Posted in Atonement • Continuity & Discontinuity • Daily Living • Law • New Testament • Old Testament • Reward • Sabbath • Tanakh

Doing

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Matthew 24:45–46 ESV. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. (See also Luke 12:43; John 13:17)

Jesus gives words of encouragement to His followers, pointing to the time when He returns and finds His servants doing what He told them to do. He is speaking of the people He set over His household, so specifically that means leaders. Typically, feeding is a figure of speech for giving out the food of the Word. But “doing” extends to all of His servants too.

So what are the things we should be doing? Is it simply to have dinner with other members of our household, or is there more? We could include the “golden rule,” that is, treat others as you want to be treated. Or maybe our actions should be helping the poor, taking care of widows, and practicing justice. But is that all the Bible tells us? Well, Zechariah lists a couple more items.

Zechariah 7:8–10 ESV. And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

So far, then, we are supposed to feed each other the Word, treat others as we want to be treated (which might also include showing kindness and mercy to one another), render true judgments, avoid oppression of people who have no defense such as widows, poor, orphans, or sojourners, and don’t devise evil against another in your heart. All those actions certainly are included in a servant’s duties to his or her Lord and Master. They are the practical outworking of redeemed people returning the love Jesus has for us. I have found, though, in other parts of God’s Word addressed to His people, that there are things we can include in the list we should be “doing.”

Isaiah 56:2 ESV. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

Apparently, he (or she) who “holds fast the Sabbath” (and keeps his hand from evil) is included for the person who wants to be doing what Jesus says when He returns. There are other the tasks included in a servant’s life so that we can be doing what Jesus told us to do when He returns. All of the instructions included are derived from what Jesus gave at Sinai (the Law or first Sermon on the Mount) and places like the (Second) Sermon on the Mount. Fasting on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) for instance is given expanded meaning by Isaiah.

Isaiah 58:6–7 ESV. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Leaders in particular, our so-called “wise men,” have turned the Law of the Lord into a lie, by writings and teachings that reject many of His Laws. Instead, they preach ear-tickling, emotional and sentimental messages that only use God’s Word as a touchstone to launch rants. So they are not “feeding” like they should.

Jeremiah 8:8–9 ESV. “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?

James, the brother of Jesus, leader of the congregation in Jerusalem, was not contradicting Paul in the book he wrote. He was not only in line with Paul but also Jesus, who gave all of the instructions we should be doing when He comes back. We are to be “doers” of the Word and not just hearers.

James 1:22–25 ESV. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Remember that the books of the misnamed New Testament weren’t collected and called such until about 200 A.D., so “the word” James referred to was the equally misnamed Old Testament (see also such Scripture as John 10:35; 1 Corinthians 4:6). Other writings, such as those in the New Testament, had to conform to the Old Testament (a better name is Tanakh or Law, Prophets and Writings) or would be rejected as Scripture. We accept the New Testament as Scripture, but only as it conforms to the Law, Prophets and Writings.

Jesus didn’t start some new thing but stayed true to the words He spoke many times and in many ways throughout history. Our God and Messiah repeatedly called His people to “do” the things He commanded at Sinai instead of just “hearing.” His admonition for His servants to be doing what the Master commanded is right in line with everything He spoke through the prophets time after time. His commands to us are the same as they’ve always been.

Hosea 12:6 ESV. “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”

The phrase “hold fast to love and justice” is one of the many summary statements in the Bible for The Law. The commands given by Jesus at Mount Sinai were the epitome of love and justice, personified and certified by His teaching at the advent and by His sacrifice and resurrection.

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Signs and wonders are not the task of a servant of our Messiah Yeshua. Our task is laid out here by the inverse of His statement to “depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” The clear meaning is that following His Law is not only the will of the Father but also will be the test for entering the kingdom of heaven. A little later in the book of Matthew, He says it again.

Matthew 12:50 ESV. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

There is no special reward for our efforts to follow His will as expressed in all of His commandments (although there are many blessings). Salvation is granted by faith through grace, and following the Law is our lifestyle and discipleship method. We obey all of His commands because we love our God and Messiah and return some of this love by living like He wants us to live. Our Master lived the laws He commanded, and we copy Him as much as we are able with all our heart, mind and strength. When we are done with our labors and have entered into His kingdom, after He has ascended to the throne of David in Jerusalem, we might have some different rewards, but we will have just done our duty.

Luke 17:10 ESV. So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

Every word God speaks is by definition good, just, loving and holy. The humble servant does not hesitate to follow any of His words because faith is a combination of trust in God and obedience. The faithful person, recognizing God’s kingship and mercy, will happily submit to whatever our king and Master directs.

Don’t be fooled by the teachings of many in the Church who claim that the Church replaced Israel in God’s plans or that the Law has been eliminated by the death of Jesus. Scripture cannot be changed as our Messiah Yeshua said in John 10:35. Since the penalty for disobedience has been paid, there is no fear of death if we don’t understand a law or make a mistake in obeying. What will earn us the second death penalty (the Lake of Fire) is refusing the payment for our sin in the blood of Jesus. He has made us free from death if only we demonstrate our acceptance by obedience to all He commands with all of our heart. If we refuse the blood and try to gain our own righteousness by earning His gift, there is no other acceptable payment for our sin.

Ecclesiastes 12:12–13 ESV. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Shalom

Posted in Church • Daily Living • Law • New Covenant • Old Covenant • Promise The

Covenant

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The word “covenant” is mentioned in the ESV Bible about 325 times. Sometimes it refers to the rainbow after the flood (Genesis 9:13), sometimes to the Abraham covenant in Genesis 15 and the confirmation of the covenant by circumcision in Genesis 17. Other times it is referring to a covenant between two people such as Abraham and Abimelech (Genesis 21). Sometimes too, there was a covenant even when the word isn’t used, such as the covenant in the Garden between Adam and God for avoiding one particular fruit (and thereby avoiding death). But mostly it’s the covenant made between God and Israel at Mount Sinai.

A covenant is a legal agreement with stipulations for performance by each party and penalties for breaking it, like a contract. However, if there are no stipulations for one party, then it is a “promise” because there is no legal enforcement for that party. For instance, the rainbow covenant with Noah after the flood not only doesn’t have any penalties for God if He didn’t perform His part, there is no way to enforce penalties on God anyway. He just said He would do something, and put His bow in the clouds as a sign of His commitment.

The covenant with Israel at Sinai did have stipulations for both parties. Israel was to follow the terms of the covenant and receive blessings, or break it and experience curses. In exchange, God would be their God and Shepherd, leading, protecting and blessing them in every way. By that point, God had already demonstrated His abilities in saving, protecting and blessing Israel in many powerful ways. All Israel had to do was stay on the path and do what God had laid out for them. He would live in their midst and blessings would flow as they followed all the terms of their side of the covenant. However, they refused many times and in many ways, leading to the curses warned about by God and their ultimate expulsion from the Land.

Before allowing Babylon to defeat Judah (the ten northern tribes called Israel had already been defeated by the Assyrians about a hundred years before) Jeremiah is told by God that the banishment would last 70 years and that there would be a new covenant between Him and Israel.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Ezekiel, a contemporary of Jeremiah, also speaks of this new covenant (Ezekiel 11:19) along with giving the united Israel a heart transplant (also 36:26) and a new spirit. Part of this new covenant includes the God’s Laws written on the new heart, and all will obey. Jesus tells His disciples during the Passover dinner before His crucifixion that one of the cups of wine they share is the realization of this new covenant.

Luke 22:20 ESV. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

The phrase “new covenant” used by Jesus here is καινὴ διαθήκη (transliterated kainόs diathēkē) meaning literally a refreshed agreement. Perhaps we could even use the more modern “new and improved” phrase. It is not new in the sense of something that hasn’t existed before and is now newly created. Jesus was referring to Jeremiah (notice He didn’t have to explain it to the disciples) and the power of His blood to write His Laws (including those given by Him on Mount Sinai) on a new heart of flesh.

The “new thing” called The Church, created by imagination about two to three hundred years A.D., has hijacked the application of the new covenant for itself, but has made it mean something other than what our Messiah intends. The Church of course is all the groups and organizations claiming to be part of this new thing, not just one particular group. Their interpretation of the new covenant is anti-Jewish (though God says it is between Him and Israel) and completely ignores the texts that speak explicitly of the terms. Their leaders say that the death of Jesus eliminated the Law and they don’t have to follow God’s Words anymore. In place of the Law, they have created all sorts of vague, ear-tickling and feelings-based guidelines focusing on doing what is right in their own eyes rather than the literal Law written on a new heart of flesh.

The New Testament, falsely named by the Church, is neither a covenant nor the new covenant. None of the collected books use the term “new covenant” except for the words of Jesus (also recorded in 1 Corinthians 11:25), an application by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:6 to believers as ministers of the new covenant, and several mentions by the author of the book of Hebrews quoting Jeremiah. Hebrews speaks of the “old covenant” being obsolete, not because the Law was eliminated (Jesus said Scripture cannot be broken John 10:35) but because it was on the outside chiseled on stone tablets, instead of on the inside written on a new heart of flesh.

Believers enter in to this new covenant and are given a heart transplant in order to follow all the instructions of our Father and our Messiah in love and spirit. Jesus died a horrible death and was resurrected as the ultimate and defining act of love. Accepting His sacrifice and His lordship is to become part of His household and kingdom along with living exactly as He directs with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. If we falter, we have an advocate in heaven who intercedes for us, so we confess our failure and work out our salvation with fear and trembling. All praise and thanks to the One who has set us free from sin and death to serve the God of light, life and love.

Shalom.

Posted in Church • Daily Living • Hypocrisy • Judaism • Law • Political • Tradition

Cultural Appropriation

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A phrase that is thrown around quite a bit in the last few years is “cultural appropriation.” It means to take something such as a tradition or food or a style of dress from a different culture other than your own, and use it or practice it as if it belongs to you. It is used as a negative.

Cultural appropriation can be as simple and inoffensive as using a Yiddish word or eating Mexican food. Or it can be more involved (and to some more offensive) practices such as hair styles with dreadlocks or dressing with lederhosen or a dashiki. You might be thinking, “The Church has members that wear sombreros or celebrate Cinco de Mayo and are not Mexican, but so what? That’s hardly cause for alarm.” Except a hat or a holiday are not the types of cultural appropriation this article (or video) is about.

The Church, unfortunately, is guilty of culturally appropriating in a big way. By Church, I mean all the groups (associated with each other or not) that claim to be “partisans of the Christ.” They may have different styles of a service and some differences in their so-called “statements of faith,” but they are essentially all the same. They are all built on the same basic framework of cultural appropriation. Let me explain further.

Way back when (about a hundred years after the apostles were all dead – wasn’t that convenient), those who called themselves Christian decided, through a long process, to reject the bulk of the Bible as applying to them. They “transitioned” away from what the world told them were Jewish things. Church fathers created a new thing called “the Church” and said that it was God’s intended goal instead of Israel, because “the Jews” crucified the Messiah (it was the Romans with Jewish leader incitement). Then, in keeping with that split decision, they deliberately mistranslated the parts they appropriated in order to justify their decision to create the new thing.

These and other philosophies of men contradicted Paul’s declaration in Ephesians that there is only one Body, one Faith, and one Messiah. But the church fathers kept using cultural appropriation to develop the new thing anyway. In the process, they built a false god they call Jesus but who barely resembles our biblical Messiah as they chose those parts of the Bible they liked and discarded the others. Like Jeroboam with his replacement golden calves (2 Kings 17), the Church has appropriated a little bit of the biblical Jesus to create a false idol who preaches against God’s unbreakable covenant (John 10:35).

On the contrary, the whole message of the real Jesus is right in line and a continuation of the whole message of the Father, including what they call The Law. “And Scripture cannot be broken.”

John 10:34–38 ESV. Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Instead of culturally appropriating a few pieces of the Word to build a non-Jewish organization with a savior that only vaguely resembles the biblical Jesus, believers enter into the existing eternal kingdom of our Messiah by grafting. Grafting is the process of connecting parts of different trees or plants together. We are connected to the existing olive tree of God’s kingdom, as Paul put it in Romans 9 through 11. We become part of the body of Christ and live in His house where His loving rules or instructions are life and discipleship. We do what is right in our Father’s eyes.

Groups that are part of the Church and are called Messianic say they believe in Jesus as the Messiah, but also want to follow standard Jewish traditions. In other words, they are also “culturally appropriating,” from Judaism. Many in these groups are actually of Jewish descent, and wanting to keep the traditions is perhaps understandable (although much of Judaism is, like the Church, not biblical – see: the gospels). However, the philosophies of men in the Messianic section of the Church (yes, they are still part of the Church) promote the idea that somehow Jews know the best in how to follow God. So, many of the so-called Messianic congregations try to incorporate as much “Jewish” theology and practice as they can.

The problem is, according to the Bible, most of those in Israel in general have always been just as stiff-necked and stubborn as the Church when it comes to ignoring God’s plain instructions and making up things outside the Word of God. They also culturally appropriated from the nations around them, including their idols. It’s why they got booted out of the Land several times. It’s also the reason they and the Church are part of the “Great Prostitute” of Revelation 17.

The culture that believers desire to appropriate is God’s. His culture is laid down for us all through the Bible and includes what some call the law, given by Jesus, clarified and reinforced by the teachings of the apostles. The whole of Scripture is given to believers for a lifestyle and discipleship method. At Sinai, God (Jesus) set up the instructions for the way He wanted His kingdom to operate. On the arrival of Jesus in the flesh, He clarified the instructions He had already given, clearing away the trash of men’s wrong interpretations and opinions obscuring the plain meaning. It is a flat-out lie that Jesus “fulfilled the Law” and terminated it.

All nations will be judged for refusing to “culturally appropriate” all of God’s Words, including what some negatively refer to as The Law or the Law of Moses.

Jeremiah 25:15, 26-27 ESV. Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it…all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon shall drink. Then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.”  

Shalom.

Posted in Adultery • Balance • Church • Comfort • Fruit • Gospel • Law • Love • Messianic Movement • New Covenant • New Testament • Old Testament • Translational Bias

Body Search

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It’s not a title of a movie mystery. I’m not going to write about police officer’s arrest techniques. No gloved hands are going to be used in this search. The Body for which I’m searching in modern times is the one presented in the Bible. Luke helps me out with the search for the Body by describing how it acts.

Acts 2:42–47 ESV. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

According to this description, the Body of Christ devotes itself to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, taking meals together and praying with one another. We can get an idea of the composition of the apostle’s teaching by reading the letters they wrote. For instance, Paul (though not one of the twelve) tells believers not to go beyond what is written.

1 Corinthians 4:6 ESV. I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

Their letters weren’t written until the late ’60’s A.D. or so, and they weren’t collected and called the New Testament by the Church until about 200 A.D. So Paul is commanding the teaching of the misnamed Old Testament. The apostle’s teaching from the Law, Prophets and Writings (called the Tanakh or Torah) was energizing the actions of the Body at that time. Peter adds that false prophets and teachers from among you will secretly bring in destructive heresies, and through their sensuality, the way of righteousness is blasphemed (2 Peter 2:2).  He continues:

2 Peter 2:20–21 ESV. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

The “way of righteousness” from which they will turn back, he says, is the “holy commandment” delivered to them. The holy commandment is also known as the Tanakh, which includes the new covenant or the law written on a soft heart of flesh (Hebrews 8:8-12 quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26). Peter’s part of the Body of Christ exhibited this new covenant.

Obviously, “all who believed” who were in the Body at the time of Peter were behaving very differently than those in churches we see today. Given the difference in behavior between the believers back then and churches now, we might be led to think the Body doesn’t exist in the present. But it’s still around, it’s just scattered here and there, and mostly represented by individuals. Believers who are devoted to the apostle’s teaching (the Torah, meaning “instruction”) have been silenced or driven out of most organizations due to the twisted, ear-tickling teachings of what Jesus (and Paul) called ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Matthew 7:15 ESV. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Acts 20:29–30 ESV. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

2 Timothy 4:3 ESV. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

Those of the Body who really want to follow all of the apostle’s teachings on God’s precious, loving Words cannot associate with these ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing. If the Body member tries to stay in a congregation or organization that is not following the new covenant, but insists on following it themselves, they are labeled divisive people and asked to leave.

By the time I was 40, I had been a part of about 15 different churches in 10 denominations (and been asked to leave on occasion), so I’ve had quite a bit of experience. I was a youth leader twice, an elder in a Bible church once, and taught adult Sunday school. For about the last 25 years we have not gone at all, anywhere, mostly because we aren’t allowed. It would be nice if we could find a place, but we “gather together” with our family and just follow the Word. We’ve found closeness with each other, our Father and Messiah, which is lacking in most congregations anyway. I also find that I’m much more able to get along with those of different beliefs or even non-belief than I did when I was simply a churchgoer, even if they can’t get along with me. We are part of the Body without attending a church filled with ravenous wolves.

Many, many churches are biased towards doing what is right in their own eyes. One Messianic group of which we were part tried hard to institute and keep non-biblical Jewish traditions such as using a pointer to read sections of the Bible in Hebrew and parading around a Torah scroll in their services. But one of the leaders went to his wife (who was not genetically Jewish) on Yom Kippur and started a divorce in order to marry a genetically Jewish woman. The rest of the leadership did not ask him to leave the congregation, as they should have according to Scripture. Oddly, the new marriage didn’t last either and neither did the congregation.

Isaiah 59:14 ESV. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.

Another group we were with for a while decided that the Word (the Law) was only for Jews. Gentiles could follow if they wanted but were then treated as second-class members. Their “first fruits” were not from the Bible. A third group teaches “one law” for everyone, but at the same time says that the “Hebrew perspective” (read, “bias”) is the primary way to translate and apply the Word. Instead of a resource for Torah, they prioritize Jewishness and expel people like us.

Self-titled Christian congregations all have a range of negative attitudes against God’s Word (especially the Law) and Body members are encouraged to find other congregations if they don’t toe the line, which was the case with Calvary Chapels. A similar congregation allowed a witch in and found out later she was having intimate relations with the married pastor. Still another so-called Messianic group allowed a married pedophile adulterer to stay in the congregation which caused many to leave.

1 Corinthians 5:2 NASB95. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

In another instance my family was disinvited by the pastor of a community church (after one of his people invited us) because he said we were “all about rules and regulations” (the irony was lost on him). He only teaches the ear-tickling parts of the Word and did not regard the Bible as absolute truth. Then there was the Vineyard pastor (formerly a part of Youth With A Mission) who said in a sermon that he wanted to “throw theology out of the church.” Since the word “theology” means “God’s Word,” I guess he was successful because no one in that church (or many others) teaches the whole of the Word the way God commands.

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 ESV. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Congregations “doing what is right in their own eyes” as the Bible negatively puts it, do not follow all of the Word and therefore do not love God and do not act like the Body in Acts 2:42-47. Instead, they love comfort and ear tickling. It is a loving act to “remove the evil from your midst” for the sake of repentance, and to welcome the formerly evil person back in the event they change their ways. Allowing a witch, homosexual, or adulterer to stay and continue their sinful, destructive behavior is not a loving act (Romans 1:18-32).

Romans 1:32 ESV. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Apparently, we would have to approve of those destructive lifestyles to be accepted. Our family doesn’t believe or conform to these lifestyles, so we just aren’t perfect enough (in their systems) to attend any modern congregation. It’s a sad state of affairs when Body members who insist on following all of God’s loving instructions are the ones who are cast out of these congregations, while unrepentant sinners are allowed to stay. Right is wrong and wrong is right, and so people of the Body of Christ find themselves homeless. But we won’t be homeless forever. God promises those who are faithful to His Word that we will receive the gift of eternal life and have a home in His Kingdom forever.

Mark 10:29–30 ESV. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Those of you who are part of the Body, having discovered that all of the Word is for all believers and are trying your best to hang on to it and follow with all your heart, soul and strength, be encouraged. This world will not last, and those who disdain to repent and obey the whole of His loving gospel are on the way to a different place other than His Kingdom.

2 Thessalonians 1:5–8 ESV. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Shalom

Posted in Church • Continuity & Discontinuity • Dogma • Judaism • Law • Rapture • Salvation • Tradition

Falling Away

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2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 ESV. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

The word “rebellion” here in the English Standard Version is translated in the NASB95 version as “apostasy” and in the King James as “falling away.” It is number 646 in the Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon.

ἀποστασία: apostasia, to forsake, falling away, defection, apostasy.

Clearly, Paul is saying that there is an apostasy before the man of lawlessness is revealed. But who is falling away from what? In other verses, rebellion or apostasy is applied to Israel departing from the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. On the other hand, the Church applies this to itself (falling away from the Church) because they think they are a replacement for Israel. The problem with that is the Church is not in the Bible and has never been the point. Israel is the point. The Church has been falling away from God for centuries.

Hebrews 3:12–13 ESV. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

In Hebrews 3:12, the phrase “fall away” is translated from a slightly different word meaning to “depart from,” “to desert,” “excite revolt,” or “become faithless” (Strong’s 868 aphistemi).  It’s the same basic word as apostasy, just with a different spelling.  

Hebrews 3:14–15 ESV. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

The rebellion referred to by the writer is the one where Israel refused to go into the Land as instructed by the Lord through Moses. He is equating this rebellion to the concept of apostasy.

Hebrews 6:4–6 ESV. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

In Hebrews 6, the phrase “falling away” is a different Greek word transliterated parapipto but means ultimately the same thing – to depart from worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It can also mean to deviate from the right path, turn aside or wander, all of which are just a little more descriptive in describing apostasy.

Israel, at the time of Paul, was generally trying to follow God, even if not the Messiah Jesus the Christ. Paul was working very hard to reach as much of Israel as he could with the good news of God with us, and many thousands had converted, but the majority still wanted to go it on their own. This resulted in the failed rebellions against Roman authority of 70 A.D. and 135 A.D. The rebellion against Roman authority was much different than rebelling against God, although in those rebellions both were combined.

The falling away mentioned in Thessalonians is most likely a falling away from God by Israel, before an agreement is made by the Beast with Israel just before he is exposed for what he really is. In my understanding, the falling away spoken of by Paul will also be the result of Church congregants finding out that their leaders have been lying to them for centuries, or people in Israel choosing to side with the Beast, or both. All the nifty philosophies of men that church or genetic Israel buys into will be revealed as so many illusions.

Falling away from God is not the same as falling away from the Church. A person who simply attends Church or is part of physical Israel never was “saved” (John 3). A person can go to church or synagogue for a lifetime and still not be saved. Salvation is permanent, but the evidence of salvation is a life that is dedicated to following all of our Father’s instructions.

 Simply being a member of a non-biblical club or a genetic group is not salvation. Most congregants of any Church or synagogue have been misled into thinking that their group is equivalent to the Body of Christ (or the Kingdom of God) and so apostasy is a hard idea to swallow. But The Church and synagogue are just a man made organizations with a few cultural appropriations from the Bible pasted on and have not taken the place either of Israel or the Body of the Christ.

When the average superficial follower of God or denier of Jesus of whatever stripe finds out that the whole of God’s Word has always been a part of salvation, some will decide to follow but many will be resentful and fall away. Believing in Jesus without doing what He says; not believing in Jesus as the Messiah; believing genetics alone gets you in the kingdom; a rapture that doesn’t happen when you think; a tribulation to endure and so on will cause a massive disillusionment with leaders of all flavors.

Matthew 24:10–11 ESV. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

Jesus uses another word to describe falling away which is transliterated as skandalizo (Strong’s 4624). It means literally to “offend,” or “entice to sin” and even “to cause to fall away.” Apparently, before the Beast is revealed there will be pressure to abandon the God of Abraham which includes “lawlessness.” This factors into the meaning of the other words to give us an idea that the lie or strong delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:11) will add to the pressure of falling away by many. Some of those who fall away may find salvation anyway, so those of us who are mature will need to help them if possible.

Shalom

Posted in Blessing • Children • Church • Comfort • Daily Living • Fear • Identity • Prophecy • Resurrection • Righteousness • Salvation • Second death • Worship

Shining Wise

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Daniel 12:1–3 ESV. “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Imagine you are walking through a dark forest. There are creatures of the darkness all around you, slavering in anticipation of the meal you represent. But none attacks. Instead, they retreat as you move forward. They wrinkle their noses in disgust at the smell of you, though you just took a shower and have on some nice deodorant. The creatures wince and hide their eyes from some unseen pain as you pass by, as if they are looking at the sun, though you see only darkness.

Children of God actually shine in a way that is painful to the hateful eyes of the deceiver’s creatures. We can’t see this light with our own eyes; we still need flashlights to light the way in our houses at night. This light manifests itself to those in darkness and they hate us because of it. There’s a smell around us too, sharply repugnant to the noses of the creatures, because it is the aroma of Christ and life. It reminds them they are destined to die a second death in the lake of fire.

2 Corinthians 2:14–16 ESV. “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

We wonder sometimes why we suffer. In our jobs we might be unfairly attacked and pressured to quit, and it seems to us as if there’s no rationale. At school there are few (too few) that are friendly and many who avoid us and spread gossip about us behind our backs. In the line at the grocery store we experience hostile stares. Even at church we might be marginalized or outright asked to leave. We can’t see the reasons. But they are offended by our mere presence because our internal light hurts their eyes and the smell of life around us is worse to them than an open cesspool or Limburger cheese on a hot muffler.

As we head into the trials and turmoil prophesied in the Bible, we are marked by God more obviously and surely than a tattoo on the head or hand. Our Messiah is with us, and no creature of darkness can stand against us. They might get us fired from a job or kicked out of church; they might even kill the body in which we are temporarily resident. However, to those who are being saved we are a fragrance of life and light in the darkness of the world. Remember that you are a child of God and a friend to Yeshua, and the salvation you have will be shared with many who turn to righteousness because of His light and aroma.

Shalom, Bruce

Posted in Daily Living

Finding A Place

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“This is the way we do things here. If you aren’t being ministered to, there are other places where you can be” said Jeff. In other words, If you don’t like it, leave. Buzz off. Take a hike. I heard this with sadness a couple decades ago because I knew it meant that the Scriptural truth I was seeing in the Word and had tried to convey was being refused. This is a mantra at Calvary Chapels, but it really is a mantra for the whole Church. So why would he say this, and why would every other Church say it?

Well, the root of it, in my studied opinion, is fear. The Church (in general), and most churches, are houses built of cards, mostly representing the philosophies of men. They don’t want the wind of the Spirit of Truth blowing through and knocking down what they’ve built.

What was I proposing that was so bad? Was I a heretic, trying to change or ignore Scripture on the virgin birth or deity of Jesus? What could have elicited such a cold and dismissive statement? In a word, discipleship. Calvary Chapel, and many other churches, have a nice way of attracting visitors but offer very little to keep them growing in grace and truth. They have heart-thumping concerts, speak nifty things from the pulpit, and even read Scripture now and then. They lay out a nice banquet of platitude Twinkies and selected Ding Dong verses providing a sugar rush and making one feel good for the moment, but is sadly lacking in the meat of the Word. If you don’t expect much of a church except as a safe-space social club that doesn’t dish up too many of the uncomfortable parts of the Bible, has a nice music team and some special programs on holidays, then you won’t be told to hit the road. A person can survive for a while on Twinkies and Ding Dongs, right up until the nutritional needs of the body demand something more substantial. Then our starving spirits have to go somewhere that offers solid teaching and examples of living the entirety of the Word.

The problems is, does any place like that exist? After making more than 15 churches in 10 different denominations our home before I was 40, I have to say, no. Every single church is a house of teaching cards built on the sand of personalities and men’s opinions. If a person dares to ask questions after comparing the card teachings to Scripture and discovering gaping holes, that’s when all of them will tell you in one fashion or another to find another ministering place. They can’t change because they’d have to admit they were wrong and pride won’t let them do that.

My family, and now my kid’s families, haven’t been to church in a long time, except the kids for some youth group activities once in a while. And yet it is amazing how much we’ve grown in Scripture understanding and practice. We have God’s holidays, His Sabbath and the whole and balanced Word that ties us together in a true ekklesia with our Messiah Yeshua as the head, nourishing us with His body and blood. Now that we have some distance, we see The Church, and most churches, as the dry wells and fruitless fig trees that they insist on staying. They did us a favor by forcing a trip to another place. We went into The Land, figuratively, while they’re still wandering around the same mountain, unwilling to drop their pride and salve their eyes with all the truth of the Word so they can see the way themselves.

Posted in Book publishing • Church • Feast and Festivals • Prophecy • Rapture • Resurrection • Righteousness • Salvation • Second death • Theology

Whole Bible Prophecy

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Our book Whole Bible Prophecy: Horror and Hope is out, finally. You can find it on Amazon and later perhaps it will make it to the bookstores.

It’s a little over 500 pages including a 17-page Topic and Scripture Index and several illustrations. We cover everything from Genesis to Revelation (at least somewhat) with lots of Scripture quoted and referenced.

Like all our books, we come at the subject from a Biblical Theology view using a literal interpretation, meaning what did the author intend to say. Some of our ideas will be off-putting, such as a “rapture” that is attached to the resurrection of the righteous, and the seven seals on the Scroll of Authority are an outline of the entire Tribulation. Many churchgoers will not like our take on The Church and its place in prophecy. Some of the visions given to Daniel and John I don’t think are sequential, so we took that into consideration when we made the timeline and it shows some of the events in a different order than you might have been taught before.

The cover art is sideways to emphasize our different way of looking at prophecy. There’s a whole chapter on the resurrection and rapture, a chapter on the holy days or feasts of Yeshua, and a whole bunch of other information. You can browse through the Table of Contents in Look Inside feature of the book listing and get a good idea of what is covered.

Check it out.

Shalom, Bruce

Posted in Daily Living

Selwyn Duke Misses the Mark

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In a column of 1/5/22 titled The Truth Factor: A Major Reason for the West’s Declining Christianity Is Rarely Recognized, Mr. Selwyn Duke presents his opinion that, in short, the reason for declining Christianity in modern times is people. People are to blame because of cultural relativism, lack of belief in objective truth, and a few other things. However, if this is correct, how in the world did Christianity spread and flourish in the first few hundred years of a “cultural relativistic” Roman empire after the Resurrection of the Christ?

The Empire’s pursuit of hedonism (pleasures of the flesh) and narcissism (self-worship reflected in idolatry) were certainly as prevalent and mind-numbing as they are now. Yet Christianity was accepted by huge numbers of Jews and Gentiles even at the threat of death. The culture, or more accurately cultures, was about in as bad a shape as it (they) are now. The people didn’t like objective truth, rejected any constraints on immorality, and generally were as jaded and seared of conscience as people nowadays. How, if Mr. Duke is right, did anything about Christianity ever get traction with anyone?

I put the blame squarely on the Church. The problem isn’t Christianity, the problem is how it is taught and lived by those who say they are Christians. If there is any moral or cultural relativism, and obviously there is, it was birthed and watered and fertilized (can I get an amen on the fertilizer?) by the leaders and teachers of the Church. By Church, I mean the collective, visible, entirety of every organization claiming to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The so-called “Church” has modeled and force-fed a sort of Churchianity that looks like Christianity but only in name. It has appropriated some of the wool of what looks like Bible teachings while denying the One who bought them. They do this by sitting in judgment on the Bible, cutting out sections they don’t like while blowing those they do like all out of proportion to the rest of the Bible. They use deceptive words such as “Jesus, Jesus Jesus” just like many in Israel said of the Temple in Jeremiah 7. Israel said “The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD” like they were rubbing a lucky rabbit’s foot.

Israel thought that just because they had the Temple that God would always protect and nourish them. They could live however corruptly they wanted, do a couple sacrifices, and keep living corruptly. Now the Church uses Jesus as the same kind of a lucky rabbit’s foot. Go to Church on Sunday, say the Name a few times, then go out and live like they want to anyway.

The reason Christianity is declining is not the condition of the hearers of the message but the fact that the Church message isn’t any different than the world’s. They aren’t teaching (or living) the Word, which makes Christianity as different from the world as the Garden of Eden is from a landfill. The Church just looks like a bunch of social clubs, with varying rules of behavior mostly coming from confessions, creeds, by-laws and statements of faith that might contain some of the Word rather than the unchanging and undying whole Word of the Most High.

Jesus told His followers to “make disciples, baptizing them…and teaching them to observe all that I commanded you (Matthew 28:20).” Since the misnamed New Testament wasn’t created at the time, that meant all of the also misnamed Old Testament words of God. “All I commanded you” was all in the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. He didn’t command anything new, He just cleared away the commandments of men that had come to obscure the Word.

His Word has been obscured again. The Church teaches “commandments of men” as commands of God (Isaiah 29:13) just as other religions do. So it just doesn’t look any different compared to the world. The commands of men are the same relative, permissive, sappy, weak, banal, lame, narcissistic junk that is the hallmark of the world. Their Jesus is a caricature of the Jesus of the living Word, nutritionally lacking in the power to change not only oneself but the world.

The problem is not the hearers of the Word It is in the ravenous wolves wearing sheep’s clothing who substitute their own opinions for a whole Bible.

Posted in Daily Living

New book is done

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Hello everyone. After many months of sweat and editing, the new book Nicolaitan: Lords of Hypocrisy is finished and ready to order. Here’s the cover:

And here’s the first few paragraphs:

On his last visit to Ephesus, Paul warns the congregation leaders about the future appearance of bad shepherds coming from within the congregation.

Acts 20:29–30, ESV. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

About 30 years after this, Jesus warns the Ephesians (and Pergamum) about Nicolaitans in Revelation chapter two. Obviously, Nicolaitans were some of those wolves about which Paul warned. Did the wolves disappear after John wrote the Revelation, or have they survived to populate modern congregations? Did believers get rid of false teachers, or have they spread out from Ephesus and Pergamum in the last 2,000 years and continue to speak “twisted things?” The Church identifies wolves as those who don’t follow “orthodox” Church teachings. But what if those making that judgment are Nicolaitans in sheep’s clothing? Could the “orthodox” teachings be unbiblical? How do we tell? Jesus mentions the Nicolaitans in two of the letters He dictated to the seven congregations in Revelation 2 and 3. Their origin and exact teachings are not clear, but He groups them with other false teachers and those whose works He hates. This is important because Nicolaitans are, in fact, still around; just with different names. They might only be mentioned a couple of times in the Bible, but they have indeed spread throughout the Church/synagogue and have a lot of influence.

Shalom!

Bruce