For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?”

Revelation 18:17-18

Where is Babylon in the end days context of Revelation? There have been a lot of theories put forth over the course of the last two thousand years, and we receive more information daily as we approach the end of the age.

Is Babylon code for a current nation, such as the United States or Israel, or is it a religious institution such as the Catholic Church? I have heard arguments for all of these. It could also be the world system which encompasses all of these mentioned. The statue spoken of by Daniel predicts the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires. It also could include the democracies and republics of today if one considers the mixing of iron and clay to be the people having a voice with their oppressors. The iron and clay could also represent the mixed seed of Genesis six returning in a big way. It would be folly to point our finger definitively at any country or institution and claim it to be Babylon because we simply do not know. However, there are some really good clues.

The fact that there are sailors lamenting the destruction of Babylon in Revelation 18, indicates that it is a very real place and not just a world system alone.

Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.
Rev 18:10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore,
Rev 18:12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble,
Rev 18:13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.
Rev 18:14 “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!”
Rev 18:15 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
Rev 18:16 “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!
Rev 18:17 For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off
Rev 18:18 and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?”
Rev 18:19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste.

Babylon appears to be a place that sailors could see burning from “afar off”. There are also kings that will “see the smoke of her burning”. This place was also a hub of sexual immorality that corrupted the world.

Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”
Rev 18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;
Rev 18:5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Echoing Jeremiah, the voice from heaven says, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins”.

Jer 51:45 Come out from her midst, my people, and save each one his life from the burning anger of Yahweh.

Mystery Babylon, as it is called by John, has polluted the world with sexual immorality. From the false gospel that is delivered to the world, to the arts and entertainment, one place seems to come to mind that currently could be responsible for all of these abominations, but there are more.

This place also deceived the world with its “sorcery”. This has really come into play over the last fifty years, especially the last two years.

Rev 18:21 And one powerful angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “In this way Babylon the great city will be thrown down with violence, and will never be found again!
Rev 18:22 And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will never be heard in you again! And every craftsman of every trade will never be found in you again! And the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again!
Rev 18:23 And the light of a lamp will never shine in you again! And the sound of a bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again! For your merchants were the most important people of the earth, because with your sorcery they deceived all the nations.
Rev 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and all those who had been slaughtered on the earth.

Sorcery is Strong’s G5331, pharmakeia. It is the use or administering of drugs, poisoning and idolatry.

G5331
φαρμακεία
pharmakeia
Thayer Definition:
1) the use or the administering of drugs
2) poisoning
3) sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it
4) metaphorically the deceptions and seductions of idolatry

Revelation 18:23 could be translated as follows:

Rev 18:23 And the light of a lamp will never shine in you again! And the sound of a bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again! For your merchants were the most important people of the earth, because with your large pharmaceutical companies they deceived all the nations.

Prescription drugs, illegal drugs and poison have affected every part of the world. There are even places in the world that will deny medical treatment or employment unless a person be injected with a particular poison, or “drug” of the day. People idolize these drugs as the only solution to their problems, when in fact they are actually much of the cause of the problems. If we could find the single source of these poisons, we could easily identify Babylon. Pharmaceutical companies are based all over the world. Germany exported the most pharmaceuticals in 2021 with the United States ranking sixth. The United States and China were the two highest exporters of pesticides (poison), and the United States produces the most biotech crops. Coming out of Babylon could be using plant based medicine and eating local organic food, void of gmo’s and pesticides, if that is even possible any more.

The list that is given of goods that come from Mystery Babylon even contains “human souls” or slaves. Slavery has been abolished and many of the statutes of former slave owners have been torn down, so that should be all behind us, should it not?

Rev 18:10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore,
Rev 18:12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble,
Rev 18:13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.

It is so comforting to know that statues of dead slave owners are being removed from the landscape, yet according to the following article from foxnews.com, we may have more problems in front of us.

The United States is again ranked as one of the worst countries in the world for human trafficking. According to a recently released report by the State Department, the top three nations of origin for victims of human trafficking in 2018 were the United States, Mexico and the Philippines. “We have a major issue here in the United States” Geoff Rogers, co-founder of the United States Institute Against Human Trafficking (USIAHT), said in an interview with Fox News. “The United States is the No. 1 consumer of sex worldwide. So we are driving the demand as a society.”

Some of the people that point to Jerusalem to be the “great city” use this verse. Revelation 18:24, “And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and all those who had been slaughtered on the earth”. Jesus himself accused the leaders of His day with these crimes all the way back to the killing of Abel.

Mat 23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
Mat 23:31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
Mat 23:34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
Mat 23:35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

How could these “serpents” and “vipers” be responsible for killing Abel? It all comes from a mixed seed. Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”.

Jesus was calling these Pharisees out as children of the serpent who would deceive the whole world.

Rev 12:7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,
Rev 12:8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
Rev 12:11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
Rev 12:12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

One one hand, it is a great event to have the accuser thrown out of heaven, “But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”.

Unfortunately, we still cannot positively identify Mystery Babylon. There are a few contenders as we look around the world, and it will be clearer as time moves forward.

The featured image is by Patrick Reichboth on Unsplash.

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!

Revelation 15:2-3

The prophet Moses is spoken about many times in the New Testament of the Bible. Whenever the name “Moses” is thought about, it mostly brings to mind old, outdated laws from a mean creator god that Jesus had to correct. I do not agree with this mentality, but unfortunately, it is the attitude of many in Christianity, due to dispensational theology and a lawless gospel. The phrases “moral law” and “ceremonial law” get tossed around as though they have meaning, yet neither term appear anywhere in scripture. We see the saints singing the song of Moses after the beast is conquered in Revelation. Read and understand the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. The following is just a small part of the song of Moses.

Deu 32:3 For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh; ascribe greatness to our God!
Deu 32:4 The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just; he is a faithful God, and without injustice; righteous and upright is he.
Deu 32:5 They have behaved corruptly toward him; they are not his children; this is their flaw, a generation crooked and perverse.
Deu 32:6 Like this do you treat Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Has he not, your father, created you? He made you, and he established you.

The Scriptures version of the Bible gives the references that are quoted in Revelation 15:3-4.

Rev 15:3 And they sing the song of Mosheh the servant of Elohim, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvellous are Your works, יהוה Ěl Shaddai! Righteous and true are Your ways, O Sovereign of the set-apart ones!
Rev 15:4 “Who shall not fear You, O יהוה, and esteem Your Name? Because You alone are kind. Because all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your righteousnesses have been made manifest.”b Footnote: bSee Jer 10:6-7, Psa 86:9

So, why do we see the saints who conquered the beast of Revelation, his mark and his number singing the song of Moses if Moses was rendered irrelevant by the Messiah? The truth is that the book of Revelation supports the instructions given by Yahuah to Moses, and is why many churches do not allow it to be taught. Some dispensationalists will say it only applies to the “Jews” and that the lawless church was whisked away to be with Jesus during the time of the beast in a secret rapture. We know better now.

Rev 12:17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

Rev 14:12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

The testimony of Jesus was to keep the commandments. Having faith in Jesus means to do what he said to do, which was to keep the commandments. The first scripture we are looking at is concerning marriage. Jesus tells us that Moses permitted divorce due to the hardness of the people’s hearts. It was not this way from the beginning. We actually see Jesus raising the bar from what Moses permitted. When Moses is being spoken of, we must understand that these were the instructions given to him by Yahuah.

Mat 19:4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
Mat 19:5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
Mat 19:6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Mat 19:7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?”
Mat 19:8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
Mat 19:9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

The Pharisees’ job was to read and teach the Torah, which is the instruction given by Yahuah to Moses. Jesus tells His disciples to observe and do what they teach, but not what they do. The Pharisees taught the Torah, but added burdensome rules making the actual commands of God void.

Mat 23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat,
Mat 23:3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

Mat 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
Mat 23:24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
Mat 23:25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

The Ten Commandments were given by Yahuah to the whole assembly at Mount Horeb in an audible voice. These were laws written on the heavenly tablets known by the patriarchs. This was the covenant of old.

Deu 5:22 “These words Yahweh spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire and the very thick cloud with a loud voice, and he did not add anything, and then he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

This is speaking of the Ten Commandments agreed upon by everyone present at Mount Horeb that day where it is said, “He did not add anything”.

Jesus reminds us of the instruction given that day. It is about our heart and the “weightier matters of the law”.

Mat 9:13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yeshua or Yahusha, or English, Joshua, is quoting the prophet Hosea. Yahuah never wanted all the sacrifices for sin, He simply wanted people to stop sinning. Ephriam is the northern kingdom given to Jeroboam, eventually completely cut off and scattered among the nations, and Judah is the Southern kingdom whom Solomon’s son, Rehoboam was king.

Hos 6:4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
Hos 6:5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.
Hos 6:6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Hos 6:7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

Yahusha makes a revealing statement about what Moses said in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

Luk 16:27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—
Luk 16:28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’
Luk 16:29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
Luk 16:30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
Luk 16:31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Due to a lawless gospel that is being preached today, people gloss right over what is being said in this verse. “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”. Yahusha was speaking of Himself dying and resurrecting, and made the point that one cannot believe Him without believing Moses and the prophets. Another verse clearly shows this concept:

Joh 5:46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.
Joh 5:47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?

Jesus didn’t come to create a new world religion called Christianity. He came to build on and correct an existing one. Speaking of Moses, He asks, “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”.

The apostles also believed and taught what Moses taught. It is the milk of the gospel. The writer of Hebrews tells us the milk is the basic principles of the oracles of God.

Heb 5:11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
Heb 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,
Heb 5:13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
Heb 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

“Good” is defined by how Yahuah defines it, not how men define it. Evil is defined by Yahuah as well.

Deu 30:11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.
Deu 30:12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
Deu 30:13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
Deu 30:14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
Deu 30:15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.

Paul tells us the oracles of God were handed down through the Jews. It was through the southern kingdom of Judah, returning from captivity in Babylon, that the law, prophets and writings were maintained.

Rom 3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
Rom 3:2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Upon returning to the land from Babylon around 538 BCE, Yahuah used Ezra to teach the people His instructions given to Moses.

Neh 8:1 All of the people gathered as one to the public square before the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that Yahweh had commanded Israel.
Neh 8:2 So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly for each man and woman to hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
Neh 8:3 He read from it facing the public square before the Water Gate from dawn until noon that day, opposite the men, women, and those with understanding. The ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

In the following verses Paul describes lawlessness, or people not following the instructions that the Creator gave to Moses. He compares those people to Jannes and Jambres, who also opposed Moses. One has to do some research to find out who Jannes and Jambres were, and how they opposed Moses. When someone opposes Moses, or the instructions given to Him by Yahuah, things do not go well for that person.

2Ti 3:1 But know this, that in the last days difficult times will come,
2Ti 3:2 for people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 hardhearted, irreconcilable, slanderous, without self-control, savage, with no interest for what is good,
2Ti 3:4 traitors, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God,
2Ti 3:5 maintaining a form of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid these people.
2Ti 3:6 For from these are those who slip into houses and captivate foolish women loaded down with sins, led by various kinds of desires,
2Ti 3:7 always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
2Ti 3:8 And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these oppose the truth, people corrupted in mind, disqualified concerning the faith.
2Ti 3:9 But they will not progress to a greater extent, for their folly will be quite evident to everyone, as also the folly of those two was.

The names of Balaam’s sons were left out of the account in Exodus where the pharaoh’s magicians were competing against Moses and Aaron, but it is well documented in other literature that Paul would have studied. The Babylonian Talmud, Targum and the book of Jasher named the sons of Balaam who were the Pharaoh’s magicians. Paul’s letter to Timothy leaves us no doubt as to who these men were, verifying their account in other writings.

And when they had gone Phar’oh sent for Bil`am the magician and to Iannes and Iambres his sons, and to all the magicians and conjurors and counselors which belonged to the king, and they all came and sat before the king. And the king told them all the words which Mosheh and his brother Aharon had spoken to him, and the magicians said to the king, But how came the men to you, on account of the lions which were confined at the gate? YASHAR (JASHER) 79:27-28 את CEPHER

Paul, speaking of lawless people, says, “And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these oppose the truth, people corrupted in mind, disqualified concerning the faith.”. Opposing the truth is opposing God’s instructions given by Moses.

Psa 119:137 You are righteous, O Yahweh, and your ordinances are upright.
Psa 119:138 You have ordained your testimonies in righteousness, and in exceeding faithfulness.
Psa 119:139 My zeal consumes me, because my enemies have forgotten your words.
Psa 119:140 Your word is very pure, and your servant loves it.
Psa 119:141 I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.
Psa 119:142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth.
Psa 119:143 Trouble and anguish have found me; your commands delight me.
Psa 119:144 The righteousness of your testimonies is forever; give me understanding that I may live.

Even though Christians and pastors say it is impossible not to continually sin, Moses tells us something different. I have even heard pastors say that they sin every day, yet this is what Yahuah asks of His people:

Exo 20:19 And they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will listen, but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
Exo 20:20 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you so that his fear will be before you so that you do not sin.”

How much more responsibility is there for us now that the Messiah has come and given us the Spirit of grace and truth?

Heb 10:28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Heb 10:29 How much worse punishment do you think the person will be considered worthy of who treats with disdain the Son of God and who considers ordinary the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy and who insults the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
Heb 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

What if an enemy came in and redefined sin? What if they told you Yahuah’s instructions do not matter any more? What if they said, “All you have to do is love Jesus now”, without telling you loving Jesus meant doing what He said? What if the enemy is robbing you of your blessings by changing the day the Creator blessed to the day of the sun god, Mithras? Genesis 2:3, “And God blessed the seventh day, and he sanctified it, because on it he rested from all his work of creating that there was to do”. Can anyone else sanctify a different day? What if the enemy gave you worthless feast days of pagan deities disguised as “Jesus’s birthday” and “resurrection day”, when these days were never discussed in scripture as feast days? If all this were to happen it would mean you have been deceived.

Lev 23:1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and say to them, ‘The festivals of Yahweh that you shall proclaim are holy assemblies; these are my appointed times.

What if an enemy changed the name of the creator to Baal, and created a false Messiah that promotes lawlessness? You have been deceived, but cannot blame it all on an enemy. Yahuah is testing you, and because you are apathetic to His words, believing what anyone from a pulpit or television screen tells you, it means that you are fulfilling scripture.

Mat 24:3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
Mat 24:5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.

“Many will come in my name” isn’t just talking about people claiming to be the Christ. The word “name” in both Greek and Hebrew denotes authority, fame and reputation. This is someone coming in the authority of the name as well.

G3686
ὄνομα
onoma
on’-om-ah
From a presumed derivative of the base of G1097 (compare G3685); a “name” (literally or figuratively), (authority, character): – called, (+ sur-) name (-d).

It is about someone lying to you, saying they have the authority of the Christ, but tell you to do things that Messiah didn’t say. Many have come in His authority and told you to honour a different Sabbath, pay homage to different gods through their pagan feast days, and that acts Yahuah told Moses were sin were not sin anymore. They have had the audacity to oppose Moses and outrage the Spirit of grace by saying Yahuah’s holy instructions and truth have been “nailed to the cross”, rendered worthless. It is time to learn obedience through faith, the milk that Moses taught. Repent and receive the spirit of grace and truth.

The featured image is by Christian Bowen on Unsplash.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth-

בראשׁית ברא אלהים את השׁמים ואת הארץ׃

Genesis 1:1

The most ancient form of the name for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that I am aware of, is 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, meaning I will exist. Many times in scripture God is referred to as Elohim. The word “God” is probably not even a title we should be using for Elohim, or Yahuah, because of it’s heathen origin and it’s meaning to invoke. Yah, short for YHWH, or Yahuah, told Moses His name, and throughout scripture, we are told to declare His name and call on His name.

Exo 3:13 But Moses said to God, “Look, if I go to the Israelites and I say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ then what shall I say to them?”
Exo 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I am that I am.” And he said, “So you must say to the Israelites, ‘I am sent me to you.'”
Exo 3:15 And God said again to Moses, “So you must say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my remembrance from generation to generation.’
Exo 3:16 Go and gather the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, appeared to me, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “I have carefully attended to you and what has been done to you in Egypt.”

What does this have to do with faith? How can a person have faith in an Elohim without even knowing His name? It doesn’t sound like a very close relationship. Jesus knew the name of His father, and said He would declare it. “Name” in Hebrew is shem, and it means more than what a person is called. Name is the essence of the person. It is their authority, reputation, fame and character.

Joh 17:26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Jesus, or Yahusha in Hebrew, not only declared His father’s name, He was closely associated with the name.

Joh 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
Joh 8:57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
Joh 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Joh 8:59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Just as Yahuah told Moses “”So you must say to the Israelites, ‘I am sent me to you”, Jesus declared, “before Abraham was, I am”. This information is all important concerning faith. If someone does not know who it is they have faith in, then they can be tricked and deceived very easily. So, what is faith in Yahuah and Yahusha, “God”?

Gen 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth—

“In the beginning” is used in English for the first Hebrew word in the Bible, which is actually a prefix “bet” and the word “rasheeth“. We could translate this as “first things first”. If one struggles with this first sentence in the Bible, then their faith is already flawed. They won’t understand anything else I say in this blog post, and may as well go read The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, by Darwin.

Isa 40:21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Isa 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
Isa 40:23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
Isa 40:24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
Isa 40:25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

Faith in Yah or Yahusha (Jesus), is everything about believing what they said, and doing it. The Hebrew word pronounced shema means listen, hear and obey. So many people own a Bible and treat it like a good luck charm, never reading or believing. Others read, but have convinced themselves that everything it says is for someone else. Perhaps it is for a different dispensation, a different people group, before refrigeration, before the enlightenment of the current age etc.. Or they are told, “just call on the name of the Lord to be saved”, and they reason in their heart, “that’s all I will do”. They say a prayer and get back on with life, never knowing or caring about the creator of the universe and His instructions.

The Ten Commandments were given in an audible voice by Yahweh himself to His people. It was not only the “Jews” who stood by the mountain and heard His voice, it was all of the twelve tribes and a mixed multitude. Exodus 12:49, “There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you”. Faith in Yahuah is believing what He said, so much so, that a person does it by faith.

Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Paul is quoting Habakkuk.

Hab 2:2 Then Yahweh answered me and said, “Write the vision and make it plain on the tablet so that it might be read quickly.
Hab 2:3 For there is yet a vision for the appointed time; it will give witness to the end, and it will not lie. If it tarries, wait for it, for it will surely come and not delay.
Hab 2:4 Look! His spirit within him is puffed up; it is not upright. But the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.
Hab 2:5 How much less the defiant; the arrogant, treacherous man? He who broadens his throat like Sheol, and who, like death, is not satisfied, and who gathers to himself all the nations, and harvested for himself all the peoples, will not succeed.

A righteous person lives by his faithfulness, but faith in what? Faithfulness to what? It is believing and doing every word of Yahweh. Matthew 4:4, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Is your faith in Yahweh enough to believe that He knew what He was talking about when He told us what animals we should and should not eat? Do you have more faith in your preacher who says we can eat all things now by distorting what Jesus and the apostles taught? Science even supports Yahuah’s menu. The animals He told us not to eat are filters and bottom feeders that carry all the Earth’s toxins in their meat, which then transfer those toxins to our body. We have science now to show that is is not good to eat pigs, rats, mice, bats, shrimp and lobster. True faith is not partaking simply because the Father said not to. Notice, “Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron”.

Lev 11:1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them,
Lev 11:2 “Speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘These are the animals that you may eat from all the animals that are on the land:
Lev 11:3 Any among the animals that has a divided hoof and has a split cleft in the hoof, such you may eat.
Lev 11:4 However, these you may not eat from those that chew the cud and from those that have a divided hoof: the camel, because it is a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided—it is unclean for you;

What about the Sabbath? What did Yahweh say about the set apart day?

Exo 20:8 “Remember the day of the Sabbath, to consecrate it.
Exo 20:9 Six days you will work, and you will do all your work.
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh your God; you will not do any work—you or your son or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your animal, or your alien who is in your gates—
Exo 20:11 because in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and on the seventh day he rested. Therefore Yahweh blessed the seventh day and consecrated it.

The Sabbath is based on creation, therefore if one does not believe Yah created the universe, why would they think anything of the day Yahweh said to set-apart to honour the day He rested after creating everything? Faith in the Holy Catholic Church, or man, says the Sabbath was moved to Sunday and we are to work on Yahweh’s Sabbath. If one’s faith is in the pope, as the vicar of Christ, then they will honour Sunday.

Mar 7:6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
Mar 7:7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
Mar 7:8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

The church says, “but Jesus did away with the sabbath and preached against it”. Someone who has faith in Yahweh could never believe that because that would mean Yahusha, or Jesus, is not one with the Father. The Father said the Sabbath was forever.

Exo 31:12 And Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
Exo 31:13 “And you, speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, because it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, in order to know that I am Yahweh, who consecrates you.

Changing the day and telling us to work on the day Yahweh said was a sign between He and His people is a trick of the enemy. Distorting the words of Yahusha and Paul are more trickery to test your faith in Yahweh.

Deu 13:1 “If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams and he gives to you a sign or wonder,
Deu 13:2 and the sign or the wonder comes about that he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,’
Deu 13:3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God is testing you to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your inner self.

There are no secrets here. Yahweh says He will send prophets to try to get you to do things contrary to His word to test your faith, or “to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your inner self”. The writers of the so called New Testament assumed their audience read the scriptures.

Mat 12:10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
Mat 12:11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
Mat 12:12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Mat 12:13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.

Jesus tells us it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath by healing a man. This goes directly against the Babylonian Talmud, which the Pharisees adhered to, but not the law of Yahuah. This would have been a good time for Jesus to say “we are not going to do that Sabbath stuff any more”, if what the church tells us today is true. Jesus told us their would be many false versions of himself popping up and telling people not to obey Yahweh.

Mar 13:22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
Mar 13:23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.

Having faith in Yahuah will weed out all the false Christ’s and Jesus’s. Knowing Yahuah’s instructions and doing them is faith, but we must not neglect some of the weightier matters.

Mat 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Justice, mercy and faithfulness are the sum of Yahweh’s instructions.

Mar 12:28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Mar 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Mar 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Mar 12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Matthew 22:40, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” . No one “did away” with the law and prophets.

Eze 18:5 And if a man is righteous and does justice and righteousness,
Eze 18:6 and on the mountains he does not eat and he does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he does not defile and he does not approach a woman of menstruation,
Eze 18:7 and he oppresses no one and he returns a pledge for his loan and he commits no robbery and he gives his bread to the hungry and he covers a naked person with a garment,
Eze 18:8 and he does not charge interest and he takes no usury, and he holds back his hand from injustice and he executes a judgment of fairness between persons,
Eze 18:9 and in my statutes he goes about and my regulations he keeps, performing faithfully—then he is righteous, and certainly he will live,” declares the Lord Yahweh.

Faith also gives us all the promises of scripture. The gathering, resurrection, millennial kingdom and new Jerusalem are all in front of us now thanks to Messiah Yahusha.

1Co 15:12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1Co 15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
1Co 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
1Co 15:15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
1Co 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
1Co 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
1Co 15:19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
1Co 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1Co 15:21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

When a person has enough faith in Yahuah to understand that He created everything in six days and told us to rest on the seventh, some animals were not meant to eat, that we should have mercy and promote justice based in the word of Yah and that we will be raised from our sleep when Yahusha returns, then no false prophet, preacher or christ will be able to lead that person astray.

The featured image is by Robert Pearce on Unsplash.

Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow.

2 Peter 2:2

There are harsh words spoken against today’s apostate church. “Woe to the pastors”, says the LORD through Jeremiah. Peter tells us something very similar.

2Pe 2:1 In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves.
2Pe 2:2 Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow.
2Pe 2:3 These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them.

Do you teach against God’s holy covenant? Do you tell people it’s okay to break the commandments of Yahuah? How about calling evil good and good evil? Teaching people to profane His Sabbaths, or teaching the doctrines of man as the commandments of God? This is for you!

Jer 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Jer 23:2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

Jesus had similar words for the religious leadership in His time walking the Earth.

Mat 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

One of the ways we know these sayings are for today, is that these things are happening before our eyes. When else in recent history have pastors universally been against the commandments of God as they are today? Another clue is that Yahuah is going to gather out His followers.

Jer 23:3 “Then I myself will gather together the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their grazing place, and they will be fruitful, and they will become numerous.
Jer 23:4 And I will raise up over them shepherds, and they will shepherd them, and they will no longer fear, and they will not be dismayed, and they will not be missing,” declares Yahweh.
Jer 23:5 “Look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king, and he will achieve success, and he will do justice and righteousness in the land.
Jer 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in safety, and this is his name by which he will be called: ‘Yahweh is our righteousness.’
Jer 23:7 “Therefore look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who led up the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’
Jer 23:8 but ‘As Yahweh lives, who led up, and who brought the offspring of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he had driven them.’ Then they will live in their land.”

These prophesies have not happened yet. We still talk about the Exodus from Egypt. Jeremiah also tells us we will understand his words in the latter days. How could it get any clearer?

Jer 23:20 The anger of Yahweh will not turn back until his doing and until his keeping the plans of his mind. In latter days you will look closely at it with understanding.

Jer 23:16 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you with visions of their mind, They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh.
Jer 23:17 They are continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh, ‘Peace it will be to you,’ and to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’

Paul warned about apostasy as Peter did. Hearts are hardened and people say, “that’s not what it means to me” or “that’s just your interpretation”. So how do you interpret these verses against your lawless gospel?

Isa 56:6 And the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh to serve him and to love the name of Yahweh, to become his servants, every one who keeps the Sabbath, so as not to profane it, and those who keep hold of my covenant,
Isa 56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain; I will make them merry in my house of prayer. their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples,”
Isa 56:8 declares the Lord Yahweh, who gathers the scattered ones of Israel (still I will gather to him, to his gathered ones).

Paul tells us the law is for the lawless and disobedient! If we are operating through His Spirit, we will not be concerned about the law because we will be obedient. These verses are pointing back to the Ten Commandments. We are not supposed to break them or tell people they don’t matter any more.

1Ti 1:8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
1Ti 1:9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,
1Ti 1:10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
1Ti 1:11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

Peter told us people would use Paul’s words to justify breaking God’s commandments because Paul was hard to understand. Don’t do this!

2Pe 3:14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
2Pe 3:15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
2Pe 3:16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
2Pe 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
2Pe 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

“Be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish” means do what He, God, says to do. Follow His commandments. Pastors that twist Paul’s words, explain this:

1Co 7:19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.

Circumcision was a representation of sacrificial law that was added due to sin.

Mat 9:13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Sacrificial law involved the people continually breaking the commandments, then sacrificing animals. Yahuah always desired that His people would just quit sinning. This was the original covenant at Mount Horeb that Jesus came to refresh.

Deu 5:22 “These words Yahweh spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire and the very thick cloud with a loud voice, and he did not add anything, and then he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

Isa 5:20 Ah! Those who call evil good and good evil, those who put darkness for light and light for darkness, those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Isa 5:21 Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes and have understanding in their view!
Isa 5:22 Ah! Heroes at drinking wine, and men of capability at mixing strong drink!
Isa 5:23 Those who acquit the guilty because of a bribe and remove the justice of the innocent from him.
Isa 5:24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will become like the stench, and their blossom will go up like the dust. For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts, and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.
Isa 5:25 Therefore Yahweh’s wrath was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like refuse in the middle of the streets. In all of this his anger has not turned back, and still his hand is stretched out.

Jesus came to bring remembrance to the commandments, destroy evil and eventually write the commandments on our hearts.

Mat 19:16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
Mat 19:17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
Mat 19:18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
Mat 19:19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus then told him to sell all his possessions and follow Him to be perfect. Some use the latter part of the story to negate the fact that Jesus said, “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”. Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yeshua, tells us we cannot understand Him if we reject Moses.

Luk 16:27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—
Luk 16:28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’
Luk 16:29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
Luk 16:30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
Luk 16:31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

This is not too hard to understand. Read the Bible and ask for understanding. Teach the holy covenant and flee from idolatry.

Mat 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The featured image is by Darren Welsh on Unspalsh.

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:13-14

There is a key that Yahweh gave His people through His Word that will unlock a door that many in Christianity do not possess, and are actually taught to stay away from by their leaders. What is this key, and why is it withheld from Christendom?

Isa 58:13 If you hold your foot back from the Sabbath, from doing your affairs on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a pleasure, the holy day of Yahweh honorable, if you honor him more than doing your ways, than finding your affairs and speaking a word,
Isa 58:14 then you shall take your pleasure in Yahweh, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth, and I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your ancestor, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

First, let me make it clear I am not saying that the Sabbath by itself is the key, but that observing the Sabbath “will make you ride upon the heights of the earth, and I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your ancestor”. By observing the Sabbath, a person aligns themself with Jacob, otherwise known as the people of God. What if the adversary took away something from the people of Yahweh that “will make you ride upon the heights of the earth”? What if that adversary also caused people to think it was wrong to do the very thing Yahweh commands His people to do?

Deu 5:12 ‘Observe the Sabbath day to make it holy, just as Yahweh your God has commanded you.

It is a pretty good trick to take away one of the ten most important commands Yahweh gave His people. What better way to defeat them and turn them away from their source of power? Door slammed shut!

From the council of Laodecia in 346 AD, a pagan emperor handed out a key to a different door and a different God than Yahweh.

Canon XXIX.
Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.
Notes.
Ancient Epitome of Canon XXIX.
A Christian shall not stop work on the Sabbath, but on the Lord’s Day.
Balsamon.
Here the Fathers order that no one of the faithful shall stop work on the Sabbath as do
the Jews, but that they should honour the Lord’s Day, on account of the Lord’s resurrection, and that on that day they should abstain from manual labour and go to church. But thus abstaining from work on Sunday they do not lay down as a necessity, but they add, “if they can.” For if through need or any other necessity any one worked on the Lord’s day this was not reckoned against him.

This edict blatantly defies the commandment of God and instructs people to purposely do the opposite of what the supreme Creator, יהוה, tells His people to do. Until someone consistently keeps the Sabbath, they really have no idea what they are missing. Jesus had this to say to the Pharisees who broke God’s commandments establishing their own traditions:

Mar 7:5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
Mar 7:6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
Mar 7:7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
Mar 7:8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
Mar 7:9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

What would Jesus say about, “Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day;”? How about, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!”?

The Sabbath is an important part of opening an incredible door. There are more parts to the key though.

Deu 28:1 “And it will happen that if you indeed listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to diligently observe all his commandments that I am commanding you today, then Yahweh your God will set you above all the nations of the earth.
Deu 28:2 And all of these blessings shall come upon you, and they shall have an effect on you if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God:

Some sects of Christianity teach that these blessings belong to the church, and only the curses belong to Israel. This is the same group that believe they will be raptured away to a different galaxy while being disobedient, and “Israel” stays on Earth for tribulation. They also believe the political state of Israel in the Middle East has magical powers by misinterpreting this verse: Genesis 12:3, “And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. And all families of the earth will be blessed in you.”

The curses for being disobedient, or opening a different door, are as follows: (This is long, but I encourage everyone who believes that we should be disobedient to read every curse, and picture our current situation.)

Deu 28:15 “And then if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God by diligently observing all of his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today, then all of these curses shall come upon you, and they shall overtake you:
Deu 28:16 “You shall be cursed in the city, and you shall be cursed in the field.
Deu 28:17 “Your basket shall be cursed and your kneading trough.
Deu 28:18 “The fruit of your womb shall be cursed and the fruit of you ground, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.
Deu 28:19 “You shall be cursed when you come in, and you shall be cursed when you go out.
Deu 28:20 “Yahweh will send upon you the curse, the panic, and the threat in everything that you undertake, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly because of the evil of your deeds in that you have forsaken me.
Deu 28:21 Yahweh will cause the plague to cling to you until it consumes you from the land that you are going to, to take possession of it.
Deu 28:22 Yahweh will afflict you with the wasting diseases and with the fever and with the inflammation and with the scorching heat and with the sword and with the blight and with the mildew, and they shall pursue you until you perish.
Deu 28:23 And your heavens that are over your heads shall be like bronze, and the earth that is under you shall be like iron.
Deu 28:24 Yahweh will change the rain of your land to fine dust and to sand; from the heaven it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed.
Deu 28:25 “Yahweh shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies; on one road you shall go against them, but you will flee on seven roads before them, and you shall become a thing of horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth.
Deu 28:26 And your dead bodies shall be as food for all of the birds of the heaven and to the animals of the earth, and there shall not be anyone to frighten them away.
Deu 28:27 “Yahweh shall afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scurvy and with the skin rash that cannot be healed.
Deu 28:28 Yahweh shall afflict you with madness and with blindness and with confusion of heart.
Deu 28:29 And you shall be groping at noon just as the blind person gropes in the dark, and you shall not succeed in finding your way, and you shall only be abused and robbed all the time, and there will not be anyone who will rescue you.
Deu 28:30 You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it.
Deu 28:31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat it; your donkey shall be stolen right before you, and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep and your goats shall be given to your enemies, and there shall not be anyone who rescues you.
Deu 28:32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to other people, and you will be looking on longingly for them all day, but you will be powerless to do anything.
Deu 28:33 A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives.
Deu 28:34 You shall become mad because of what your eyes shall see.
Deu 28:35 Yahweh shall strike you with grievous boils on the knees and on the upper thighs from which you will not be able to be healed, from the sole of your foot and up to your crown.
Deu 28:36 Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone.
Deu 28:37 And you will become a horror and a proverb and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh drives you there.
Deu 28:38 “You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little produce, for the locust shall devour it.
Deu 28:39 You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress them, but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it.
Deu 28:40 There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself, for your olives shall drop off.
Deu 28:41 You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.
Deu 28:42 The cricket shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground.
Deu 28:43 The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower.
Deu 28:44 He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail.
Deu 28:45 “And all of these curses shall come over you, and they shall pursue you, and they shall overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, by observing his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.
Deu 28:46 And they shall be among you as a sign and as a wonder and among your offspring forever.
Deu 28:47 “Because of the fact that you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything,
Deu 28:48 then you shall serve your enemies, whom Yahweh will send against you under conditions of famine, in thirst, in nakedness, and in a lack of everything; and he shall place a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
Deu 28:49 Yahweh will raise up against you a nation from far off, from the end of the earth, attacking as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you will not understand,
Deu 28:50 a grim-faced nation who does not show respect to the old and the young and does not show pity.
Deu 28:51 And it shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed, and who will not leave for you any grain, wine, and olive oil, calves of your herds, and lambs of your flock until it has destroyed you.
Deu 28:52 And it shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls fall, which you are trusting in throughout your land; and it shall besiege you in all of your towns in all of your land that Yahweh your God has given to you.
Deu 28:53 And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, during the siege and during the distress your enemy inflicts upon you.
Deu 28:54 The most refined and the very sensitive man among you shall be mean with his brother and against his beloved wife and against the rest of his children that he has left over,
Deu 28:55 by refraining from giving to even one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because there is not anything that is left over for him during the siege and distress that your enemy inflicts upon you.
Deu 28:56 The most refined and the most delicate woman among you, who shall not venture to put the sole of her foot on the ground from being so delicate and from such gentleness, shall be mean to her beloved husband and against her son and against her daughter,
Deu 28:57 and even concerning her afterbirth that goes out from between her feet and also concerning her children that she bears, because she eats them for lack of anything in secret during the siege and during the distress that your enemy inflicts upon her in your towns.
Deu 28:58 “If you do not diligently observe all the words of this law written in this scroll by revering this glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God,
Deu 28:59 then Yahweh shall overwhelm you with your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, severe plagues and lasting illnesses, grievous and enduring.
Deu 28:60 And he shall bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt concerning which you were in dread because of them.
Deu 28:61 Also any illness and any plague that is not written in the scroll of this law, he shall bring them, Yahweh, upon you until you are destroyed.
Deu 28:62 And you shall remain only a few people in place of the fact you were formerly as the stars of heaven as far as number is concerned, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.
Deu 28:63 And then as Yahweh delighted over you to make you prosperous to make you numerous, so Yahweh shall delight over you to exterminate you and to destroy you, and so you shall be plucked from the land that you are going there to take possession of it.
Deu 28:64 And Yahweh shall scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth up to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods that you have not known nor your ancestors, gods of wood and stone.
Deu 28:65 And among these nations you shall not find rest, and there shall not be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh shall give you there an anxious heart and a weakening of eyes and a languishing of your inner self.
Deu 28:66 And your life shall hang in doubt before you, and you shall be startled night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life.
Deu 28:67 In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it was evening!’ and in the evening you shall say ‘If only it was morning!’ because of the dread of your heart that you shall feel, and because of the sight of your eyes that you shall see.
Deu 28:68 And Yahweh shall bring you back to Egypt in ships by the route that I promised to you that ‘You shall not see it again!’ And you shall sell yourself there to your enemies as slaves and as female slaves, but there will not be a buyer.”

Oops, maybe the church went through the wrong door because they had the wrong key!

Mic 5:7 And the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many nations, like dew from Yahweh, like showers upon the grass which does not wait for a man, nor delays for the children of humankind.
Mic 5:8 And the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the wild animals of the forest, like a young lion among the herds of sheep which, when it passes through and treads down and tears in pieces, there is none who can deliver.
Mic 5:9 Your hand will be lifted high over your enemies, and all your foes will be cut off.
Mic 5:10 “And it will happen that in that day,” declares Yahweh, “then I will cut off your horses from among you, and I will destroy your chariots.
Mic 5:11 And I will cut off the cities of your land, and I will demolish all your fortifications.
Mic 5:12 And I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will not have soothsayers.
Mic 5:13 And I will cut off your idols and your stone pillars 🛕 from among you, and you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.
Mic 5:14 And I will uproot your Asherahs🎄from among you, and I will destroy your cities.
Mic 5:15 And in anger and in wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations who did not obey.”

The key to the correct door, and God, is obedience to the correct God, Yahweh. Once a person opens this door there is no turning back. Yeshua, which is the name that was substituted with Jesus, tells us to obey the Father.

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Joh 14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
Joh 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.

Yeshua also tells us which door to go through. How does anyone think they entered the correct door when the path looks the same as every other person in the world?

Luk 13:24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Luk 13:25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’
Luk 13:26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’
Luk 13:27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’
Luk 13:28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.
Luk 13:29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.
Luk 13:30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

I spent years in Christianity listening to leaders preach a different gospel than Yeshua. “Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day”, for example. Wrong key, wrong door, wrong God! It was not until I took a step in faith and started doing what Yahweh commanded, instead of what man commanded, that I started to see a change in my life, learned my identity in the Messiah, and started understanding scripture.

The featured image is by Florian Bernhardt on Unsplash.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

How will people react when alien life is discovered? This is the question NASA has hired theologians from different religions to answer. It is supposed to shake religious belief systems and people’s faith in a supreme creator, but anyone who studies scripture should be expecting this sort of headline. Please see the following link, and yes, even Snopes says it is true. Please click on the blue box for link to the article.

Anyone familiar with the book of Enoch has a much better understanding of the spiritual realm written about in the New Testament than someone who only hears a verse or two read on Sunday morning. One has to understand the origin of evil spirits, fallen angels and demons to grasp what is happening. The presentation may be different, but it is just the adversary’s last attempt to deceive and rule the world.

Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Paul speaks of the forces of evil in the heavenly places. These entities mean business, and the average Christian who never reads or understands the Bible will have their faith shaken. Paul goes on to tell us, Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”.

The first visitation from celestial beings was recorded in Genesis six. These are the angels, or “sons of God”, that decided to leave their first estate as Jude tells us.

Jud 1:4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jud 1:5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Jud 1:6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

Jude is referring to the “sons of God” who landed on Mount Hermon, and the resulting Nephilim.

Gen 6:1 And it happened that, when humankind began to multiply on the face of the ground, daughters were born to them.
Gen 6:2 Then the sons of God saw the daughters of humankind, that they were beautiful. And they took for themselves wives from all that they chose.
Gen 6:3 And Yahweh said, “My Spirit shall not abide with humankind forever in that he is also flesh. And his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
Gen 6:4 The Nephilim were upon the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went into the daughters of humankind, and they bore children to them.

Chief Jospeh Riverwind speaks about the star people visiting his ancestors as told in the oral tradition of the story tellers. It is interesting to hear oral tradition from tribes that have the Genesis six story in their history. Below is a link to Chief Riverwind and his wife discussing some of these matters. Click the blue box for the podcast.

The deception will be great. We are only at the beginning, whether there will be supposed aliens revealed or not.

Luk 21:25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,
Luk 21:26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

The world is very good at being deceived and impugning anyone who is not as deceived, or that happens to question the deception. Unfortunately, the so-called Christian community does not stand out from the world and has no discernment due to indifference and apostasy. If an alien narrative that tells of aliens seeding mankind ever is presented, the Christian community will probably lose its faith quite easily. Most already accept Darwinism by allegorizing scripture, and an alien origin would be attractive to Christians and atheist alike.

Note the following: Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”.

The Bible supports non-human entities appearing all through its pages. These creatures in the following verses are locust that sting like scorpions, and are described as horses prepared for battle with human faces. Notice that they are not allowed to harm the people that have the seal of God on their foreheads.

Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.
Rev 9:3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.
Rev 9:4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Rev 9:5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.
Rev 9:6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
Rev 9:7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,
Rev 9:8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth;
Rev 9:9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.
Rev 9:10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.
Rev 9:11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

Their king is Abaddon, or in other places, the destroyer. These evil entities are carrying out the wrath of Yahweh. Ezekiel tells us of angels with sledgehammers destroying those that didn’t have the mark of Yah on their forehead.

Eze 9:1 And he called in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “They have come near, the punishers of the city, and each with his weapon of destruction in his hand.
Eze 9:2 And look! Six men coming from the way of the upper gate that faced northward, and each with his weapon for shattering in his hand; and one man was in the midst of them, dressed in linen, and the writing case of the scribe was at his side. And they came and stood beside the bronze altar.
Eze 9:3 And the glory of the God of Israel lifted itself up from upon the cherub that he was on and went to the threshold of the house, and he called to the man who was clothed in linen with a scribal writing case at his side.
Eze 9:4 And Yahweh said to him, “Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and you must place a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and lamenting about all of the detestable things that are being done in the midst of her.”
Eze 9:5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city behind him and kill! Your eyes shall not take pity, and you shall not have compassion.

Are you groaning and lamenting all of the detestable things that are in our midst? This judgement was on God’s own people who were defiling the temple with symbols and traditions of foreign gods. Will it be any different for the church today?

Eze 8:17 And he said to me, “Have you seen, son of man? Was it too small a thing for the house of Judah to do the detestable things that they did here? For they filled up the land with violence, and they provoked me to anger again, and look! They are putting the branch to their nose.
Eze 8:18 And so I will act in rage, and my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion, and they will cry in my ear with a loud voice, and I will not hear them.”

Here are some more alien type beings appearing in the book of Revelation.

Rev 16:12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
Rev 16:13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.
Rev 16:14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.

The workings of Satan, which is a Hebrew word meaning adversary, will be very deceptive. The world has been primed to accept an alien narrative for many years. Christians who are quick to allegorize the creation story will accept the alien narrative with open arms. Those who have the mark of Yahweh on their foreheads will not have to fear whatever the future holds.

Isa 26:19 Your dead shall live; their corpses shall rise. Wake up and sing for joy, dwellers of the dust, for your dew is celestial dew, and the earth will give birth to dead spirits.
Isa 26:20 Go, my people, enter into your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide for a very little while, until the wrath has passed over.
Isa 26:21 For look! Yahweh is about to come out from his place to punish the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth against him, and the earth will disclose her blood and will no longer cover her slain.

Isa 27:1 On that day, Yahweh will punish with his cruel, great and strong sword Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will kill the sea monster that is in the sea.

The Leviathan, or great serpent, will ultimately be destroyed by Yahweh himself. Ezekiel tells us of the beginnings of the serpent, or cherub, and the end.

Eze 28:16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you.
Eze 28:18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you.
Eze 28:19 All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

We can withstand whatever comes our way in the future if we repent and follow the commandments of Yahweh. Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yeshua, came to destroy the works of evil. 1John 3:8, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”.

Do not be deceived. The modern gospel teaches lawlessness. Many have and will come in the authority of Christ and deceive many.

Rev 14:12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
Rev 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

The featured image is by Bruce Warrington on Unsplash.

Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

Luke 6:47-48

There is a story that has been told in church sermons for many years about a man stuck on a roof in a flood. This man is visited by a boat, helicopter and various other means of salvation, but the man refuses them all saying, “God will save me”. The flood overtakes the man and he dies. When he gets to heaven he asks God why he didn’t save him from the flood, only to have God say he tried to by sending a boat and helicopter. Although a cute story, it is not in the Bible and shouldn’t be used to base life decisions on, or used to coerce other people.

Yahweh will save His people and does not need manmade parables to help Him. How was Noah saved from the flood in His day?

Gen 7:1 Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Go—you and all your household—into the ark, for I have seen you are righteous before me in this generation.
Gen 7:2 From all the clean animals you must take for yourself seven pairs, a male and its mate. And from the animals that are not clean you must take two, a male and its mate,
Gen 7:3 as well as from the birds of heaven seven pairs, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of the earth.
Gen 7:4 For within seven days I will send rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. And I will blot out all the living creatures that I have made from upon the face of the ground.”

Noah was found to be righteous, so Yahweh saved him and his family. Noah put seven pairs of clean animals on the ark that Yahweh had him build, and single pairs of unclean animals. It makes sense that there were more clean animals because they were going to be used as food, where the unclean animals are not to be consumed.

Lot was also saved from a disaster. He was not even that smart about it. They had to take them by the hand away from the city.

Gen 19:10 Then the men reached out with their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and they shut the door.
Gen 19:11 And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they were unable to find the entrance.
Gen 19:12 Then the men said to Lot, “Who is here with you? Bring out from the place your sons-in-law, and your sons and your daughters, and all who are with you in the city.
Gen 19:13 For we are about to destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. Yahweh sent us to destroy it.”
Gen 19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were taking his daughters and said, “Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But it seemed like a joke in the eyes of his sons-in-law.
Gen 19:15 And as the dawn came up the angels urged Lot saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are staying with you, lest you be destroyed with the punishment of the city.”
Gen 19:16 But when he lingered, the men seized him by his hand and his wife’s hand, and his two daughters by hand, on account of the mercy of Yahweh upon him. And they brought him out and set him outside of the city.

Notice it is Yahweh that sends the destruction when the sin of society gets to a point of no return. The people that end up getting saved are those who follow the commandments of God. It is the people who break the commandments that were always getting destroyed. This is how the Northern kingdom brought on the wrath of Yahweh. They were incredibly disobedient to His instructions.

2Ki 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, in Habor, in the river regions of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
2Ki 17:7 Now this happened because the Israelites had sinned against Yahweh their God when he brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and they feared other gods.
2Ki 17:8 They walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had driven out from before the Israelites, which the kings of Israel had introduced.
2Ki 17:9 The Israelites secretly did things which were not right, against Yahweh their God; they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the watchtower up to the fortified city.
2Ki 17:10 They set up for themselves stone pillars and poles of Asherah worship on every high hill and under every green tree.
2Ki 17:11 They burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations which Yahweh deported before them, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh.
2Ki 17:12 They served idols which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing!”
2Ki 17:13 Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by the hand of his every prophet, with every seer saying, “Turn from all of your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my ordinances, according to all the law which I commanded your ancestors, which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.”
2Ki 17:14 But they did not listen and they stiffened their necks, like the necks of their ancestors who did not believe in Yahweh their God.
2Ki 17:15 They rejected his statutes, his covenant which he made with their ancestors, and his warnings which he gave to them; and they went after the idols, became vain, and went after all the nations which were all around them, which Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they did.
2Ki 17:16 They abandoned all the commands of Yahweh their God and made for themselves two molten calf-shaped idols; they made a pole of Asherah worship and bowed down to the army of the heavens and served Baal.
2Ki 17:17 They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, they practiced divination and read omens, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him.
2Ki 17:18 So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and he removed them from his presence; none remained except the tribe of Judah alone.
2Ki 17:19 Even Judah did not keep the commands of Yahweh their God, and they walked in the customs of Israel which they introduced,
2Ki 17:20 so Yahweh rejected all the offspring of Israel and punished them, and he gave them into the hand of the plunderers until he banished them from his presence.
2Ki 17:21 For he had torn Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king, but Jeroboam detached Israel from following Yahweh, and he made them sin a great sin.
2Ki 17:22 The Israelites walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he committed, and they did not depart from it,
2Ki 17:23 until Yahweh removed Israel from his presence as he had foretold by the hand of all his servants, the prophets. And so he deported Israel from upon his land to Assyria until this day.

The Bible cannot be understood without knowing the difference between the Northern and Southern kingdoms. Israel was united under Solomon. Solomon sinned by worshipping other gods and ten tribes were removed from his rule and given to Jeroboam. The Northern kingdom was called the House of Israel and the Southern kingdom was called the House of Judah. Yahweh destroyed the House of Israel by having Assyria conquering and dispersing them in 722 BC. Judah was conquered by Babylon later. Judah, or “the Jews”, came back to the land after seventy years of captivity. Israel, the Northern ten tribes, were disowned by God and dispersed into the nations, becoming “Gentiles”.

The descendants of the House of Israel and House of Judah are the very people Peter and James wrote their letters to. This is very important to understand.

1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Jas 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

Yahweh knew His people would be dispersed to the ends of the Earth for breaking His commandments soon after they left Egypt.

Deu 4:25 “When you have had children and grandchildren and you have grown old in the land and you act corruptly and you make a divine image of the form of anything and you do evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God, thus provoking him to anger,
Deu 4:26 I call to witness against you today the heaven and the earth, that you will perish soon and completely from the land that you are crossing the Jordan into it to take possession of it; you will not live long on it, but you will be completely destroyed.
Deu 4:27 And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations to where Yahweh will lead you.
Deu 4:28 And you will there serve gods made by human hands, of wood and stone, gods that cannot see and cannot hear and cannot eat and cannot smell.
Deu 4:29 But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deu 4:30 In your distress when all these things have found you in the latter days, then you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice.
Deu 4:31 For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; he will not abandon you, and he will not destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant of your ancestors that he swore to them.

How are the people of Yah going to be saved in the future? It is not by a man in a helicopter. In fact, the man in the helicopter could have saved the man on the roof only to crash into a mountain.

Mat 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Mat 24:30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

There will be a great harvest where the wheat will go into the barn and the tares will be burned.

Rev 14:14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Rev 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”
Rev 14:16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Rev 14:17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
Rev 14:18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.”
Rev 14:19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

These are old prophecies. Isaiah tells us about the same day.

Isa 2:6 For you have forsaken your people, house of Jacob [all twelve tribes], because they are full from the east, and of soothsayers like the Philistines, and they make alliances with the offspring of foreigners.
Isa 2:7 And its land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to its treasures; and its land is filled with horses, and there is no end to its chariots.
Isa 2:8 Its land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what they made with their fingers.
Isa 2:9 So humanity is humbled; everyone is humbled, and you must not forgive them.
Isa 2:10 Enter into the rock and hide yourself in the dust from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty.
Isa 2:11 The haughty eyes of humanity will be brought low, and the pride of everyone will be humbled, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.
Isa 2:12 For there is a day for Yahweh of hosts against all of the proud and the lofty and against all that is lifted up and humble,
Isa 2:13 and against all the lofty and lifted up cedars of Lebanon, and against all the large trees of Bashan,
Isa 2:14 and against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills,
Isa 2:15 and against every kind of high tower, and against every kind of fortified wall,
Isa 2:16 and against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the ships of desire.
Isa 2:17 And the haughtiness of the people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.
Isa 2:18 And the idols shall pass away entirely,
Isa 2:19 and they will enter into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the ground from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty when he rises to terrify the earth.
Isa 2:20 On that day humanity will throw away its idols of silver and its idols of gold, which they made for it to worship, to the rodents and to the bats—
Isa 2:21 to enter into the crevices of the rocks and into the clefts of the crags from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.
Isa 2:22 Turn away from humanity, who has breath in its nostrils, for by what is it esteemed?

Malachi reminds us to follow the commandments.

Mal 4:1 “For look! The day is about to come, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says Yahweh of hosts. “It will not leave behind for them root or branch.
Mal 4:2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like fattened calves.
Mal 4:3 You will trample down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am going to act,” says Yahweh of hosts.
Mal 4:4 “Remember the instruction of my servant Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb to all Israel, the rules and regulations.

It’s time to put away silly myths and irrelevant stories and get serious about obedience to Yahweh.

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Paul is telling the Galatians that if they are Christ’s then they are offsprings of Abraham, or as he says in Romans 11, grafted into Israel. We are the ones being talked about in Deuteronomy chapter four.

Deu 4:29 But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deu 4:30 In your distress when all these things have found you in the latter days, then you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice.
Deu 4:31 For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; he will not abandon you, and he will not destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant of your ancestors that he swore to them.

This is not replacement theology where it is said the church replaced Israel. Israel is not the political state where the “Jews” live in this discussion. It also is not about genetics. There are genetic Israelites scattered throughout the whole world according to the Bible, but the way to join the Israel of God is to do what Yahweh said to do. Yeshua made this possible. Notice the similarities between Ezekiel and Revelation.

Eze 9:4 And Yahweh said to him, “Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and you must place a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and lamenting about all of the detestable things that are being done in the midst of her.”
Eze 9:5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city behind him and kill! Your eyes shall not take pity, and you shall not have compassion.
Eze 9:6 You must kill totally old man, young man and young woman, and little children and women, but concerning every man with the mark on him you must not approach; and from my sanctuary you must begin.” And they began with the old men who were before the house.

Rev 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.
Rev 7:2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,
Rev 7:3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

Who are the elect that are gathered from the four corners of the Earth? Based on the past actions of Yahweh, is it the disobedient, lawless people that get saved, or the obedient that are seeking Yahweh with all their heart? Who do Jesus and the prophets say is going to get destroyed? It is the disobedient.

Mat 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

There is always a remnant of people that follow Yahweh. These are the elect that will be gathered. This is the group of people to strive to be with.

1Ki 19:17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.
1Ki 19:18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Moses told us there would be someone to show us the way, and we have to listen to Him. Yeshua is that person who refreshed the covenant. You really need to learn what all of this means.

Act 3:19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
Act 3:20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,
Act 3:21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Act 3:22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.
Act 3:23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
Act 3:24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

The featured image is by Xu Dee on Unsplash.