dry bones – 11:3 Restoration

Interview and Presentation by Batya Wooten

While outwardly, B’ney Yosef North America (BYNA) has been pretty quiet, I can tell you from first hand participation, there has been MUCH going on. I am very encouraged at the happenings in spite of many challenges we have faced in our first few months of existence. Truly, Abba is doing something very special.

The BYNA website finally has a dedicated team that will be making regular updates and postings with news, articles, videos, etc… Keep an eye on it for information. Also, the National Shabbat website is growing as are the number of places participating!! This has been an incredibly blessed step in the direction of reconciliation and restoration. Register and participate!! Lastly, look for information on an initiative we are taking this Elul for the 40 days of repentance…

Now, here is an excellent interview and presentation by Batya Wooten assembled from a couple pieces of footage at the 2016 Summit in St. Petersburg, FL. Watch this and be blessed!!

Shalom!

Videos from SC National Shabbat, and a letter…

A little while ago Sarah Washburn sent me a link to her YouTube page where she has uploaded a number of videos of dance and music from the recent SC national Shabbat. Here are a couple with a link following for more on her page. Also, see below for a special open letter from Tom Washburn!

A Reward Worth Pursuing…

I was only in the US Army for about four years, but was blessed to attend multiple special skills schools as well as a nice variety of deployments to several parts of the globe. When Napolean Bonaparte said, “a soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon,” he might have been speaking of me. No question, I loved the challenge of hard schools and difficult duties. In a twisted way, suffering is fun. It separates the men from the posers.

In spite of the fact that I recognize those bits of colored ribbon fade and will eventually be destroyed by fire, I still pine for those days of testosterone, sweat and tears. Maybe it’s just the way I’m wired.

Being wired that way, though, is not necessarily a bad thing… Maybe it has usefulness for the Kingdom. Throughout Scripture, over and over, we witness God taking simple and seemingly insignificant men and women to do significant works. We remember Gideon, David, Ruth, Esther, Josiah, etc. The list could go on and on.

Well, you and I, though we may feel insignificant in a world gone mad, live in a time of history wherein it is clear God is raising up men and women from among the ‘nobodys’ and ‘who is thats’ to do an amazing work in our day. But, what ‘bit of colored ribbon’ motivates us to fight long and hard?

You may think, ‘I don’t need no stinking ribbon…’, but Scripture actually speaks of an everlasting reward and acknowledgement that is well worth pursuing. Continue reading “A Reward Worth Pursuing…”

More on the Bney Yosef Plenary Session

In my last post I promised more about the recent B’ney Yosef Plenary Session in central TN. Honestly, I am still processing and incredibly busy with some of the work that came out of it in planning the upcoming B’ney Yosey North America Summit, info to be released as soon as I have it!!

Mike Clayton has just sent out his weekly newsletter that has his Torah Life teaching. The first 20 minutes, or so, he talks about his thoughts on the Plenary Session and what he sees going forward. Here is the video:

Jan. 12, 2016: A day of prayer and fasting for the House of Israel

I would like to invite you to join a group of friends and colleagues who will be setting aside January 12, 2016 as a day of prayer and fasting for the House of Israel. Specific points of prayer:

Dry bones to be awakened and restored
Blind eyes to see
Wisdom and discernment for those seeking avenues of restoration to Judah
Bones to come together
Unity
The move of the Spirit in breathing life into the bones
The will of our Father in these days

This particular day is important in that you will be joining the voices of many others to a specific end. We need your earnest prayers that day and continued prayer in the days that follow.

Thank you for standing in the gap with us.

Who are the Dry Bones of Ezekiel 37?

A theme that has been coming up over and over in recent reading and study is Ezekiel’s Dry Bones. Last weekend in our study of Genesis 47:28- 50:26 we again ran into the Dry Bones. (Long story…)

Christendom has been feeling some of the same call in a broad sense as exampled by this terrific Lauren Daigle song, ‘Come Alive.’ ….but, who are the Dry Bones?

37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. ²He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. ³He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” ⁴Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. ⁶I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

Continue reading “Who are the Dry Bones of Ezekiel 37?”

Until The Two Become One (Must read, by Ken Rank)

Following is a terrific article by Ken Rank explaining the Two Stick Prophecy of Ezekiel 37, a passage that is largely overlooked by theologians in its significance.

Until the Two Become One

by Ken Rank

What the herders did not see before them was their brother. In fact, before Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, they had spent at least many hours with him, dining, being entertained, and also being berated and yet they saw only an Egyptian. To anyone who might have been standing at a distance, looking upon Joseph and that family of herders, being able to see that they were family would likely have been impossible.

The Prophet Ezekiel gives us a similar end-time picture in that we have two players who might just as well stand in such contrast. In chapter 37, verse 16, where we read the following:

“And you, son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and for his companions, the sons of Israel. And take another stick and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, his companions.”

What is easy to miss in the above verse is that Ezekiel takes two blank sticks that represent people and he is to identify who the two sticks are. The first he determines as Judah and those who are joined with Judah. The second stick is said to be for Joseph, but a stick that is Ephraim, and it includes the House of Israel and those joined to Israel. So we have a lot going on in this one verse. Most scholars believe that these two sticks represent the Whole House of Jacob, what was once a great nation that divided into two Kingdoms, Judah and Israel. But why the use of those names? Continue reading at United2Restore

Prophesying to the Dry Bones…

Ez. 37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out ^[a]by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. ²He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. ³He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord ^[b]God, You know.” ⁴Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, HEAR [shema; שְׁמַע ] the word of the Lord.’ ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause ^[c]breath to enter you that you may come to life. ⁶I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

Last Shabbat, I posted a quick note about a global praying of the Shema asked for by a Rabbi on behalf of Judah and the need for the Mashiach to be revealed. In that post I stated that in addition to being a prayer, Continue reading “Prophesying to the Dry Bones…”

Difficult verses in the ‘Christmas’ story… p.2

Yesterday, we began a short series considering some verses from the ‘Christmas’ story that challenge the traditional theological narrative of Christendom. As I implied yesterday, these verses should pique our interest in a search for truth. I don’t know about you, but I don’t care what men say, I want to see what Scripture says….

Thy Kingdom Come

When someone talks about the Millennial Kingdom or the future eternal Kingdom, what comes to mind? Whose Kingdom is it? Who rules over it? Who was it promised to? Who actually gets it? Etc…. At the end of the Book of Revelation, what does the Kingdom look like and who is in it?

Scripture gives a very unified story that often does not match the narrative I was taught growing up. At least, the focus I heard in church was quite different than what Scripture says.

A beloved part of the ‘Christmas’ story is the angel’s visit to Mary. Here is part of the encounter and a difficult verse.

Gabriel, a messenger of God, visited Miriam (Mary’s real Hebrew name) and said,

^{Luke 1:31}And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus (Hebrew = Yeshua). ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

Here, the messenger Gabriel affirms multiple prophecies that seem to get lost in the Christian perspectives of this promised Kingdom. This Son of the Most High will,

sit on the throne of David,
reign over the house of Jacob (aka, Israel),
forever.

What surprises many when they dig into these verses is that they lead directly to Ezekiel 37, a chapter most are at least partly familiar with. The first part of the chapter is Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones that leads to the mid part of the chapter on the two stick prophecy followed by a detailed account of this Kingdom the Messiah will rule over. Those shocking closing verses say, Continue reading “Difficult verses in the ‘Christmas’ story… p.2”

ALL Israel… Bones, sticks and kingdoms…

I have really been soaking in Ezekiel 36 the last few days and several times have read on til the end of chapter 37. Well, this morning a coworker asked me about the dry bones and I got to share two sticks as well as address 37:24-28, verses Christendom ignores because they don’t fit the Christian paradigm.

Who is ‘all Israel?’ Who is ‘My servant David?’ If ‘David’ is in the land overseeing ‘all Israel,’ where is Jesus? Where are you? Who are the two kingdom’s? (v.22 & 23). Why does ‘David’ cause them to walk in statutes and ordinances… FOREVER?

Hmmmmm…. Seems the’re some seriously false doctrines floating around…

http://bible.com/100/ezk.36.8-10.NASB