Introduction

To Hear and Obey

In this day and age there are many voices clamoring to be heard. Everyone has an answer and an opinion. But what if there were only one voice to be heard? Only one opinion? I along with other like minded people have been seeking, knocking and asking. For a surety there are two voices speaking in the world today. One voice is saying "take your life in your own hands as you see your own needs". The other voice is saying "give up your life, follow me, give me control of your life". The first voice mentioned here seems to be the most popular. So the obvious decision here is to hear the second voice "give up your life" and go with the minority. For with this voice if we follow will lead to a very narrow road. This road is not the scenic route either. Most maps will tell you that it doesn't even exist. In fact if you travel this path everyone around you will do everything in their power to get you off of it. I sincerely hope you have already made a decision to take this road, and since so few choose it may we see each other often in the fellowship on it. If you have not made this decision I pray that you would follow this journey. Shalom, Chris

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

יהושע wept (Yeshua)

Joh 11:22 “But even now I know that whatever You might ask of Elohim, Elohim shall give You.”
Joh 11:23 יהושע said to her, “Your brother shall rise again.”
Joh 11:24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Joh 11:25 יהושע said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he dies, he shall live.
Joh 11:26 “And everyone that is living and believing in Me shall never die at all. Do you believe this?”
Joh 11:27 She said to Him, “Yea, Master, I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of Elohim, who is coming into the world.”

Joh 11:34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Master, come and see.”
Joh 11:35 יהושע wept.
Joh 11:36 The Yehuḏim therefore said, “See how He loved him!”

Yesterday we received a call from a dear family. The wife was being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, she had passed out. I believe she is around 3 months pregnant. The next call we received was dreadful. She was going into surgery to have the baby removed from her tubes, as I understand it there is no other way. I can't even begin to understand what this family is going through. Their faith in Messiah is strong, their walk unwavering. They have forsaken the comforts of this world and desire only The One who is to come Yeshua. Yet my heart breaks within me, if my heart breaks how much more does the heart of our Beloved. I don't know if they named the baby yet but I can't wait to meet him or her. Such things are the promise of those who love and prepare themselves for the coming of The King! Please pray for the Montanez family.      Shalom

Thursday, December 23, 2010







A two edged sword

Heb 4:12 For the Word of Elohim is living, and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through even to the dividing of being and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Mat 10:34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword,

Luk 12:51 “Do you think that I came to give peace on earth? I say to you, no, but rather division.

In the last few days quite a few people have wished me a "merry christmas". Many people associate this particular day as the greatest significant day in history. They say it is the birthday of The Messiah. So they go to malls and superstores buying gifts that most people will be paying for in the year to come. Acres of lights displayed across eaves and bushes share their holiday cheer. Millions of trees are cut down, pruned and adorned with glitter and all manner of ornaments. Hams are roasted, shrimp are skewered and high fructose corn syrup candy canes painted red are protruding from their mouths. In fact  years ago  I celebrated quite zealously all of these things, If anyone had told me that "jesus" was not the reason for the season, they would have heard all about the significance of christmas and The Messiah. Seven years ago I grudgingly read an article that stated "christmas" was a pagan feast day. At first my blood boiled, how dare they! So I studied it out. There are hundreds of articles actually on the origination of "christmas". Here is one example.
A.    Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25.  During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration.  The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.”  Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week.  At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.
B.    The ancient Greek writer poet and historian Lucian (in his dialogue entitled Saturnalia) describes the festival’s observance in his time.  In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions these customs: widespread intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked; rape and other sexual license; and consuming human-shaped biscuits (still produced in some English and most German bakeries during the Christmas season).
C.    In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it.  Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.
D.    The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday.
E.      Christians had little success, however, refining the practices of Saturnalia.  As Stephen Nissenbaum, professor history at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, writes, “In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Savior’s birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it had always been.”  The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgence, singing naked in the streets (a precursor of modern caroling), etc.
F.      The Reverend Increase Mather of Boston observed in 1687 that “the early Christians who  first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.” Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned by the Puritans and its observance was illegal in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681.  However, Christmas was and still is celebrated by most Christians.
G.    Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city.  An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators.  They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.”
H.     As part of the Saturnalia carnival throughout the 18th and 19th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. When the Jewish community of Rome sent a petition in1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, “It is not opportune to make any innovation.” On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into Antisemitic frenzies that led to riots across the country.  In Warsaw 12 Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped.  Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed.
 
But perhaps this article is not valid you might say. Well here is a link to the History Channel documenting what is written above.
 http://www.history.com/topics/christmas

 So what does scripture say about the keeping of holidays?

The tree
Jer 10:1  Hear the word which יהוה speaks to you, O house of Yisraʼĕl.
Jer 10:2 Thus said יהוה, “Do not learn the way of the gentiles, and do not be awed by the signs of the heavens, for the gentiles are awed by them.2 Footnotes: 1Lev. 18:3, Dt. 12:30 & 18:9, Ezek. 11:12 & 20:32, Eph. 4:17, 1 Peter 4:3. 2Dt. 4:19 & 17:3.
Jer 10:3 “For the prescribed customs of these peoples are worthless, for one cuts a tree from the forest, work for the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
Jer 10:4 “They adorn it with silver and gold, they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple.
Jer 10:5 “They are like a rounded post, and they do not speak. They have to be carried, because they do not walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they do no evil, nor is it in them to do any good.”


Angels, santas and nutcrackers

Deu 5:6 ‘I am יהוה your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of bondage.
Deu 5:7 ‘You have no other mighty ones against My face.
Deu 5:8 ‘You do not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth,
Deu 5:9 you do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, יהוה your Elohim, am a jealous Ěl, visiting the crookedness of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Deu 5:10 but showing kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and guard My commands.

Still there are those that would say that the ancient traditions have nothing to do with the "christmas" we celebrate now. But The Scriptures would disagree.

 1. Doing what others do and giving it another name.
Lev 18:3 ‘Do not do as they do in the land of Mitsrayim, where you dwelt. And do not do as they do in the land of Kenaʽan, where I am bringing you, and do not walk in their laws.
Deu 12:30 guard yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire about their mighty ones, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their mighty ones? And let me do so too.ʼ
Deu 18:9 “When you come into the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you, do not learn to do according to the abominations of those gentiles.
Eze 11:12 “And you shall know that I am יהוה, for you have not walked in My laws nor executed My right-rulings, but have done according to the rulings of the gentiles1 which are all around you.” ʼ ”
Eze 20:32 “And what comes up in your spirit shall never be, when you say, ‘Let us be like the gentiles, like the tribes in other lands, serving wood and stone.ʼ
Eph 4:17 So this I say, and witness in the Master, that you should no longer walk as the gentiles walk,1 in the futility of their mind,
1Pe 4:3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the desire of the gentiles, having walked in indecencies, lusts, drunkenness, orgies, wild parties, and abominable idolatries,

2. The birth time of The Messiah
The Birth of Yeshua (Jesus) on Sukkot
Messiah’s birth,  (10 - 4 BC), was expectantly awaited (Matthew 2:1-18)  because within about 40 years Daniel’s prophecy concerning Him must be fulfilled.
The prophet Micah wrote that He was destined to be born in Beth-Lechem (Bethlehem) — the House of Bread (Micah 5:2).  (God called Him the Bread from Heaven (John 6:32-36),  though men say Manna (Exodus 16:31)  — What is It?) It was because of this prophecy that King Herod had the children of Bethlehem killed, to protect his throne against the coming promised king.
The rabbis who translated the Septuagint taught from the prophet Isaiah that He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and would be called Immanuel — God with Us.
In the expected time and place, on the Festival of Sukkot,* in a succah (tabernacle, temporary dwelling) where Passover lambs were raised in the city of the shepherd David, a Son was born to a virgin descended from that Messiah David (Matthew 1, Luke 3:23-38).     At an angel’s command (Matthew 1:21), He was named Yeshua, meaning " Salvation." God would dwell with us in a sukkah of humanity that would be bruised by the serpent, then crush that old serpent!
The apostle Yochanan (John) tells us that the Word (of God) became flesh and "dwelt in a sukkah" (tabernacled) among us (John 1:14). The author views Sukkot as figurative of Messiah"s coming to dwell among His people; this reference is not submitted as proof of a dogmatic date.
When Zekharya (Zechariah) was ministering in the temple, he received an announcement from God of a coming son. The second course of Abia,12  when Zekharya was ministering, was a week in the middle of Sivan. If Zekharya’s promised son Yochanan (John the baptizer) were conceived soon thereafter, then Yeshua’s conception, which was six months later, would be late Chislev to early Tevet, near Chanukah (the Feast of Dedication); His birth would thence be at mid Tishri, the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles).
The month of Tishri (in the fall) also fits with the season of shepherds being out with their flocks by night, as they were when Yeshua was born; during winter the lambs are kept indoors.
Later in His life, Yeshua celebrated His birthday on a mountain with three of His disciples (Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:1-10).  In contrast to birthday parties, such as Herod’s (Matthew 14:6-12),  where people were killed for entertainment, His was a celebration of life. On the Festival of Sukkot, Moses and Elijah, from centuries past, representatives of the Torah and the Prophets, appeared and talked with Yeshua. One disciple, Kepha (Peter), suggested building three sukkot for Yeshua, Moses, and Elijah, because it was required for the festival, but he did not understand (Mark 9:6) that these three were fulfilling that which the festival symbolized: they were dwelling in their sukkot (temporary tabernacles) of flesh, awaiting their eternal resurrection temples.

            So according to scripture are we to celebrate the birth of "The Messiah"? Not that I can find, so if you do find it please share it with me. But there is a feast we are to celebrate as put forth in scripture beginning in Leviticus 23. Most would say we are not to continue celebrating the "feasts of the Jews", below you will see whose feast it is.

Lev 23:34 “Speak to the children of Yisraʼĕl, saying, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Booths for seven days to
.
Joh 7:2 And the festival of the Yehuḏim was near, the Festival of Booths.
Zec 14:16 And it shall be that all who are left from all the gentiles which came up against Yerushalayim, shall go up from year to year to bow themselves to the Sovereign, יהוה of hosts, and to observe the Festival of Booths.
Zec 14:17 And it shall be, that if anyone of the clans of the earth does not come up to Yerushalayim to bow himself to the Sovereign, יהוה of hosts, on them there is to be no rain.
Zec 14:18 And if the clan of Mitsrayim does not come up and enter in, then there is no rain. On them is the plague with which יהוה plagues the gentiles who do not come up to observe the Festival of Booths.
Zec 14:19 This is the punishment of Mitsrayim and the punishment of all the gentiles that do not come up to observe the Festival of Booths.
                                                                                   May you be whole and complete in Messiahs beauty

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Simchah/joy

               To clarify the reason for these studies on the origins of words simply put. I desire to know the truth spoken by The Messiah Yeshua. Many psalms speak of the wonders of YHWH, a deep intimate knowledge that surpasses any writings or emotions. Down deep in his nefesh(soul) David was a man after YHWH'S own heart. That description is hard for me to fathom. Do I see others as YHWH see's them? Do I love as YHWH does? Do I hate sin and not the sinner as YHWH does? The answer would be; sometimes. I don't believe that I can sit back on my laurels and just coast through to the next life. I know many of you don't either. I believe there is a greater depth to the words given in YHWH's Torah. Messiah Yeshua spoke of the circumcision of the heart and it seems few heard Him. Many times my wife and I have discussed "joy" and what it means to us. More often than not we notice the lack of it. But what exactly is it?

Mat 25:21 “And his master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy servant. You were trustworthy over a little, I shall set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

                 I always look first to the Torah to get the original Hebrew word first. To my surprise the first entry translated to the word "joy" does not appear until 1 Sam 18:6 so I began to study each entry. There are 13 Hebrew words translated to the  word "joy".  To me thats quite a loose translation. Most have nothing to do with joy as we might define it as the concordance often refers to the "abstract" definition. For most people who have been part of the messianic culture "simchah" is the most familiar word in the Hebrew. There are a couple others that have some  bearing but I will focus on "simchah" and "ranan". Mainly due to the following verse taken from the king james version.

Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (see end for tansliteration)

               This is the one of the verses that prompted my study into meanings behind the words.  Exactly how would you describe words like "hope, joy, peace and a holy ghost" to someone you might be sharing with? Yet It is verses like these that entire sermons and doctrines have been built around. There are so many abstract meaningless holes here that it would be impossible to discern the meaning behind the words. When you read of the men and women in scripture is it easy to understand why they fell on their facesor danced in the streets? Did you ever wonder at the one on one prayers they prayed and the answers received? Is it possible that we don't know because we have been filling ourselves with philosophical words from men? Yes there is a greek pagan root to this word joy also. But I don't feel like pointing to it. Instead I want to understand the correct response for all who take refuge in YHWH.



Psa 5:11 But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; Let them ever shout for (ranan)joy, because You shelter them; And let those who love Your Name exult in You.

               Amazing, the picture here is not to shout for undefinable abstract joy. But rather to SHOUT or ranan, Let those who love your name exult in You. This is not a "hey I'm happy shout". This is a exclamation, one that everyone within hearing distance turns their head. This is a shout that claims that the deliverer has something that everyone needs to know about
H7442
רנן
rânan
raw-nan'
A primitive root; properly to creak (or emit a stridulous sound), that is, to shout (usually for joy): - aloud for joy, cry out, be joyful, (greatly, make to) rejoice, (cause to) shout (for joy), (cause to) sing (aloud, for joy, out), triumph. -
AHLB #1451 Shout: [freq. 54] (vf: Paal, Hiphil, Pual, Piel, Participle) |kjv: sing, rejoice, shout, cry|
{str: 7442, 7444}

           The verse above I would describe this way according to the ancient hebrew pictures. The first letter the dalet is the door or pathway. The second, a noon and the third letter a final noon are "activity and life".
Perhaps saying that this is an activity that brings life on the pathway. What is the first thing a baby does when born? The first activity of life is a scream or a shout "here I am". When you get a perfect report card what do you do? You shout of course.
------------------
Psa 137:6 Let my tongue cleave to my palate, If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Yerushalayim Above my chief joy.

H8057
שׂמחה
śimchâh
sim-khaw'
From H8056; blithesomeness or glee, (religious or festival): -  X exceeding (-ly), gladness, joy (-fulness), mirth, pleasure, rejoice (-ing).

       The picture I have associated with these two words is, "David". From shepard boy to king the things shouted from his lips we have as worship songs today. But does the same response come to us that came to Miriam at the reed sea. I would state that today is no different from yesterday. There is no lack of the wonders of YHWH and our need to praise Him, even to shout it from the rooftops or dance down the street. Of course you might go to jail, but perhaps if we kept singing the doors would open and they would either join us or let us go to shut us up!





Rom 15:13 Now the Elohim of yachal(expectation for what will come), fill you with all simchah(shouting in praise) and you be shalom(whole and complete) in believing, that ye may abound in yachal(expectation for what will come), through the power of the Ruach HaKodesh.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Chesed/mercy

                     This study came from Matthew chapter five. Commonly referred to as the beatitudes. I will only be focusing on one part though there is a wealth of information from The Messiah. I wanted to understand one thing in particular.

Matt 5:7 happy are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.

                      So this is a fairly abstract term "mercy", I wondered how many definitions there would be. I actually found more than i bargained for.

Definition of MERCY
1  a : compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power; also : lenient or compassionate treatment mercy> b : imprisonment rather than death imposed as penalty for first-degree murder
a : a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion b : a fortunate circumstance mercy they found her before she froze>

: compassionate treatment of those in distress mercy among the poor>
mercy adjective
at the mercy of
: wholly in the power of : with no way to protect oneself against 

     Notice how it's not till the second definition that it mentions in regards to "divine", also the use of the word "fortune". Is this what YHWH has intended for us to understand.
Origin of MERCY
Middle English, from Anglo-French merci, from Medieval Latin merced-, merces, from Latin, price paid, wages, from merc-, merx merchandise
First Known Use: 13th century.

        This only goes back to the 13th century, so it's obvious that this was not the word The Messiah spoke.
mercy : [< Medieval Latin merces (reward, compassionate action) < merx (merchandise); influenced by Latin miserere < miserêrî (to have pity)] compassionate action or treatment; relief from distress; a tendency from personal character to act compassionately; to be ruthful, to show forbearance or kindness. In Scripture and in the Christian faith, mercy means the giving of grace to people who don't deserve it, or showing compassion to someone you have power or authority over. There is purpose for God's mercy :

         Again this latin does not go far enough back, it is set in medieval times.

λεος eleos
1) to have mercy on
2) to help one afflicted or seeking aid
3) to help the afflicted, to bring help to the wretched
4) to experience mercy

        How very convenient  that each time this word was translated it transferred the same definition each time.
But in 600-800 b.c.e. it had a different meaning, I wonder why they didn't transfer it to the dictionaries and concordances?

Eleos or Eleus (Ελεος) -- The goddess of compassion.
1) to have mercy on
2) to help one afflicted or seeking aid
3) to help the afflicted, to bring help to the wretched
4) to experience mercy
ELEUS (Eleos) The female personification of mercy.

          There is no way that The Messiah would have said this to those assembled on that day. It makes me wonder about how many times I've used this word and not understood it's meaning. How did it get from a reference to a pagan diety to the mumbo jumbo it is now. So now it's time to throw away the swine's flesh and get to the clean meat of the study.

H2617
חסד
chêsêd
kheh'-sed
From H2616; kindness; by implication (towards God) piety; rarely (by opprobrium) reproof, or (subjectively) beauty: - favour, good deed (-liness, -ness), kindly, (loving-) kindness, merciful (kindness), mercy, pity, reproach, wicked thing.
The three letters in the Hebrew are the "chet, samech and the dalet. This is the picture I saw "on your journey to the inner room(chet) I will support(samech) you on the pathway(dalet)



Gen 19:19 “Look, please, your servant has found beauty in your eyes, and you have increased your kindness(m-rcy) which you have shown me by saving my life, but I am unable to escape to the mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I die.

H7349
רחוּם
rachûm
rakh-oom'
From H7355; compassionate: - full of compassion, merciful.

Deu 4:31 “For יהוה your Elohim is a compassionate(merciful) Ěl, He does not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
       The four letters here are "reysh, chet, vav and mem. I've been praying that YHWH would show me His meaning in Matthew. As I began to study out the pictures in the ancient Hebrew I felt instantly humbled. I don't think we can understand "chesed/m-rcy" until we define merciful. From all that I can find merciful is only used in the Tanakh in regards to YHWH. The picture I see is this "the Highest(reysh) in the inner room(chet) secured us(vav) by His mighty blood(mem)." Does scripture not tell us that we are to die to this life? Aren't we supposed to lay down our lives to the point of death to be raised again to The Messiah? it is not for me to give an interpretation of the scriptures for you. You must study yourselves. I see this in the passage in       Matt 5:7 blessed are the ones who lay down their life for others to find Me, for they will find me at the door.
                                                                                                May YHWH bless you, shalom

False Prophets

                 How important is it to return to the purity of scripture? Can we be satisfied with some truths and continue on our way? When I work on an old house there is a specific job I am hired to do. Often times I find many things that require a great deal more work to accept the changes I am making. Most of the time though the customer does not want to hear about all the problems. So I am required to put new windows in rotted walls. No matter that wind and rain will come in just as long as I can see through my new windows! Should this be so with The Scriptures? We have returned to YHWH'S Sabbath and His Feasts. We even begin to learn Hebrew, much of which we don't understand. We have great heaps of wisdom, but they are as useless as rotting walls if we don't have the understanding to use the wisdom. I find it overwhelming the amount of greek thinking we have in this world. We are inundated with the names of gods and goddesses in our day to day speech. Someone even had the nerve to tell me that "hashem" (which means "the Name") gave the scriptures in greek so that we would understand them. Huh? You've got to be kidding me; and no I'm not a pagan hunter. But I do hunger and thirst for YHWH'S righteousness. For I will perish without it. The Messiah is our life, breath and He should be everything that we do. As I continue to study out the picture meanings in the ancient Hebrew I find myself stunned at what I have missed all these years. Is it any wonder that so many look to false prophets and anti-messiahs for understanding in The Scriptures? I never was satisfied with the answers given and was often told just to listen to the pastor.



Jer 14:14    Then YHWH said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not,              neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Messiahs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mar 13:22 For false Messiahs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were] possible, even the elect.
Luk 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
2Pe 2:1
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying YHWH that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
1Jo 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of Elohim: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Is it not time to rip out the old framing (greek thinking) and allow YHWH to frame us in the beauty of The Messiah? Who will stand to expose the false teachers and denounce the heresies spoken from the pulpits to YHWH'S people? We ourselves must repent of all the wickedness we have taken part in and turn and walk according to The Beauty of The Messiah in all humility. Remember all those who stayed silent during the holocaust? Where was the voice of YHWH'S people then? Where is the voice of YHWH'S people now. The world needs to hear of YHWH'S "chesed"(mercy) now or they will hear His judgement.         Shalom

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

But I and my house, we serve יהוה

               There are many words in the english language. There are also many definitions and contexts for each word. Many of those definitions are abstract in their form. Meaning the exact definition is based on someones interpretations or even. Hebrew is not so, it's meanings are concrete, meaning there is a clear definition. Even more they convey a picture to the mind of the hearer that is easy and clear to understand. Many people myself included do not understand the catch phrases we throw around so often. Have you ever struggled with finding the right word to convey a message. The best way I have found is to describe a picture that someone is familiar with. How about all the fancy words we use but have no clear definition of.
                Entire doctrines and philosophies float around single words. They give a foggy understanding of concepts that are critical to our knowing YHWH. Yet so many are content with their current knowledge. Are the scriptures to be understood in this manner? So let's look at the following passages of scripture.

Deu 31:11 when all Yisraʼĕl comes to appear before יהוה your Elohim in the place which He chooses, read this Torah before all Yisraʼĕl in their hearing.
Deu 31:12 “Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your sojourner who is within your gates, so that they hear, and so that they learn to fear יהוה your Elohim and guard to do all the Words of this Torah.
            
                 Can you imagine this being done, it would be incredible to have an entire nation taking part in this. Sadly the scriptures tell us of few times that this took place. Joyfully when it did there was great teshuva(repentance) when it did happen. But what if  they had to get out their websters dictionary, and the strongs concordance, and the writings of men long dead? No one would agree ever on what the pure Torah contained. This is what we are doing right now. Many of us have left the lies given to us from our forefathers and are returning to the Torah. We have left off pagan feasts and festivals of false gods. Rather than sun god worship we desire YHWH and His spoken word. We have returned to the Hebrew roots of our faith.
                    For awhile now I have been searching out the meaning of phrases found primarily in the New Covenant writings. The Messiah gives us so much instruction yet it is hard to understand in it's context. Many will say that you have to understand The Torah first and I agree. Yet why would we believe that The Messiah spoke greek? Not that He couldn't have, He probably created it when he confused the languages at babel.
1. He is The Word made flesh
2. He spoke the same words He had spoken in The Torah
3. He taught his talmidim(disciples) they were to speak the same word

                 I have found some interesting things as I study between the greek translation and The original Hebrew. First I will say that this is all to better understand who The Messiah is and what He has told us to do.
At first I was disturbed by what I was finding; words like faith, hope, chastity, joy, wisdom, peace and grace were not clearly definable. So I set out to find their Hebraic meaning. Now I was beginning to understand principles set out from the foundations of the earth. What I found though in the greek was beyond disturbing. All the words faith, hope, charity, joy, wisdom, peace and grace are pagan in their origins. Look for yourselves, the greek names given to the gods of greece in 600 to 800 b.c.e. are the same words translated from the hebrew in 150 to 300 c.e.. Are these concepts that are acceptable for those of us seeking to walk as The Messiah? Do they describe His Beauty to us? I think the following verse sums it up for me and my family.

Jos 24:15 “And if it seems evil in your eyes to serve יהוה, choose for yourselves this day whom you are going to serve, whether the mighty ones which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the mighty ones of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But I and my house, we serve יהוה.”

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Where are the Men???????

            For a long time I have been wondering "where are all the men". Most messianic or christian assemblies are comprised of mostly women. In 22 years it has been hard to draw men into conversations of scripture. I mostly get frowns because I cannot find anything else to talk about. Sure I can talk about muscle cars and guns and all the guy stuff. My team even won the world series this year. But who cares? None of those things changed my life. None of them would die for me. None of them would look for me if I didn't show up. Yet there is a picture of two men that the Ruach brought to my mind. One is the man of the world his name was Haman. The other is not even mentioned as much as the first, his name was Mordecai; and yet he was a man above others of his time. Haman sought prestige, wealth, honor, pride and vengeance. He could be likened to a man who works hard for his family putting all else aside, though in truth even his family was put aside and died as he did!
           But the man Mordecai he was the real man. His face was in the dust, he must have looked more shameful than a beggar. But he did not beg for himself, rather he cried out for his people. He refused his own well being for that of the children of Y'israel. He raised  a young woman who forsook her own life and laid it at the feet of The Sovereign King of The universe; YHWH! It is natural for a man to go into a self preservation mode and protect all that he has and holds dear. This man held dear in humility that his life was not important and the life of his niece. He was willing to lose her in the hopes that his people would not be forever eliminated from the earth.
            So i ask again, "where are the men"? As a man I can answer that question and if the following do not apply to you then praise YHWH. Men are in the bars,  illicit affairs, surfing the internet for adultery, not around their children or their wives, they hide in alcohol, drugs, pain medications, work, garages, cars the list could go on and on.
             One man got on his face right where he was supposed to be and the world changed as he knew it. For him everything stopped and there was only him and the dirt exactly what we came from. Yet that man was lifted out of the dirt and his feet were solidly upon a rock, The Rock in fact.
              I myself am no one of any importance. If I died today not many would notice. So while it is yet today it is time to make a stand or rather a repenting in the dust crying out to YHWH our salvation to deliver his people from a life apart from Him. To "create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us, to restore unto us The blessing of our Salvation. Yeshua our Mashiach, our bridegroom, our one true love and yes for us men to present ourselves as a pure and spotless bride.
              Purim is traditionally spent as a celebration of the deliverance of YHWH'S people. Yet I would say that we are not delivered right now. Our time grows short. I who am as Shaul stated the chiefest of sinners make a call to all men that upon the day celebrated on the rabbinical calendar that we call Purim, call all men to a day of being on our face to cry out to YHWH and see what He will do to us, in us and through us

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Shalom/peace

           For those of you that have read my study on (beauty/gr-ce), here is another word that is an eye opener. Perhaps for some of us it has been an eye closer. My purpose in this study is to come to an Hebraic understanding of the things we share scripturally. Also that we have an Hebraic understanding of the things that we pray for.


Ancient Hebrew Word Meanings
Peace ~ shalom
By Jeff A. Benner

When we hear the word peace we usually associate this to mean an absence of war or strife but, the Hebrew meaning of the word shalom has a very different meaning. The verb form of the root word is shalam and is usually used in the context of making restitution. When a person has caused another to become deficient in some way, such as a loss of livestock, it is the responsibility of the person who created the deficiency to restore what has been taken, lost or stolen. The verb shalam literally means to make whole or complete. The noun shalom has the more literal meaning of being in a state of wholeness or with no deficiency. The common phrase shalu shalom yerushalayim (pray for the peace of Jerusalem) is not speaking about an abcense of war (though that is part of it) but that Jerusalem (and by extension all of Israel) is complete and whole and goes far beyond the idea of "peace".

       The strongs concordance would claim that there are 430 references to the word peace. However I found five different Hebrew words that are translated to the word peace. Let's look at them.

1.The word here is Shalom
Gen 15:15 “Now .as for you, you are to go to your fathers in peace, you are to be buried at a good old age.
 בשׁלום H7965 in peace;

2.The  actual word here is "charash" and in the context it is "to keep silent".
Gen 34:5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they came.
 והחרשׁ H2790 held his peace.

3. The actual word here is "Shelem" a voluntary offering.
Exo 20:24 ‘Make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall slaughter on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause My Name to be remembered I shall come to you and bless you.
  שׁלמיךH8002 and thy peace offerings
AHLB # 2845 - Payment: Given to make a completion of an action or transaction.

4. The actual word here is "chashah".
2Ki 2:5 And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today? And he answered, Yes, I know it; hold your+ peace. H2814  חשׁה   châshâh
 A primitive root; to hush or keep quiet: - hold peace, keep silence, be silent, (be) still.


 5. The actual word here is "hasah".
Zep 1:7 Hold your peace at the presence of the Sovereign YHWH; for the day of YHWH is at hand: for YHWH has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests.
H2013  הסה   hâsâh A primitive root; to hush: - hold peace (tongue), (keep) silence, be silent, still.


So we cannot truly say that every time we see the word "peace" that we can automatically insert the word "shalom". Here is where the study gets interesting. The translators could have easily used these five definitions to better translate or convey the meanings of these words in the "tanakh-old testament". But why did they feel the need to create brand new definitions in the "Renewed Conenant-New Testament". So let's take a look.

   In the "New Testament" there are 5 different words that they translated from, here they are.

1. Mat 10:13 “And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
G1515  εἰρήνη  eirēnē  i-rah'-nay
Probably from a primary verb εἴρω eirō (to join); peace (literally or figuratively); by implication prosperity: - one, peace, quietness, rest, + set at one again.

2. Mar 9:50 “Salt is good, but if the salt becomes tasteless, how shall you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace among one another.”
eirēneuō   i-rane-yoo'-o
From G1515; to be (act) peaceful: - be at (have, live in) peace, live peaceably.

3.  Luk 14:4 But they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go.
G2270  ἡσυχάζω   hay-soo-khad'-zo
From the same as G2272; to keep still (intransitively), that is, refrain from labor, meddlesomeness or speech: - cease, hold peace, be quiet, rest.

4.Luk 20:26 And they were not able to take hold of what he said before the people: and they marveled at his answer, and held their peace.
G4601  σιγάω  sigaō   see-gah'-o
From G4602; to keep silent (transitive or intransitive): - keep close (secret, silence), hold peace

5.Mat 20:31 But the multitude rebuked them, that they might hold their peace. But, they, the more, cried aloud, saying—Lord, have mercy on us! Son of David!
 G4623  σιωπάω  siōpaō  see-o-pah'-o
From σιωπη siōpē (silence, that is, a hush; properly muteness, that is, involuntary stillness, or inability ot speak; and thus differing from G4602, which is rather a voluntary refusal or indisposition to speak, although the terms are often used synonymously); to be dumb (but not deaf also, like G2974 properly); figuratively to be calm (as quiet water): - dumb, (hold) peace.


Phew! Basically in my humble opinion all these definitions are a bunch of mumbo jumbo. For the remainder of this study though I will focus on the first greek definition. This is the one where it should be translated to "shalom".
Mat 10:13 “And if the house is worthy, let your peace(shalom) come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace(shalom) return to you.Once again we'll look at the greek translation and the definition.

eirēnē  i-rah'-nayProbably from a primary verb εἴρω eirō (to join); peace (literally or figuratively); by implication prosperity: - one, peace, quietness, rest, + set at one again.

Why, I ask again would the translators need to create a new definition? It took me awhile to find it so here it is.

Eirene (Greek goddess)
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Statue of Eirene with the infant Ploutos: Roman marble copy of bronze votive statue by Cephisodotus the Elder, now in the Glyptothek, Munich
Eirene, or Irene (Ancient Greek: Εἰρήνη, pronounced IPA: [eiˈrɛːnɛː]; Greek for "peace"; the Roman equivalent was Pax), one of the Horae, was the personification of peace, and was depicted in art as a beautiful young woman carrying a cornucopia, sceptre and a torch or rhyton. She is said sometimes to be the daughter of Zeus and Themis.
She was particularly well regarded by the citizens of Athens. After a naval victory over Sparta in 375 BC, the Athenians established a cult for Eirene, erecting altars to her. They held an annual state sacrifice to her after 371 BC to commemorate the Common Peace of that year and set up a votive statue in her honour in the agora (marketplace) of Athens. The statue was executed in bronze by Cephisodotus the Elder, the father of the famous sculptor Praxiteles. It was acclaimed by the Athenians, who depicted it on vases and coins.[1]
Although the statue is now lost, it was copied in marble by the Romans; one of the best surviving copies (right) is in the Munich Glyptothek. It depicts the goddess carrying a child with her left arm – Ploutos, the god of plenty and son of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. Eirene's missing right hand once held a sceptre. She is shown gazing maternally at Ploutos, who is looking back at her trustingly. The statue is an allegory for Plenty (Ploutos) prospering under the protection of Peace (Eirene); it constituted a public appeal to good sense.[1] The copy in the Glyptothek was originally in the collection of the Villa Albani in Rome but was looted and taken to France by Napoleon I. Following Napoleon's fall, the statue was bought by Ludwig I of Bavaria.[2]

Now I know why they created a new definition. ha satan is an imitator and a liar. What better way to deceive than to hide the names of "ba'alim(gods)" than to put them in the place of words that would be common off of a believers tongue? Is this just an innocent error on behalf of the translators? I would say no. The greek spelling is the same for the g-ddess as it is for the word "peace". 

The word "Shalom" has great depth of meaning for us. In it we are to understand that it means "whole and complete". I pray that you remain "shalom(whole and complete) in Mashiach's beauty(gr-ce)", until next time when we will uncover the "g-ddess wisdom"
                                                                                           Chris