pupils or learners of Yeshua. The term is not always restricted, as many in churchianity would insinuate, to the inner 12 that Yeshua selected to head the Church after His resurrection, but also those among the Jewish population that “favored Him, joined His party and became His adherents,” those who followed Yochanan the Immerser, and even those who followed certain Jewish sages and religious leaders of that time.
Today, the term disciple is all but restricted to the pages of the Gospel record and is rarely if ever used to describe us, the redeemed of the Lord, His chosen, His elect. Why? I think a lot of this has to do with the change in mindset that came about in the last couple centuries (although I have little to no doubt that this mindset extends back to the 4th century C.E.) from that of literally conforming to the image of Yeshua as a result of being a disciple (aka His pupil, His student) to that of getting one saved. Once the focus went to “how many people we can get saved” and the concept of “grace” was altered to reflect an all encompassing construct that eliminated the need for the believer to be obedient to the teachings and commands of the Master (or that matter the Father) but simply occupy till the rapture. I believe that the perverted doctrine of grace then has pushed aside any requirement for the believer in Messiah to be a faithful servant and following–that is disciple. To me, that makes those of us who simply ride the coat-tails of “grace” to heaven nothing more than dead weight that will ultimately have to be shed or purged. Nothing points to the cause of the horrible state of Christianity today than the elimination of the concept and requirement of being a true disciple of Messiah. Until we as true believers throw aside the perverted mindset of grace being the only concern of the believer, but adopt the burning desire to be a disciple–one who’s only purpose in life is to conform to the very image of his/her master–then all bets are off that we will be included in the coming Kingdom as Yeshua’s elect. Revelation (the 5th Gospel) speaks to the true identities of the Master’s chosen: Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
May we be disciples of Messiah, perfect in all our ways; obedient and faithful to the end. Furthermore, may we follow faithfully the Great Commission which directs us to make disciples of others. The true Faith once delivered, the Church, is not filled with Christians or hangers-on, but disciples.
by Rod Thomas | Dec 30, 2014 | Blog
My Torah studies have brought me to Deuteronomy 7:8 which reads thusly (by the way, I attached verse 7 to verse 8 to ensure a complete thought and complete sentence):
CJB Deuteronomy 7:7 ADONAI didn’t set his heart [His love-chashaq] on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people- on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 Rather, it was because ADONAI loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that ADONAI brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deu 7:7 CJB)
Israel’s “chosen” status was not according to the understanding and ways of natural men who would select on the basis of prowess, prestige, beauty or population. Instead, Yehovah’s selection process was unique in that He “fell in love” with a fellow from Ur of the Chaldees. It was that love story that focused on one individual, of all the humans inhabiting the world at that time, that led to a nation being founded and chosen by the Creator. It would be that nation, born out of love and an oath, through which mankind would ultimately reconnect with the Father. Any believer who would mitigate or dismiss the origins of our Faith out of some crazed anti-Hebrew/anti-Jewish sentiment is sadly ruled and led by the enemy. Over and over again, throughout the Biblical record, the Father reminded the nation that their selection and consequently their favor with the Almighty was by virtue of His love and the oath He established with Avraham, which translated to the love he would have for Isaac and Jacob. As it stands with us today, our selection and chosen status is not the result of anything that we have or could ever do (although the Father will use any of us to do His will), but because of the oath He made and the love He had for Avraham. This love transcended anything known to mankind up to this juncture in human history. Obviously, the love the Father had for Avraham was clearly reciprocated although it is not clear beyond Avraham’s obedience and faith how Avraham’s love for Yehovah was reciprocated. One thing we know, Yehovah fell in love to the point that Avraham became the Creator’s best Friend:
7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? (2Ch 20:7 KJV)
8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. (Isa 41:8 KJV)
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. (Jam 2:23 KJV)
Oh how I long to be looked at by the Father as His friend. Like Avraham, I am not satisfied to simply be as one of the countless millions of souls living upon the earth, paying homage to a God by attending a church service a few times a year, financially supporting a ministry, or doing charitable things out in public. Obviously, we can’t compare the relationship the Father had with the Son to the relationship the Father had with Avraham, but for starters, I will take being seen by the Father as His friend.
The concept of the Creator of the Universe adopting one of His creation as a friend, when you really think about it, is something that is hard to cognitively grab hold to. After Adam sinned, the Creator’s relationship with mankind was severely wrecked. After this tragedy in the Garden, mankind would no longer have anything in common with the Creator of the universe. The Father’s interactions with man precipitously dropped to just a few isolated occasions, the most notable occasion was the flood story. Unlike Avraham, the Father found “grace” or “chen” in the eyes of Yehovah (Genesis 6:8). The Biblical record does note that “Noah walked with Yehovah” (vs. 9).
Let’s pick this up in part 2. Until then, be most blessed fellow Saint. Shalome.
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.”
