Torah – Page 5 – 11:3 Restoration

Update on the Messianic Ministries of Uganda!!

Messianic Uganda — Distribution of Messianic Congregations in Uganda

Recall that several months ago I posted an opportunity to help fledgling Messianic congregations in Uganda through the ministry of Dr. David Sloss and Baraka International Ministries. Well, there is still much opportunity to help, so I wanted to share two update newsletters I just received from David after his recent teaching trip to Uganda.

I was excited to read of some of the help we were able to send and pray that you can help this ministry as it establishes a firm Torah-pursuant, Yeshua-loving foothold in the heart of Africa!!

Following are links to the newsletters, but first, David’s address should Yehovah lead you to partner in this terrific work!! Please pray and consider this ministry!

BARAKA INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES

c/o Dr. David Sloss, PhD.

057898 12th Line,

RR #1,

MEAFORD, ON N4L 1W5

Here are the newsletters:

AMLC Report – 2015

Uganda Update June 2015

Counting down… (and, a special song!!)

Several months ago, when we began planning/preparing for the trip to Israel it seemed so far off on the calendar. I remember writing a countdown on my office calendar that exceeded 100 days and thinking, ‘it will never get here!’

Well, lately, things have been happening so fast my head is spinning and I can hardly sleep! Abba has been directing pieces so clearly that this walk has simply been an amazing dream-like state where I wait with baited breath to see each new thing He will accomplish as He goes before us. Truly, an amazing experience.

From the beginning, I have sensed that this Congress could have significance implications for many, many people. This sense has been confirmed by many people through private and public words and prophecy.

I want to thank the many who have made this possible through gifts and prayer. Time will tell, but your faithfulness may have incredibly far reaching impact.

My plan over the next several weeks Continue reading “Counting down… (and, a special song!!)”

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

There Shall Be Showers of Blessing… Really?!?

A dear friend of mine was recently humming a tune. I queried, “What are you singing?” to which they replied, “Showers of Blessings.”

Hmmmm… Immediately, I had questions running through my head. Not that I haven’t sung the hymn many times, but my perspective of hymnody has changed pretty radically over the last few years. The post on Beulah Land, just a few days ago, should be evidence enough.

Here are the lyrics to There Shall Be Showers of Blessings,

There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.

Refrain:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy-drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.

There shall be showers of blessing;
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come, and now honor Thy Word. Continue reading “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing… Really?!?”

God’s conversation with Adam (and Eve)?

Have you ever wondered exactly how the conversation between God and Adam went down in the Garden of Eden? Genesis 2:15-17 doesn’t provide many details,

¹⁵Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. ¹⁶The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; ¹⁷but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not ^[n]eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Well, good friend and midrash partner, Messianic Jew Dr. Jonathan Krause, sent me a text a couple days ago that said,

Pete, Just read Deut. 30:15. Boy does it sound a lot like the Garden of Eden scene.

I thought, ‘Hmmm… let’s have a look…’ Continue reading “God’s conversation with Adam (and Eve)?”

Fencing the Commandments

One of the unfair charges often leveled against Rabbinic Judaism is that they added to the Word of God by ‘fencing the commandments.’ And, while the charge may be true, it is generally leveled as if no one else is guilty of the same and the Jews have therefore committed some dastardly crime.

While reading a paper written by Messianic Jewish friend and midrash partner, Jonathan Krause, a section really caught my eye. He wrote,

When did sin occur on earth? Many scholars will say that it happened when Adam ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, in Deut. 4:2 G-D tells us not to add or take away from his word(s). Since words were added to what G-D said, it created a door to sin. But, Adam had the roots of sin in his heart when he added to the words of G-D. Perhaps he did not trust G-D in that he had to instruct Eve further by telling her she was not only not to eat of the fruit, but not to touch it.

I looked up from the paper and said, “Adam fenced the commandment!” Continue reading “Fencing the Commandments”

One Law, Water, Light and Bread

I was reading a post by Peter over at the OMJ blogspot when a comment he had inserted into a quote got my attention. While the post was about John 7 and 8 from a Hebraic perspective, the comment said,

[Peter’s One-Law Note: the Bible compares Torah to light and water. Light because it says “Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet, a Light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). Water because it says “Let my teaching fall like rain”(etc). In John 7:37-39, Yeshua, referencing Isaiah, said “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” The quoted passage (Isaiah 55) says that G-d will also summon foreign nations to these waters of Torah. And Zechariah says that the nations who fail to observe Sukkot will have no rain! The deeper meaning of course is that they can’t have the rain (i.e. teachings of Torah) if they’re not present at Jerusalem to hear the teachings of Torah being taught by the King]

And, it triggered a thought about the metaphors and ‘One Law.’

Those who oppose One Law say that the Jews are responsible for all of the Torah, but only some of it applies to the Gentile. Continue reading “One Law, Water, Light and Bread”

Yom Kippur in Babylon

Today marks our fourth Yom Kippur observance since leaving the traditions of men behind, and it has been an interesting one.

As many of my readers know, we are in the unenviable position of being ‘homeless.’ The house we were renting was sold and we had to move out a month ago without having found a suitable rental or purchasable dwelling that meets a litany of requirements. Chief among those requirements is a few acres for our dairy goats. So, while we are staying with friends to remain close to my eldest son’s college for his daily commute and near my work, we have been forced to ‘farm out’ our animals. Five of our Nubian princesses went to the breeder and the five girls from this spring’s kidding, went a state away to be housed on my father-in-law’s farm.

We had hoped it would be temporary, but weeks have stretched into a month and the breeder called. What to do with the other five, but to transport them to my father-in-law’s (FiL) to keep the herd together.

Well, as timing would have it, my wife’s 30th high school reunion is this weekend, and my FiL is being ordained tomorrow as a deacon in the Baptist church… so, early last week I came to the difficult realization that we would have all of this going on over Yom Kippur. Then I got the call… My FiL let me know that we would spend Saturday (Shabbat/Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year) mending fences so the goats would have sufficient grazing.

Feel the angst? Yom Kippur in Babylon! Continue reading “Yom Kippur in Babylon”

The Answer Isn’t ‘More Law’…

I woke at about 1:30 a.m. thinking, ‘the answer isn’t more law….’ And, a flood of thoughts ensued. Knowing I would never get back to sleep if I didn’t make some quick notes, I got up and scratched the thoughts on a piece of paper before crawling back into bed.

‘The answer isn’t “more law.”‘

Man’s solution has long been ‘more law.’ We have only to look at our own households. I know in mine we are constantly adding to and fine tuning the ‘laws’ of the house. A son might do a dumb-dumb that skirts the edge of some existing statute and upon correction he says, ‘Well. Nobody told me that was wrong!’ leaving mom and/or dad to scratch our heads and say, ‘couldn’t you figure that out knowing such and such was wrong and this is awfully close?’ So, we solve it by adding a new rule. ‘Don’t do ……’

You know the drill.

Our nation, indeed any nation, follows the same basic course, but on a grander scale! Consider the founding documents and pretty simple legal code in the US Constitution, yet 200 years on the precedents, legislative actions and legal codes in this nation, including state and municipal, would fill the Grand Canyon!! We collectively do the same as we do in our homes: More law! Continue reading “The Answer Isn’t ‘More Law’…”

Shavuot/Pentecost and evangelism

Yesterday I was privileged to lead a Shavuot celebration/feast/gathering for a couple fellowships at Lake Greenwood, SC. What a wonderful day of worship, sharing, meeting new brothers and sisters, and eating.

As I prepared a short message for our service, I really felt our Father leading me to consider ‘evangelism’ and ‘the nations.’ While Shavuot celebrations typically center around the giving of the Torah and/or the receiving, in greater measure, of the Spirit, the root that both events point to is evangelism! Interestingly, others had this same point of focus this year!

The stage is set in Acts 1,

1 The first account I ^[a]composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, ²until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had ^[b]by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. ³To ^[c]these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴^[d]Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for ^[e]what the Father had promised Continue reading “Shavuot/Pentecost and evangelism”