Saturday, March 29, 2014
Behold, I Come!
As I wrote this post, a few titles went through my mind and it was drawing to a close I prayed, asking what He wanted the title to be. He spoke to my spirit, "Behold, I come." I looked up Revelation 22:12 and forgot to include it before I clicked, "Publish". So here I am to update what the He began.
"12 And, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."
A few days ago, I received a text from my sister asking me what I had been hearing from the Father lately because all was quiet on her end. I wrote back that if I was a betting person, I would bet good money that she wouldn't want to know.
As you continue to read, you may feel the same way.
On Saturday morning, March 22, 2014, I had two dreams. The first one was one in which I was lying face down on the floor of a motel room. It was dusk or early dawn. I was before the Father in prayer; seeking His will and dying to my own. Suddenly, I heard the most awful sound that grew louder by the second. I knew that it had to be the sound of an aircraft that was way too close for comfort. When I rose to open the vertical blinds and look out the window, I expected to see that the air craft was directly above the motel. Not only was it nearly grazing the roof of the high rise, it was going down. It was a passenger jet and the tail section was before my upper story window. As the plane descended in slow motion, the vertical stabilizer of the tail section was right in front of me. The number imprinted on the side was 34. I awakened just before the plane crashed.
Dismissing the first thought that entered my head upon awakening that maybe a flight #34 was going to crash, I reached for my phone, knowing that the number was symbolic. I looked up the biblical meaning of the number and found that it was "Man's Religion/Money".
www.biblenumbersforlife.com
For a few months, the Father has been revealing things to me concerning the church so although I wasn't really surprised at what the dream conveyed, I laid in bed with a sick feeling in my stomach and sorrow once again crowding my heart. I prayed for a period of time and then drifted back to sleep and had a follow-up dream in which I was walking barefoot on a beach. Although the sand appeared soft, after a couple of steps I found that it was hard and yet shifted beneath my feet. I stumbled and nearly fell as I walked upon the small mounds that would normally flatten under foot. When I awakened from the dream it was early dawn. Of course I was wondering what it was all about and rose to make my way to the bathroom, surprised to find that the bedroom floor felt the same way to my feet as the sand had felt in the dream. As I walked into the bathroom and the sensation stopped, I asked the Father what it meant. He quietly spoke to my spirit, "The foundation is crumbling." Note that He said that the foundation is crumbling.
A foundation of sand appears to be fine, until it shifts.
The interpretations for the dreams ...really don't need much interpretation. In looking back upon them today, I am so grateful that the Father made the messages within them hard to argue with or dismiss as being something I ate from the night before. Let me share though what has come to me as I have continued to pray about them the last few days.
In the first dream I realize that there are true believers who are desperately aware that something isn't right within the practice of Christianity at least as far as America is concerned and they are seeking the Father with all of their hearts and surrendering everything to Him, earnestly praying for truth to be revealed! It took place in a motel because they know with certainty that this place is not their home. Even within the church they seldom feel that they are among family. I couldn't discern the time of day in the first dream because we are at the point of change, very near the beginning of night and the start of a new day. The plane was a passenger jet and I don't even want to begin to contemplate the number of spiritual casualties that will result. Since I awoke before it crashed, I pray that many will also awaken. As far as the beach dream is concerned, everything looked fine, until the sand began to rise up hard and shift, causing me to nearly fall. This tells me that the topple will catch most Christians unaware.
It just occurred to me that right after the Master told us in Matthew 7 that the gate and the way are narrow and few find it; that there are wolves in sheep's clothing; that good trees don't bear bad fruit; and that those who don't keep His law must depart from Him, He says,
"24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon the rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the flood's came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
November 23, 2013 the Father sent me a dream that fits with the two that I had exactly one week ago, today. In this one, I was attending a viewing at a funeral home where I used to clean and assisted families as a funeral dinner hostess. It was an evening visitation. As I entered the funeral home and walked into the visitation/viewing room, I saw people gathered around who I knew to be Christians, some of whom I knew personally. Looking around, I asked the Father, "Whose funeral is this?" He responded to my spirit, "Rod Pierce." I knew instantly that the name was symbolic and not a real person so I wasn't even tempted to look at the front of the room where a casket would be displayed.
Normally, there is conversation, crying, even some soft laughter at funeral homes as people share their grief and stories of the deceased. But this room was completely silent. No one spoke to anyone. Heads were hung low and no one so much as looked at anyone else. I tried to speak in an effort to comfort some of the people that I knew, but they wouldn't even look at me. Their grief went to a depth where tears won't come and comfort is refused. Theirs was an unspeakable, despondent loss.
The interpretation came quickly after I awoke and began to pray. The funeral was for the death of a belief system upon which much of their faith had been built. The Father's rod of correction, defense, and nourishment had smashed their false doctrines and pierced their hearts with sorrow. They did not realize (or want to hear) that this had to take place in order for His Kingdom to come to earth. They didn't know that now that man's religion had been smashed by His iron rod, that His truth and righteousness would bring new life and a sweet fragrance that would fill the whole earth and they would be given the choice of freedom in Messiah that they had never before experienced or even imagined!
www.biblefellowshipunion.co.uk/2010/May_Jun/RuleIron.htm
What do I mean by man's religion? Not just the religions of the world that we quickly see as being false, but going all the way back to Baal worship that is still very much alive and active because it didn't originate with the thoughts of men but from the depths of hell and from there receives its fuel for the nations.
Although I don't agree with everything that Martin Luther taught, I am thankful that he broke away from the teaching of the Catholic church but the reform didn't go far enough. All protestant religions are off shoots of that centralized Catholic system and its principles. In a previous post I wrote that judgment is coming and it will begin at His house and it appears from the dreams, the nearness of the jet and His word to me, "The foundation is crumbling.", that His judgment is at the door.
What I am about to write has been birthed out of years of earnest supplication and much anguish over my own sins and on the behalf of those of pastors, teachers and evangelists. I take no joy in what must be conveyed and the Father is my witness to that truth. Although it is written as a sound rebuke it is also bathed in a love that is heartbroken for you and longs for your repentance.
To the clergy men and women who have played the part of hirelings and are more concerned with their standings, salaries and church growth, who run their congregations on the business principles of the world, thinking they have everything all figured out, who are not open to correction or rebuke from anyone, who surround themselves with people who tell them they are fine and stroke their egos, and in the process they have disregarded and desecrated the Word that reflects the holiness of YHVH; to those who run after the things of the world and devise seeker friendly programs that bring paganism along with the entertainment and the sin of the world into the church and dare to call it evangelism; to those who diligently tend to the whims of the goats while ignoring the needs of the bleating of the sheep, will find their pulpits overturned, and true shepherds who honestly care for the folds of the sick, weak and starving, who love and honor YHVH and His commands and wouldn't dream of fleecing HIS flock, will feed them the truth of the Word and lead them to quiet waters where there is rest for their souls. These chosen and prepared shepherds will rise up in your places! Hear Him this day, The Father has said, "ENOUGH!" The Messiah, Yeshua Ha 'Machiach, whom you call Jesus the Christ will bring righteous judgment upon this Babylonian system that you have dared to call His church!
Remember that the tail section of the plane had the number 34 on it? It was a good thing that as it descended that that section of the plane was right in front of me because the numbers were not painted on, they were engraved. The Hand of YHVH is bringing this judgment and it cannot be changed. How He will choose to do it remains to be seen. Since the number stands for man's religion and money, it wouldn't surprise me if money is part of the downfall. When I asked Him why the number wasn't painted and easy to see, He spoke to my spirit, "Most will not recognize it for what it is." Looking upon it, it may appear to be persecution. He was letting me know that it is not persecution, it is Him coming before, in order to destroy this system and to prepare a people who are fit for His Kingdom.
13 Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righeousness, and the people with his truth."
Psalm 96:13
Last Satuday at the Sabbath Fellowship I attend, part of our extensive Bible study was in Leviticus 10 where the son's of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, had been struck dead. At the end of chapter nine, we find that Aaron had just offered up the sacrifices for the sin offering the burnt offering and the fellowship offering in the prescribed manners in which YHVH had commanded. In 9:23-24 we read,
"23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people.
24 And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the alter the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces."
The Father had clearly accepted and was pleased with their offerings. The people witnessed a display of His pleasure and power and they shouted with awe and fell on their faces in reverence and holy fear.
Then in the very next chapter, Nadab and Abihu rush out and get "strange fire" to put on the alter of YHVH. What is strange fire? I don't know. Maybe it was made by human hands for some other purpose and therefore not set apart as holy. Maybe it was of pagan worship origin and they brought it into the tabernacle and put it on HIS alter. Pagan practices and those who followed it were called "strange". This we know for sure, it is H# 2114 zuwr and as pertaining to this, at its root it was unholy, unlawful, and profane.
After the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, Moses came to Aaron in Leviticus 10:3 and told him,
" 3 ...This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace."
Aaron and his sons knew the commands. Aaron also knew that the Father had reacted justly. Those who draw close to Him are to be sanctified, especially those who represent Him, because through their holiness and the fact that they are to worship Him as He said He must be worshiped, the people see and understand that they too must reverence Him in the way He has told us to reverence Him in holy fear so that He is glorified among the people. But we don't want that. We want to give to Him what we want to offer.
13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one deatheth falsely.
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace peace; where there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, 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.
17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it."
Jeremiah 6:13-19
This story from Leviticus reminded me of the first time we see an unlawful offering being given. As we look to Genesis 4, we see that Abel brought a sacrifice of some fat portions of the firstborn of his flock and the Father looked with favor on his offering. His brother Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil and the Father was not pleased with his offering. Cain became angry and his face was downcast.
"6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."
Genesis 4:6-7
The Law, as it was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai had not yet been given, but Adam had a relationship with the Father unlike any mere human has ever experienced. Even Eve did not have that first communion with Him. Adam knew what was expected of him and he had taught his sons. Otherwise the Father never would have asked Cain what He did in verses six and seven. He was telling him if you do what I ask, you will be accepted.
I see this mirrored again in 2 Corinthians 6:16 - 7:1.
"16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
This morning as I was praying about this post, He also spoke to my spirit,
"1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Romans 12:1-2
These are the kinds of things that He has brought to my mind as I have prayed about the dreams. He has been grieved and has suffered long with us while we have offered Him the things we see as being worthy of Him. We offer Him our programs and our agendas, our money, our idol worship, our abilities, our pagan holidays that we hold so dear, forsaking His commands, HIS Sabbath Day, holy convocations and Feast Days, and think He is pleased; that these things are acceptable to Him because we are sincere. There was a time, Acts 17:30 tells us that,
" 30 ...this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
I will leave you with the story of Saul as written in 1 Samuel 15 and implore you to read it in its entirety. King Saul was given specific instructions on how to carry out YHVH's command but he disobeyed and when confronted, he argued that he did do what he was commanded to do.
"22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as the iniquity and idolatry. Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.
26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou has rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel."
1 Samuel 15:22-26, 35
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Remembering Who We Are
"But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Matthew 15:24
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."
Matthew 10:27
"If ye love me, keep my commandments."
John 14:15
It is interesting to me to discover that a growing number of us who are on this journey are seldom asked, "So ...how did you come to these understandings?" If I had a friend or a family member who I began to see were doing things a bit differently from what they had done in the past, I would ask them why. Maybe that is a rare thing these days. We live in a pluralistic society where different groups of people live and work alongside of one another and yet maintain a measure of their own identity, where the ideas of tolerism and, "What works for you doesn't work for me.", are so common place. Added to that is our constant preoccupation with our own self interests, that it appears that we have become a generation of people who don't really want to know about the lives of other people, unless it seems, out of curiosity and to critique and compare them to ourselves. Christians for the most part are no different.
While I was talking with a friend one day a couple of years ago, she told me that she had been going through the Feasts of the Lord DVD series. The things she said peeked my curiosity and I asked if she would mind if I borrowed them. I was truly blown away by the things that I learned! It was like opening one box of stunning surprises and then another, and another! I had never seen or been taught the connection between the life of the Messiah and the Feasts that I had always seen as just being Jewish holidays and observances. I learned that the Feasts are not Jewish but belong to YHVH and He said they were to be followed through every generation. (Leviticus 23) I am ashamed to admit that I saw the life of my Savior in a way that I had never really seen Him, namely, Jewish. Now before you go thinking, "How lame can she be? Everyone knows He's Jewish!" Do we really? If we are honest with ourselves, instead of trying to defend our beliefs, we have to admit that we've changed Him so much that He is more like us than them in our minds.
Which brings me to the next point.
After watching the series, uncomfortable questions arose in my mind. Ones I had had from time to time as I read the Scriptures, but when those questions would come up in my reading, I pushed them down with some pat answer that I had heard or read time and again during my experience as a believer. I would just apply some (unknowingly incorrect) explanation like, "Jesus nailed the law to the cross so we don't have to follow it anymore." Or, "The law is for the Jews. We live under grace." Or even those added by translators and found in parentheses, like Mark 7:19 in the NIV ("In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.") http://www.biblelight.net/unclean-foods-jesus.htm Pat answers that I really didn't know the meaning to, but they were what I heard, so who was I to question them? But in looking back, what it really boiled down to in my mind was that other than stories from the lives of characters in the Old Testament that I could learn from, and the Ten (well, nine) Commandments, and probably less than a handful of abominations that are written in there, the teachings didn't apply to me because they were given only to the Jews. I mean, isn't that what Dispensational Theology and Replacement/Covenant Theology teaches Christians? That the Jewish people are separate from us? Or we replaced them because they rejected Jesus and because of His sacrifice we are now free to live only under grace? Part of Dispensationalism believes that only those commands explicitly given after the book of Acts apply to us today. Nearly all of the thirty seven thousand Christian denominations have most of those theologies securely in place and most of those teachings did not become mainstream, through commentaries in study Bibles, universities and conferences until the late 19th century.
"Ironically enough", it was around this same time of questioning that another friend of mine posed that uncomfortable question to me that I wrote about in "Ho Ho Ho!" The Beginning - Part 1, "If the Word of God is supposed to be taken literally and He is the same yesterday, today and forever, then why don't we do everything it says to do?" I stared at her e mail and for the life of me I couldn't give her one of those pat answers. They had begun to ring hollow. What if He expected more of me and of the corporate us? I had always heard it preached and taught, "We don't live under the Mosaic law." Well, if that is true and the law is only for the Jews, then other than the fact that Christian churches don't keep His Sabbath from sundown Friday night to sundown on Saturday, why do we try to adhere to the other nine Commandments that were written by the very hand of YHVH and given to Moses on top of Mt. Sinai? It doesn't get any more Mosaic than that. Some people may not see themselves as being accountable to the Mosaic laws that govern this country either, but if they got caught breaking one, their perspective would quickly change.
Here is an illustration from my life. A few weeks ago I was having a discussion with one of my grandsons. We were on the topic of discipline and how come there seems to be different rules for different kids. He wondered how come some kids can do things that he can't. I explained the difference is because those kids belong to other parents, and parents have been given the choice to rear their children the way they see fit. A problem comes when there are different rules for different kids living within the same family. That causes a lot of strife and it is a fault that lies with the parents, not the children. I told him that there may come a time when he is older that he could hear his dad say, "If you are going to live under this roof, you will live by my rules." I went on to tell him that his dad has that authority. I explained that he is accountable to God for how his children are brought up and the word tells us that if a parent doesn't discipline their children, they hate them. (Proverbs 13:24) That would be like parents telling their kids that they don't care what they do, or how they treat others, or how their lives end up - or even if they inherit eternal life or death. If children do not learn to obey and bring pleasure to an earthly father that they can see, they will have a very hard time learning to obey and bring great pleasure to the heavenly One whom they cannot see. Good parents have good rules that are taken from the word, and they will stand by those rules for the good of each one of their children and society at large.
The Father's wisdom shines brightly in the way that He desired homes to be an earthly reflection of His Kingdom. We see this in places such as: Genesis 2:18-25, Psalm 127:3, Malachi 2:13-15 and Ephesians 5:22-33 and 6:1-4. Since the plan for earthly families was His perfect design, no matter how much we have messed it up, how much more right to authority does He have over children who have asked to be adopted into His family and therefore intend to spend eternity in His House? Pause for a moment and think on that.
As a Loving Father YHVH did what He could. He gave us His instructions and right rulings that were obeyed by some and not obeyed by most of the others, until the fullness of time came and His only begotten Son was born and lived a perfect life as THE WORD - The Living Torah. He taught people how to live out His Father's instructions, showing them the love of the Spirit behind the Law, and His disciples and His true first century followers ...followed. About three hundred years later, Roman Emperor Constantine and Pope Julius thought they could do it better and nothing has ever been the same. Is that your fault or mine? No, it isn't. But once we have been shown the truth we have a responsibility before YHVH to uphold it and live by it.
The Scriptures and history shows, that because of disobedience to YHVH's instructions and right rulings, the Israelites were divided into northern Israel and southern Judah and were sent into captivity. After seventy years, the tribes of Benjamin and Judah came back. Jeremiah 29:10-14 The ten northern tribes never returned and they scattered to the four corners of the earth. Those who went to what is now Great Britain, eventually made their way to what would become the United States. There were very good reasons why the Puritans fled religious persecution and once they arrived here they kept YHVH's Sabbath and outlawed Christmas and Easter and All-Saints Day. Their reasoning was based on the adherence to the Scriptures interpreting the Scriptures; not the ways in which men had interpreted it. The word of YHVH is living and is its own witness to the truth! They believed in following the First and the Renewed Covenants of the Bible as they are written. Other believers then and now rise up in opposition of this, saying, "The Savior fulfilled the law so we don't have to!" Well again, the Bible wasn't written in English. The Hebrew word for fulfilled is: lekayem (le-KAI-yem) which means to uphold, establish, explain, interpret. In the Greek, fulfill is pierro which means "to obey as it was intended." Not "done away with" as we have been taught. No WONDER the church is in the condition that it is! Those of us who spend much time in the word at all tend to read transliterations of translations and the commentaries within study Bibles written by individuals whose preaching and books we enjoy.
As a result of all of this, believers don't know right from wrong and we have forgotten who we are!
One evening as my husband I were discussing this, I told him that I see the writing on the wall as it pertains to people I love who are angered by this truth, but I cannot be silent. The church has been veiled from it for too long! Time is increasingly short and we had better know whom we have believed in!
"6a For I am the Lord, I change not;"
Malachi 3:6a
"8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."
Hebrews 13:8
"9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
Acts 1:9-11
"38 Whoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Mark 8:38
and Luke 9:26
In closing, I ask that you please put aside your own theological bent and positions on these matters and look at the Scriptures with new eyes. With eyes to see and a heart to understand the teaching of the entire Bible. What you see below are sites that you can turn to for biblical and historical truth and understanding so that in these last days we can remember who we are.
http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/booklets/the-united-states-and-great-britain-in-prophecy
Matthew 15:24
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."
Matthew 10:27
"If ye love me, keep my commandments."
John 14:15
It is interesting to me to discover that a growing number of us who are on this journey are seldom asked, "So ...how did you come to these understandings?" If I had a friend or a family member who I began to see were doing things a bit differently from what they had done in the past, I would ask them why. Maybe that is a rare thing these days. We live in a pluralistic society where different groups of people live and work alongside of one another and yet maintain a measure of their own identity, where the ideas of tolerism and, "What works for you doesn't work for me.", are so common place. Added to that is our constant preoccupation with our own self interests, that it appears that we have become a generation of people who don't really want to know about the lives of other people, unless it seems, out of curiosity and to critique and compare them to ourselves. Christians for the most part are no different.
While I was talking with a friend one day a couple of years ago, she told me that she had been going through the Feasts of the Lord DVD series. The things she said peeked my curiosity and I asked if she would mind if I borrowed them. I was truly blown away by the things that I learned! It was like opening one box of stunning surprises and then another, and another! I had never seen or been taught the connection between the life of the Messiah and the Feasts that I had always seen as just being Jewish holidays and observances. I learned that the Feasts are not Jewish but belong to YHVH and He said they were to be followed through every generation. (Leviticus 23) I am ashamed to admit that I saw the life of my Savior in a way that I had never really seen Him, namely, Jewish. Now before you go thinking, "How lame can she be? Everyone knows He's Jewish!" Do we really? If we are honest with ourselves, instead of trying to defend our beliefs, we have to admit that we've changed Him so much that He is more like us than them in our minds.
Which brings me to the next point.
After watching the series, uncomfortable questions arose in my mind. Ones I had had from time to time as I read the Scriptures, but when those questions would come up in my reading, I pushed them down with some pat answer that I had heard or read time and again during my experience as a believer. I would just apply some (unknowingly incorrect) explanation like, "Jesus nailed the law to the cross so we don't have to follow it anymore." Or, "The law is for the Jews. We live under grace." Or even those added by translators and found in parentheses, like Mark 7:19 in the NIV ("In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.") http://www.biblelight.net/unclean-foods-jesus.htm Pat answers that I really didn't know the meaning to, but they were what I heard, so who was I to question them? But in looking back, what it really boiled down to in my mind was that other than stories from the lives of characters in the Old Testament that I could learn from, and the Ten (well, nine) Commandments, and probably less than a handful of abominations that are written in there, the teachings didn't apply to me because they were given only to the Jews. I mean, isn't that what Dispensational Theology and Replacement/Covenant Theology teaches Christians? That the Jewish people are separate from us? Or we replaced them because they rejected Jesus and because of His sacrifice we are now free to live only under grace? Part of Dispensationalism believes that only those commands explicitly given after the book of Acts apply to us today. Nearly all of the thirty seven thousand Christian denominations have most of those theologies securely in place and most of those teachings did not become mainstream, through commentaries in study Bibles, universities and conferences until the late 19th century.
"Ironically enough", it was around this same time of questioning that another friend of mine posed that uncomfortable question to me that I wrote about in "Ho Ho Ho!" The Beginning - Part 1, "If the Word of God is supposed to be taken literally and He is the same yesterday, today and forever, then why don't we do everything it says to do?" I stared at her e mail and for the life of me I couldn't give her one of those pat answers. They had begun to ring hollow. What if He expected more of me and of the corporate us? I had always heard it preached and taught, "We don't live under the Mosaic law." Well, if that is true and the law is only for the Jews, then other than the fact that Christian churches don't keep His Sabbath from sundown Friday night to sundown on Saturday, why do we try to adhere to the other nine Commandments that were written by the very hand of YHVH and given to Moses on top of Mt. Sinai? It doesn't get any more Mosaic than that. Some people may not see themselves as being accountable to the Mosaic laws that govern this country either, but if they got caught breaking one, their perspective would quickly change.
Here is an illustration from my life. A few weeks ago I was having a discussion with one of my grandsons. We were on the topic of discipline and how come there seems to be different rules for different kids. He wondered how come some kids can do things that he can't. I explained the difference is because those kids belong to other parents, and parents have been given the choice to rear their children the way they see fit. A problem comes when there are different rules for different kids living within the same family. That causes a lot of strife and it is a fault that lies with the parents, not the children. I told him that there may come a time when he is older that he could hear his dad say, "If you are going to live under this roof, you will live by my rules." I went on to tell him that his dad has that authority. I explained that he is accountable to God for how his children are brought up and the word tells us that if a parent doesn't discipline their children, they hate them. (Proverbs 13:24) That would be like parents telling their kids that they don't care what they do, or how they treat others, or how their lives end up - or even if they inherit eternal life or death. If children do not learn to obey and bring pleasure to an earthly father that they can see, they will have a very hard time learning to obey and bring great pleasure to the heavenly One whom they cannot see. Good parents have good rules that are taken from the word, and they will stand by those rules for the good of each one of their children and society at large.
The Father's wisdom shines brightly in the way that He desired homes to be an earthly reflection of His Kingdom. We see this in places such as: Genesis 2:18-25, Psalm 127:3, Malachi 2:13-15 and Ephesians 5:22-33 and 6:1-4. Since the plan for earthly families was His perfect design, no matter how much we have messed it up, how much more right to authority does He have over children who have asked to be adopted into His family and therefore intend to spend eternity in His House? Pause for a moment and think on that.
As a Loving Father YHVH did what He could. He gave us His instructions and right rulings that were obeyed by some and not obeyed by most of the others, until the fullness of time came and His only begotten Son was born and lived a perfect life as THE WORD - The Living Torah. He taught people how to live out His Father's instructions, showing them the love of the Spirit behind the Law, and His disciples and His true first century followers ...followed. About three hundred years later, Roman Emperor Constantine and Pope Julius thought they could do it better and nothing has ever been the same. Is that your fault or mine? No, it isn't. But once we have been shown the truth we have a responsibility before YHVH to uphold it and live by it.
The Scriptures and history shows, that because of disobedience to YHVH's instructions and right rulings, the Israelites were divided into northern Israel and southern Judah and were sent into captivity. After seventy years, the tribes of Benjamin and Judah came back. Jeremiah 29:10-14 The ten northern tribes never returned and they scattered to the four corners of the earth. Those who went to what is now Great Britain, eventually made their way to what would become the United States. There were very good reasons why the Puritans fled religious persecution and once they arrived here they kept YHVH's Sabbath and outlawed Christmas and Easter and All-Saints Day. Their reasoning was based on the adherence to the Scriptures interpreting the Scriptures; not the ways in which men had interpreted it. The word of YHVH is living and is its own witness to the truth! They believed in following the First and the Renewed Covenants of the Bible as they are written. Other believers then and now rise up in opposition of this, saying, "The Savior fulfilled the law so we don't have to!" Well again, the Bible wasn't written in English. The Hebrew word for fulfilled is: lekayem (le-KAI-yem) which means to uphold, establish, explain, interpret. In the Greek, fulfill is pierro which means "to obey as it was intended." Not "done away with" as we have been taught. No WONDER the church is in the condition that it is! Those of us who spend much time in the word at all tend to read transliterations of translations and the commentaries within study Bibles written by individuals whose preaching and books we enjoy.
As a result of all of this, believers don't know right from wrong and we have forgotten who we are!
One evening as my husband I were discussing this, I told him that I see the writing on the wall as it pertains to people I love who are angered by this truth, but I cannot be silent. The church has been veiled from it for too long! Time is increasingly short and we had better know whom we have believed in!
"6a For I am the Lord, I change not;"
Malachi 3:6a
"8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."
Hebrews 13:8
"9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
Acts 1:9-11
"38 Whoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Mark 8:38
and Luke 9:26
In closing, I ask that you please put aside your own theological bent and positions on these matters and look at the Scriptures with new eyes. With eyes to see and a heart to understand the teaching of the entire Bible. What you see below are sites that you can turn to for biblical and historical truth and understanding so that in these last days we can remember who we are.
My body was covered with goose bumps and I cried while watching this video clip!
http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/booklets/the-united-states-and-great-britain-in-prophecy
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