A Thought… – Page 36 – 11:3 Restoration

Christendom and the Sin of Jeroboam

On occasion, friend and fellow Messianic, Tzefanyah ben Yochanan, has visions that are prophetic in nature. This morning my email had a detailed vision that he had yesterday, and it triggered some thoughts. Here is the majority of that email,

Today @ 8 AM Eastern time Yom Rishon (Sunday) August 23 I had a vision. I was standing and talking to hundreds of people. As I spoke I began to share that it is time to bury the hatchet of all the doctrines that divide us. I began to share that there are many gray areas in scripture, but we have taken those areas and made doctrines out of them and used them to declare ourselves having a truth that everyone needs that I have a corner on. I shared how when we do that we create separation between each other. We as the people of Yosef are still walking in the sin of Jeroboam to this very day. We are erecting golden calves and altars to ourselves and we have made these doctrines as mighty ones. After I finished sharing that bold message to these hundreds of people my whole body began to shake and my knees began to buckle. I was weeping profusely and I fell prostrate upon the ground and with a loud cry came forth, “Oh King of Yisrael bring us home!!!” As I lay there yelling out and profusely weeping, the hundreds of people in that place began to do the same. We were all identifying the sin of Jeroboam in our lives. The hundreds in that place were now all prostrate on the floor crying out in unison with weeping and travail, “Oh King of Yisrael bring us home!!” My body was quaking and I was weeping throughout the vision and then at the end was a sense of calm assurance, tranquility, that He heard our cry.

All of us in that room knew heaven touched earth in that place. We all knew it was time to prepare for our journey. He heard us and was taking us home.

What particularly struck me was that in recent days, I have again been thinking of the sin of Jeroboam. While this is a topic we have discussed before, I think it is something we need to revisit, particularly in light of Tzefanyah’s vision.

Most of Christendom does not know or realize that the way the faith is currently practiced is not the way it has always been. Indeed, very little has changed in the last 1500 or so years, but a great deal changed between about 150 CE and 500 CE. Even a cursory reading of the book of Acts reveals Continue reading “Christendom and the Sin of Jeroboam”

Does ‘truth’ change?

Multiple points made in yesterday’s post about professor Daniel I. Block’s essay have been running through my head. The major one is one I’ve pondered before but am again relishing.

Simply, the truth recorded in Torah has not and cannot change. When יהיה said to keep His feasts forever (4x in Lev. 23), that is unchanging truth. When יהיה said to keep the seventh-day Sabbath forever (Ex. 31:16-17), that is unchanging truth. It can’t change, else He is a liar, and He cannot lie (Titus 1:2).
Therefore, if someone tells you these have changed, that person is lying. Period. (Now, they may be doing so in ignorance as I once was, but it is still lying.) Gently correct them with this thought: Does (or, can) God lie? Concerning the Torah, He says it is truth and everlasting righteousness.

http://bible.com/100/psa.119.142.NASB

Shabbat Shalom!!

Prophecy at Breathtaking speed!!

Biblical prophecy is happening so fast in our day that it takes one’s breath away! Things are happening that even a year ago seemed impossible!

Yesterday morning someone forwarded a news article to me that seemed almost impossible a couple short months ago. Scripture prophesies the restoration of the House of Israel and the return to the land of the lost tribes, yet seemingly the whole world, from the Jews themselves to all of Christendom have stood against this future reality in one way or another. Then, I read,

Government panel to look into connecting with gentiles of Jewish descent

The government announced the formation of a special committee to investigate the relationship between the state and gentiles, many of Jewish descent, who have shown an interest in Israel and the Jewish people.

In an advertisement that ran in several local newspapers, including The Jerusalem Post, the Diaspora Affairs Ministry described the exploratory committee and issued a call for public proposals regarding relations between Israel and “large groups around the world that have an interest in the Jewish people even if they are not entitled to rights under the Law of Return.”

Continue reading “Prophecy at Breathtaking speed!!”

Why I ignore much Christian theology….

Did God lie, or is His Word indeed everlasting and unchanging? If obedience (shamar, shema: hear and obey) to ‘ALL the words I command you’ is ‘forever’ and ‘good and right in the sight of Yehovah,’ then why do many theologians say that we do not need to hear and obey ALL the commandments?

The Word of our God says, ‘it will be well with you FOREVER!’ When did ‘forever’ change?

Many wonder why I, a former Presbyterian minister, would leave the ‘church’ and begin to study Scripture without the filter of Christian theology. Continue reading “Why I ignore much Christian theology….”

Resurrection song?

I was reading Psalm 98 and wondering if this was sung by angels at Messiah’s resurrection.

Twice the word ‘Yeshua’ is used and the direct reference has to do with securing the victory of mercy and truth toward the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24 comes to mind as well as Romans 8:22-23… I was also reading in Acts this evening and looked into the three or four references where Yeshua is referred to as the Righteous One… See Ps. 98:2.

The Psalm, as prophecy, is incomplete as He has not yet come to judge (rule) with equity. See Isaiah 2:3-5, Ez. 37:24-28, Psalm 2, etc…

What a rich nine verses.

Selah.

http://bible.com/100/psa.98.1-9.NASB

FOCUS!!!

These are interesting and heady prophecy laden days. There is no question, we are living in one of the most interesting, if not THE most interesting time in history. More prophecies are written of the latter days than even of the time of Messiah’s first coming. And, by all outward appearances, we are living in the very days that those prophecies speak to.

I have heard many, many warnings concerning the near future, some dire. I know and am aware of many who have been clearly directed to relocate… some out of the country. Still others, have been directed to specific preparations, etc… And, through all of these reports and connections I hear voiced concerns and on occasion, fear.

At the same time I have pondered some of these things, I have also been very much pondering and discussing both home fellowships and community on this blog. So, I wanted to share a little of what Pete Rambo is thinking in these days and what I am doing… Or, what is my ‘focus?’ Continue reading “FOCUS!!!”

עקב….. ‘because’ and ‘heel’

Ephraim and Rimona Frank’s Torah study notes this week focused on the word עקב ekev , meaning ‘because.’ The same word is used in Genesis 26:5…”because עקב Abraham kept…” The same letters mean ‘heel’ and are the root of Ya’acov, meaning ‘heel grasper.’

Pondering how the ‘heel-because’ connection directly relates to ‘walk.’.

“Keeping and doing” is our ‘walk’ and the ‘because’ for Yehovah’s ‘keeping and doing’ of His Covenant.

http://bible.com/100/deu.7.12.NASB

Some big additions this evening…

Thanks to Ray Gardner, this week’s Torah Portion, Ekev, is posted on the Torah Portion page.

Also, all 27!! Psalm images from Bill Sanford of Aleph-Tav Scriptures have been added to the A-T Images page. View and share them!!

Lastly, I am continuing to add to the How To: Messianic page. It will be a ‘work in project’ for a while, but keep an eye on the changes and I hope it will be an easy/simple semi-comprehensive page for new folk coming into the Messianic.

And, closing with a sample from the A-T Images in Psalms that were added…

‘from the midst of the fire…’

Originally published 8/11/14, but again brought to mind in my studies. Very important and interesting…

There have been a few thoughts from this week’s Parsha, Va’etchanan (and I pleaded), running through my head that I want to share in a rough format. Hopefully, someone will find these nuggets useful to chew.

‘from the midst of the fire…’

This portion, Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11, encompasses some of the most important parts of Moshe’s message to the children of Israel as they prepare to enter the Land. As I read, there were a few words and phrases that were of particular interest. One such phrase, ‘from the midst of the fire,’ repeated at least eight times in chapters 4 & 5 was of particular interest!

Moshe is recounting the original giving of the Torah at Horeb/Sinai and to set the stage and remind them of the awesomeness of the Living God and the momentous event, he repeats this phrase multiple times. See 4:12, 15, 33, 37; 5:4, 22, 24, & 26!! Very interesting!

It immediately reminded me of Exodus 3 and the Angel of Yehovah appearing to Moshe in the burning bush and Yehovah speaking to Moshe from the fire. In one sense, it made me think of Moshe’s private encounter with a voice from the flame and then Israel returning to the same mountain for a corporate encounter. An interesting difference is that Moshe saw the Angel of Yehovah, where Israel “did not see any form, only a voice.” (4:12, 15)

In the connection between the Angel of Yehovah and the giving of the Torah, something we have explored more than once on this blog, Was Jesus on Mt. Sinai? being one, it is interesting to note that where the Memra is not mentioned very often in the Targumim, He shows up five times in this same group of verses: 3:22; 4:24, 33; 5:5 & 25. Notice the clear connections between the Memra [see brackets below] and the fire in these verses: Continue reading “‘from the midst of the fire…’”

Encouragement on the Wall

We have four boys who currently range in age from 13 to 19. I am continually trying to teach them to care for each other, live lives for the King, be true to their ingrafting and be warriors. When I saw this print in Israel six weeks ago, I almost immediately teared up as it so spoke to me concerning my own boys.

Well, today we picked it up from the frame shop and hung it prominently on a wall in our house to remind them daily of the things that are important. May they grow closer together as they pursue the King and take a strong stand on behalf of Israel and Jerusalem!!