by Rod Thomas | Feb 17, 2015 | Blog
Doctrine of Baptisms
Having just posted the latest episode of Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections where my focus was on baptism or the Doctrine of Baptisms as mentioned in Hebrews 6, a full day later I’m just as fired up about this topic as I was when I recorded and posted it yesterday. I just can’t get past this inkling that there is more to this foundational part of our Faith. The simple fact that Yeshua, having no sin whatsoever in his life and thus having no conceivable need or requirement to be baptized (or as many of the Messianics call it–mikvehed), humbled Himself nonetheless and went through with this most personal and solemn rite of our Faith. Which for me speaks ever so loudly that if the Master felt such a compulsion to be baptized (or mikvehed) by Yochanan, as the Ethiopian Eunuch said to Phillip on the road leading from Yerushalayim to Gaza, “here’s some water! Is there any reason why I shouldn’t be immersed?” (Act 8:36 CJB)
Baptisms on the Jordan River
Certainly, traditional Christianity has formed much of our understanding and individual perspectives on the subject of baptism. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of traditional Christians out there if asked about baptism would contend that baptism is a one-time deal that must be done at the outset of one’s conversion experience and entering into Christianity. Heck, I once held such a staunch view up to recently (oh, about a year or so now). It wasn’t until I heard teachings from Arthur Bailey and Michael Rood that my understanding and perspective on subject of baptism was changed. Who knew? I never took into consideration the possible reasons behind Yochanan ben Zecharyah’s (John’s the Immerser’s) employment of immersion people in water for the purpose of addressing sin in their lives. I always thought that Yochanan was the brain-child behind this “sacrament” of the “church” that Jesus and His disciples (soon to be apostles) would adopt and carry on to its fullest employment and ultimate meaning in the Faith. But like everything else I’ve experienced since transitioning over to the Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith, everything has a Hebraic origin and there is always a rich and beautiful meaning behind the things we often take for granted in our Faith. Baptism (or as Michael often calls it–Mikveh) is simply one more example of this broader background contained in the Hebraic Roots of the Faith.
The Doctrine of Baptisms Examined
So baptism, the practice employed by Yochanan at the Yarden (aka the Jordan) and later Yeshua’s disciples and apostles, seemed to focus on the immersion of one into water for the remission of sins. By virtue of who was conducting the baptisms at the time, those adherents became identified with that baptizer or immerser. Thus, hundreds of adherents became identified with Yochanan and later even hundreds more became identified with the Master. Ultimately, it became the practice of baptizing adherent in the name of Yeshua and thus all adherents would ultimately be identified with Yeshua Hamaschiach. But there was an even greater nexus involved in the practice of baptisms in the first-century church, with the same ramifications for us today. Along with the baptism new adherents experienced related to the remission of sins and repentance and identification with the Master, by virtue of their identifying with Yeshua, there was almost certain suffering to be had by all involved. Fox’s Book of Martyrs is a classic and heart wrenching compendium documenting the sufferings of the first-century Saints. These, simply by virtue of their conviction and identification with the Messiah, upcoming coming out of the water, had their individual fates sealed in blood. These would endure unimaginable sufferings and deaths at the hands of unrepenting Jews and Romans. This is a baptism that for the millions of Christian adherents in the world today reject. Why? Because the doctrine, belief and teachings on a secret rapture that is coming to sweep the believer away to paradise cannot possibly contain any hint of suffering, tribulation or persecution. Sadly, these same millions, looking into the skies for the return of Yeshua and their swift snatching away from this earth, will be in for a “Rood Awakening.”
I am appalled and ashamed that churchianity has so blinded the masses to think that they are immune to tribulation, persecution and martyrdom, primarily in the West. The Holy Writ no where documents a promise that the redeemed of the Most High will escape the baptism of suffering that is promised and inherited by all believers in Yeshua Messiah. How dare we take on such a pompous attitude and belief that we are somehow greater than the Saints of the first-century church and that we are immune to persecution, tribulation and martyrdom. What makes us think we are so much more privileged than these? This is even more aggravating when we consider that the nominal Christian of today lives their lives more so in the world than they do in the Faith. The nominal Christian of today has no problem going to their respective churches on Sunday morning and then returning to a life of carnality and secularism, even on their way home from the service. For the majority of us, there is no baptism of suffering to be imagined, to say the least, no baptism of identification with Yeshua. It’s a fools game believers are playing in the 21st-century. There is coming a baptism of suffering that all would-be believers in Christ must endure, unless these elect to turn in their Christianity in exchange for protection and safety from the tribulations to come.
The true believer in Yeshua Messiah, by virtue of undergoing a baptism of repentance and identification and present and future suffering, will experience a baptism of fire. It is us who are experiencing, through daily prayer, meditation, study, fasting and obedience to the Torah Lifestyle, that those areas of our life that inhibit or damage our relationship with the Father are purged and cut away from us; and these none fruit producing areas of our lives are tossed into the unquenchable fire by Ruach Hakodesh. It is this baptism of fire that purifies us from all unrighteousness and we become as pure gold in the sight of the Creator. This is a unique baptism that Christianity has relocated to a simple imputation and not so much a process. This erroneous ideology is one of the reasons why Christians are so prone to hold on to their secular lives and reject Torah. Torah living, by nature, requires a total surrender to the Father and a subsequent make-over, in part by imputation, but also through the working of the Ruach Kodesh in our lives to assist us in living Torah and living holy lives, acceptable to the Father in Heaven. This baptism is the most enriching as well as one of the most painful experiences that any believer will experience. This couples with the baptism of the Ruach Kodesh, that helps us live Torah the way Yeshua Hamaschiach taught to live. It is this baptism that brings all that we learn through the Father’s anointed teachers and from our study of the Bible to our thoughts and memory when necessary. It is this baptism that gives each of us the courage to proclaim the Master’s message of repentance and the Message of the Kingdom to a dying and lost world without hesitation, trepidation, fear or confusion. The televangelists have hijacked this baptism to sway the minds of would be contributors that they will be healed and gain riches by simply sending them money. These same televangelists will put on quite a show and call upon the Holy Spirit to move the hearts of all to send in money to support their operations and of course many heed this call. These millions are duped into thinking that they can not harvest the power and might of the Ruach for themselves and realize and experience the exploits spoken of by the Master Himself to His chosen apostles. We’ve remained babies, unable to provide and care for ourselves, requiring God’s so-called anointed to pray and intercede for us. We are hopeless. But this is one of the greatest tricks of the enemy; to blind us into thinking that the baptism of the Ruach Kodesh is for us and the power of the Spirit is at our disposal.
Then it is our direct relationship with the Father that should cause us to always be concerned about our state of being before Him. Are we, as stipulated in Torah, in a perpetual state of purity and holiness; acceptable to the Father? Or have we by our own negligence or simply because of life’s situations, entered into a state of impurity. Simply because Yeshua, who was without sin, died for each of us and that act nullified the penalty of death that would be levied upon us because of our sin, doesn’t change the simple fact that we continue to sin and we often enter into states of impurity that the Father has indicated that He does not accept. If we know better, shouldn’t we do better? Is there a baptism of purification that is efficacious for each of us? Is there a way that we can emerge from an impure state to one of purity and acceptability before the Father. Could the fact, in part, that traditional believers hold to a one-time fits all mentality related to baptism be the reason why believers have no qualms holding so tightly to the world? Simply look at the movies and television shows we watch; the social activities we participate in; the books we read; the conversations we enter into; the things we do that are in opposition to Torah (i.e., adultery, idolatry, fornication, lying, stealing, etc.)–all these things put us into a state of impurity (although those acts that diametrically oppose Torah such as idolatry, adultery, murder and the like must be addressed from a full-on repentance standpoint and not just from a purity standpoint).
Where Do You Stand on the Subject?
So I ask you, as I’ve asked myself throughout this past week: what significance does baptism (or mikveh) hold for the true believer in Yeshua Messiah? Well, I ultimately answered my own question from the reasoning I just completed. Indeed, baptism is everything to the believer. Yeshua, who was without sin, chose to be baptized. What reason did He give Yochanan for submitting to baptism? The Master saw baptism as a righteous act. And being a righteous act, it seemed to Him reason enough that He be a part of it. Which stands further reason that if the Master stands behind and supports the doctrine of baptisms, who are we then to think otherwise?
Be most blessed fellow Saints in Training. Shalom.
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.
