Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Halakah
Careful observation of what is happening in Matt. 12 shows us that the Jews which were in authority, were questioning Him and His disciples because they were "breaking" the halaka (how to walk in or keep Torah) which the Rabbis had added to the writings of Moses, and they put their halaka (oral law, Talmud, Mishnah, etc.) on the same level of authority and in some cases above what was given by YHWH to Moses. Jump to Matt. 15 to see what Yeshua (Jesus) said to them about their tradition or the tradition of their fathers. The problem has always been man adding to or taking away from what YHWH gave to his chosen, for them to live in Righteousness, not be Righteous. Salvation never has and never will come from walking in Torah, that is only given to those who believe and confess Yeshua as the promised Messiah and ask for forgiveness through His Blood. Legalism is what the Jews then and now, as well as some Christians, think that their "works" of the Law is what saves them. It doesn't. Torah is literally our Father's Instructions and we should want to walk in them (those that apply) out of Love. These upper level authorities of the Jews were threatened by Yeshua's teaching against their halaka. This is why they wanted to get rid of Him. But, this was all known ahead of time and had to happen to fulfill prophecy.
How to show Him our Love...
Reading all of 1 John will reveal to you how we show Him that we Love Him and how we love our neighbor. We are to Love G-D first and then our neighbor. All the christian verse pickers like to talk about John 3:16, but what they fail to do is read 20 verses after that. In Hebrew thinking, Belief and Obedience are synonyms. One of our greatest examples of Faith was/is Abraham, Genesis 26:5 is very clear in how he lived. Yeshua lived perfectly within Torah and 1 John 2:3-6 tells us we should walk as He did. The mistake that most make is confusing salvation and righteousness. Salvation is not earned by walking in Torah, that only comes through the Blood of Y'shua. Walking in Torah doesn't make us Right-eous with our Father, Torah is how we walk because of Y'shua's Righteousness. One other point is the mistake of calling Torah "Law". This is a greek/english interpretation error. Greek only had one root word to describe anything that was of law or instruction "nomia" or "nomous". Instruction is not the same as Law. We do only know in part and see in the mirror dimly, however isn't it the point that we are at least trying to know and see? Maranatha , John
Many Rooms
Isaiah 26:19-21... The rooms mentioned in this text is what Yeshua was referring when he spoke what is said in John 14:2-3. Yeshua is almost done with our "room" and His Father is about to tell Him to go and gather His Bride. The Bridegroom is coming and we need to make sure we have the Oil of Torah in our flask before He comes.. Matt. 25:1-13. Maranatha, John
Mistranslated Words are Game Changers
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Romans 10:4, NASB... Interestingly, if we look at the footnote on the word "end" we see that it should be "goal". "For Messiah is the GOAL of the Torah for Righteousness to everyone who Believes" This is likened to a Football game. When one of the teams makes it to the Goal line or End Zone for the first time doesn't mean the whole game is over... Amazing how one word can make such a difference in our understanding... Maranatha, John
Truth or Lies
Because people don't have a desire for the Truth they have been brainwashed and have believed a Lie. G-D has not given them the eyes, ears and heart for Torah. These poor people have believed the lie that "Jesus" and Paul started a new religion called "christianity". What they fail to see is that both Yeshua and Shaul (Paul) were both devout Jews and stood for Torah ONLY. Christians confuse Yeshua and Paul's dealings with the Oral Torah aka Traditions of Men. Paul never went or taught against Torah. He never called himself anything other than a Pharisee, a Jew and of the sect called "the Way". The only thing that changed with Paul after the scales fell off his eyes, was he then believed in Yeshua, which before his conversion, had been fighting against. No new religion, just Torah based "Judaism" coupled with the belief and obedience to Y'shua. With all of this being said, we still need to plant seeds and pray for them to be watered with the Ruach ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit), allowing them to grow in the Good Ground... We have to teach them that Y'shua was/is the Torah made flesh and that "fulfill" doesn't mean accomplished and done away with. This is exactly what John 1 is trying to show us. Maranatha, John
Paul's Change of Heart
If someone says that Paul was a Christian and left Judaism to follow Jesus, No Christian will argue... However, if someone says that Paul was not a Christian, but instead a Jew who's eyes were opened to the Messiah in which the Jews of his day were looking for, you will probably get dragged out into the street and beaten. I have looked and it is true, No Where in the Bible does Paul ever call himself a Christian, nor does any of the other Bible writers. Instead, Paul calls himself a Jew, a Pharisee, a Hebrew, an Israelite, and of the sect called "the Way".. Acts 21:39; 23:6; 24:14; 26:5, Philipians 3:5, Romans 11:1, 2 Corinthians 11:22. Notice the "present tense" in these verses. The only thing that I can see that changed with Paul was his name (Saul) and that he became a believer in the Promised Messiah, Yeshua.. Maranatha, John
True Worship or False Tradition
In my past I used to believe that I was honoring and worshiping Jesus while celebrating Christmas, however after several years and a lot of study, I no longer believe that Christmas has anything to do with the True Messiah that is written about in the Bible. Most people hold on to this holiday because of long held happy feelings because of the tradition that they learned from their parents. (Remember these are the people that also told you there was a Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and took you Trick-or-Treating.) For us to actually learn where this traditional holiday really comes from we MUST step out of our feelings and emotions and actually study Scripture and History to allow the Lord to show us if what we are following is of HIS Ways or not. Some of the things that really challenged me was; the word itself, "Christmas" or Christ Mass. I am not Catholic, so what have I to do with partaking of "Mass". We are brought up believing that this holiday celebrates His birth, but simply within the word "Christ Mas(s), we see it has to do with His death. If we take the time to do a word study on Christmas, we find that it means Christ's death or sacrifice. In context, 'Mass' [mas] is a noun meaning "the celebration of the Eucharist", which is the believed partaking of the actual flesh of the body of Christ. Yes, this sacrament from Catholicism is that the little cracker or wafer actually becomes His flesh within the person partaking of it.
There are Biblical Time-line studies that prove that Yeshua (Jesus) was not born on Dec. 25, but during the Fall Feast of Sukkot ( Feast of Tabernacles). A study of Mithraism, shows us that it was Tammuz who was born on Dec. 25. With this knowledge, we must ask ourselves, where in the Bible does it tell us to remember or celebrate the birthday of our Messiah? What about the Christmas Tree and what it symbolizes... Like it or not it is a fertility symbol and if you knew what garland, tinsel, and the balls etc. are; you would be embarrased to have it in your house. There is more, but you get the general idea. Some will say that it doesn't hurt anything to celebrate Christmas because GOD knows our heart and he is happy to accept our worship through this holiday. To this, I point you to a couple of Scriptures.. Jeremiah 10 and Leviticus 10. Notice that Nadab and Abihu wanted to Worship the LORD with incense and in their heart and mind they were doing what was right, however HE didn't accept their "worship" and HE destroyed them because of their error. So, for me, just the little bit of evidence that I have given here should be enough to cause the Believer to dig deeper and challenge their traditions.. Here is a link to several studies on the subject that can be helpful.
http://otbg.blogspot.com/search?q=christmas
To those who read this, I hope that you know that it is written with Love and understanding and if it makes you upset at me, I understand, but I will say that your fight is not with me, but with GOD.. Go ahead and Wrestle with HIM just like Jacob did and don't be afraid to ask HIM for a Blessing.. I hope that you will read the following verses from the Bible and then do as the Bereans did by searching the Scriptures to see if these things be so. Acts 17:11... *** Malachi 3:6-7; Jeremiah 26:13, Isaiah 8:20..*** John
There are Biblical Time-line studies that prove that Yeshua (Jesus) was not born on Dec. 25, but during the Fall Feast of Sukkot ( Feast of Tabernacles). A study of Mithraism, shows us that it was Tammuz who was born on Dec. 25. With this knowledge, we must ask ourselves, where in the Bible does it tell us to remember or celebrate the birthday of our Messiah? What about the Christmas Tree and what it symbolizes... Like it or not it is a fertility symbol and if you knew what garland, tinsel, and the balls etc. are; you would be embarrased to have it in your house. There is more, but you get the general idea. Some will say that it doesn't hurt anything to celebrate Christmas because GOD knows our heart and he is happy to accept our worship through this holiday. To this, I point you to a couple of Scriptures.. Jeremiah 10 and Leviticus 10. Notice that Nadab and Abihu wanted to Worship the LORD with incense and in their heart and mind they were doing what was right, however HE didn't accept their "worship" and HE destroyed them because of their error. So, for me, just the little bit of evidence that I have given here should be enough to cause the Believer to dig deeper and challenge their traditions.. Here is a link to several studies on the subject that can be helpful.
http://otbg.blogspot.com/search?q=christmas
To those who read this, I hope that you know that it is written with Love and understanding and if it makes you upset at me, I understand, but I will say that your fight is not with me, but with GOD.. Go ahead and Wrestle with HIM just like Jacob did and don't be afraid to ask HIM for a Blessing.. I hope that you will read the following verses from the Bible and then do as the Bereans did by searching the Scriptures to see if these things be so. Acts 17:11... *** Malachi 3:6-7; Jeremiah 26:13, Isaiah 8:20..*** John
Monday, September 24, 2012
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
To Beard or Not To Beard... To Shave or Not To Shave...
After watching a Youtube video about beards, I have to say that as a man that wears a beard, I have to disagree with what was stated and done in this video. I have decided not to name the person who put this video together, but it can be found on Youtube and has two men trying to teach Biblically why men should have a beard and why they shouldn't shave or trim it. What I saw in this video was men who have turned their beard into an idol. You could see the pride all over their faces and in their talk about it, and this is very wrong. A whole lot of attention given to a beard instead of our Heavenly Father, Yahweh! Concerning the reference to 2 Samuel 10:4 as support for his teaching is really not adequate and doesn't consider what Torah actually says. In 2 Samuel 10:4, David's servants were publicly humiliated by Hanan because he thought that they were spies. These pagans either shaved them with a hairstyle that would have been common for an Ammonite man or shaved them in such a way that made them look rediculous and then cut off their garments to expose their buttocks and genitals. An outrageous act that would humiliate the manliest of men. When David told them to wait till their beard grew back, it was possibly so they wouldn't look like one of the Torahless pagan Ammonites when they went out to battle. The other references didn't add any truth, just a bunch of ear tickling and didn't prove anything.
If we look at the Torah, we find in Lev. 19:9-37 what is called the "Sundry Laws".. Notice the "bookends" inserted periodically within this section of Torah. "I am the Lord" or "I am the Lord your God".. or as I like to render it as "I am Yahweh" or "I am Yahweh your Elohim".. Notice at the end of verse 25 this "bookmark" is inserted and then begins a new discourse in verse 26 concerning not eating blood, practicing divination or soothsaying, rounding off the side growth of your head, the edges of your beard, cuts in the flesh and tattoo marks "for the dead". Then the "bookend" again. So, everything contained within these "bookends" pertains to the same thing. It is all about not being the same as the pagans that they walked amongst. It is about being set-apart or holy in the sight of Yahweh, not as one of the common people of the area which were Torahless Pagans. Some will argue the "bookend" position and say that the trimming of the hair or beard doesn't fall into the "for the dead" designation, however Torah doesn't leave us without a definitive answer. Deuteronomy 14:1 cannot be any clearer about this.. "You are the sons of YAHWEH your Elohim; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead." This verse should end the discussion completely! Let's see why Yahweh tells us this. In verse 2 He tells us... "For you are a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim, and YAHWEH has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." It seems very clear to me that all of the Instructions in Torah are in opposition to the practices of the pagans. And to be a Son of Yahweh, I should obey and not be in accord with the "peoples who are on the face of the earth". I am to be peculiar and separate, especially in the areas that my Father in Heaven has shown me in His Word. Now, with all of this being said, I will agree with the statement that "if you can grow it, do it", but I think that it is clear that it is only a Sin, if we shave, trim, tattoo, cut our flesh etc. "for the dead". If we look into historical evidence, we find that these pagan practices were practiced then and even now..
Now, to be clear, I am not knocking down the act of growing a beard, because Torah also teaches a man should not be effeminate Deut. 22:5 and Shaul (Paul) speaks against it in 1 Cor. 6:9... A beard quickly delineates between male and female. The act of purposely making yourself effeminate by dressing in womens clothing or wearing your hair like a woman is really what is the problem that Torah and Paul are dealing with. If someone can't grow a beard or chooses to shave is not a sin. My problem is not with a man having a beard or shaving, but with the twisting of Scripture to make it into something that Yah never intended... An object of display, spectacle, or an idol which would draw attention to us instead of Yahweh and His Word... I just think that we shouldn't put so much time into such a potentially vain thing, instead put our energy, effort and attention into study, witness and worship... Maranatha, John Dandridge
If we look at the Torah, we find in Lev. 19:9-37 what is called the "Sundry Laws".. Notice the "bookends" inserted periodically within this section of Torah. "I am the Lord" or "I am the Lord your God".. or as I like to render it as "I am Yahweh" or "I am Yahweh your Elohim".. Notice at the end of verse 25 this "bookmark" is inserted and then begins a new discourse in verse 26 concerning not eating blood, practicing divination or soothsaying, rounding off the side growth of your head, the edges of your beard, cuts in the flesh and tattoo marks "for the dead". Then the "bookend" again. So, everything contained within these "bookends" pertains to the same thing. It is all about not being the same as the pagans that they walked amongst. It is about being set-apart or holy in the sight of Yahweh, not as one of the common people of the area which were Torahless Pagans. Some will argue the "bookend" position and say that the trimming of the hair or beard doesn't fall into the "for the dead" designation, however Torah doesn't leave us without a definitive answer. Deuteronomy 14:1 cannot be any clearer about this.. "You are the sons of YAHWEH your Elohim; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead." This verse should end the discussion completely! Let's see why Yahweh tells us this. In verse 2 He tells us... "For you are a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim, and YAHWEH has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." It seems very clear to me that all of the Instructions in Torah are in opposition to the practices of the pagans. And to be a Son of Yahweh, I should obey and not be in accord with the "peoples who are on the face of the earth". I am to be peculiar and separate, especially in the areas that my Father in Heaven has shown me in His Word. Now, with all of this being said, I will agree with the statement that "if you can grow it, do it", but I think that it is clear that it is only a Sin, if we shave, trim, tattoo, cut our flesh etc. "for the dead". If we look into historical evidence, we find that these pagan practices were practiced then and even now..
Now, to be clear, I am not knocking down the act of growing a beard, because Torah also teaches a man should not be effeminate Deut. 22:5 and Shaul (Paul) speaks against it in 1 Cor. 6:9... A beard quickly delineates between male and female. The act of purposely making yourself effeminate by dressing in womens clothing or wearing your hair like a woman is really what is the problem that Torah and Paul are dealing with. If someone can't grow a beard or chooses to shave is not a sin. My problem is not with a man having a beard or shaving, but with the twisting of Scripture to make it into something that Yah never intended... An object of display, spectacle, or an idol which would draw attention to us instead of Yahweh and His Word... I just think that we shouldn't put so much time into such a potentially vain thing, instead put our energy, effort and attention into study, witness and worship... Maranatha, John Dandridge
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Another Look at 2 Thessalonians 2
How the anti-netzal (anti-rapture) people like to interpret 2 Thessalonian 2, doesn't make sense as a whole to me. Apostasia can mean "departure". If the believers are to be married to Y'shua, then at the last trump (Yom Teruah), He will gather His bride and depart to their room (Isaiah 26:19-21; Joel 2:16). The Holy Spirit residing within the Bride (those walking in belief and obedience to Y'shua) is what is "restraining" the revealing of the man of Torahlessness. The bride is the believer's who obey NOW and at the time of the last trump. After this, those who didn't believe and obey Torah before the last trump, will have an oportunity to become new followers of Yeshua, and either believe and obey or not. These new saints will go through the Tribulation, some will be killed and some will make it through. These people will be the ones being pursued and hated by the enemy. The "netzal" is not His Second Coming. His second coming is when His feet touch down on the Mount of Olives and He sets up His Kingdom on Earth after the Great Trump (Yom Kippur). There is a huge scripture trail that can be given, but everyone reading this has to ability to research this and put it together if they are given the eyes and ears. The Netzal/Rapture teaching is certainly not something to argue about, so I won't get into any on this one. For arguments sake though, if we are going to be here for the Tribulation., then so be it. Either way it is up to Yahweh and wether we are here on Earth during the Tribulation or in Heaven, we will have to be clothed with garments of Salvation (Y'shua), only given to those who reside in the favor (Grace) of our Heavenly Father, or we won't make it through... Isa. 61:10.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Genie in a Bottle
In my past I got "sucked in" to the Yahwist line of teaching that unless you say Yahweh, you are lost. The people that believe this are basically making our Creator out to be a magic genie in a bottle that will not hear and grant your wish unless you say this "magic" word. I am so glad that my eyes were opened. Paul's writing in Acts 17:22-34 speaks loudly to us concerning YHWH being worshiped even though His Name is unknown.
Torah is His Character and is how He rules. When we live within Torah, we declare His Name! With that said, I must say that His name is most certainly NOT Yehovah or Jehovah. "Hovah" in hebrew is ruin, mischief, iniquity, naughtiness, noisome, or a perverse thing (Strong's #1942 & 1943). Our Creator is Absolutely Not any of those things. On the contrary, haSatan (the adversary) is. This is one of two points of contention that I have concerning the names used in reference to our Father. The other is the fact that Y'shua means Yah is Salvation. In Hebrew this is easy to see and put together, however this is lost in Greek and English. Iesus and Jesus do not contain "Salvation" within them. Y'shua became Iesus because of the lack of letters in Greek with the same sounding to be able to transliterate it correctly, and then the name Jesus came out of that. So truly the translators should have translated Y'shua into Iesoter, Iesoteria, Jesoter or Jesoteria to at least retain the meaning of His Name. The simple point is that we should do our best with the knowledge that we have and if we know that there is a name used to describe our Father or His Messiah that takes away who He truly is and binds Him with haSatan, then we need to not use those names to speak of the One who is Set-Apart (Holy). We should not use any name of this World's ruler, haSatan, and apply it to our Creator. Another thing that needs to be mentioned is that when we are redeemed and all worship Him with one language, He will then take the names of "baal" away. Hosea 2:14-23; Zeph 3:9; Mal 2:6.. Maranatha, John
Torah is His Character and is how He rules. When we live within Torah, we declare His Name! With that said, I must say that His name is most certainly NOT Yehovah or Jehovah. "Hovah" in hebrew is ruin, mischief, iniquity, naughtiness, noisome, or a perverse thing (Strong's #1942 & 1943). Our Creator is Absolutely Not any of those things. On the contrary, haSatan (the adversary) is. This is one of two points of contention that I have concerning the names used in reference to our Father. The other is the fact that Y'shua means Yah is Salvation. In Hebrew this is easy to see and put together, however this is lost in Greek and English. Iesus and Jesus do not contain "Salvation" within them. Y'shua became Iesus because of the lack of letters in Greek with the same sounding to be able to transliterate it correctly, and then the name Jesus came out of that. So truly the translators should have translated Y'shua into Iesoter, Iesoteria, Jesoter or Jesoteria to at least retain the meaning of His Name. The simple point is that we should do our best with the knowledge that we have and if we know that there is a name used to describe our Father or His Messiah that takes away who He truly is and binds Him with haSatan, then we need to not use those names to speak of the One who is Set-Apart (Holy). We should not use any name of this World's ruler, haSatan, and apply it to our Creator. Another thing that needs to be mentioned is that when we are redeemed and all worship Him with one language, He will then take the names of "baal" away. Hosea 2:14-23; Zeph 3:9; Mal 2:6.. Maranatha, John
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Restraint of the Lawless Man
I just want to share my difficulty with the teaching about the restrainer spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2 as being satan. In my reading and study, I don't come up with that understanding. This teaching is being taught by a prominent writer and I don't agree, so I wanted to share a few points.
First, the word "apostasia" can and probably should have been translated "departure". Read 2 Thess. and remember that the context is whether or not the day of the Lord has come. Insert "departure" into it instead of apostasy or falling away and then consider that it is the Holy Spirit that dwells within the elect that has departed. I think that it is the Holy Spirit that dwells within us that is restraining the man of lawlessness (no Torah). notice v7, He restrains until He (Holy Spirit) is taken away, then the lawless man is revealed. Note v10 speaks of a contrast to the elect. It speaks of those who perish because they didn't have a love for the Truth (Torah). The elect is the Bride, that He, Y'shua is coming to take to "their room" of safety (Isa. 26:19-21; Joel 2:16), and since the Holy Spirit's restraining influence is within the Bride and is then removed from the Earth, haSatan is able to go full force against the inhabitants of the Earth.
I also have trouble with his teaching concerning the tares interfering with the growth of the wheat. Anyone who has worked with harvesting wheat knows that this is not true, they grow together and you can't tell what is what until harvest. Matt. 13:30 speaks of the harvesters being instructed to gather the tares (those who perish because they don't have a love for the Torah) to be burned, but the wheat, (the elected saints who believe and obey Y'shua, the Torah made flesh. John 1) having value to the landowner, is seperated from the tares. The landowner tells His workers to gather the wheat into the barn to be protected and preserved in the safety of His barn. Anyway, not really trying to prove anything, just putting an idea out there that (for me) makes more sense. I have left out a lot, but I think that you can get the idea that I am trying to state.
First, the word "apostasia" can and probably should have been translated "departure". Read 2 Thess. and remember that the context is whether or not the day of the Lord has come. Insert "departure" into it instead of apostasy or falling away and then consider that it is the Holy Spirit that dwells within the elect that has departed. I think that it is the Holy Spirit that dwells within us that is restraining the man of lawlessness (no Torah). notice v7, He restrains until He (Holy Spirit) is taken away, then the lawless man is revealed. Note v10 speaks of a contrast to the elect. It speaks of those who perish because they didn't have a love for the Truth (Torah). The elect is the Bride, that He, Y'shua is coming to take to "their room" of safety (Isa. 26:19-21; Joel 2:16), and since the Holy Spirit's restraining influence is within the Bride and is then removed from the Earth, haSatan is able to go full force against the inhabitants of the Earth.
I also have trouble with his teaching concerning the tares interfering with the growth of the wheat. Anyone who has worked with harvesting wheat knows that this is not true, they grow together and you can't tell what is what until harvest. Matt. 13:30 speaks of the harvesters being instructed to gather the tares (those who perish because they don't have a love for the Torah) to be burned, but the wheat, (the elected saints who believe and obey Y'shua, the Torah made flesh. John 1) having value to the landowner, is seperated from the tares. The landowner tells His workers to gather the wheat into the barn to be protected and preserved in the safety of His barn. Anyway, not really trying to prove anything, just putting an idea out there that (for me) makes more sense. I have left out a lot, but I think that you can get the idea that I am trying to state.
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