11:3 Restoration

Israeli Media Takes a Positive Look at Messianic Jews

Prophecy and history are playing out before our very eyes!! I am so overwhelmed at the things that are happening in rapid succession right now that it takes my breath away and brings tears all at the same time. Zion is awakening!!

Read this incredible article about a HUGE positive stand that is being taken for Yeshua in Israel right now. Eyes are opening and acceptance is in the immediate future.

Israel’s leading media group, Keshet, has taken a keen interest in the nation’s Messianic Jewish community after one of its flagship television shows, the popular singing competition Kochav Haba (“The Next Star”), featured a Messianic Jewish contestant.

Keshet’s online news and entertainment portal, Mako, published a weekend story asking readers to take a closer look at Israel’s 15,000 Messianic Jews and to be more welcoming toward those who believe in Yeshua (Jesus).

The article opened by highlighting some of the hostile comments made after openly-Messianic songstress Shai Sol scored a spot in Kochav Haba’s second round following a mesmerizing audition performance.

Continue reading “Israeli Media Takes a Positive Look at Messianic Jews”

I Found It!!

Two moves ago, I lost a piece of paper that was on my wall. The loss was the basis for this post titled King Josiah A Pattern For Us, a post as relevant today as ever… Yesterday, while unpacking a box from storage, I found it. It said,

YHWH is calling us to be as King Josiah

To find the Torah hidden in the rubble of the Holy place

To bring it before the people

To teach the laws again

To be priests and enter the Holy of Holies with out fear

To do away with the high places and pagan worship

To direct people once again in the ways of the L-rd!

Please take the time to read the above linked article about King Josiah, A Pattern For Us?

PURE OLIVE OIL: LET IT FLOW!

HUGE NEWS!! Prophecy continuing to be fulfilled and the day of Messiah’s coming is that much closer! Following is an article taken from the Temple Institute’s Facebook page detailing a MAJOR step in the restoration of Temple worship. Note the information about the altar at the end! The timing, in conjunction with Chnukah, is also significant. More info on the process and how this came to be is available here with their December 15, 2014 entry.

For the first time in 2000 years, the Temple Institute has produced pure olive oil, in accordance with the complex laws regarding Temple purity. This oil is not for eating, but for kindling the seven lights of the Holy Temple Menorah.

The pure Temple oil has been deposited and sealed into a ceramic cruse, also fashioned and fired in accordance with the complex laws regarding Temple purity, just like the cruse of pure oil sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol – High Priest – and discovered by the victorious Maccabees when they entered the liberated Temple and set about re-purifying and rededicating the Holy Temple and the altar that the Greek occupiers had defiled.

On Monday evening, December 22, the seventh light of Chanukah, in a public ceremony to take place in Jerusalem’s old city, alongside the Golden Menorah also made by the Temple Institute, the pure ceramic cruse and the pure oil contained within it will be revealed to the world. The gathering will then proceed to the Temple Institute’s Holy Temple Visitors Center, where a newly completed stone altar will be dedicated.

Both ceremonies will be conducted by kohanim – priests- in priestly garments, accompanied by song and the blasting of silver trumpets.

for more information regarding Mondays’s events: youtu.be/F95C79bqzLM

Join us as we take one step closer to the rebuilding and rededication of the Holy Temple in our day!

Chanukah Sameach!

Photo: Holy Temple pure olive oil seeing the first light of day in 2000 years, in the city of Katzrin on the Golan Heights.

The Lion of the Tribe of Jew.. D’uh!!

What is not to get? I just don’t understand.

Professing believers in Jesus and even whole denominations having vitriolic antipathy or even hate toward the Jews and Israel is a mystery to me. Do they not know, do they not understand that even now, at this instant, the Holy One of Israel is still a Jew? He will always be a Jew!

It would seem that their Semitic denying Messiah is a figment of their imagination. Jesus. False Messiah. Cast in the image of Chrysostom and Martin Luther among others.

The everlasting, unchanging Word of God attests over and over that Salvation (Yeshua), the Son of David, will sit on the throne forever! And, He will Continue reading “The Lion of the Tribe of Jew.. D’uh!!”

‘…to God who appeared to you…’

Next Shabbat I have the pleasure of teaching the Portion at the fellowship we are currently attending, so this morning I was reading ahead and pondering anew Vayishlach. While there are several terrific pieces I plan to study as I prepare, verse 35:1 reminded me of a post I put on here about two weeks ago, “Ya’acov saw Elohim (God) face to face…” It is a passage that affirms Ya’acov’s very personal encounter with the Living One.

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֔ב ק֛וּם עֲלֵ֥ה בֵֽית־אֵ֖ל וְשֶׁב־שָׁ֑ם וַעֲשֵׂה־שָׁ֣ם מִזְבֵּ֔חַ לָאֵל֙ הַנִּרְאֶ֣ה אֵלֶ֔יךָ בְּבָרְחֲךָ֔ מִפְּנֵ֖י עֵשָׂ֥ו אָחִֽיךָ׃

As we did before, here is the Schottenstein Interlinear Chumash‘s rendering,

35:1 God said > to – Jacob >> Arise > -go up > [to] Beth-el > and dwell > there >> and make > there > an altar > to the God > Who appeared > to you > when you fled > from > Esau > your brother. (Capitalized ‘Who’ is their emphasis)

Continue reading “‘…to God who appeared to you…’”

A Little Hebraic Thanksgiving Trivia

Interesting trivia I learned from a Hebraic Roots Network email. Quote follows:

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A Little Hebraic Thanksgiving Trivia

Here’s a little Hebraic trivia to send you into Thanksgiving. Did you know that in the Hebrew language most words have multiple meanings? There is less vocabulary in Hebrew than in English, therefore each word has to work a little harder. For instance the Hebrew word, hodu, means to “give thanks.” However, it also means, “turkey.”

William Bradford, the leader of the Puritans who helped settle New England in the 17th century, was a strong advocate of the Hebrew language. Some suggest that he proposed a vote on adopting Hebrew as the official language of the new colony. The facts are a little sketchy on the vote, but there was enough Hebrew influence at the founding of this country, that some Hebrew later ended up on the seals of several Ivy League colleges.

Maybe, just maybe, the connection to the Hebrew language is why turkey is the traditional meat at Thanksgiving. After all, it could have easily been venison. But, the same word for turkey means to give thanks. And now you know the rest of the story.

Almost 400 years later, the Hebraic Roots Network is taking the foundations of the Christian faith around the world. We are changing lives as we restore the true Gospel to people around the world. Your financial support during our Fall Fundraiser will help us do even more. We hope that you will consider giving a financial gift to HRN at this time.

We give thanks to the God of Israel for you! Hodu l’Adonai ki tov.

Have a totally blessed Thanksgiving,

Your HRN Team

Say NOTHING!!

These are heady days watching world events. Daily we see prophetic events or portents that declare time may be very short.

Among the most recent developments is the attempted assassination of Rabbi Yehuda Glick, chairman of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, and previous executive director of The Temple Institute. Glick is perhaps the foremost proponent in Israel of rebuilding the Temple and beginning anew Temple sacrifice.

For years the Temple Institute has been preparing for this eventuality, but the assassination attempt, rather than stifle or scare the discussion has forced it to the forefront of the Israeli collective mind. Make no mistake, this is becoming a defining issue at a defining moment.

Christendom has long proclaimed all sacrifice over and done with and will likely therefore condemn any altar service in Israel on the Temple Mount. Before outright rejecting any and all sacrifice, I would ask my brothers to take a deep breath and consider the wiser course of action is to SAY NOTHING! Let me explain.

First, we have discussed some major parts of the ‘sacrifice’ issue before. Further, we have discussed the fact that Scripture articulates sacrifice in the Millennial Kingdom. Both of those articles pose significant challenges to the traditional understanding in Christendom. Continue reading “Say NOTHING!!”

Ya’acov saw Elohim (God) face to face…

And, the kicker is that He was in the form of a man… The Hebrew could not be clearer. In Hebrew, from Genesis 32:24, 30:

(32:25) ויותר יעקב לבדו ויאבק אישׁ עמו עד עלות השׁחר׃

(32:31) ויקרא יעקב שׁם המקום פניאל כי־ראיתי אלהים פנים אל־פנים ותנצל נפשׁי׃

The Schottenstein Chumash translates these verses as follows:

v24 Left alone > was Jacob > by himself > and a man wrestled > with him > until > the rise > of the dawn.

v.30 So Jacob called > the name > of the place > Peniel >> For > I have seen > the Divine (Elohim) > face- > to- > face, > yet saved > was my life. (Parenthesis mine)

The only thing I really wish right now is that I had an electronic version of the Schottenstein to search and find how many (or, how few) times they translate אלהים (Elohim) as ‘Divine’ instead of the usual rendering of ‘God.’ I do notice that at least within this story they are consistent in translating v.28 as having ‘struggled with the Divine…’

Bottom line: For those who say God can not take the form of a man, nor can He be seen, this short passage is the death knell. The Hebrew is crystal clear if simply read in the p’shat.

“Now the Lord appeared to [Abraham]…”

Over the course of the last 18 months or so, a topic I have explored from multiple angles is the visible presence of Yehovah in the Tanakh and the connections to the Messiah. We’ve looked at ‘the Angel of the Lord,’ ‘the Memra,’ and the ‘Metatron.’

Recently, I was challenged on whether or not God can be seen. And, while I agree that there are verses indicating His altogether set apartness, there also is the clear statement of Scripture, over and over, that God does indeed reveal Himself to His creation in a form that man can relate to. Consider Genesis 18 in this week’s Parsha. The text begins,

18 Adonai appeared to Avraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the entrance to the tent during the heat of the day.

No explanation. No apologetics. No tap-dancing. The text is starkly clear: Yehovah appeared to Avraham!!

But this isn’t the first time. Just go look at Genesis 17:1! No explanation there, either, but it is possible in the context of 17 to spiritualize the event as if it were a vision until one gets to verse 22. The CJB says,

²²With that, God finished speaking with Avraham and went up from him.

The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash is a little more accurate when it translates,

And He finished speaking with him and God ascended from upon Abraham.

Still, no such explanation in Genesis 18. Rather, we find that clearly, one of the three men is Yehovah!! Read, Continue reading ““Now the Lord appeared to [Abraham]…””

“Hallowed be Thy Name..”

Its been a few days ago that my wife and I set out on our several time a week afternoon walk. Almost as soon as we set out, she asked, “We pray ‘Hallowed be Thy Name..’ and yet we walk past all of these houses owned by professing Christians decorated for Halloween. What does ‘hallow’ mean?”

A good discussion ensued.

Merriam-Webster’s says,

Definition of HALLOW

transitive verb

1: to make holy or set apart for holy use

2: to respect greatly : venerate

Even nominal believers in the Messiah will rattle off the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and say, ‘hallowed be Your name.’ Or, ‘sanctified, set apart, holy’ is Your name.

How then is it so challenging a connection to recognize that ‘Halloween’ is about ‘setting apart’ a day, or evening, for everything that is contrary to the Word of God? My wife, nor I, get it.

Churches try to skirt the issue by having ‘harvest fests,’ but it only takes half a brain to recognize that it is lipstick on the pig. Nothing more than justified syncretism. That didn’t work out so well for the peeps in Exodus 32!

Deuteronomy 12:29-32 is starkly clear. The Almighty is not just a little offended at this justification of and participation in paganism. He HATES it.

Either, hallow His name, or don’t hallow His name, but this lukewarm cocktail of mixing the sacred and the profane is dangerous stuff!