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

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.

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

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.

Peace, Loving Compassion, Grace, and Mercy

What judgement has been placed upon me, that I might be eternally shunned? Where is the compassion and longsuffering of a Father to His son, though the son be tempted and fall away? Where are the open arms of a Father when His son is humbled and turns back, seeking forgiveness and acceptance? What man has turned away his heart from our Father's example and seated himself as judge of those which he knows not? Who is the man who observes from a distance, thinking he knows the one whom he is passing judgement? Who is the man that passes a verdict of guilty upon the one who is attempting to please His Father? Who is the one finding fault, as his brother tries his best to follow their Father's instruction, howbeit, the flesh is overcome and misses the mark? Who is the man who knows not the frame of mankind, that he is but dust? Praise be to the One and Only Father, who remembers that He made man and holds the intimate knowledge of His creation. Praise be to the One who has pity for His creatures and wants not one to be lost. Praise be to the One who made Himself as dust, to walk among His creatures with mercy and compassion, to be The Living example of His Word, which He created in The Beginning. Praise be to our Abba YAHWEH and His Messiah, Yeshua. Full of Shalom (peace), Chesed (loving compassion), Chen (grace), and Racham (mercy). Psalm 84:11-12; Proverbs 4; Psalm 6; 102; 103; Luke 15:11-32; Matthew 7:3-5; Hebrews 4:12; James 4:11-12, 5:9-11

Remember

People just want to be remembered. Each one of us is more than just a number. We should try to be more in tune with those around us, giving notice if someone hasn't come to work, Bible study, or where ever we would normally see them. Giving a quick text, email or phone call just to check-in. We all have a desire to belong and feel cared for by others. I am going to try and do better at this, I hope you will too.

Tradition vs Torah

Traditions are not a problem unless they negate Torah, cause you to go against Torah, or forget Torah. All christian churches are full of these type of traditions. Xmas, easter, thanksgiving etc., and even their teachings of tithe. If our Father has not placed His Name in the place that tithe is taken, then it is given in error. There is only three times a year that tithe was given and it was only given at the Temple storehouses which only existed when the Temple was in Jerusalem. No Temple in Jerusalem means No Tithe! Also, Tithe was never about money, it was about food and if you weren't a farmer in The Land, you didn't owe it. On the contrary Yahweh told them to sell their Tithe and bind the money in their hand and go to the land that He has placed His Name and then Buy anything your heart desires.. Meat, Wine and even Strong Drink. (Deut. 14:24) Interestingly, these are three primary things that SDA's teach against consuming. You see, the problem is that most in the christian churches don't know the Scripture from a Jewish/Hebrew mindset. They think they know the truth, but they don't know anything other than the traditions that their particular sect (denomination) has taught them. This is all part of Mystery Babylon and the call to come out of her is louder and clearer than ever before. We must ask ourselves which road we are traveling on, the wide road that leads to destruction, which most, if not all of christendom is traveling. Or, are we traveling on the narrow road to enter the narrow door that leads to Eternal Life, which only a few will find? Awake from your slumber, the Last Trump is about to be blown!

Easter / Ishtar

People desperately need to know that Easter has absolutely nothing to do with our Savior and Redeemer Yeshua haMashiach. The word Easter is written only one time in the King James Bible (Acts 12:4) and if people will look up the greek word, they would see the word paschal which is derived from the Hebrew Pesach which means Passover. Easter is truly pagan and a true follower of The Messiah of Israel will not have anything to do with it. Exodus 23:13, 24-25, 33; Deut. 12:30-32; Jeremiah 5:19-31; Joshua 24:23; Exodus 12:24; Leviticus 23; 1 John 2:5-6, 5:2-3.

Going Backwards

Recently a Christian friend found out of my Messianic Jewish (Netzari) beliefs and his response was something like "you are going backwards". He, coming from a replacement theological school of thought, erroneously thinks that Judaism was done away with and Paul's writings teach a "new" anti-Torah, Faith and Grace only religion. I have mulled over his response for a while and it came to me today what the problem is. People with his belief system, don't understand what "Repent" truly means. It means to turn around and go back. Go back to what? Go back to Torah. Without Torah, aka our Heavenly Father's Instructions, we can't know how he wants us to live in righteousness. We are not made righteous by walking in Torah, our righteousness only comes from our Savior Yeshua the Messiah. HIS Instructions are given to show us what HE calls sin and allows us to "obey" him. Obedience is part of "belief". John 3:16, 36. In James 2:19, it says that the demons believe and tremble. Why, because they do not Love Yahweh, shown by their dis-obedience. They tremble because they know their end will be eternal death because of their sin. If dis-obedient christians could only see that they have the same end as the demons unless they repent or "obey" by turning around from sin and observe Torah. Matthew 7:21-23; 1 John 3:4. (Note that the word "iniquity" or lawlessness in Greek is "Anomia" which means "no Torah"). If we read all of the examples of Abraham's faith, we see that there was works or obedience combined with his faith. Read Genesis 26:5, it is undeniable that Abraham walked in Torah long before it was given to Moshe at Horeb. Here are a few things to ponder. No where in the writings of Paul does he ever call himself a Christian. He does however call himself a Pharisee and a Jew.(Acts 21:39; 23:6) He says that he is of the sect called "the Way". (Acts 24:14. This was a term coined for those who were of Jewish decent and believed in Yeshua as the Promised Messiah. There is a Scripture trail, that when followed with a 1st century, Jewish/Hebrew/Aramaic line of thinking will challenge those that say the "Law" was done away with at the Cross.(see previous blogs).. This "anti-nomian" teaching happens primarily because people mis-translate Paul's writings. In the writings concerning Paul and by Paul, why did he continue to keep walking in the ways of Torah, if he meant to instruct his readers against the Torah? He kept the 7th day Sabbath, the Appointed Feast days (Lev. 23) and took Nazarite vows as well as offering animal sacrifice 30 years after Yeshua went back to Heaven. (Acts 18:18;21:26) One of the most important things to realize is that the B'rit Chadasha aka the "New" Covenant is our Father's Torah written on our heart. So, those that are truly Born from Above will want to walk in His ways out of Love, not because of fear or force. John 14:15,21; 1 John 5:2-3. Maranatha, John