True Believer (1)
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. Acts 3:13 NASB
The God of – What God do you serve? Perhaps this is really the most important question of all. Don’t be too quick to answer. Consider the antiquity of Peter’s declaration before you jump to respond. Peter claims that Yeshua is the servant of “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” If you do the research, you will find the same connection with Moses (Exodus 3:6) and with Yeshua Himself (Matthew 22:32). Of course, you will also discover the same identification in the prophets and the writings. The God of the Way is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
But what does this mean? Does it simply mean that there is a common name? Does it mean that all those who claim to follow YHWH are followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Are Catholics and Protestants who claim to be followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob like Jews who make this claim? Ah, but now you see that it isn’t quite so clean. Jews claim to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When they make this claim, they are saying that the God who revealed Himself to these patriarchs is the same God that they worship. How do we know this? Because they live according to the instructions given by this God to His servant Moses. Since Hebrew thought focuses on actions rather than words, to be a follower of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob means to do what Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did. And for Jews, this means to express their faith in the way that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob instructed them to do so through His servant Moses (who, by the way, served the same God).
This raises an interesting question. Yeshua claims to serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Peter claims that Yeshua did so. Peter claims to serve the same God (as does Paul). In Jewish thought, this means that these men act according to the revelation that this God gave to Moses. The chain is unbroken. They do not claim to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because they know His name. Knowing what to call Him means nothing unless you do what He says. The identification is determined by practice, not documents or doctrines. If the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob names you as His child, then He is your authority and you do what He says. That’s how I know I follow Him.
But something very odd happened after the first century. When Christianity speaks about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it doesn’t mean following the same unbroken chain. It claims that because of Yeshua’s death, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not the same God who revealed Himself to Moses or to the patriarchs. Oh, the name is the same, but everything about the practice is different. In other words, the definition of the term has changed. Now the concept of identification through action has changed to identification through declaration. I serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because I say so, regardless of whether my behavior is aligned with His revelation through the prophets. In fact, if I actually follow what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob said to the patriarchs and the prophets, I am not a true believer according to Christianity. I am a legalist, an incomplete Jew, a heretic. A true believer is one who recognizes that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob isn’t the old God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is now a God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob might not even recognize. He is now the God of the Church.
Running to the Scriptures to resolve this odd conclusion will not help much. The reason it won’t help is because the issue isn’t about the text. It is about the paradigm that converts action into declaration. It is about the difference between definition in behavior versus definition in statement. The Scriptures can be made to fit either point of view. The question really is about what the author meant by the terms he used. So, let’s go back to Peter. When Peter said that Yeshua is the servant of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, what do you think he meant? Did he mean that Yeshua identified this God according to His name, or did he mean that Yeshua followed the same revelation given by this God to the patriarchs? Was Yeshua a card-carrying member of the Church, or was He a follower of Jewish practices? It seems rather obvious when we put it like this. He practiced the faith of the Fathers. So did Peter.
So when did these men change their minds and decide that they could serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but not do what this God asked of their ancestors? In other words, who is a true believer, the one who claims the name but ignores the actions or the one who acts according to the revelation but doesn’t claim the name of “Jesus”?
There’s a bit more to this. Tomorrow.
Topical Index: name, true believer, Acts 3:13, Exodus 3:6, Matthew 22:32
Grand slam, Skip!
I’m looking forward to sharing this one.
Blessings
Hi Skip,
You got your groove back I see. 🙂
There is no hocus pocus here or theological words that make it so high that the simple cannot understand what you have spoken. It is so simple and yet so profound but I know there are those who will find fault with this because it does not line up with any current statement of faith from most any “modern” denomination. I have always found those statements of faith confusing and hard to fully understand.
While “modern” denominations are on the table this question has rattled around my head for some time….are we all not of the same faith? Do we not all follow the same Y-H? Why then do so many say, I am of this and I follow this and so on. Is this not the very same thing Paul addresses to the Corinthians in 1 Cor 1:10-16?
I find it amazing that the church cannot seem to make this connection!
Anyways, I find today’s word simple and good for me to understand minus all of the twists and turns that the so-called church fathers put into it. Why did it all have to become so complicated? A rhetorical question really.
Can’t wait for tomorrow’s continuing thought here.
But that’s the problem. The Church cannot make the connection because Christianity, as a religion, depends on being anti-Semitic, that is, NOT Jewish. As Lloyd Gaston implied in a previous TW, if the Christian Church is based on the New Testament and the New Testament is thoroughly Jewish, then what is the basis of the Christian Church apart from Judaism? In other words, without a NON-JEWISH New Testament, there is no Christian Church.
I see this and it is a good question.
It is still amazing (in a good way) to see Y-H’s words come to pass and actually it frees me from asking why over and over.
One could simply say–read the book sans Christian paradigm!
Yes, we could say that, but how? How do we do that when we grew up in the Western ideas and they saturate us. Like having mechanical clocks and 24 hours days. It is just part of the way we think the world works. But it was all invented. Now it is part of us.
It is not simple-I wish it were. (yup, and if wishes were horses then beggars would ride) But searching for the truth and learning the history helps to see it better and illuminate where we have been fooled.
This site and these people help to do this if one is willing to look and learn.
It does not have to be a permanent thing. At least I don’t think so.
“In other words, who is a true believer, the one who claims the name but ignores the actions, or the one who acts according to the revelation but doesn’t claim the name of “Jesus”?
How about…the one who acts according to the revelation AND claims the name of Yeshua!!
Yes, true, but that would mean such a person would not be able to claim to be a Christian as the Church paints the picture.
Remember that “Jews” are applying Moses’ words to this Jesus that Christians keep telling them about, and this Jesus fails the Deuteronomy 13 test, because the followers of this Jesus don’t keep Torah and in so NOT DOING Torah, these Christians don’t worship God as He instructed us to. These Christians have taken the days and customs devoted to pagan gods and said “this is how we will worship our God!” in direct opposition to His instructions.
I had no idea that this was the case and I was one of those good Christians who loved God with all of my heart, but because of the doctrines of men that I grew up with, had no idea that I was violating His eternal instructions regarding how He desires and requires worship to be offered to Him. John 5:46 reveals to us that if we want to know who Yeshua really is He points us to Moses, and I have found that I see Him more and more clearly as I DO the instructions God gave to Moses to give to us.
Those who reject the Jesus presented to them by the Church but love God with all of their heart are most definitely part of the root and branch that supports the rest of who are wild branches grafted in to the original family of Abraham. We are the adopted sons and daughters, they are the original. Thankfully the God that we serve considers all of us as equal in His sight, but that does not give the adopted the right to disrespect the natural.
I don’t think for a minute that I’m better because I know this Yeshua now and my brother Judah is still correctly rejecting Jesus because his followers reject Torah. When my brother finally “sees” Yeshua, he will have years of obedience to his credit and I will only have a few. He deserves my respect and admiration for rightly applying the Word to the evidence presented to him.
Now when it comes to the doctrines of the rabbi’s in the Talmud that’s another matter, but my brother Judah will realize this soon enough. In the mean time I will continue focusing on the log that is my eye, rather the splinter that is in his, and I will thank him for preserving the Torah, with God’s help so that we can follow it together.
If Skip hasn’t addressed this, I’m confident that he will do so in the future.
Hi Lewis,
LIKE what you wrote.
Confirming your comment with Rom 11: 20-21:
Rom 11:20 Well; by unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by belief. Do not be highminded/arrogant, but fear/revere:
Rom 11:21 For if Elohim did not spare the natural branches, He might not spare you either.
We thank Yuhudah for preserving the Torah so diligently for us to follow.
Without the Torah, there will be NO “NT”.
Folks who struggle with paradigm do not appreciate this; that all quotations in “NT” are from Torah and Tanakh-“OT”.
Shalom to you.
A good analysis. Thanks.
Oh … I can tell this will be a good one …. looking forward to digging into this as it is about time to dig a little deeper! Thanks for bringing this into the light!
That writers funk you thought you had…. it’s gone!!!! Simple, powerful truth!!!!
Dawn, well said. Ditto in my thoughts as well.
Dittos to Judi, Pam and Gary, as well.
Today’s TW is like a long, deep, and thoroughly refreshing drink after walking a long trek across a scorching desert!
Ahhhhhhhhh. Yes, that’s good, good, good, quenching and satisfying.
Thanks Skip. For the simple, direct and and solid truth.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lives on…look and SEE.
Amen.
Just like the kosher cabbage, Michael C? I told you, it is simply out of this world!
I did enjoy that night of weblinks, it was so hilariously hilarious!!! I am still rolling with laughter! 🙂
Shalom!
How can you spot a true believer?
Watch him! Watch her! Just watch them.
They’re commandment keepers. Real lovers!
Real doers! They’re set apart. And they change
how this life is to be lived.
Who are these people? They’re the ones who received
the direct revelation from the One and Only God about
Himself. And He changed them, and continues to change
them and rearrange them from the inside out.
Best of all, they’ve learned a better way than doing it all by
themselves. They’ve learned and “do” His ways.
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor 2:14
And where’s God when all this is going on? Right there HELPING!
“If you love Me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father,
and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you
forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
becuase it neither sees Him or knows Him; but you know Him,
for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you
orphans; I will come to you.” Jn 14:15-18
Hi Rich,
Great observations and so very true.
I so agree with the verses you quoted. There are so many wise words like these found through out scripture but these are kinda over looked by the “church” as they are basically unexplainable so they are treated like a hot potato and not addressed.
Keeping in mind that I was an active part of that church crowd for what seems like a long time so I am speaking of things I know here!
A problem is the unwillingness to rethink some long held beliefs and to question why you believe what you believe. Folks become dug in and basically unteachable. Verses such as the ones you quoted explain exactly why.
Finish up chapter one of 1st Corinthians to see whom such knowledge is given. It is not necessarily even the educated or wealthy (by the worlds standard anyhow) but just the opposite. It just cooks my goose when people totally dismiss me as I do not hold any college degrees. I have a young friend who in addition to being young (not yet 30) and no degree who catches even more flack than I. Simply amazing how nasty people can be.
But I go back and look at Y-Hs wisdom left for us in the writings and I have my answers. It is enough for me.
Thank you so much for your comment. It gave me a springboard for a little more!!
Really can’t wait for more words tomorrow. 🙂
🙂
Ex. 1:12 – “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.”
I love God’s principles — they cause me to chuckle some days and they work on all days!
Hi Dorothy,
Sorry, but I don’t understand your comment and how it relates to today’s topic. Would you mind explaining? Are you experiencing this word from Skip as if he is “afflicting” or “persecuting” you? You have been hinting at similar themes the past week or two. Am I understanding you correctly?
I stumbled across the an interesting insight recently while looking up a passed for a new friend.
Jer 6:16 Thus saith the LORD: “Stand ye in the highways and see, and ask for the “””old””” paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk therein.’
The word for old here is “Olam” which is also translated many times in scripture, “Eternal”
Somehow it fits for me with today’s word.
Simply Stunning Skip Thank You
A friend of mine studied this passage a bit. His conclusion is that the “old paths” are the Messiah.
Any thoughts on this Skip?
And would any Jew in the 5th Century BC have come to this conclusion? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean the authors of the Brit Hadasha couldn’t make this connection. But they would also make the connection IN A JEWISH CONTEXT. So how does that change what the verse in Jeremiah means in the 6th C BC and the 1st C AD
You’re right-probably not. Didn’t ask myself that question. (that is exactly why I asked-for a hint at direction) 🙂
I am not sure that it would change for a 1st AD century Jew either. Seems to me, without knowing the actual Hebrew here, that the writer is referring to Torah as being the old ways because it is the good way wherein you find rest for your soul.
That is what the people had refused to take and why they were in so much trouble with Adonai. It is mentioned in verse 19 same chapter. It is pretty much the whole point of Jeremiah’s story. (I think it helps to read it as a story without all of those divisions-it flows better)
Although when my friend was in Israel, the narrow trails through the mountains that the people walked are referred to as “the old(ancient) ways.” I think this may have influenced his thoughts here.
Have your heard that when you have been in Israel? Have you walked some of those paths? I have only seen pictures but they look a little difficult!
Thanks
Dear Skip, It has been most enriching to walk out Torah the last few weeks in light of it being THE “Eternal Path”.
You asked “And would any Jew in the 5th Century BC have come to this conclusion?” This morning as we recited the daily Psalm 48 the last verse 14, caused me to believe the answer to that might be yes!
Or at least the seeds of it were apparent.
Consider Ps.48:14 For such is God, our God, for ever and ever; He will guide us eternally (olam). JPS
And wouldn’t ‘THE’ “Eternal path” lead to Messiah who has gone before us?
This is so good, thanks for taking us here Skip!
Pam, thanks for sharing Eternal Paths!
So where does the so called “security of the believer” fit in here, if at all?
What security?
Oh, I’ll let you think about that for a bit.
If Y-H is and has always been salvation, then it would not be something to be obtained/maintained but rather a relationship with the Father.
I like Skip’s response-what security?
Relationship first and obedience follows. Or could that be the other way round??!!
Just my two cents worth.
A relationship is something that only exists in participation. This is the Hebrew idea that existence is functional, not static. But the Western Greek view is about “possessions,” as if “salvation” were something that I own independent of the actual relationship. We treat it like a deed or a certificate of entitlement. The idea is foreign to Hebraic thought.
If we love him, we will keep his commandments (Jn. 14:15 “If you love me , keep my commandments.”)
The security is in the doing, in spite of the objections of Christian theologians for centuries. If we fail to hit the mark , we have his grace to count on. His grace is far greater than we have been led to believe on the one hand, but I don’t recommend counting on it to cover willful sin that He has put His finger on either!
Point taken!
I agree.
Shalom Lewis-
LIKE!!!
“Eternal Security?”
Batach
Shalom
The ‘security of the believer’ doctrine has, has it not, been hijacked to mean a once for all position in a place somewhere else and in the future, something to be looked forward to, out there and away from this present day hell hole, so to speak.
When, in reality, the only security one has is the one who batach’s in Yeshua.
The only peace and security we have is in a life that demonstrates and reflects His actions and character. The one who completely sells out to his Elohim is the one who walks in His ways, the ways of life, as delineated in Torah as it applies to each individual whether Jew or Gentile. Salvation in this case is shalom, peace with God and peace with man.
Unity, peace and love can only be found in the boundaries of a Torah observant life, again, as Torah applies to specific individuals whether Jew or Gentile. The ‘security of the believer’ mocks the Torah by believing my sin, my walking off the righteous path, is nothing of importance really. The false doctrine derides the very character of God by redefining what holy, God-like character allows. It voids the volume contained in Torah, God’s very personal instructions to obtain life and replaces it with innumerable individual ‘declarations of independence.’ It is idolatry in that it replaces God’s ways with the varying individual man/woman’s idea of love and holiness.
Stepping outside this well defined Torah living brings doubt, concealment, hiddenness and ultimately death in all it’s aspects. Eternal security is found in the shadow of His character, walking in His steps, His character. That is a moment by moment activity needing responsible effort as each moment brings opportunity.
Salvation is here and now when and if we reflect the image we were created in, His, which is outlined and indexed by what Torah states. Clear, simple, straight forward.
It is slavery to Him, totally, unambiguous, and continually. Slavery to Him is freedom, peace, ease and confidence in life.
Torah living, AGAIN, as it applies to each whether Jew or Gentile, says one understands the life Yeshua gave example to. He was the Son of God by virtue of walking and living exactly in a manner that reflects God’s complete character which is explained in Torah for each and every member of the Commonwealth of Israel. The Kingdom of God consists of those totally sold out, who batach in Yeshua. Trusting in Yeshua isn’t a solely a cognitive exercise. It is an action made so by observable obedience to the portion of Torah that applies to him/her. Real faith is that which can be seen as played out in daily life.
A condensed version of an attempted explanation. Still working on it though.
Skip,
Thanks for the note. I agree that actions are incredibly important and should not be replaced by a nominal declaration of faith. My question is how you explain Peter’s dream (Acts 10) about the animals descending from heaven on the sheet or Paul’s view about holy days and eating meat in Romans 14. While I am asking, I might as well throw in Paul’s view that Gentiles don’t need to be circumcised (Galatians). Does this mean that we follow the 613 Torah commands minus these? Or do you suggest that Christians should follow all 613?
Thanks.
– Greg
I have actually written about all these (check the references on the web search box) and Bob and I have taught on all this on video (Lessons from Israel), so I won’t repeat it all here. Peter himself knew the dream could not be about food. Read the whole story to see why. Paul’s comment on days and food is interpreted upside-down in the Church. I have written directly about this. As for circumcision, the opponents of Paul were arguing that circumcision was NECESSARY to become Jewish in order to worship the Jewish God. Paul says NO. Circumcision is not required in order to be called by God. But it is a requirement of faithful loyalty to God AFTER deliverance and adoption. So Timothy was in fact circumcised. Again, see the many TWs on the issue.
Finally, try Mark Nanos on Galatians and Romans. Clearing up a LOT of mistaken exegesis.
Some of Shaul’s writings does seem a perplexing, if we don’t seek the context of who he is addressing, but Acts 10 is pretty straight forward, if we read the entire chapter from the beginning without a preconceived mindset.
“Paul’s comment on days and food is interpreted upside-down in the Church.”
This is how the Christian “church” wishes to see it as a means to oppose keeping the Feast Days, New Moon days, shabbat, which are distinctly specified as YHWH’s Feast Days; and kosher diet, as commanded by YHWH regarding clean and unclean, what’s meant (CREATED) for consumption and what’s not.
So, who has the chutzpah (audacity) to change YHWH’s Word/command?
I wouldn’t! I will have to stand before YHWH, The Almighty Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Elohim of our fathers, to give account.
You hit the nail on the head with this one.” But something very odd happened after the first century. When Christianity speaks about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it doesn’t mean following the same unbroken chain. It claims that because of Yeshua’s death, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not the same God who revealed Himself to Moses or to the patriarchs. Oh, the name is the same, but everything about the practice is different. In other words, the definition of the term has changed. Now the concept of identification through action has changed to identification through declaration. I serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because I say so, regardless of whether my behavior is aligned with His revelation through the prophets. In fact, if I actually follow what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob said to the patriarchs and the prophets, I am not a true believer according to Christianity. I am a legalist, an incomplete Jew, a heretic”……this brings Titus 2:14 to a different light.”a peculiar people”. I recently was invited to a “Torah” site by a wonderful Rabbi from Israel. I had no idea how much Jews are not fond of “Christians”. I can relate, I’m not too fond of some myself, but I had no idea that some Jews are totally against Christians learning Torah and the ways of the Jews. We are not to study the Talmud, or Mishna,or the Midrash or the other writings as prescribed, only the Noahide laws. Now, with the church going through this paradigm shift and also I believe the Jewish community is experiencing the same shift…so .. we are in a much tighter spot than the first followers of the Way because we are confronted with another element called “Christianity”. I am not a true believer according to Christianity ..( the Christians don’t like that I study Torah and the Jews don’t like it either. Wow! Therefore, I am a legalist, an incomplete Jew, a heretic, and not a true believer. Therefore, I am definitely a “peculiar people”
Yes, and after 135AD you would have faced the same dilemma. The Jews rejected Messianics because Messianics did not support Bar Kochba. The Gentiles who were busy inventing Christianity rejected the Messianics because they still followed Torah. The Messianics had no place to go and over 300 years, they simply died off. Today’s popular resurgence of “Hebrew roots” must be extremely careful not to become either 1) a Christian paradigm with Hebrew vocabulary or 2) a form of Judaism with Christian eschatology.
Torah or BUST!
Right, Skip!
Many such congregations sprouting around, and being condemned as “Hebrew Roots” movement
which is a mixture of Messianics and Christianity, having a form of Judaism but with Christian eschatology and or, baggage, causing much confusion to those who are struggling with paradigm shift!
These congregations sing Hebrew songs but serve ham sandwiches!
Shalom!
Oh my Esther, You just explained the beginning of our walk with the Messianic movement.
We had moved into and practiced Sabbath keeping for at least a year before we found that there was actually a movement.
The first Passover we ever attended was a lovely Seder with all the trinkets and “Christ in the Passover” rhetoric. When it was over they pulled out sausage Lasagna. I asked the Rabbi is this ok? He waved his hand and said “Oh that’s the Old Testament Law” It kept us from Torah for many years. However what Satan intended for evil YHVH turned for good. That story is way too long for this venue.
My faith is not in what I know. What I know is hopefully transforming me more into His likeness. My faith is in His ability to lead me into all righteousness. And when I get side tracked He comes and gets me and brings me back because my straying is out of ignorance these days not rebellion.
All that being said we still need to bare with one another in brotherly love. Love defined by Torah does exactly this. We are not responsible to force this on others nor even expect it from them. We are only responsible to do this ourselves as unto YHVH in whose image we are in the process of being transformed into. What would happen if He ceased to love us when we forsake Him?
Let us strive to press ourselves into this mold of sacrificial love which stays His wrath so that the Kingdom can continue to be built up. None of us sees clearly and none of us has arrived at a perfect understanding. Some things will only be set straight when Yeshua returns.
Precious sis Pam,
The “Hebrew Roots” movement has side tracked, and led many to stray from YHWH’s paths, and that is so grievous to YHWH. I knew of some who had gone astray, stumbled along, but thankfully ABBA led them back as these folks were sensitive in their spirits which were troubled and not at ease in those assemblies. HalleluYAH for you and them!
We begin in faith/trust as our first step, then we are challenged to put that faith into action, as Avraham did. It wasn’t his faith that was accounted as right standing/righteousness before YHWH, but his action with his faith in obeying YHWH’s voice.
Hosea 4:6
My people have perished for lack of knowledge: because you rejected knowledge, I reject you from being priest for me: since you have forgotten the Torah of your Elohim, I also forget your children.
Those are serious words. Faith comes by hearing the Word of YHWH and seeking Him, that would be likened to knowledge, lacking such we would have no guidance/direction/Torah on our journey.
Our desire is to be built up on truths as defined by Scriptures, not by men, need to be wary here. Thus knowing the Word/Torah is vital, so we will not be led astray.
LOVE means we are responsible for ourselves as well as for those who lack, and we glean from one another to learn humility and discipline, to carry on the guiding that we may mature in the unity that YHWH seeks from us.
Shalom and blessings!
Oh dear Ester,
I completely agree and never intended to suggest that we should not be diligent to study.
My point was that study does not serve to correct our deepest issues. What we know means nothing until we put feet under it. Only then does it begin to reveal how our interpretations and doctrines will look.
Are we building an idol of ourselves? Or is it shaping us into the likeness of His Torah love? We are told what the fruit of the Spirit looks like. Good fruit comes effortlessly from a good tree. Baring fruit makes a sick tree sicker and a weak tree weaker. Immature and malnourished trees bare bitter hard small fruit.
Only time and patients can tell what the fruit will look like. Because we have been sick, weak, malnourished, and immature for so long, we need to be looooooooooooooooooong suffering with each other. The process is most important to YHVH.
He bares with us. It is a part of His image that we always seem to forget. But once we get it we grasp the wings of grace that Paul found in his blindness. It was that grace that carried him through the congregations of Jews and Gentiles. But we also see what it did to him over time. He was reshaped into the likeness of his Master Yeshua. A kinder sweeter Paul in the end.
All of his study had brought him to a place of murderous zeal. We see that today in the most educated brainiacs in the scripture based faiths. Study does not automatically= good fruit.
The people in the wilderness had the manifested presence of YHVH and the Torah written down and ministered to them daily for 40 years and they died there because they did not mix the truth with faith. They did not do what He asked of them. They did not make themselves into an image of Him.
They made for themselves and image of Him. That’s what study does if we don’t walk it out and test it. We will find ourselves back at the drawing board time after time but the image becomes more and more like Him with each test. This takes a looooooooooong time.
Well educated people often suffer from impatience with those of us that have feet of clay. YHVH does work it out for the good of all of us that love Him and are called according to his purposes. He knows who are His own and He will bring them along. He will also punish those who beat His sheep. He will send His angels to gather the tares and burn them in the end. In the mean time we all grow together.
Shalom Babs,
I am uncertain where you are going with your comments, or what you are saying.
Skip and most of us here realize we DO have a necessity to at least know what the Scriptures say, so we may not be easily mislead. We are warned to take heed of wolves in sheeps’ clothing among us. That is vital.
The NEXT step, would be to walk out what we know, if we could relate with the truths laid out. That would be when YHWH will put us to the test/trials to prove us, to show us where we are with Him, that is, if we are sensitive to His direction/s/voice in our inner being.
Emphasis has always been that we are all on a journey, at different stages.
We also learn to glean from those who take time to dig deeper in to the Word, to freely share with us their findings. That is to be cherished, as most may not have the time to do that. It is likened to parents preparing food/meals for their children who may not bother with what they ought to consume. And then there is the discipline which is essential too.
We are reminded that tomorrow does not belong to us-Prov 27:1 for we know not what a day brings forth. What we can do today while it is day, we do, be it guiding, correcting or
counseling. It is solely up the other party to receive the effort, love and concern that goes into that. No self idolatry here, but a responsibility on our part.
Hope that clarifies? Blessings to you.
Typo error- we may not be easily misled, not “mislead” 🙂
Allow me to add that we are each accountable for ourselves, so the need to be grounded in the Word is crucial, regardless of what others are up to.
Shalom!
Agreed Agreed.
Ester we are on the same side I assure you. I’ve endured everything imaginable for many years (just barely short of physical altercations in several cases) for my zealous witness of our need to return to Torah observance in Christian, Messianic, and Jewish congregations. I don’t dispute that at all. I detest the confusion!!!
But I’ve learned that the damage that slander and inpatients creates only hardens the hearts of the confused. There are those who create the confusion purposefully. I have no sympathy for them.
But most folks are just muddling through. They deserve to be honored for there sincere obedience to what they know right now today, and loved into deeper and deeper truth. That is why I love this blog.
Shalom Shalom
That is fabulous, Babs, that we agree!
There’s only so much one can do, to reach to the ones who are seeking and desire truth,
not much to those who may be resisting now, prayerfully they will come to the knowledge of truth by the Ruach.
No one can force anything upon anyone, not even YHWH, as HE has given mankind that free will to choose.
ABBA has been patient with us for a long time, and thankfully many has come through.
Shalom and Hag Sukkot Sameach!!!
OOPSSS. Apologies, not addressed to Babs, but to PAM 🙂
Hag Sukkot Sameach!!!
This is a rich topic to explore and teach about. After I found this place, I didn’t stop — I kept surfing the internet, looking up congregations, ect — and there are A LOT of ways to fall off the road to the right and the left. I definitely found a lot of beliefs, ect that I would want to distance myself from — but who raise the banner of “Hebrew Roots”.
Two verses come to mind after reading this and the next TW. It seems to me that women primarily fill the churches and bash their husbands for not being good “Christian men” doing all of the things that they feel their “men” should do, all the while prattling on about doctrines they don’t understand and cannot possible tie together and pulling verses out of context to support arguments that go nowhere. The first first is:
New International Version (NIV)
1 Timothy 3
3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
We are so there.
and Luke 18
18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Will He find faith? If faith is defined as hearing and doing the will of God, which is at the very least obeying His stated commands, I too have to wonder will He find faith.
Jill, On 9/15/13 Daria asked: “P.S. How do I underline, set print in italics and do spell check here?”
You seem to have been the first to have discovered the key to BOLD printing. Care to share your secret with her and us? If yes, so that she may see your answer to her question you may want to go there rather than answering it here. Her’s was the first comment of today’s (Sunday) post, Thanks.
When you go to fill in the box with your response there is a XHTML: the b in the carrots means bold i in a carrot means italics a href is how to post a hyperlink I think u is underline. To start and end that part you want changed you need to say for example bold (but with no spaces between the carrots and the b, and then to end the section and again no spaces. Hope this makes sense.
well apparently it works to bold even with the space in the carrot trying again so you can see
okay well that didn’t work either LOL carrots are the symbols about the , and . when you hold the shift key and you need to but a so you would have the b in carrots and then end with /b in carrots.
Thanks. I was right with you…. for the first 14 words , then you appeared to switch off to
Swahili, Finnish or Manderian, I think. From thereon it appears you went back and forth between the 2 languages as I caught most the words but they didn’t compute, but thanks for the reply. I’m sure someone will understand it and be able to use it and be grateful for your recipe. I’ll pass it on to Daria as well. I hope I’m not the only one who doesn’t speak computerese…or Swahile. Ahh, the perils of being old, uneducated and ignorant. Thank YHWH that He doesn’t demand I pass an IQ test to know and obey Him. Shalom, Michael
LOL I so totally “hear” you Michael. Here are two links that might do a better job of translating into an understandable and usable explanation 🙂
this explain what HTML tags are allows and what they do
though skip does not use disqus for comments so several of the tags aren’t allowed here like underline.
This is a quick explanation of how to use the codes. If you go down to the examples section you can see what I was trying to explain (without much success). When it comes to html, a picture is worth a thousand words The quick tutorial