Tag: repentance

True confession of (fake) sin!

In fact, even as a married man, I couldn’t commit adultery with a single lady. It is physically and spiritually impossible!!

I’ve been happily married more than 28 years and wouldn’t trade any of it. It hasn’t always been easy, but life with Kelly has been good. I love her. Always have, but then I’m a sucker for ‘broken wings.’

Only in recent years have I realized or recognized that aspect of my personality,  but I can see the seeds of that character trait going way back. Kelly is the first person I really recall with whom I exercised this ministry. We began dating before the parachuting accident that took both of her hands, though we weren’t serious. Truth be told, at that point, she was seeing someone else and I was sort of playing the field… but, she sure could fill out a pair of Army fatigues.

Continue reading “True confession of (fake) sin!”

…he shall turn the heart … of the children to their fathers….

I love Malachi 4 and have written multiple times about this highly significant and prophetic chapter that is only now being fulfilled.  One phrase I have written about before is “…he shall turn the heart … of the children to their fathers…”

Here is a terrific and peaceful explanation that will totally bless any who take the time to listen and ponder.  I recommend finding a quiet place and hearing this message.

Understanding boundaries…. Protocol part 1

Deu. 19:14 “You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess.

Over the course of 25 year of marriage and numerous moves, especially while were still in the military and shortly thereafter, we purchased and sold

Not my plat….

multiple residences.  In the real estate transaction there was always a plat, or written/drawn record of the surveyed boundary markers that was filed in the local county courthouse.  With each purchase, I would go out and find the physical markers on the ground so that I knew exactly where the boundaries of my property were.  The markers would be metal spikes in the pavement, rebar driven into the ground and flags or PVC markers.

In ancient times, property markers might be a physical feature such as a huge well established tree or a large immovable rock, or the markers might be a pile of stones or a fence line.  While some were considerably less mobile than others, Scripture warns of moving markers that are established by the ancestors.

In Israel, there were a number of instructions from the Father about boundaries and land ownership.  Besides the important verse cited above prohibiting the theft of a neighbor’s property by moving markers, there were certain prohibitions against selling property to other tribes and even to other families within one’s own tribe/clan.  Only under certain rare conditions could property be transferred, and that by legal means with the elders at the gate. Continue reading “Understanding boundaries…. Protocol part 1”

I’m still here… an update.

My sincerest apologies for not having written more in the last couple weeks.  The combination of having a too full plate, work and travel as well as just plain ‘hitting a wall’ has had me on a bit of a writing hiatus.  My head is full, as I shared yesterday with the western South Carolina fellowships that gathered to hear an update on B’ney Yosef North America, but I have not been putting pen to paper.  Several dedicated readers laughingly chided me on taking a break.

A reminder for all, the archives are a rich source of topics delving into the Hebraic.  I even go back and read articles from time to time and glean still more from the exploration into the Word, church history and how Christendom ever wandered so far from the Way.  Many of those articles serve a great resource to help others who are just starting this journey.

I hope, in the next couple days, to begin tackling a huge topic that affects all of us, but particularly the North American continent.  The subject and its implications deserves a book, but I may only be able to apply a couple posts at this time.  Never-the-less, it will set a foundation for us to walk out together another area of repentance as we repair the breaches.

The Gospel I never preached…

I spent more than 10 years in the pulpit and I am realizing I never really preached the Gospel.  Oh, I taught the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah, but that is preacher silhouettenot the Gospel.  Surprised?

Rom. 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

Multiple Scriptures testify to the fact that the Gospel existed before the coming of the expected Messiah.

Gal. 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

And, from Hebrews,

Heb. 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

We also have multiple references of Yeshua preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom before His death….  Continue reading “The Gospel I never preached…”

Visited a Crime Scene, Today.

Today, we visited the scene of a crime.  It actually is one of the primary reasons I came to Israel.  Next week’s Congress is vitally important in the process of restoring the whole House of Israel, but today was a required prerequisite.  Without returning to the scene of the crime committed by our fathers against the Holy One of Israel, all of next week’s efforts would be for nought.

DSCN0912Today, we visited the ruins of the ancient temple build by Jeroboam at Tel Dan.  The facts of the crime are simple:

In order to cement his new kingdom and kingship he,

  • Established a new priesthood
  • Established new holydays
  • Redefined God with gods.

Sound familiar?  Kinda like what Christendom did…  new priesthood/religion, new Continue reading “Visited a Crime Scene, Today.”

Today is a Day of Confession!

We leave in a few minutes for Dan, way in the north.  We’ll drive 3.5 hours each way to go see the replica of an altar to an idol.  I have been looking forward to and dreading this day all at the same time.  I wrote about the significance of the place a while back.  It is where Israel committed great sin and apostasy.

Our purpose is to pray and repent for the sins of our fathers.

Christendom struggles with the idea that one can repent for ancestral sins, however, not only does Scripture specifically address this on multiple occasions, but it says tat it is a prerequisite for Yehovah’s to turn His face again toward His people and the Land.  The House of Israel has much repenting to do.

Here are a couple sample verses:

40 ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— 41 I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, [a]because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.’”   Lev. 26:40-45

4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5 I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 6 let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8 Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; 9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ 10 They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. 11 O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to [c]revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”  Neh. 1:4-10

3 So I [a]gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. 6 Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.

7 “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us [b]open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8 [c]Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You…..  Daniel 9

Continue reading “Today is a Day of Confession!”

Psalm 51. Noticing the obvious. (A few thoughts.)

Some things are so obvious one wonders how they ever missed them!!

I was reading and pondering some Psalms the other day when I came to Psalm 51, a popular Psalm of confession and contrition.  As I read it, I suddenly saw some parts from a perspective different than the traditions I was steeped in.  (Shedding these traditions is like trying to UNmarinate a piece of meat!!  Certainly, a lengthy process and, at times, seemingly impossible!!  With Yahweh, all things are possible!!)

My focus was on the latter half of the Psalm and a number of spoken/unspoken traditions we hear in Christendom.

Create [j]in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew [k]a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will [l]be converted to You.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, [m]open my lips, Continue reading “Psalm 51. Noticing the obvious. (A few thoughts.)”