11:3 Restoration

On ‘the will of God’…

The Psalms are clear that David, a man after God’s own heart, delighted in Yehovah’s instructions (Torah). If we desire the heart of God, should we do any differently?

Put another way, David understood that righteousness was obedience to God’s Instructions, but the Church teaches that obedience is bondage and an affront to the righteousness of Messiah. Who do we believe, David and the Son of David (Mark 10:17-22), or traditions of men?

David said, “I DELIGHT to do thy will…Your Torah is within my Heart.”. Do we delight in His Torah, or do we call ‘good’ ‘evil?’

Selah.

http://bible.com/100/psa.40.8.NASB

A matter of the heart….

The last couple days have been deeply sad as I have read and re-read Deuteronomy 5-8. Perhaps the saddest verse is Yehovah’s pleading for His people to have a heart that fears and keeps His commandments!!

²⁹Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!

The verse clearly says ‘heart,’ ‘all,’ ‘keep,’ and ‘forever!’ Simple stuff, right?

Why so sad, then?

I speak to SO many people in Christendom and try to explain the many, many verses that tell us that our Father desires to ‘write His Word/commandments’ on our heart. More verses speak of the Messiah teaching Torah from Jerusalem. Still more tell of the glories and blessings of obedience… Eyes glaze over and I see them fade right out of the conversation.

How our Father’s heart must break!! Just like in Deuteronomy 5:29, He, the unchanging Elohim (God), STILL wants His people to have a heart the fears Him and keeps ‘all’ His commandments. But, Christendom is just as stiff-necked as those in the wilderness, only self-righteously so.

Does He weep? It makes me so, so sad.

I think of my own family that rather than Continue reading “A matter of the heart….”

Amazing Day of Worship at Adat Shalom

I have never ‘reviewed’ a congregation… seems almost crude and unrefined… crass. However, my wife, two sons and I drove to Summerville, SC to visit with Adat Shalom Congregation and had such an amazing afternoon that I just have to tell you about this fellowship!!

Most of my readers are familiar with the excellent Torah Portion notes by Ray Gardner that this blog is blessed to host. Well, as we prepare to go to Israel in a couple weeks to participate in the First Ephramite/Northern Israel National Congress, we have visited several fellowships to tell of our purpose, ask for prayer and seek input from them as their delegates. This week we visited with Ray Gardner’s fellowship and were totally blown away at the level of maturity and the degree of abandoned worship as well as the prophetic giftings.

The 15+/- year old fellowship occupies an unpretentious store front building located at 257 Treeland Drive, Ladson SC, 29456. We were early and as we came through the door, entering a cavernous room, I was immediately struck by Continue reading “Amazing Day of Worship at Adat Shalom”

Hermeneutics: How to Break the Law

I was pondering a little Christian theological conundrum this morning.

Every seminary student is taught sometime early in his Masters program how to interpret Scripture according to the rules of hermeneutics.

[As an aside, my son is over my shoulder asking about the origin of the word ‘hermeneutics.’ Well, I explain it comes from the Greek ‘messenger god’ Hermes to which he reminds me that Hermes was also the god of deception, thieves, the conductor of souls to the underworld, trickster, etc… Hmmmm. Seminarians ought to get a clue here, but, I digress.]

Continuing, hermeneutic rules have to do with how to interpret the text. While the list of rules can vary depending on the teacher/text and denominational/religious division, almost always, on every list, near the top is a rule that says obscure or unclear passages must be interpreted by or through the lens of clear passages. Further, all Scripture leads to harmony and therefore, a clear passage or two that contradicts an obscure or unclear interpretation should immediately override the misunderstood unclear passage.

So, I was pondering this hermeneutic rule, or shall we say, law and the multiple Christian doctrines that violate the law in order to Continue reading “Hermeneutics: How to Break the Law”

Rainbows, Covenants and Sanctification

Terrific App: YouVersion

Recently, a friend introduced me to a Bible App named ‘YouVersion.’

While I prefer My Sword (a lite mobile version of E-Sword), I have to tell you that I see a number of terrific positives for YouVersion and the way it can be used. First, with 177,000,000 users, it has an extremely broad reach (multiple languages and translations)!! Secondly, the ability to share notes and verses through social media or directly with friends is a neat option, but possibly the most enticing are the reading plans/devotionals with a little built in ‘award/badge’ system of encouragement.

A few of the existing reading plans are interesting, but the opportunity to create and share some Messianic specific plans is most tantalizing. Being able to further have users/readers link the plan/completion to their Facebook or Twitter feeds is also most useful.

I am studying through and trying to get my not so techie brain to understand how to create such plans to place on their main feed. Pray for me and if this is something you would be interested in participating in, drop me a note through the contacts page. Maybe we can work together for the kingdom!

If you are an app user, ‘friend’ me, ‘Pete Rambo’ so we can connect!

If you have some experience with this app, please share in the comments section!!

Shalom!

How to KNOW you love God…

Ever wondered how to KNOW if you or someone around you loves God? It is actually, very simple.

²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and ^[a]observe His commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. I Jn 5:2-3

Pretty simple.

The word ‘observe’ is more properly translated (as the superscript testifies) ‘DO.’ Further, Continue reading “How to KNOW you love God…”

Youtube video series: 10 Paradigm-shifting NT Verses

Several friends and fellow sojourners are teamed up to help me transition some teachings into YouTube videos… We have limited skills and resources, but we are looking to help place challenging thinking material before Christendom.

Here is the first of a short series one son and I worked on over the weekend. If you like it, please share it and the Bible Searcher channel it is on with some friends.

May all four of these bless you and give you material to share!!

Shalom!

Tonight: Pesach 2015 and Third Blood Moon!!!

This is the second Passover in a row with a potentially VERY significant and ominous blood moon in the sky. As we have discussed before, the planet is in the midst of a Blood Moon Tetrad, a series of four blood moons within a two year timespan. Amazingly, this is one of the extremely rare times that all four fall on the major Feasts of Yehovah (the Lord). Last year, Passover and Sukkot with the identical pattern again this year. Even more interesting was a total solar eclipse that just occurred on the first day of the Hebrew calendar and the midpoint of the four blood moons….

Following is an interesting article from Israeli news titled,

Shocking Passover Blood Moon Predictions by Israeli Rabbi

A mystic rabbi living in southern Israel is urging all Jews to pray and repent as the third Blood Moon of a tetrad cycle approaches.

Rabbi Amram Vaknin, who similarly predicted the events of the Gaza flotilla and the Carmel forest fire in 2010, and Operations Pillar of Defense (2012) and Protective Edge (2014), warns that Israel is facing great judgment and potential danger at this time.

One of Rabbi Vaknin’s students, Gil Nachman, spoke to Breaking Israel News and, quoting the sage, explained that the numeric value of the Hebrew word for blood, dam, which is 44, alludes to the 44th president of the United States.

Vaknin predicted that the 44th president would bring bloodshed (dam) to the Jewish people. It should be noted that the rabbi made this prediction before President Barack Obama’s election to office.

Vaknin believes that only 44 plus one, or 45, can counter the danger represented by the blood moons. This, he says, is Adam, or Man, which in this case refers to the Messiah.

Article continues here…

Very interesting and definitely bear watching. The prophet Joel warns of signs in the heavens before the great and terrible day of Yehovah. May we draw near to Him and His Messiah as we enter the secret place.

Chag Sameach!!

A Messianic perspective on the 4 cups of Passover

Shalom fine Kineti reader, and chag sameach. Here are some notes I jotted tonight for the significance of the 4 cups of Passover for Messianic believers. I hope you enjoy!

-Judah

Why do we drink the 4 cups of Passover?

The Jewish people have several traditions around the 4 cups. One prominent tradition is that the 4 cups correspond to the 4 “I will…” statements of Exodus 6:

I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will save you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people…

We take these 4 cups remembering the works of God, aspects of his saving Israel, facets of his salvation:

“I will bring you out” – sanctification
“I will save you” – deliverance
“I will redeem you” – redemption
“I will take you as My people” – restoration

We also take these 4 cups in remembrance of Messiah. At Passover, Messiah commands us to “do this in remembrance of Me” – but what are we remembering about Messiah?

Continue reading “A Messianic perspective on the 4 cups of Passover”