Breaking Torah. (Let me count the ways…)

“Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ²You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”
Deuteronomy 4:1-2

To the credit of the Hebrew roots/Torah observant community, we take the Word of God seriously and understand that He says what He means and means what He says. As a whole, we generally are very concerned with keeping Shabbat correctly, eating clean and observing the feasts. We try hard, though imperfectly, to follow all that is written in the Torah without adding or subtracting from those various commands and the different details scattered throughout the Torah.

In those major areas, we are pretty good at not breaking the Torah. But, there is one area where we break the Torah continually. We are so good at it that we don’t even think about it. Consistently, we add to the Torah, take away from it, and break multiple commands, without even thinking about it… Let me share a little of what the Father has been teaching me.

Paul’s Perspective on Polygyny

Is it possible that the vow taken by the groom in the traditional Christian ceremony to “forsake all others” is rooted in Gentile tradition and law and without biblical justification? Is it possible Christendom has used Pauline verses, improperly translated and incorrectly understood, to prop up a position he never took and likely never believed? Does research actually show that the real root of monogamy-only is entirely Greco-Roman, used to empower the State and reduce the authority and power of men and their families?

Take a hard look at a few passages written by Paul within the historical and cultural context of his writing and see what the truth may be. Read the newest paper in our Articles section titled, Paul’s Perspective on Polygyny.

Facts v Feelings

Invariably, the subject of headship and patriarchy elicits an emotional response, particularly from women, that borders on volcanic. The feelings that explode to the surface quickly override the facts of what Scripture teaches.

As a general rule, I have long taught my family that facts always trump emotions. Or, another way I have often said it, feelings will always fail you. The reason is because feelings are subject to change. Facts are not.

Pretty much any subject can be taken and evaluated both emotionally and factually. As an example, murder can be justified by feelings. Maybe the perpetrator was just totally fed up with someone and hated their guts to the point that they commit murder. They may justify it with their feelings, but in a court of law, the facts will show that they broke the law. Facts will trump feelings! Continue reading “Facts v Feelings”

‘You don’t own me…’

The sultry voice of Lesley Gore gets me every time. I can’t help but sing along. I grew up with my father’s music. Loved it…

Still do, but now older and wiser I see and hear things that shock me. Things that answer questions about how our culture went so wrong.

In December of 1963, Lesley released a single titled ‘You don’t own me’ that rocketed to #2 on the Billboard chart and went on to be a million copy seller. While she did not unseat the Beatles for the top spot, she daringly struck a violent blow near the beginning of the 1960’s sexual and feminist revolution. Her contribution to the assault on Biblical gender roles is unmistakable, and all couched in a catchy radio tune.

Training Kingdom Warriors…

The young men in our fellowship embraced a unique opportunity over the last 24 hours. One of their numbers has been struggling with a particular issue regarding anxiety and racing thoughts. Our young men decided to follow in their fathers’ footsteps and covenant for a day of fasting and prayer!

The respective fathers joined in and eight of us assaulted the Throne on behalf, unknown to him, of this young brother. As the fast neared completion, I received a text from his father saying that the young man had cited multiple times through the day how awesome he felt. ‘Best day in a long time…’

It is not uncommon in our fellowship for the men, most heads of houses, to do a two day fast on behalf of each other, particular issues, etc., but this was the first time the aspiring ‘young bucks’ joined us. In hindsight, I wonder why we haven’t invited them before. Nevertheless, it was Yah’s time and He showed up!

Exposing the ‘mutual submission’ fallacy in marriage

A common Christian error concerning marriage is ‘mutual submission.’ The fallacy is usually built on,

Ephesians 5:21 …and be subject to one another in the fear of Messiah.

The very next verse delves into marriage relationships, therefore, the two must be connected, right?

Well…. not so fast!!

Simple logic and a reading of the next few verses in context will quickly dispel the ‘mutual submission applies to marriage’ fallacy. Continue reading “Exposing the ‘mutual submission’ fallacy in marriage”

WND’s ‘Boy Crisis’

Someone ‘gets it!’ Sort of…

I was just made aware that WorldNetDaily published an article titled A National Solution to the Boy Crisis hours before I published Orphan, according to Scripture.

Reading their article and the comments highlights two very important things:

– The world knows there is a radical problem when no father is present, and

– They haven’t a clue that Scripture has a solution, writ LARGE that they choose to ignore.

Godly men are too few, but single moms/women (and their children) are not limited to the dregs of male choices. As clearly articulated in our articles, papers, links, refutations, etc, Scripture clearly teaches that a man may have more than one wife and be the father that so many boys need.

The marriage ~~culture~~ disaster in western civilization is fueled in large part by false monogamy-only doctrines and egalitarian mindsets that emasculate men and are decidedly UNbiblical. We’re just reaping the whirlwind we sowed…

Want to reverse the trend? Want to be part of the solution instead of the problem? Take God’s Word seriously and quit making excuses for why God calls Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David et al, righteous when they clearly had larger families than America’s 2.1 children.

‘Orphan,’ according to Scripture…

Common culture tends to believe that an orphan is a child that has no parents, i.e., father or mother, but is this Biblical?

In exploring this topic, the first consideration one should have is, ‘to whom do the children belong?’ Again, common culture tends to believe that children are jointly the possession of father and mother, but, is this Biblical?

In fact, when one understands proper Biblical authority structure, it becomes evident that Continue reading “‘Orphan,’ according to Scripture…”

Does God HATE Women?

It is not uncommon to hear the charge, or at least the undertone, when discussing what Scripture has to say concerning male and female roles that God must hate women. I mean, He requires that they submit to their husbands, desires that they be under male headship and seems not to have a problem with polygynous marriages. At the same time, men appear to have much more freedom and self determination. What gives? Does God indeed hate women? Is He a misogynist?

The complete paper in pdf format:

Does God HATE women?

11:3 Restoration: What’s in a Name?

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.”

– William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

In the days prior to launching this blog, we already had several teachings ready to go, with several more in the pipeline; there was no lack of content, and we all had a fairly clear idea how we would all contribute to this project to see it take flight. It was a fairly smooth, seamless process, with just one small snag: we didn’t have a name. As a leadership team, we deliberated over group chat, quite extensively, what to call this new ministry which we had intended to build together. Although there never was a clear consensus, someone suggested the name “11:3 Restoration,” based on 1 Corinthians 11:3, in which the apostle Paul writes,

“But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB)

I objected.