Mid-stream Corrections
I was wrong. Today a friend sat across the table from me and said, “Your teaching is wonderful and terrible.” When he explained, I realized that I was wrong. You see, I have been so intent on focusing on the meaning of the text that I often made people feel as if their experience with God and their sincerity in the faith was in question. That was never my intent. The only thing I am interested in pursuing is obedience according to the best possible understanding of Scripture.
This conversation came up over a remark that I made about the dietary laws. What I said is this: “If you aren’t keeping the dietary laws of Torah, then you aren’t a member of the tribe of Israel.” Some people found this very confrontational and far too aggressive. After all, most of us (including me) were taught that the dietary laws didn’t apply to Christians. Most Christians firmly believe that these laws, and a great many others, were fulfilled (finished) by Jesus and set aside by Paul. So when I say something about inclusion in the tribe of Israel connected to eating bacon, people get upset. They wrongly conclude that I am challenging their faith in God and their experience of grace and forgiveness. They think that I am saying, “If you eat pepperoni on a pizza, you aren’t going to heaven.” What I meant was that the text suggests that what you eat is an indication of which tribe you belong to. What I meant is that after I examine all I can about Scripture, I come to the conclusion that I need to change my eating habits. But what you do with the text is up to you. You and I can examine the text as much as possible, but obedience is the goal and that is always a personal decision.
Let me assure you that I am not saying eating pork will send you to Hell. What I am saying is that those of us who are serious about obedience to the Lord are therefore required to search the Scriptures for the best understanding we can possibly get of the text. What I am saying is that when we do the homework, when we investigate the culture, the language, the history, when we ask the questions about worldview, we discover that many of the things we thought we knew turn out to be very different. This does not mean any of your experiences with God are in question. It means that the interpretation of those experiences, or the way that you fit them into your theology, might be challenged. It means that you will probably have to look harder before you can confidently say, “This is what I believe.”
In the contemporary Christian world believers have the tendency to take one of two approaches to Scripture. They either listen to the pastor or the teacher or the professor and adopt whatever he or she says (concluding that since this person is more qualified, he must know the truth), or they opt for the “Holy Spirit” way of knowing. The “Holy Spirit” way is to simply read the Bible (usually in English), pray about the verse, meditate on it and then let God “illuminate” the meaning. When they have the proper feeling, they assert that God has shown them the truth of the passage.
The problems with the first approach are legendary. Every preacher, teacher or professor (including me) makes mistakes. Sometimes they are big mistakes. Every man is historically limited, culturally biased and theologically predisposed. Even the greatest theological teachers tend to be products of their own time. This doesn’t mean we can’t learn a great deal from these people. I spent a year reading Thomas Aquinas while writing my dissertation. I learned a lot. But adopting the thoughts of great teachers makes us responsible for their thinking, and that means we need to know why they thought as they did. Ultimately, we are accountable. We must do the homework. We must study to understand. Running to the web for a “useful” quotation just won’t work when our lives before the King depend on this. So read Luther, Calvin, Piper, Heschel, Augustine and Cullman. But read critically. Ask why, why, why. Read as if you were overhearing a debate. Question the statements. Examine the answers. Decide for yourself – and then be ready to be corrected again (as I have so often discovered). And if this applies to the giants of the faith, I can assure you it applies to the pastor in the pulpit. Any pastor who doesn’t encourage challenge and debate is probably not a shepherd.
The second method is even more dangerous, principally because it provides no means for critical correction. If I am convinced that God told me the truth of the passage, what possible evidence could ever show me I am wrong? And if there is no way to show that I am wrong, what can it mean to claim that I am right? The problem with this “Holy Spirit” epistemology (how we know things) is that it makes me the Lord of the castle. I might claim that I am listening to God alone, but in the end all I have is my personal self-fulfilling witness. These people are the most intractable believers, and perhaps the most convincing. They also lead congregations to Belize where everyone drinks cyanide Kool-Aid. No, of course, they aren’t all crazy, but the unquestionable claims of “Holy Spirit” epistemology have been dangerous for believers for centuries.
What is the answer to these problems? The text! The only guide for faith and practice is the text of Scripture. Everything must be measured by the text. And that means my obedience, no matter how sincere, is subject to consistency with God’s Word. Over and over I am required to learn what the Word says, in its context, to its people, all the while paying as much attention as possible to my own paradigmatic limitations. God doesn’t give me contradictory messages, so when I see something that doesn’t match up with another statement in Scripture, I am not at liberty to ignore it. I can’t write it off or dismiss it as “old.” “Let every man be convinced in his own mind” doesn’t mean that I only need to adopt the creeds of the Church. I must come to conclusions about what God demands of me by myself. In my journey, I find that the more I study, the more I am convinced that God’s expectations for obedience haven’t changed since Genesis. But I had to come to this conclusion through years of searching, questioning and struggle. And I expect that I have a long, long way to go. Anyone who is serious about obedience faces exactly the same challenge. We must put aside our traditions where they are no longer consistent with the text. We must examine every claim as the Bereans did. We must look and look and look until we have done all we can – and then stand ready to be corrected if necessary.
A man can learn anything if he is willing to make a mistake.
I was wrong. I am not challenging your experience of God’s wonder, grace and pleasure over you. I was wrong to even leave that impression. It is not about your experience. It is about the meaning of the text. What you do with it after you and I have investigated the text is up to you.
Thank you Skip – your message encouraged me to persist in seeking the truth of God’s word, and importantly, to do this in humility.
The text reveals God’s message to us believers – I do realise that the church today (largely) dismisses much of the Old Testament teachings and message – sad because this is God’s history with man! It counts. And yet, I am still challenged by Jesus’ completion of these teachings – take for example how he dealt with the woman caught in adultery, his demolition of barriers to include the outcasts of Jewish society, the lost sheep), and his instruction on marriage and divorce as opposed to the law of Moses (which was given then for the hardness of our hearts). I can’t avoid the fact that his teachings modified ‘the old’ – my challenge: how exactly? what’s consistent with the spirit of the new covenant? and what isn’t? On dietry laws, I’m still wrestling with this one. God bless.
For the many years (maybe eight ?) that I have received Today’s Word, I have been challenged to reconsider my understanding of God’s word. It has only been in the last four years that I have had anyone else in my life who has willingly joined in that challenge. We dare not remain silent on this. Yes, we must act with humility and gentleness with others. I am convinced in my own mind, though, that when we face the Judge, no one will have the ability to shrug his/her shoulders and say, “But God, I didn’t know.” The evidence is everywhere, and this teaching is for those of us who, at this point in time, have hungered for it, and have been led ‘to this place’ to be fed.
I find that I must still work out my own salvation with fear and trembling. I run from those who have a sterile, calculated apathy that (I fear) would lead to death.
Skip, thank you for all of the challenges and encouragement found in your writings, and those others you have brought to us!
Hi Gayle
If I look around, I see a lot of fear and trembling…unfortunately not from working out salvation! Very sad.
An abundant amount of thank yous to you for the time and effort that you put into studying and searching the Scripture to impart to us the deeper and true meanings of what God has to say to us. Your insight has forced me to think and examine the ‘surface’ beliefs that I have had over the years and to make sure that what I believe is really what I believe.
Our life group is viewing The Truth Project videos right now and a statement on the first one really made me think and it made me think of your teaching also. The teacher said ‘Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?” Do I really know what I believe and do I believe that it is real and relevant to my life? Your teaching also makes me think this way and that’s a good thing. Paul said that we were to have an answer to give to why we believe what we do and without searching and seeking what God says I will really not know what I believe.
Thank you again for exposing me to knowledge that I would otherwise not have, knowledge that makes me think and examine what I am doing in light of what God has revealed to me about me, my life and my dedication to Him. I want to know, I want to change, even if I don’t want to at times if you know what I mean. I have a friend whom I call when I want to hear what I don’t want to hear, in other words, good, Biblical, godly advice. I read your writing in the same way. I want to know even if it shows up where I am lacking, then it is up to me to decide what I am going to do with that knowledge. I am not always quick to come around and repent, but He keeps working on me. What a gracious Father I have; earthly words cannot describe the feelings that sometimes swell up in me.
Blessings to you, Skip as you continue to lead us on this journey of discovery.
Study, study, study, and when you are finished study some more.
There is no question – we must be sensitive to the walk of the people we minister to and sometimes we get the blocks kicked out from under our feet. Jesus spoke the truth and the “church” became offended, angry, defensive, hurt, and told Him He was wrong! His response was, “It is written”. How can we argue with the truth of God’s Word? I’ve felt like everything I learned and thought to be true has been challenged by the REAL truth. I’m so grateful, Skip, that you are so committed to the Word as it was written that you would dig and study and read and share it with the world! It’s a hard and lonely walk, but when you choose to see what God intended for us to hear and obey and let the comfortable facade fall away – there is Shalom. I believe it’s those previous experiences with Adoni that got us to this place. My heart is open and I pray for discernment for all of us in this walk.
What I said is this: “If you aren’t keeping the dietary laws of Torah, then you aren’t a member of the tribe of Israel.”
“What I meant was that the text suggests that what you eat is an indication of which tribe you belong to.”
Is there really any difference in these two statements? I simply offer this question and observation: If obedience to the Word is the evidence of salvation, then what’s the problem?
God was clear in His instruction. Skip is correct in his interpretation. Wasn’t it the serpent in the garden who asked “Did God really say……?” It seems many of us have asked the same question regarding the dietary laws. The answer…….Yes, He did, and so we journey on. 🙂
Jimmy
I like your style.
There doesn’t need to be anything hateful or compulsive about upholding Torah. It is the standard, and at the same time we can understand that some people will be incremental in their acceptance.
I just have to say I love your heart. One that is willing to stand for the Word, with courage and a Biblical backing, and one that is willing to step back and allow YHVH to be who He is in each life. Some years ago I began to question what I had been traditionally taught when a pastor told me G-d would never ask us to do something we were not capable of doing. When I asked him if that held true for the “Law”, he ran out of words. Some time after that I found your teachings and have been an avid consumer of them since. I am convinced that none of us knows YHVH perfectly, but your teaching shines new light on the Biblical text. Thank you for that.
I learned very recently what it really means to truly Praise God in all things, especially when we are faced with the challenges. Those situations and people that God has brought into our lives that challenge us and try us and test us and ultimately bring us into a closer relationship with Him, which I feel is what we all desire. So with that….. I praise God for you Skip that you were put into my life to challenge me, show me where I am wrong (and even right a few times) :-). I Praise God that through the years you have made me question what I believe and through your writing and teaching you have made me dig deeper. I Praise God for Iron sharpening Iron! I also Praise God for you being wrong…because I know that He is bringing you closer to Him through it and that your teaching will only get better and challenge me more and bring me even closer as I get deeper into His word…keeping me hungry and thirsting for more! It also tells me that I am listening from the right person…someone who is humble enough to admit it and apologize and still say in the end…”So class…let’s continue were we left off!” PRAISE GOD!!!!!
Skip,
Thank you so much for writing this and sending it out. I am one of those who needed to hear this. I was questioning my own walk with the Lord and sometimes even my salvation. I feel so much better!
I am also encouraged because God has shown me repeatedly through His word that obedience is a really big deal!! I just finished reading through Joshua and loved every word. I might go back and reread it.
Your email has encouraged me to continue in the direction I am going. I share the things I learn with women in prisons and jails. There are so many Christians incarcerated and they are clueless about obedience to God. [I was too!]
Grace and peace Brother Skip,
Lorie
“the “Holy Spirit” way of knowing. The “Holy Spirit” way is to simply read the Bible (usually in English), pray about the verse, meditate on it and then let God “illuminate” the meaning. When they have the proper feeling, they assert that God has shown them the truth of the passage.”
THE HOLY SPIRIT WAY EH… I HAVE NEVER KNOWN ANY PEOPLE THAT DO THIS – I HAVE HEARD OF IT BUT KNEW NO ONE THAT ACTUALLY DOES IT & IF I HAVE EVER DONE IT [THAT I CAN REMEMBER] – IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TO UNDERSTAND WHAT GOD/JESUS/HOLY SPIRIT WERE SAYING TO ME THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES.
HERE IS HOW I CONDUCT MY LIFE & THE PEOPLE THAT I KNOW & ASSOCIATE WITH DO ALSO… IF YOU HAVE BEEN READING THE WORD FOR YEARS & YEARS [IN ENGLISH NOT HEBREW] & HAVE TRUSTED IT AS SUCH BECAUSE YOU REALLY DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE [TILL THE MOEN WAY] – GOD/JESUS/HOLY SPIRIT’S WAYS ARE IN YOU – IN YOUR SPIRIT, IN YOUR MIND, IN YOUR HEART – IN YOUR THINKING/LIVING PROCESS. YOU KNOW WHEN YOU SEE SIN IN THE WAY YOU HAVE LEARNED IT – YOU KNOW ABOUT & EXPERIENCE OBEDIENCE, REPENTANCE, FORGIVENESS, SANCTIFICATION…
WHEN I EXPERIENCE DISCERNMENT ABOUT SITUATIONS, THEY ARE MEASURED & FELT BY THE SCRIPTURES THAT ARE WITHIN ME & I WOULD RATHER BE INCORRECT IN MOST OF MY DISCERNMENTS THAT ARE IN REGARD TO REBUKE, REPROOF, CORRECTION OF MY BROTHERS & SISTERS IN CHRIST & SOME IN THE WORLD. OF COURSE, THIS ALWAYS CALLS FOR OTHERS TO CALL YOU JUDGEMENTAL & IF THEY ONLY KNEW THAT YOU WOULD RATHER BE WRONG/INCORRECT ABOUT YOUR DISCERNMENT OF THE SIN IN THEIR LIVES. I WOULD LOVE TO BE PROVED WRONG IN MY DISCERNMENT BECAUSE WHAT I AM DISCERNING IS NOT GOOD – IT IS NOT OF GOD & IT IS GRIEVOUS TO THEM/GOD/JESUS/HOLY SPIRIT & ME.
DISCERNMENT KEEPS ONE HUMBLE & ON THE LINE BECAUSE YOU REALLY DON’T WANT TO BE WRONG ABOUT A PERSON OR IN YOUR FLESH ALSO IN THE DISCERNMENT SO IT IS A FINE LINE YOU WALK WITH THIS GIFT & IT IS NOT ALWAYS POSITIVE UPLIFTING STUFF YOU DISCERN/KNOW ABOUT OTHERS – IT COMES FROM KNOWING & LIVING THE SCRIPTURES & SEEING THE SIN – BUT REALLY HAVING NO CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE – EXACTLY LIKE THE PROPHETS OF OLD THAT HAD TO DELIVER NOT SO GOOD MESSAGES TO GODLY & UNGODLY PEOPLE BUT THEY HAD A JOB TO DO. AND I AM NOT TALKING/TYPING ABOUT BEING PROPHETIC IN THE WAY OF PREDICTING THE FUTURE BUT OF GIVING WARNINGS OF WHAT PEOPLE ARE DOING OUT OF DISOBEDIENCE – PERHAPS BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW OR LIVE THE SCRIPTURES.
I JUST KNOW THAT THE THINGS THAT I KNOW/HEAR IN MY SPIRIT IN DISCERNMENT – IF THEY ARE NOT POSITIVE [WHICH MOST OF THE TIME THEY ARE NOT – I HAVE BEEN AN ENCOURAGER BUT NOT MY JOB IN THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS] – I TRULY WOULD RATHER BE WRONG ABOUT A PERSON – I WOULD LOVE TO BE PROVED WRONG BECAUSE THAT WOULD MEAN THAT PERSON REALLY IS NOT IN THE SIN THAT HAS BEEN DISCERNED. GOD/JESUS/HOLY SPIRIT WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO GET PUFFED UP WITH THIS GIFT – THEY JUST WON’T & IT IS NOT A VERY UPLIFTING GIFT FOR THE PERSON THAT HAS IT BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT VERY WELL LIKED – TAKES A CERTAIN KIND OF PERSON[ALITY] TO NOT DESIRE OR RECEIVE THE PRAISE OF MAN – YOU HAVE TO BE A LITTLE TOUGH SKINNED & STILL REMAIN VULNERABLE TO LOVE AFTER BEING REJECTED OVER & OVER AGAIN – BUT THEN AGAIN THAT IS EXACTLY HOW JESUS WAS TREATED – SO THAT IS HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT BRINGS THAT TO REMEMBRANCE & I DON’T FEEL SO ALL ALONE OR REJECTED SINCE MY SAVIOR EXPERIENCED THAT HIS WHOLE LIFE – HE NEVER WAS WINNING OR WON A POPULARITY CONTEST.
I DON’T ALWAYS AGREE WITH OR PRACTICE WHAT I HEAR SKIP SAY OR TEACH BUT I HAVEN’T THROWN THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATH WATER BECAUSE I DON’T READ/HEAR ANYONE ELSE TEACHING THIS WAY TO ENLIGHTEN ALL OF US OR PRESENT THE SCRIPTURES IN ANOTHER TRUE DISCERNING LIGHT OF GOD/JESUS/HOLY SPIRIT. I KIND OF LOOK AT IT THIS WAY – THE WAY OF PROGRESSING FROM GLORY TO GLORY – WE ARE NOT ALL IN THE SAME PLACE & NEVER WILL BE TILL WE ALL ARE WITH HIM & NOT HERE ON THIS PLANE/EARTH – WE ARE ONE IN HIM BUT WE ARE ALSO INDIVIDUALS & THAT IS OKAY TOO…♥
BUT SIN IS SIN & THAT IS TO BE DISCERNED BY THE SCRIPTURES WITHIN US – THE LIVING STONES/PILLARS… SIN RESULTS FROM DISOBEDIENCE & I WOULD SAY ONE SINS BECAUSE YOU/WE/THEY DO NOT KNOW THE SCRIPTURES OR HAVE THEM LIVING WITHIN US – YOU/WE THEY LOVE THEIR LIFE MORE THAN DEATH/OBEDIENCE…
Dear Jan, Love your honesty, after 43 years in ministry in some of the largest churches and ministries, I nd myself having to repent from bad theology taught to me in that way, based on an English feel good about it theology that most times turned out wrong, not about salvation but most other things, as Charismatics we have no systematic theology, but rather a feel good theology, and we are in a mess
THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENT BRUCE – EVEN THOUGH I WENT TO MANY A CHARISMATIC CHURCH IN MY DAY – BUT NO LONGER – I NEVER EVER BOUGHT THAT FEEL GOOD THEOLOGY – JUST DIDN’T SET RIGHT WITH MY SOUL. I REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW SOME SWALLOWED satan’s bait OF THAT DECEPTION BUT THEY DID & STILL DO – I HAVE NEVER UNDERSTOOD THAT EITHER…
THE THING IS – WE CAN ALL COME OUT OF MESSES IN OUR LIVES – CALLED REPENTANCE & ASKING FORGIVENESS OF THE ONE WHO IS THE TRUTH, THE WAY & THE LIFE. IT WILL ALWAYS BE ABOUT A DECISION & WE ALL KNOW THAT – WE ARE MADE WITH THAT KNOWING WHEN HE MADE US – HE MADE US THAT WAY – WE KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG BUT WE WANT TO BELIEVE A CERTAIN WAY SO WE CAN HAVE OUR OWN WAY WHICH IS A ROAD TO SPIRITUAL & PHYSICAL DEATH – NO ETERNITY IN LIVING THE LIE…
I PRAY YOUR EYES ARE WIDE OPEN TO THIS TRUTH AT THIS TIME & YOU COME OUT OF THE MESS… BECAUSE YOU CAN & YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE “GRACE/EMPOWERMENT” TO DO SO…
jano
UNDER HIS WINGS
An even more real danger is when one is depending on their unchallenged pastor/preacher being right, while he claims “Holy Spirit” epistemology. Perhaps that is why so many church leaders go unchallenged; because they claim “God showed me”. This is both a travesty and a volatile, vile situation. Yes, it is this framework that sets up Jonestown in 1978; but it is also responsible for drug money laundering through crusade cash offerings, invented visions to raise finances to build a university in the 60’s, private retreat centers in Bel Air staffed with willing women, and slight of hand tricks masquerading as miracle healings. This is not something I read in a book. It is a story I have lived; and in some ways still witnessing. Ignoring the TEXT is perilous. I know.
Just this week I sat through a church seminar where the pastor of one of the largest churches in north America stated that God had showed him that Malachi chapter 3 is really about Jesus and John the Baptist. What was his point? Tithing of course. Funny how he preached that God should be challenged; but he – the preacher – should not. Yes. he actually said that.
Let us return – repent – to the TEXT.
RL – NO ONE I KNOW OR ASSOCIATE WITH IS IN THE “ORGANIZED/APOSTATE” CHURCH – WE HAVE COME OUT & OTHERS CONTINUE TO COME OUT BY THE DROVES. THE ABOVE IS SO SICKENING & GRIEVOUS TO HIM & US… I ONCE WAS A PART OF THESE TYPES OF CHURCHES/MINISTRIES BUT NO MORE… AND I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THE THINGS LIKE YOU KNEW ABOVE…
I HAD A DREAM/VISION A LONG TIME AGO OF BENNY HINN BEHIND A CURTAIN MANIPULATING THINGS JUST LIKE THE WIZARD OF OZ… I’M SURE THERE ARE MANY OF THEM… IT IS REALLY SCARY OUT THERE RIGHT NOW IN REGARD TO THE ORGANIZED/APOSTATE CHURCH…
I see that your story is emerging, a little bit at a time. And while I am absolutely convinced that there are many, many devoted men and women of God in the pulpit (I know quite a few), I also know that the most “visible” of the Christian ministry are often, tragically and unfortunately, the least aligned with the text. How we must agonize over this! Those who look from the outside surely see the hypocrisy, the malice and the false teaching. Are we surprised that the world wants nothing to do with our message? I’m not. Just turn on the television. Do we really want willing imbeciles sitting in nice, neat rows drinking in the institutionalized worldliness offered in the name of our Savior as representatives of what it means to be a follower of the King? No wonder we leave.
“No wonder we leave.”
Like many, I’ve left. And gone where? Into a ghetto of like-minded folk who care a lot, wish things were better, but their only solution was . . . leave.
Now it’s relatively easy to leave one church group and go to another, or better still stay at home. It may even be possible to leave your family behind if they don’t wish to adhere to the Scriptures. Maybe it’s possible to find another family to adopt.
And then there’s your country. It doesn’t matter in which one you live: none of them pretend to want to adhere to the Scriptures, to legislate righteousness. Now where can you go? Australia? 🙂 Some of us are already here, and I can assure you that won’t help.
So how do we change the situation where we are? Probably when we decide that we won’t run from here, that with YHWH on our side we can make a difference in the lives of the people that He has put in our path. But how are we going to do that if we leave?
Maybe it’s time to start the remake of our culture, starting with ourselves, our homes, our local communities, and maybe the nation will come along as a matter of order. But if we don’t master step #1, we won’t ever get to to step #2 and beyond. And maybe we don’t have in influence in our families, churches and local communities because we haven’t mastered and controlled ourselves to the glory of God.
Leave? No God-fearing Israelite would ever have entertained giving up his birthright to the bad guys. Let’s reclaim lost territory and have the taste of victory in our mouths!
(Sorry Skip, had to get this one off my chest!)
No apology needed. Yes, I believe that some of us need to walk away, if only for a season, in order to clear our heads of all the misinformation. But I also believe that in this world we live in Babylon, and God had specific instructions for His children when they lived in the land of captivity. His instructions were not to remain apart, to separate, to abdicate. When the Lord asked Hagar where she was going, she could not answer. So He sent her back. Perhaps we need to leave in order to return – refreshed, equipped and with the proper method for re-engaging the lost world.
“His instructions were not to remain apart, to separate, to abdicate. When the Lord asked Hagar where she was going, she could not answer. So He sent her back. Perhaps we need to leave in order to return – refreshed, equipped and with the proper method for re-engaging the lost world.”
I THOUGHT GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS TO ISRAEL WERE ALWAYS TO REMAIN SEPARATE & APART FROM BABYLON – TO COME OUT FROM THEM/THE WORLD. YES, TO STAY IN THE ISRAELITE COMMUNITY BUT TO BE SEPARATE FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD & ISN’T THAT WHAT THE NT TEACHES ABOUT OUR WALK IN THE SPIRIT & NOT THE FLESH???
I SEE WHAT HE WAS DOING IN HAGAR’S LIFE BUT WHAT ABOUT THE 40 TO 400 YEARS OF SEPARATION FOR HIS OWN PEOPLE??? I SEE A GREAT SEPARATION GOING ON RIGHT NOW – GOATS FROM SHEEP // WHEAT FROM TARES – I THINK IT IS THE MOST OBVIOUS SINCE I HAVE BEEN ALIVE…
I DON’T SEE RE-ENGAGING, REFRESHING, EQUIPPING IN REGARD TO THE WORLD – I SEE A PULLING AWAY EVEN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT & TRUTH – TO A REMANENT WHO WILL BE IN COMMUNITY PROBABLY UNDERGROUND AS IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES & SOON TO BE PERSECUTED AS THEY ARE BEING NOW…
I SEE SUPERNATURAL PROVISION [AS I HAVE BEEN LIVING & RECEIVING] IN THE DAYS AHEAD FOR THE SEPARATED COMMUNITY OF GOD’S TRUE BELIEVERS & FOLLOWERS 4 SURE… I DON’T SEE A LOT OF EVANGELISM BUT A LOT OF COVERING FOR THE APPLES OF HIS EYES… ♥ I SEE A SHIFT IN WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT – I SEE A BRIDE READYING HERSELF FOR HIS RETURN – THE OIL IS BURNING WITH THE 10 VIRGINS & THERE WILL BE THE ONES WONDERING WHY THEY DON’T HAVE ANY LEFT FOR THE DURATION…
Go read Jeremiah.
Good explanation & instruction. I find in the Bible no other set of perfect instructions that have been given to a people, other than God’s perfect instructions/torah to Israel. I have found that any perceived added instructions in the NT are misunderstandings of the context & that reexamination of these things are due. Jesus/Yeshua was an observant Jew. Paul was an observant Jew & proud of it, but with the era of Constantine & company, sun worship practices merged with belief in Jesus/Yeshua, and since then, various creeds were established & God’s word replaced by man’s theology. Their hatred of the Jews/Israel, and desire to not look them, caused them to form theologies, new festivals, tec, that made sure they did NOT look like Israel. Many theologies have been revealed to be a square peg shoved in a round hole. Why are we now surprised that we can’t claim the title of Israel when the church fathers buried God’s plain instructions under a heap of accusations that they are burdensome? Israel was always a duo-nation of southern Judah & northern Israel, the latter which was taken over & scattered. Israel is dispersed among all nations now, and God is opening the eyes of those who love Him and seek His face, and He is revealing his ancient ways. He says to repent & to return….to what?…return to His own words, His own instructions, His own Torah, which are Words of Life, the Tree of Life. Following them bring only blessings & liberty. All of this does not mean that people have not had a relationship with their Creator & Messiah…it means that they can see this relationship bloom like wild by embracing His words of old. They will no longer have need to man’s ways to ‘whip up the holy spirit’, because they will really experience what living in the holy spirit is when they walk in the holiness that the Father described, and the Son upheld & reinforced, not did away with. Thank You for being a vessel for His light of truth in these days.
An hour ago someone said to me: “Yes, I love God with all my heart but still I choose to do what I want…are you judging me?” – At that moment I felt pure agony (thankfully not rage) and I wondered how God’s must feel. Every time I am confronted by such in-your-face rebellion, I feel like an elephant has just trampled me – like a squashed orange – juice and pips flying everywhere. And for me it takes a while to remember that I cannot “make”, but only “do “.
And if I choose to do the opposite of what is written, I guess that I will be judged by the Written Word.
Thanks to you and others, my view of Who and What God is and who I am(was, should become) changes everyday – and I think it should, otherwise the fruit is not growing. And I tremble with fear for the little truth I know and the little time there is left to learn how to yada and worship our King.
And I see no problem with challenging someone’s future experience with God – what I learn about God today, will have a effect on my experience with Him, tomorrow.
“The Spineless Gospel of Tolerance and Acceptance”
Dear Friends,
You can now listen to this important message preached at a chapel service for Nyack College in New York City in March for free, here online. I believe it will stir your hearts and inform your minds! To listen now, click BELOW.
In the message, I quote Professor Kenda Creasy Dean, who asked, “What if the blasé religiosity of most American teenagers is not the result of poor communication but the result of excellent communication of a watered-down gospel so devoid of God’s self-giving love in Jesus Christ, so immune to the sending love of the Holy Spirit that it might not be Christianity at all?” This is a question we need to consider!
http://askdrbrown.org/media/albums/ICN/Revolution/The%20Spineless%20Gospel%20of%20Tolerance%20and%20Acceptance.mp3
And speaking of prayer and intercession, may I ask you to continue to stand with us in prayer? The challenges are often intense, but in the Lord, there is joy, victory, and provision. And by His grace, we are moving forward!
Thank you so much for joining with us in faith.
In Him,
Dr. Michael L. Brown
Good Morning Skip:
Oh, How He loves you, So! And so Do I love your dedication to Him and your readers…WRITE ON!!
Lori, AZ
Wow! A lot to “consume and consider” here! But praise God, dear brother, a willingness to be corrected is mondo-critical (for all of us!). This, praise God, is true humility! And folks, let’s all be honest here- this man has paid his dues in “searching the scriptures” whether those things be so! (I’m saying support with your $$, this marvelous ministry!) Want some meat? – You’ll find it right here!
What we all need to do is approach the Scriptures in an entirely “new way”, and with a new perspective. Let this forever be our “plumb-line” ~ every word of God is pure! ~ or again as our Savior said: ~ Heaven and earth will pass away but My words shall never pass away ~ (Luke 21.33)
The answers to our questions are to be found contained within the pages, parables, poetry, prophecies and the words of a book. It is the book God wrote and (according to God’s own Word) ~ All Scripture is inspired by God (literally God-breathed!) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man (or woman!) of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works ~ (2 Timothy 3.17)
Listen (intently) to these wise words: “A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God ” (Leonard Ravenhill) This might be a great prayer to get us started on our journey of discovery! ~ Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in Your instructions ~ (Psalm-Song #119.18) (Would God be willing to answer this prayer?)
Our Bible, the word of God, is intentionally purposed not to inform us but rather to transform us. The light (that which reveals) of the written word reveals the Light (that which gives life) of the Living Word- the LORD Jesus (who is the) Christ. We will never, ever know the living Christ (yes, up close and personal) without knowing the living, breathing written words concealed and revealed within the book God wrote.
What did our Savior say? ~ If you (Carl, Skip, Mary, Lori, Jan, Roderick) abide in Me, and my words abide in you..~
And ~as for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him ~ (Psalm 18.30)
~ You keep examining the Tanakh because you think that in it you have eternal life. Those very Scriptures bear witness to Me! ~ (John 5.39)
Not only should we ask “why?”- but maybe we should also inquire “Who?” – “Who is this King of glory?”
But in all this, we must be careful not to rule out the role the Holy Spirit DOES play in our lives. Let’s not forget the gifts of the Spirit that we read about in the NT.
I DON’T FEEL WE ARE ABLE TO RIGHTLY DISCERN THE SCRIPTURES/WORDS OF GOD/JESUS WITHOUT THE REVELATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – HE CAN’T BE MISSING FOR SURE… ♥
Thanks Jan; I was thinking that with this discussion we were in danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater! While we must be discerning at all times, I have experienced too much of ‘spot on’ words of wisdom and knowledge for me to dismiss this dimension of my life.
AND THE BEAUTY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT & THE DISCERNMENT HE GIVES IS SURELY SUPERNATURALLY DISCERNED – LIKE WHEN YOU TELL SOMEONE SOMETHING OR YOU FEEL SOMETHING ABOUT THEM OR YOU MAY BE TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING THAT IS A DIRECT WORD TO THEM BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF IT OR THAT GOD IS DIRECTLY SPEAKING TO THEM THROUGH YOU & THEY KNOW THAT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IN THE HECK YOU ARE SAYING OR HOW IT SO DIRECTLY RELATES TO THEM – YOU BOTH KNOW IT IS NOT OF YOUR FLESH & HE KEEPS YOU BOTH HUMBLE – CAUSE YOU REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING OR HOW IT INVOLVES THE PERSON RECEIVING BUT THEY DO – MOST OF THE TIME THEY DON’T LET YOU KNOW BUT SOME HOW YOU DO KNOW BUT NOT THE PARTICULARS – HE OPERATES LIKE THAT A LOT WITH ME. HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT MIA/MISSING IN ACTION ON A ANYTHING – AFTER ALL – JESUS KEPT SAYING HE MUST GO AWAY SO THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN COME TO US & TAKE UP WHERE HE LEAVES OFF & ENHANCE ALL THINGS THAT WE INHERIT FROM OUR LORD… ♥
IT IS A VERY EXCITING WAY TO LIVE BUT GOD/JESUS DO NOT ALLOW US TO GET PUFFED UP – I FEEL THAT IS WHY HE KEEPS US ON THE EDGE OF GUESSING OR NOT REALLY KNOWING BUT JUST TRUSTING THAT WHAT HE IS DOING IS ON HIS BEHALF & RIGHTLY ADMINISTERED – JUST THE VESSEL/MESSENGER OF HIS GLORY IN EARTHEN CLAY JARS…♥
Dear Skip,
Thank you for this humble clarification.
I read you teachings regularly. I have never once sensed a censorship or judgement against anyone’s faith or relationship with God. If anyone feels that way they need to examine themselves to see if indeed they are in the faith as Rabbi Paul suggests. The Holy Spirit may indeed be prompting us to look deeper.
Your passion is the truth and the Word rightly interpreted and understood from its Hebraic moorings. It is high time some one had the courage to to teach as you do.
There is ALWAYS resistance to the truth. People ‘get their feelings hurt’. If we are really dead to ourselves and alive to the Messiah we welcome such challenges to our pet theologies – such challenges keep us on the ‘narrow path’ ever refining our walk as we seek for the Kingdom.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us and for being so willing to be ‘corrected’ even when there is no need for you to do so. Your humility speaks volumes!
Thank you for being transparent. I appreciate your teaching and do check the scriptures for myself.
Concerning kashrut I believe that as you walk with Yeshua your heart’s desire is to change and follow God’s desires. After studying HaShem’s word I found that Noah took both clean and unclean animals with him. Evidently, like everything else, God had a plan. Noah was not a Hebrew or a Jew. Yet God gave him understanding to distinguish between clean and unclean animals. Abraham in Gen 18 served the 3 men butter, milk and a calf (meat and dairy). I follow Biblical Kosher laws, Leviticus, in my house. However if I lived in a religious Jewish neighborhood I would keep a “Kosher” houseold and build relationships. (I have also come to learn that Ashkanazi and Sephardic Jews have different holiday foods.) Its a matter of the heart and wanting to please Abba.
Thanks
“If you aren’t keeping the dietary laws of Torah, then you aren’t a member of the tribe of Israel.”
A harsh way of putting it, but I’ve been there. When YOU are being attacked as a hypocrite, a Pharisee, or the-exact-thing-Christ-came-to-free-us-from, then it is easy to counter with a very provocative challenge.
Of course, the sentence is taken out of context. We had been talking about Torah for a day and a half when this topic came up. But people seem to be particularly sensitive about food, although I can’t quite understand why they would allow a “food” issue to interfere with obedience. Here is perhaps another way to put this. If you told me your were a Republican, and you showed me your membership card, and then you told me that you voted for Obama, you believe in socialized medicine and you think the UN should run the world, I would say to you, “You can’t be a Republican. Your beliefs are counter to everything Republicans stand for.” I don’t care if you show me the card. Your behavior tells the story. So it is with “membership” in the tribe of Israel. Some behaviors demonstrate that you belong to the tribe. Some demonstrate that you don’t belong. Even if you carry the “card,” the behavior tells the story.
So, Torah (the behaviors that define what the Bible means by belonging to the tribe) specify that what you eat, how to worship, who you pray to, how to relate to each other, what you do in business endeavors, etc. all determine who belongs and who doesn’t. Now, of course, the problem is “mixed” company – those who act sometimes like tribe members and sometimes not like tribe members. The hope is that OVER TIME those who act in ways that are not part of tribal identity will come to realize that they need to get in alignment with the tribe. If you are a Republican, you can’t keep voting for the authority of the world court over US laws. You can for awhile, until you realize that this is contrary to the beliefs of the party. Then you have to decide, “Am I going to change to match the party, or am I going to stop claiming I belong.”
I agree that we should keep Torah, but for me it is the ” how to” that is the biggest problem.
We all have a different idea how it should be done. Is it only a matter between me, the intensions of my heart and God? When and where am I allowed to say to the person across the table:” thus says the Lord.. or…for it is written”? May be we should change more “buts” into “whys”?
– Why? ” because God said so!”
Do I do my best to show God that I love Him with all my heart, soul and resouces or do I look for the grey area all the time to find an excuse for where I lack or may, in the future lack, in doing/planning/understanding? Many times I feel that we look for excuses for something that is black and white(on paper -the Word) so that it can, or until it can fit our paradigm and not God’s. Of course I find this to be true of myself, many Christians, but especially in the “grey area”of rabbinic writings and ideas. To me, they seem to have every written excuse for behaviour problems. In my world grey and lukewarm is the same. And I just cannot see myself standing infront of the Holy One, shrugging my shoulders, explaining: ” Well Lord as You know, it could be this, it could be that…” May be He will then show me two roads, telling me to choose one? – Or am I suppose to treat the grey areas the same as grace?The same grace that is shown to me?
Regarding the food issue, I always had the attitude of the dietary laws being the easiest to understand and do, with of course the most commentaries, arguments etc to follow. And then I realised, once again that God is smarter than all of us. Food is something I get confonted with at least 3 times a day(sometimes more!!). It is something practical and physical I get to choose to put into my body. And since life is in the blood- how do I, by choice, sustain that life? I need to make a paradigm shift to what God defines as food and life and then do my best to preserve it. And if what I eat do not positively add to my health, it very slowly kills me.
How do I want to lay down my life for God, if I am not even willing to lay down a piece of dry, fatty meat?
Probably the two greatest areas of tension in our lives (behavior), in an affluent society, is food and money. We know this don’t we? Obesity and diabetes are eroding the nation’s health. We bristle when anyone raises these topics as areas of concern in our lives. Anyone like it when someone tells you that you either eat too much or you shouldn’t be eating such and such? On the food front, I find it rather interesting that the mechanism that God used to first test Adam and Eve’s obedience in the Garden was…well, food. Of course, it was a much deeper issue than just food. It was Who would be the one to evaluate what was really good for food, pleasing to the eye or desirable for gaining wisdom? Me or my Creator? So, we bristle at the idea of having to align ourselves with what our Creator might provide us with in terms of instruction for what we should or should not eat and digest. Hmmm….Consider I Corinthians 6:19-20 where Paul says our bodies are not our own. Or I Cor 10:31 where, while anything could have been described, Paul says: “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” He could have chosen most anything to begin this statement…Another Hmmm. Perhaps food and money are those items that are the most difficult for us to give to God completely. Idols of sorts. Perhaps He knows this too.
FOOD & MONEY EH – I WOULD SAY SEX & MONEY – FOOD YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT BUT YOU CAN LIVE WITHOUT A LOT OF MONEY AND SEX… BUT YOUR BODY WILL NOT FUNCTION WITHOUT FOOD…
PEOPLE CAN BE OVERWEIGHT & NOT EAT AS MUCH AS SOMEONE WHO IS VERY THIN – ESPECIALLY WHEN THEIR METABOLISM IS NOT FUNCTIONING PROPERLY…
I DON’T FEEL IT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH GIVING FOOD & MONEY TO GOD BUT IN RECEIVING GOD/JESUS/HOLY SPIRIT INSTEAD OF TRYING TO STUFF THE EMPTY HOLE IN US WITH SEX, FOOD & MONEY…
I HAVE DONE SOME EXTENSIVE FASTING IN MY LIFE & PEOPLE ABSOLUTELY FREAK OUT WHEN THEY KNOW YOU ARE FASTING – GUESS THAT IS WHY THE BIBLE SAYS NOT TO TALK ABOUT IT… THAT IS HOW I LOSE WEIGHT THE BEST & FEEL THE BETTER FOR IT SPIRITUALLY & PHYSICALLY…
I ALWAYS THOUGHT THE SCRIPTURE ABOUT OUR BODIES NOT BEING OUR OWN PERTAINED TO FORNICATION NOT FOOD…
I Corinthians 6:13-20
13 Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
I SAW THIS ON A FACEBOOK WALL & THOUGHT ABOUT US:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=475933102423396&set=a.351814454835262.104621.100000201316395&type=1&theater
Well thought out and well said master. That is why I respect your teaching!!!
Pastor Paul Sims
The conviction (by the Holy Spirit) of each believer is necessary for that person to change his/her heart. It is the heart that G_d wants. My heart, Skip’s heart, anyone’s heart is personal a unique. I cannot decide for Skip what he should do, nor he for me. But in his writing, one is challenged to look inside, and listen…..what exactly IS the Holy Spirit saying? WHAT does the Holy Spirit want YOU to do? The whole idea of the conviction of Gentiles through the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to be an encouragement to ISRAEL….so does what the Spirit is saying to YOU match the call? If it doesn’t, perhaps you might think about altering your behavior…G_d doesn’t demand…He just whispers in your ear…do you want to respond? It’s up to you….not me, not Skip, not even G_d…just like Yeshua, its voluntary.
Skip, I was amazingly blessed by what you wrote.
And can Jan Carver (please) turn off the all-caps? It hurts my eyes.
Shalom
Ida, Good hearing from you again. Greetings from Jamica and my ezer kegendo – whom you helped bring her into my life by recommending Skip’s website about a year ago ( if I recall at the Shabbat fellowship meal at Beth Messiah) Hope all is well with you and with the believers I once was privledged to fellowship at Bob’s (?) House on Sat evenings. A special Hi to Bert. Thanks again! Mike Stanley
Michael, glad you are doing well. I cannot recognize you from the picture (too small) but I think I remember. It is quite a while ago. I think you only came about twice to Bob’s house; right? We are no longer part of that group and we also left Beth Messiah. Shalom!
IDA – HOW ABOUT THIS???
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=180232895430590&set=a.167291446724735.34412.167290316724848&type=1&theater
Jan, forgive me. I should have requested more politely. Sorry for offending you. Shalom