The plan of redemption in the feasts of  יהוה  , Lev 23

Shabbat: for six millennia mankind will ‘work’; on the seventh Millennium, the ‘Sabbath’, mankind will ‘rest’ from his ‘toil’.

Pesakh: He will redeem you out of bondage [the bondage of sin]                                                                         Light, recognition, birth

Matzot: you will be unleavened [pure, without participating in common sins of man]                                            Wind and Water

First Omer: you will present Messiah before  יהוה  as your ONLY offering                                                            Grain, small barley harvest

Shavu’ot: you will be given the Ru’akh of Mashiakh, being ‘satisfied’ in your inner man                                         Full loaves of bread, wheat, Light/Fire

Yom Teru’ah: an awakening blast will sound so that the dead in Messiah will be raised, you will gather yourselves to יהוה  [those who are asleep [spiritually] will not be gathered to Him]                                                                 Flight, distance, hiding place

Yom Kippur: those on earth will be judged, having sins covered through finally trusting in Messiah Yeshua, or counted against you due to lack of trust that He is the “Yeshua [salvation of]  יהוה   ” , the arm of Salvation; the ‘sheep’ who followed Him will be brought in, the ‘goats’ who fought Him will be cast out.                             Atonement, offering, banishment

Sukkot: ALL NATIONS will be gathered in Jerusalem to be with Messiah Yeshua here on earth, when He begins to rule as the King of all the earth. You will anticipate the “eighth day”, eternity, with all things made new, and the final abolishment of sin.                                                                                                                                                       Rest, renewal

Tisha B’Av

The 9^th of Av is a Jewish fast that happened earlier this month; Jews fast on this day because the Temple was destroyed twice on this same date on the Hebrew calendar.

I do not fast on this date, as do many Jews.  There is only one day on which we are commanded to fast, and that is Yom HaKippurim.  That is a day of affliction of the soul, which the scriptures clearly define as a physical fast, and which ancient Jewish history bears out.  Fasting on other days is not wrong, but is just not compulsory.  Men have elevated some fasts up to the level of a mitzvah, but Elohim has not done that.  Our Rabbi, Yeshua, clearly contends with the P’rushim, the forerunners of today’s Rabbis, when they chided His Talmidim for not fasting on those days.  Yeshua told them basically it was none of their business, because HE was their Rabbi, and HE will tell them when to fast.  But, many Jewish people today who SAY they follow Messiah do not actually follow Him, but THOSE LOST Rabbis!

Sorrow over the loss of the Temple is appropriate, to some degree, perhaps. But, the book of Ivrim [Hebrews] was written just before the destruction of the Temple in 70AD, and Sha’ul was basically telling our Jewish people in Yisra’el who trusted in Messiah NOT to mourn the coming loss of the Temple, because we have a New Kehunah [Priesthood] with a BETTER Kohen Gadol [High Priest], Yeshua Himself, and that we can ACTUALLY ENTER THE Beit HaMikdash in HEAVEN, after which the earthly temple was fashioned.  We have no need of an earthly temple!  We actually can go before the throne of His Compassion in heaven, while Yeshua now stands at the right hand of Elohim for us.  We have NO NEED to offer sacrifices on earth, the blood of bulls and goats, because we have a final and perpetual sacrifice, the blood of Yeshua, and His resurrected Body in which He bore our punishment for sins before He died!  So, no, I do not fast on Tisha B’av!

I do not, however, ignore the coming third Temple, because it is prophetic!  And the whole “Palestinian” conflict is NOT about Jews taking ‘their’ land, as there is actually NO SUCH THING as a Palestinian!  That group are all ARABS, and they are “posing” as Palestinians, and the name fits, because it means INVADERS.  The conflict is actually over the Muslim world not wanting a Jewish Temple.  But, the Temple will come; and in it will stand the Sheker HaMashi’akh [Lying/False Messiah], in whom all the world will put their trust as their Messiah, instead of Yeshua, the Messiah and Son of G-d, including our lost Jewish Rabbis, and many Jewish and ‘christian’ people.  

Losing site of the fact that we NOW have a Temple and a High Priest is dangerous for followers of Messiah.  It robs us of the reality of our prayers and forgiveness, and of the effectiveness of our ministry, when we mourn instead of rejoice in our LIVING KING and High Priest, Messiah Yeshua.  Too many Messianic people are conforming to the image of the earthly Rabbis, and NOT to that of the Son of Elohim, our ONLY Rabbi, Yeshua HaNatzri, who did NOT follow the P’rushim in their commandments.  This does NOT make me an anti-Semite, as too many have accused.  Yeshua did follow the customs of Moshe, as do we, but the LOST Rabbis since Messiah have changed those, added to them, and elevated THEIR customs above the Mitzvot.  They’ve actually stated blatantly that they have authority over His Torah, and tell G-d how to interpret it.  How can our fellow Messianic Jews ignore the fact that these Rabbis are LOST!  

Pray with me that we unify around our Rabbi, Yeshua, and that we not lose site of what is coming on this world.  The third Temple will be built AND defiled by the false Messiah, whom Israel will follow for a season.  So will many Messianic people, and Christians, and that is sad, and scary.  Not following Yeshua in HIS WAYS is to follow the deceiver.  Wake up, and trim the light of your lamp.  “Your Torah is a lamp.”

ולְאֹ תִגְּעוּ בּוֹ

The three words above are indeed in the Torah, but should they be?

Who ADDED them? 

First, let’s remind ourselves what The Creator of the Universe said about His Torah, and all His Word:

“You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the Mitzvot of  יהוה  your Elohim which I command you.”

This is a principle that many people ‘know,’ but do not ‘see’ when they break it.

And that is the case with the three little pigs up top.

Those three words brought all the world into death, decay, and sin.

They were added to the ‘instructions’ of  The Creator.

They had to be in the Torah, in order for us to understand why we as humans are in the state we are in.

But, when they were spoken, they were in addition to the ONE ‘Torah’ [instruction] that Elohim had yet given to mankind.

Khavah is speaking.  She has just been created, brought into the world as a grown woman, full of knowledge and intellect, “perfect”, living in the very Presence of G-d, His Ru’akh invigorating her body such that she would never die.  Her husband, the Kohen over his home, had clearly communicated to her something about that tree, as the specific instructions concerning what not to eat were given before she was created.  But, when the ‘nakhash’, a creature that walked on legs and feet at creation, controlled by the enemy, asked her a very simple question, she modified the Torah.  We can surmise that Adam instructed her to say that.  He was standing right there, and he did not correct her when she editorialized His Word by adding those three little words.  So, either Adam was the one who added to His Word, or, he was weak, and was not acting as the kohen over his home, and he did not intervene when his wife erred by making additions to the very plain ‘text’.  My personal hunch is that Adam is the one who added the new ‘law’.  “Y’all will not touch it”.  [I put y’all, because it is in the plural in Hebrew].  Elohim NEVER SAID THAT!

This is the one thing man did wrong, in order to foster the rest of our sins: we added to the Word of G-d. We CHANGED His instructions to us.

This is the very spirit of “Sheker HaMashi’akh,” as seen in the book of Dani’el.  [7:25]  “He will CHANGE the SEASONS [times to assemble with G-d ] AND the Torah!”

The typical response of people when confronted with this very phenomenon, especially concerning the keeping of Shabbat, is usually this:  “But G-d knows my heart”,  and the implied predicate is “so I can worship on Sunday, or any other day”.  But, the Word clearly says, “Remember the Sabbath day… because G-d rested on the SEVENTH day, you shall also rest from all your labor on the SEVENTH DAY”…

Mankind is BENT on adding to, or taking away from His Word.  Elohim gave us very plain instructions.  Sometimes, they are a bit ‘out of order,’ and we have to do a little bit of work to understand some of them, but, that is precisely what G-d wants from those who LOVE Him!

“It is the glory of Elohim to conceal a matter; but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Elohim put ‘knowledge’ of good and evil in that tree.  That knowledge was “Food.” 

It is NOT that Elohim did not want Adam and Khava to know the difference between good and evil.

We are told in Ivrim 5:

“But strong meat [FOOD!] belongs to those who are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised, having learned to make a distinction between good and evil.”

Had they eaten from “Etz HaKhayim,” they would have lived, AND, they’d have learned the best way to make that distinction!  The very discipline [knowing the real difference between good and evil] WE are to learn by ‘exercising’ our trust in His Word!  We either remain a ‘babe’, or we ‘grow’ into being truly able to make a distinction between what is right and what is wrong….. and it is ONLY BASED on His Word, and NOT our ‘hearts,’ our ‘emotions,’ nor our ‘reason,’ which causes us to add to and take away from His Word.

“By now you should be teachers, because you have been a long time in training; but even now you need to be taught the primary writings of D’var HaElohim [THE WORD OF GOD]; but you are still in need of milk, and not strong meat. For every man whose food is milk is unfamiliar with D’var HaTzedaka [The RIGHTEOUS WORD, a pseudonym for TORAH!  The “NT” did not exist yet, as Sha’ul was writing parts of it as he lived and ministered]; for he is a babe.”

It is babes who stick to ‘whatever they can get their hands on,’ ‘every wind of doctrine.’ 

To chew the meat of the Word is to dig out the TRUTH, and to do it FROM THE TORAH, with the guidance of the Ru’akh.

Our Jewish sages did NOT do this!

In fact, they specifically, BEFORE Yeshua arrived on earth, “built a fence around the Torah.”  They will tell you this.  The Rabbis teach that they have been given ‘authority’ to ADD to the Torah, to REINTERPRET IT, and that all their ‘laws’ are superior to the Torah.  Our Jewish people, including many Messianic Jews, follow the laws of the Rabbis!  And THEY specifically did exactly what Adam did in Gan Eden.  They add THEIR OWN WORDS to the Torah, ‘just to be safe’.  One way in which they do that is this:

THEY [Rabbis] say ‘thou shalt not eat dairy and meat together.’

They took a SIMPLE LITTLE COMMAND, ‘do not cook a kid [goat] in its mother’s milk,’ and created ANOTHER command, in order to keep Jews from breaking the first command.  How hard is it really simply NOT to cook a kid goat in its own mother’s milk?  Instead, they deprive the whole Jewish community of eating meat and ANY dairy product at the same time; they go further to add time constraints between eating meat and dairy; some go even further and add locational constraints, having meat dishes and dairy dishes; and some even have a meat kitchen and a dairy kitchen!  All from ONE SIMPLE command.  And they do ALL of this in spite of the fact that Avraham, the father of our faith, ATE MEAT AND DAIRY TOGETHER, AND, He served that meal to MESSIAH YESHUA!

“And יהוה appeared unto him [Avraham]”…. And Avraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.” And Avraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress it. And he took curd, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.”

Anyone with any sense can see that Avraham fed the very Messenger of  יהוה , a manifestation of Yeshua before He appeared in FLESH, a meal CHOCK FULL of MEAT AND DAIRY TOGETHER…. Yet, many of our Jewish people jump through hoops to explain this away, to justify the MANMADE LAW ‘thou shalt not eat meat and dairy together.’

This fits into the category of “and a great many other things like these,” when Yeshua chided the Rabbis for teaching THEIR COMMANDS ABOVE the Torah of God.  And people do ‘scriptural gymnastics’ to get around that.  People think the Talmud is valid for the Messianic life, when it was written by the very group that Yeshua called a brood of vipers.  NOT the Jewish PEOPLE, but RABBIS who wrested authority away from G-d Himself!  Just as MOST communities of faith do.  They belong to Adam.  Not Messiah.

Yeshua is our Rabbi, and He ate meat and dairy together with Avraham.  He is our Torah Teacher, and He shows us very clearly that adding our own commands to His Word is sin. 

“For you have ignored the mitzvah of Elohim, and you observe the tradition of men… So you dishonor the D’var HaElohim [WORD OF GOD] for the sake of the tradition which you have established.”

Another, and the big one for me, is “DO NOT SAY HIS NAME” ; “HIS NAME IS UNKNOWN and UNSPEAKABLE”.

When G-d Himself called His Name,  יהוה  ,  a SPOKEN MEMORIAL, and COMMANDS us to DECLARE IT.  It is SPOKEN about 7,000 times in scripture!  Yet MOST people allow the Rabbis to tell them NOT to speak HIS PRECIOUS, MIGHTY NAME!

Shabbat is NOT a tradition of man; it is a mitzvah [a direct command from G-d]. Sun-day is man’s tradition, elevated above the command.

Eating no dairy with meat is man’s tradition, elevated above the command.

Speaking His Name is commanded, as a SPOKEN MEMORIAL, even among the nations!  Yet its ‘ineffable’ status is man’s tradition that is elevated above His Word.

“and you do a great many other things like these.”

And the propensity to do this comes ‘in a state of innocence!’  Adam and Khava had not yet sinned!  They were pure, and innocent before God!  We may indeed start out on the right foot, and ‘think’ that our ‘heart’ is right, but the heart is DESPERATELY WICKED, and we are told NOT to follow it!  But we do anyway.  “In my heart I know that G-d still loves me if….”  Fill in the blank: “I worship on Sunday anyway; eat pork, eat only meat and dairy because the Rabbis say so.”  Man, the old Adam, the SIN NATURE, listens to MEN and the created earthly commands that ‘enhance’ the Word of G-d and make its reader ‘feel better’. 

“Lu’, Ami, shome’ah li”.  OH that my people would HEAR ME…

To demand a ‘pound of flesh’ is to demand something to which one thinks he is ‘entitled’.

This is what the ‘two house’ people of all varieties do, though they think and say they do not.

There are Messianic Jews who think in a ‘two house’ vein.  They think they take preeminence in His House because they are Jewish, and will not allow Gentiles to serve in ‘office,’ to read at the Bimah, and do not think Gentiles can or should keep His Torah.   [This is all rooted in Talmudic thought, the spirit of Sheker HaMashi’akh].

There are Messianic Gentiles who think in a two house vein, and call themselves ‘two house’, asserting that the children of Efrayim have become believers in Messiah because they are children of Efrayim/Yisra’el.  That Elohim ‘called them’ to Messiah because they are descended from one of the ten “lost tribes”.  And that they ‘deserve’ to inherit the Land of Yisra’el because of their DNA. They do not realize that the scriptures never call the ten northern tribes ‘lost’.  That thinking is an invention of man, and they’d be surprised to learn the thought’s origin.  They do not realize that ALL TWELVE TRIBES are doctrinally lost!  And that they will come back to Messiah ALL AT ONCE, AT THE END, AFTER having suffered discipline [tzarah, tribulation], only THEN coming to trust in Messiah Yeshua as their One King and Shepherd.

For now, ALL YISRAEL,  ALL TWELVE TRIBES, are LOST SHEEP!  They are only saved by HIS BLOOD and their TRUST in His Khesed.  And they are NOT called because of their DNA.

Two-housers take the verse out of Yirme-Yahu 50 OUT OF CONTEXT and make a whole new doctrine out of it.

“My people has been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting-place.”

This is the ONLY PLACE that calls Yisra’el “lost sheep” in the Tanakh scriptures.  Here, it is in the prediction of Bavel being destroyed by Paras [Persia], a prediction Dani’el later makes in detail.  This message is given to Yirme-Yahu, the Navi to the Kingdom of Yehudah!  The SOUTHERN Kingdom.  AFTER Khizki-Yah called the REMNANT of the northern tribes BACK to the feasts, and the REMNANT RETURNED, and joined Yehudah.  Hence, Yirme-Yahu refers to the SOUTHERN KINGDOM as Yisra’el !  The remnant from the north had rejoined the TRUE Kingdom, which itself had also erred in sin.  We see this remnant in the Brit Khadashah! [Shimon and Khanah, and others named from tribes other than Yehudah and BinYamin].  Yisra’el was LOST because their “Pastors” [shepherds, teachers of the Torah] were LEADING THEM ASTRAY doctrinally!  These verses have NOTHING to do with geography or DNA!  When Yeshua sent His twelve to “The Lost Sheep of the House of Yisra’el”,  He told them specifically NOT to go to the Shomronim [Samaria], who WERE [partly] descendants of the ten northern tribes!  MORE descended from Efrayim/Yisra’el than ANY modern person, that’s certain. The twelve were told to and went ONLY to “Yehudah,”  which, in the 1^st century and into today is ALL TWELVE TRIBES under the kingship of Yehudah, as it was in the days of Yirme-Yahu.

More importantly, however, is that the scriptures make it VERY clear that NO ONE, Jew nor Gentile, becomes a believer in Messiah and a recipient of His Salvation because of their link to Avraham or Yisra’el through their flesh.  NO ONE.  WHEN will ALL people learn this?  Jews are NOT saved because they are Jews, and Gentiles, Efrayimi or otherwise, are NOT saved because they are descended from Efrayim/Yisra’el.

“It is not as though D’var HaElohim had actually failed. For all those who belong to Yisra’el are not Yisra’elites. Neither, because they are of the seed of Avraham are they all His children; for it was said, “In Yitz’khak shall your descendants be called. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of Elohim, but the children of the promise who are reckoned as descendants.” Rom 9

Lest there be any doubt, the writer says AVRAHAM….  Yisra’el had TWELVE children, but ‘two housers’ apply every reference to “Yisra’el” in the Nevi’im ONLY to the ten northern tribes, whom Elohim FORGOT, apart from a small remnant.  MOST references to Yisra’el in the Nevi’im are to all twelve tribes.  That remnant of the ten northern rebellious tribes rejoined Yehudah in 2 Chron, was scattered AGAIN WITH Yehudah in 70AD, and are now called both Yisra’elites AND Jews.  They will return together with Yehudah, because they have already been rejoined with Yehudah, as Hoshe’ah predicted, and as was carried out by Khizki-Yahu in 2 Chron. 

REGARDLESS, ALL of natural Yisra’el WAS CUT OFF when Yeshua died.  And ONLY trust in Messiah, APART from DNA, gets ANYONE grafted back into that tree.  The GIFT of salvation was OFFERED to Jews FIRST, ALL TWELVE TRIBES, BECAUSE of the PROMISE that G-d made to AVRAHAM [Not to Ya’akov/Yisra’el, but to Avraham].  They were NOT CALLED nor did they receive the Ru’akh because they were Jewish nor Efrayimi, but because Elohim made a promise to Avraham to bring salvation to them first, and then to all nations.  It had NOTHING to do with their genetics/ancestral heritage.  If it did, every Jew and every so-called Efrayimi would have been saved in the first Century at Shavu’ot.  But only 3,000 were, of a million or more.  Genetics/flesh still does not play a role in salvation.  Not in ANY WAY.  And they did NOT respond because of DNA, but because of TRUST in the MESSAGE and the promise! 

“For it is not the one who is outwardly a Yehudi  [Or Yisra’eli ] who is the real Yehudi; neither is circumcision that which is seen in the flesh. But a real Yehudi is one who is inwardly so, and circumcision is of the heart, spiritually and not literally; whose praise [worth] is not from men but from Elohim.” Rom 2

“Are you so foolish, after having begun with spiritual things, to end now with things of the flesh?” [Two house is a doctrine of the FLESH]. Gal3

”You must know therefore that [only] those who trust, in absolute trust, are the children of Avraham. Because Elohim knew in advance that the nations would be declared righteous through absolute trust, he first declared to Avraham…”  Gal 3

NO ONE is a child of Avraham NOR not eve a Jew, nor an Yisra’eli, except those who TRUST in the BLOOD of Messiah Yeshua!  And it is ONLY because of that trust that they are given the Ru’akh…  and ONLY because of that TRUST will they inherit the land, as ONE NATION under King Messiah!

“Now the promises were made to Avraham and to his seed as a covenant. He did not say, “To your seeds,” as of many, but, “To your seed,” as One, that is Mashi’akh.” 

If ANYONE sees himself saved as an Efrayimi Or Yisra’eli, they are in fact LOST!  NO ONE is descended from Avraham UNLESS they descend from MESSIAH,  in the Ru’akh!  DNA is GARBAGE in His kingdom!

If one is trusting in their being the ‘seed’ of Efrayim, then they have pre-empted THE SEED, Messiah Yeshua, who came 900 years after the ten tribes were forgotten!  Their lineage is tainted!  They come from the WRONG line!

“And, this I say, that the covenant which was previously confirmed of Elohim in Mashi’akh cannot be repudiated…..”  Yet two-housers repudiate it, coming to think they are saved because of their lineage, most of them AFTER they ‘say’ they trust in Yeshua alone for salvation.

It was confirmed in Messiah TO AVRAHAM!  LONG before Efrayim the man was born, and certainly LONG before his children were forgotten.

Our Emunah, unwavering trust in His Blood, is the ONLY AFFIRMATION we have, and the ONLY affirmation we need!

“There is neither Yehudi nor Arami, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Yeshua HaMashi’akh. So if you belong to Mashi’akh, then [NOT before!] you are descendants of Avraham, and [then] his heirs according to the promise.”

NOT according to the flesh!~

If you demand your ‘pound of flesh’, you will indeed receive it: you are LOST.  The dog has returned to his vomit.  The sow to her waddling in the mud. 

“Shema!”  I implore you.  Do not listen to any spirit that says you are Efrayim, when you have no idea who your 14^th great grandfather is, much less your 112^th great grandfather [the minimum number that would get you back to 900 BC to when the ten tribes were forgotten]

“Are you so foolish, after having begun with spiritual things, to end now with things of the flesh?”

Miqedem is a Messianic Israeli team of musicians who sing The Word set to very compelling, interesting ‘Hebrew’/Middle Eastern sounding music.

They have a song called “Ad Ana”, which is Tehillah [Ps] 13 set to a moving, melodic, tune that, in my view, gets very close to expressing the ‘tone’ of the heart of Melekh David, the writer.

I have been ‘contemplating’ Melekh David of late, and have been re-reading his history, and as such, have decided to teach His life in our next Torah study.  I think one of the reasons he has been on my mind of late is because of the near three-month ‘trial’ that I endured, when I turned to David’s words of ‘prayer/praise’ daily [more than the one or two I usually do], echoing them back to my Savior, Messiah Yeshua, because David ‘gets me’, and expresses ‘right thinking’ in times of trouble.

This ‘Tehillah’, which is ‘praise’, is one of MANY that he wrote, that expresses deep, deep emotion.

Personally, people who say they know Messiah and have not experienced His ‘compassion’ [deep affectionate love] for Him and for His people are missing ‘something’.  Moreover, if they ‘say’ they do not suffer ‘trials’, then their ‘tzedaka’ is suspect.  “MANY are the tribulations of the tzadikim”; “Tzadikim” is “Justified Ones,” those who are set right before G-d by their trust in the blood of Messiah.  They are not perfect, as was not David HaMelekh, who had his own bouts with sin AND affliction; but he understood the compassion of Elohim, and boiled over with it at times.  And, he ‘suffered’ at the hands of PEOPLE, and GRIEVED over it… weeping, crying out, mourning, full of sorrow for things not being ‘right’ between him and people he loved.  I venture to say he emoted more even than me!  He lamented wrongdoing, his own, AND that of others, especially when they wronged him simply because he was anointed, or wronged him simply because they were disobedient to truth and bereft of the compassion of יהוה .  “My tears SOAK my bed,” he lamented.  “My heart writhes within me,”  “I moan ALL the day,” and on and on.

There are those who misread [past tense] my “Chimera” post.  Which is why I took it down.  There are those who misread [present perfect tense] me, when I ‘sorrow’ over affliction.  First of all, they see only one facet of what I might be enduring.  [Right now, I am enduring NOTHING but His joy!  Do not weep for me!]  And, they do not understand the very spiritual truth of the enemy wanting to destroy the Tzadikim, body and soul, if he can.  If WE let him.  “Kol Yisra’el aravim zeh lazeh,”  “All of Yisra’el is responsible one for another”.  Or, the way the Brit Khadashah puts it, “BEAR ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS”, “BEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER.”  Like Iyov, most people do not ‘see’ when a Tzadik is ‘suffering’ spiritually, because of and for the WILL OF GOD; they only see in human terms, and try to diagnose the Tzadik, instead of simply giving him ‘compassion.’  They judge.  Just as Iyov’s [Job] ‘friends’ did.  Just as those closest to David did. They blurt their perverted version of what is happening, many times in hatred and extreme anger, and condemnation.  They have NO COMPASSION for their ‘friend.’  Especially if they are the one who errs with and/or against their ‘friend’.  Sha’ul even accused his own son of having a perverted relationship with David, when Yehonatan was petitioning the king for David’s life!  He twisted their deep love into perversion!  That is the way of the accuser. David was afflicted by BELIEVERS and PROPHETS!  Not by the wicked, but by fellows, brothers, beloved friends, even his own son.  People who had genuinely ‘experienced’ G-d!  Sha’ul was not only king, but a Navi, given the very Ru’akh of Elohim!  David was NOT troubled by the Kena’ani;  NOT the P’lishtim.  In fact, he once was ‘taken in’ by the P’lishtim, running from those who professed trust in  יהוה !  I once told my wife that I could probably go to a bar and get more compassion than I can among the ‘brethren’.   Sometimes it really does seem that way.  As such, I am abundantly grateful for the brothers who did ‘take me in’, and who did show me compassion during my recent trial, without judging me or reading things into my life that were not there, because of their own perverted views, and worldly counsel.

Looking into David’s life and seeing his experiences, and his EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL RESPONSE to those experiences has been a great comfort to me, especially with the echo of judgement, suspicion, and accusation lingering behind the words of wise and compassionate counsel at times.  Singing this song this past Shabbat [practice] was cathartic, to a  degree, punctuating all the ‘counsel’ given to me of late, by King David, and good friends.  Singing it by myself [with Miqedem] this morning moved me in a new way, and ‘opened my eyes’ again to the purpose of these ‘prayers’ written for the Congregation by King David, the ‘shadow and type’ of King Messiah, Yeshua HaNatzri, who is ‘familiar with suffering’.  Even when it ‘seems’ like Abba is ‘absent’ and not attending to us, yet do we TRUST in HIS COMPASSION, REJOICE in His YESHUA, and SING to HIM, because of His bountiful compassion toward us, ‘ad olam’…

It is NOT wrong, at times, to have ‘sorrow’.  It is wrong to have sorrow and NOT PRAISE HIM ANYWAY!  It is wrong to listen to the counsel of those without compassion, and wrong to trust ‘judgement’ rather than HIS COMPASSION.  His compassion is what sustains us in the sorrow that HE has allowed into our lives, for the purpose of drawing us closer to Him, and showing us where His compassion truly lies. 

Sha’ul understood the depth of His Compassion, writing:

“If He did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, why will He not freely give us all things with Him? Who is to complain against the chosen ones of Elohim? It is Elohim who justifies. Who is He who condemns? It is Mashi’akh who died and rose again, and He is at the right hand of Elohim, making intercession for us. What shall separate me from the love of Mashi’akh? Tribulation, or imprisonment, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we die every day, and we are accounted as lambs for the slaughter.” But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor HaMalakhim, nor empires, nor armies, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else created, shall be able to separate me from the love of Elohim which is in Yeshua HaMashi’akh Adoneinu.”

Tehillah 13

For the Leader. A Mizmor of David.  

Until when, O יהוה , will You forget me forever?  עַד אָנָה יהוה תִּשְׁכָּחֵנִי נֶצַח

                Ad ana, יהוה  , tishkakheini netzakh?

Until when will You hide Your face from me?    עַד אָנָה תַּסְתִּיר אֶת פָּנֶיךָ מִמֶּנִּי

                Ad ana tastir et paneikha mimeini

 Until when shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart by day?                                              עַד אָנָה אָשִׁית עֵצוֹת בְּנַפְשִׁי יָגוֹן בִּלְבָבִי יוֹמָם

                Ad ana ashit etzot b’nafshi yagon bilvavi yomam

Until when shall my enemy be exalted over me?  עַד אָנָה יָרוּם אֹיְבִי עָלָי

                Ad ana yarum oiyevi alai?

 Behold, and answer me, O יהוה my Elohim;   הַבִּיטָה עֲנֵנִי יהוה אֱלֹהָי

                Habit, aneini,  יהוה  Elohai

 Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of Mavet [eternal death];          הָאִירָה עֵינַי פֶּן אִישַׁן הַמָּוֶת

                 Ha’irah einai pen ishan haMavet

Lest my enemy says, “I have prevailed against him”; lest my adversaries rejoice when I am moved.

פֶּן יאֹמַר אֹיְבִי יְכָלְתִּיו; צָרַי יָגִילוּ כִּי אֶמּוֹט   

                 Pen yomar oiyevi “Yakholtiv!” Tzarai yagilu, ki emot

But as for me, in Your compassion do I trust; my heart shall rejoice in Your Salvation. [Yeshua’s Name is in this word]

                וַאֲנִי בְּחַסְדְּךָ בָטַחְתִּי יָגֵל לִבִּי בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ

              Va’Ani b’khasdeikha batakhti, yagel libi bishuateikha

I will sing unto יהוה , because He has dealt bountifully with me.   אָשִׁירָה לַיהוה כִּי גָמַל עָלָי

               Ashirah la  יהוה  ki gamal alai

The ‘two house’ people tend to twist and pervert scripture in order to make their doctrine fit.

One of the newer passages that they have perverted is this beautiful passage about repentance and humility.  It is traditionally called the “Prodigal Son” parable. 

“A man had two sons; 12and his younger son said to him, ‘My father, give me the portion which is coming to me from your house.’ And he divided to them his possessions. 13And after a few days, his younger son gathered everything that was his share, and went to a far country, and there he wasted his wealth in extravagant living. 14And when all he had was gone, there was a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and got acquainted with one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him to the field to feed the swine. 16And he craved to fill his stomach with the husks that the swine were eating, and yet no man would give him. 17And when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many hired workers are now in my father’s house who have plenty of bread, and I am here perishing with hunger? 18I will rise and go to my father and say to him, ‘My father, I have sinned before Heaven and before you; 19and I am no longer [he was still a son!] worthy to be called your son; just make me like one of your hired workers.” 20And he rose up and came to his father. And while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion on him, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21And his son said to him, ‘My father, I have sinned before Heaven and before you, and I am not worthy to be called your son.’ [he was still a son!]  22But his father said to his servants, ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; 23and bring and kill the fattened ox, and let us eat and be merry; 24for this my son was dead and has come to life; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to be merry. 25But his elder son was in the field; and as he came near the house, he heard the voice of the singing of many. 26And he called one of the boys, and asked him what it was all about. 27He said to him, ‘Your brother has come; and your father has killed the fattened ox because he received him safe and well.’ 28And he became angry and would not go in; so his father came out and besought him. 29But he said to his father, ‘Behold, how many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your mitzvah; and yet you never gave me even a kid that I might make merry with my friends. 30But for this son of yours, after he had wasted your wealth with harlots and come back, you have killed the fattened ox.’ 31His father said to him, ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything which is mine is yours. 32It was right for us to make merry and rejoice; for this your brother was dead and has come to life; and was lost, and is found.’”

The new ‘twist’ on this passage is that the ‘prodigal’ son is equivalent to ‘northern Israel,’ the ‘lost tribes of Israel,’ which the two-house proponents think are today’s ‘christians’ who are descended from European stock.  Apart from the fact that it is a ridiculous notion to assert that anyone can prove that Danes, Brits, Dutch, etc., are descended from the ‘ten lost tribes’, it is further ridiculous to assume that this parable is about any ‘group’ of people.  They claim that the ‘faithful’ son is Yehudah [Judah], or, our Jewish people.  This alone BREAKS their narrative right away, because Yeshua spent a great deal of His time showing Israel, the Jewish people, how very DISOBEDIENT they were!  They did NOT remain faithful in His house, as did the older son in our story.  They had, before Yeshua visited them, already turned salvation into a merit-based system, much like two housers today, who need the merit of being genetically of the ten tribes in order to justify their salvation. 

The notion that the ‘ten lost tribes’ are seen as the ‘younger son’ is ‘off’ as well.  Since three of the tribes in the northern kingdom were ‘older’ than Yehudah: Re’uven, Shimon, and Levi.  But, worse, in the parable, the younger son TAKES his ‘birthright,’ or his ‘inheritance’ with him, and spends it.  This is NOT how the ten tribes left Israel… they were DRIVEN OUT, by GOD HIMSELF!  They did NOT leave the Home of their father with HIS FAVOR, with Him willingly giving them the GOODNESS of HIS HOUSE…. They DISOBEYED, and were PUNISHED.  In our parable, the younger son leaves with his father’s blessing!  In history, the ten northern tribes left in BONDAGE, as Assyrian SLAVES.  And they were NOT driven into Europe, but further east into Asia Minor and beyond.  The simple fact is, NO ONE KNOWS where they went AFTER they were driven into the places EAST where the scriptures say they were driven.  Further, the Danes, Brits, Dutch, Germans, Gauls, Celts, etc, ALREADY EXISTED as people groups LONG before the northern tribes were driven out of Israel, EASTWARD in 900 BC. 

In our mashal, the younger son ‘comes to himself’.   In the B’sorah, the FATHER CALLS US!  [Yokh 6:44]  At the beginning of the mashal, he is ALREADY A SON!  THAT is NOT a state of being ‘unsaved’ at all.  This mashal is about the realization of the need of repentance.. But, it is MORE about the OLDER SON, who RESENTS the younger son’s blessing when he returns….

The older son in NO WAY can represent Judah.  Yehudah WAS DISOBEDIENT when Yeshua arrived in Yisra’el.  Yehudah, in fact, according to Yirme-Yahu, was WORSE OFF spiritually than had been the northern tribes, since they defiled the ACTUAL TEMPLE of Elohim, and not a mock temple such as the two the northern tribes had built in Efrayim and Dan.  To say that the older son represents the Jewish people, who resent the “xtian ephraimites” because god is blessing them, is writing into this text that which is simply NOT THERE.  In fact, it defies Yeshua’s narrative, and His whole point… HUMILITY.  Our Jewish people are NOT in our Father’s house!  They rejected the Son of G-d, and are still being wooed to repentance themselves!  They are in NO WAY in possession of the inheritance nor the blessing.

This mashal is NOT about a group of people that Elohim scourged with punishment, sent them away destitute as slaves, whose POSSIBLE descendants then may or may not become believers in the Messiah.  This notion completely disregards that the Samaritans were ACTUAL descendants of the Northern tribes, and Yeshua told His Talmidim NOT to go to them when He sent His Twelve out to the ‘LOST SHEEP of Yisra’el.’  The two-housers pervert that very simple historical FACT, that the twelve went out TO JEWS whom Yeshua called the LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL… They were LOST because they had no spiritual shepherd, just as Yirme-Yahu said of them some 600 years before Yeshua came.  Two-housers further ignore Sha’ul, a Benjamite, who called himself BOTH an ISRAELI AND a Jew.  How can that be?  He’s NOT from the northern tribes, and NOT from Yehudah, but calls himself BOTH an Israeli and a Jew.

Two-housers take prophecies that they do NOT understand, most of which have already been fulfilled, and make NEW doctrine out of them.  They twist the scriptures, and base their salvation in part on their GENETICS.  “I’m saved, because I’m descended from Ephraim.”  If salvation is in ANY MEASURE weighted against genetics, IT IS NOT SALVATION. 

Two Housers need to learn that the WHOLE OLIVE TREE WAS CUT DOWN, TO THE ROOT [The root is Messiah]; then, JEWISH BRANCHES grew out of it FIRST, and GENTILE branches were grafted in to the JEWISH TREE, as Yeshua is a JEW.

Historically, there were CONVERTS to Judaism from the areas where the northern tribes had been driven 900 years before Shavu’ot [Acts 2], “Parthians, Scythians…”   these are the areas where the ten lost tribes were driven nearly 1,000 years before Acts 2 took place.  And converts AND Jews from there were present.  But, NOT ONE of them were called an “Ephraimite” in Acts…. They were called ‘resident strangers’ JUST LIKE ANY OTHER GENTILE convert who was there to witness Shavu’ot.

The egregious thinking of these people shows that they are likely not saved at all, as they need something OTHER than the blood of Yeshua to tell them they are part of a ‘house.’  A TRUE JEW is one who is circumcised in heart.  There is ONLY ONE House, the Kingdom of Messiah.

27For those who have been immersed in the name of Mashi’akh have been clothed with Mashi’akh. 28There is neither Yehudi nor Arami, [Jew nor Aramean] there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all ONE in Yeshua HaMashi’akh. 29So if you belong to Mashi’akh, then you are descendants of Avraham, and his heirs according to the promise.”  Avraham’s descendants are so by FAITH ALONE.

Aramean happens to, in this context, represent the territory where the ten lost tribes were driven.  They are NOT called “Ephraimites” here, as their dna had so mixed with their host nations, they do not exist as a people any more, and did not in Sha’ul’s day either.

Timothy, who LIVED in the area of the ten lost tribes, was instructed:

“Charge certain ones not to teach diverse doctrines, 4and not to give heed to fables and stories of endless genealogies, which cause dispute, rather than build up HaEmunah of Elohim.”

Two-house doctrine is FABLE.  It is a twisting of scripture that diverts attention off of the blood of Messiah and puts in on flesh!  In fact, the two-housers have, if they ever knew Messiah, SQUANDERED the inheritance for the flesh of swine, turning to fables, turning away from TRUST in Messiah ALONE as our IDENTITY.

Allow me to solicit your thoughts on certain matters, if I may. I am asking those of you who know you love the Messiah to consider that His Father was Elohim, the Almighty G-d. That Almighty G-d created the Sabbath for all mankind, to which Yeshua attested:

“The Sabbath was made for MANKIND, and not mankind for the Sabbath”.
Mark 2:27

Yeshua is referring to Genesis 2, here, where G-d blessed the SEVENTH DAY. He did not bless the first day. He created the Sabbath as His last act of creating. We pray a prayer, “though made last…” in our congregation. The Sabbath was made…for all of us.

My question, then, is an honest question offered in love: Who changed the Sabbath Day?

Did G-d? Did the Messiah change it, after declaring that it was made for all mankind? Do you understand that the word Sabbath means “Seventh Day”? It is a day of rest, but it is the SEVENTH DAY, and it was instated at the creation, NOT for the Jews only! But for all mankind.

So, WHO changed it? I beg you to consider this. And I ask you to read further and allow me to show you who changed it. Not only so, but I would like you also to consider, with all my heart, who changed the other Holy Days of G-d, which the Messiah Yeshua also observed? Passover, Matzot, Reysheet Omer, Shavuot, all of which detail the first coming of Messiah and his death, burial and resurrection, as shadows. Also Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, which teach us very clearly of the details of His return. [Colossians 2:17]

Who changed these feasts to Easter, Halloween, and Christmas? Who changed the Sabbath to “Sun-day”.

I will tell you: the Spirit of the Lying Messiah. You may call it “Antichrist”.

This is the spirit that will one day possess an individual who will rule the world, very soon. But, this ‘spirit’ has been in the world for millennia. It does not go after the lost, but after believers, to deceive them. It was in the world in the first century, and already lying to ‘christians’ then, those who confessed that they believed in Yeshua as the Messiah. Yokhanan [John] had to remind them that this spirit was already around, as a warning of great danger:

“My little children, it is the last days; and as you have heard that the Lying Messiah will come, even NOW there are many lying messiahs, and from this we know that it is the last days”.
I John 2:18

“The Ruakh of Elohim [Spirit of G-d] is known by this: every spirit that declares that Yeshua the Messiah is come in the flesh is from Elohim. And every spirit which does not declare that Yeshua the Messiah is come in the flesh is not from Elohim. This is the spirit of the Lying Messiah, which you have heard that it should come into the world, and even now is already in the world.”
I John 4:2-3

This is a clear warning that there is a demonic presence in the world that means to deceive the people of Messiah. Shaul [Paul] wrote of it too:

“Now the Ruakh clearly says that in the last days some shall DEPART from the faith, giving ear to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons.”
1 Tim 4:1

Both Yokhanan and Shaul declare that the believers had heard of and that the Ruakh had spoken of this “lying Messiah”. Many think that the “Holy Spirit” whispered in their ears and told them this, but do not realize that the Ruakh wrote the Tanak [the Torah, Prophets, and Poets], and that is how they had ‘heard’ of the lying Messiah:

“He shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.”

“He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the set apart ones, and HE SHALL THINK TO CHANGE THE APPOINTED TIMES [FEASTS] AND THE TORAH.”

“Appointed Times” are specific: Leviticus 23:2, “These are the Appointed Times of יהוה.” The first one is the Sabbath, and the other seven are listed above in the same order they are listed in Leviticus.

So, it is the spirit of the Lying Messiah, that has been in the world for atleast 2000 years, [really, it was in the garden of Eden too, however, but Yokhanan’s letter was written before 90AD, so it has been atleast that long], that would CHANGE THE FEASTS and the TORAH.

But, when did this happen? When did the Christian world CHANGE? Most of you may think that it was very, very early in the cycle of ‘christian’ observance. It was not. True, there were second century ‘confessors’, a handful, who observed the ‘Sunday Sabbath’ as the “Lords Day”, but were they right to do so? Where is it written that Almighty G-d gave authority to men to CHANGE HIS FEASTS and to IGNORE SCRIPTURE? It is not, but it is written that the “Antichrist”, the “Anti-Messiah”, the Lying Messiah, the “Son of Perdition”, would do so. And, it is written that the ‘spirit’ that would possess him was already in the world in the first century. So, WHEN, I ask you lovingly, did your forefathers STOP observing the Sabbath?

Check the book of Acts, and you will see that ALL believers, Jewish and Gentile, worshipped Elohim on the Sabbath, and that it was a LIE that was spread that they changed the Torah for Jews and for Gentiles.

It happened ‘officially’ starting in 312AD.

“On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.”

This is Constantine. It is after he called the Pagan sign Sol Invictus [which also is his ‘sun-day’ ]  the “Sign of the Cross”, and went to war pretending to war in the name of ‘christ’. It was at the Battle of the Milvian bridge in 308 where he ‘claimed’ to have seen his ‘sign’, and shortly thereafter declared HIS empire to be a ‘christian’ Empire. And four years later, he made it LAW that “The Venerable Day of the Sun” [sol invicuts] would be the day of rest.

So, indeed, the first thing he did was change the Appointed Times. But, it did not end there. He further declared the Passover of the Jews to be “disgusting”. Even though MOST of his ‘empire’ who believed in the Messiah actually kept the Passover with the Jews! He was a rabid anti-Semite, and it did not take long for it to manifest, and to officially change the other “Appointed Times”.

“It was, in the first place, declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this holy festival [Pesakh/Passover], because, their hands having been stained with crime, the minds of these wretched men are necessarily blinded. … Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries. … Let us … studiously avoiding all contact with that evil way. … For how can they entertain right views on any point who, after having compassed the death of the Lord, being out of their minds, are guided not by sound reason, but by an unrestrained passion, wherever their innate madness carries them. … lest your pure minds should appear to share in the customs of a people so utterly depraved. … Therefore, this irregularity must be corrected, in order that we may no more have any thing in common with those parricides and the murderers of our Lord. … no single point in common with the perjury of the Jews.” [Ecclesiastical History by Theodoret, Book 1, Chapter 9, concerning the matters transacted at the Council, addressed to those overseers who were not present]

Now, if you’re an anti-Semite, this rings true for you. But, if you recognize that he is saying that things must CHANGE, you see that many in the empire were STILL keeping the Passover, TOGETHER WITH JEWS. Check the History, the believers in Messiah got along with the wider Jewish community for a long, long time, even though some gentiles were already trying to break away from the Jewish community. [hence, the corrective ‘epistles’ of Sha’ul/Paul] Constantine, however, and his followers, made it LAW that things should CHANGE!

If you read history further, you find that another law had to be written a mere 80 some odd years later, to FORCE people to quit observing the Sabbath and the Passover, and the other feasts, with Jews, on PAIN OF DEATH. Can you really justify a DEATH PENALTY sentence for KEEPING THE SABBATH of the GOD? If you can, you are of the spirit of the Lying Messiah.

The overseers who were not present were the Jewish Overseers of the congregations around the empire, and the Gentile overseers who would NOT go to the council of Nicea, because Constantine would not permit the Jewish Overseers to go! Out of some 2500 overseers around the empire, only around 250 actually went. So, a TEN PERCENT showing of overseers decided the fate of the ‘christian empire’; and that 10 percent began KILLING anyone who disagreed with them on these two matters, and on one more: Who Messiah is.

The Council of Nicea DENIED that Yeshua is come in the FLESH!

They delared this: “He is said to be “one in being with The Father”. Eusebius of Caesarea attributed the term homoousios, or “consubstantial, i.e., “of the same substance” (of the Father), to Constantine, who, on this particular point, may have chosen to exercise his authority. The significance of this clause, however, is extremely ambiguous, and it would be hotly contested for centuries, before the final ‘Trinitarian formula’ was accepted. It, too, was forced on the wider ‘christian empire’ by the DEATH PENALTY.

“Homoousios” is the issue. “One SUBSTANCE”.
This DENIES that Yeshua is [and remains] FLESH AND BONE!

“Behold, my hands and feet, that it is I myself: HANDLE ME, and SEE, for a SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE FLESH and BONES, as you see me have.” Luke 24:39 [He said this AFTER having risen from the dead]

For Constantine to declare that “jesus” is the same SUBSTANCE with the father is to make him NOT IN THE FLESH, since the scriptures say that the Father, Elohim, is SPIRIT! Yeshua said so HIMSELF!

“Elohim is RUAKH [Spirit], and they that worship HIM must do so in spirit, and in TRUTH”.
John 4:24

THIS IS THE “SPIRIT OF THE LYING MESSIAH”, that Yokhanan warned us about!

“The Ruakh of Elohim [Spirit of G-d] is known by this: every spirit that declares that Yeshua the Messiah is come in the flesh is from Elohim. And every spirit which does not declare that Yeshua the Messiah is come in the flesh is not from Elohim. THIS IS THE SPRIIT OF THE LYING MESSIAH, which you have heard that it should come into the world, and even now is already in the world.”
I John 4:2-3

Please pray, read the scriptures, and see if this is not true! OUR FATHERS INHERITED LIES!
And the liar who foisted these deceits on the ‘christian empire’ was NOT EVEN A BELIEVER! He waited until his DEATH BED to consider being ‘immersed’, and when he did, he was ‘baptized’ by a man who did NOT accept his ‘homoousios’ clause! Eusebius!

THIS is the man who began to ‘change the seasons and the torah’ officially, with the backing of the state. And those who came after him eventually had to use MURDER in order to get the majority of the people to comply. One day soon, this SAME SPIRIT will govern the whole world. And, I tell you now, our country is governed by a man and his followers who follow this SAME SPIRIT.

They are now changing the Torah: making it ‘legal’ for men to marry men, women to marry women, and for babies to be murdered in the womb and out. This was done in the ‘churches’ first, and now it is becoming the law of the land. So, we cannot utterly blame the lawmakers. ALL of this stems from that acquiescent attitude of those 250 “bishops” nearly 1700 years ago, who had no courage to stand for the TRUTH. They caved, because the world leader told them they needed to.

Is this really who you want to follow? Or would you follow Messiah, and imitate Him, who Himself kept the Appointed times of His Father?