See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

Colossians 2:8-10

Today, more than ever before, we seem to be continually told to “trust science”. When I was young and in school, I do not remember being told to trust science as if it were some type of deity or proper noun. It was always presented as the study of the world around us. What is science today, and is it trustworthy?

Science is defined in my 1982 American Heritage Dictionary as “ 1. a. The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation theoretical explanation of a natural phenomenon, b. Such activity restricted to a class of natural phenomena c. Such activity applied to any class of phenomena. 2. Methodological activity, discipline or study, 3. An activity which appears to require study and method. 4. Knowledge, esp knowledge gained through experience.”

I enjoy having physical books. Books are a time stamp in history that no one can change or manipulate. Here is how science is defined from https://www.merriam-webster.com:

Definition of science
1 : the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding
2a : a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study
the science of theology
b : something (such as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge
have it down to a science
3a : knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method
b : such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena : NATURAL SCIENCE
4 : a system or method reconciling practical ends with scientific laws
cooking is both a science and an art
5 capitalized : CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

The Webster definition, “knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding”, makes science seem as if it were fixed as fact, when it is forever changing as the 1982 definition implies. Science is “knowledge gained through experience”. Is this knowledge only what is approved by and fed through the overlords controlling the media of today as if they are knowledge handlers, or does science give us the freedom to say, based on knowledge and experience, “We are being told lies?”.

For those of us who believe our source of truth is the Bible, we get a different picture of truth.

Psa 119:158 I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.
Psa 119:159 Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.
Psa 119:160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

David tells us “the sum of your word is truth”, and Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 to the adversary, “ not by bread alone but by all that goes out of the mouth of Yahweh humankind shall live”. As believers in the Messiah, we have to look to the word of God for ultimate truth, not anything that man thinks they may know.

1Ti 6:20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”
1Ti 6:21 for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.

Knowledge was very important in Paul’s day. The pursuit of religious knowledge was called gnosticism and became its own sect of Christianity. Much of what we see with the cult, like following what is called science today, is a form of gnosticism. Essentially, it is knowledge without God, or where God is actually the source of evil and real truth is found in knowledge.

2Ti 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
2Ti 3:2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
2Ti 3:4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2Ti 3:5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
2Ti 3:6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,
2Ti 3:7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

Paul is referring to commandment breakers. Churches today tell us we need not worry about keeping commandments, fulfilling Paul’s prophecy. All one has to do is read some discussions on Reddit’s “Christian” subreddits to see the results of these false teachings. Knowledge of the truth is true knowledge, and does not come from man.

There are places where modern science and the Bible agree. It turns out that swine, shrimp and lobster are all bottom feeders meant to be the earth’s filter. These creatures were never meant to be eaten.

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;
Lev 11:5 and the coney, because it is a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided—it is unclean for you;
Lev 11:6 and the hare, because it is a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided—it is unclean for you;
Lev 11:7 and the pig, because it has a divided hoof and has a split cleft in the hoof but it does not chew cud—it is unclean for you.
Lev 11:8 You must not eat from their meat, and you must not touch their dead body—they are unclean for you.

However, science and the Bible part when it comes to Genesis one. Evolution is a nineteenth century theory that many people hold dear. With what we know about genetics now, science needs to move away from evolution. Some have gone down the road of aliens from another world seeding the Earth. They are looking for anything except a supreme Creator that we will someday answer to for our actions.

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

Even Richard Dawkins admitted the Earth could have been seeded by an earlier, more intelligent civilization. Of course, it couldn’t have been Yahuah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is more about hatred for a God that supposedly does not exist more than anything scientific.

Paul tells us that even people who do not know about Yahuah should be able to determine that a supreme creator put everything we see in place.

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.
Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Man’s knowledge is continually placed higher than the that of the Creator. Paul says this about man’s wisdom:

1Co 3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks himself to be wise among you in this age, let him become a fool, in order that he may become wise.
1Co 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, “The one who catches the wise in their craftiness,”
1Co 3:20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

It is time to replace the wisdom of this world, which is foolishness to God, with the truth of scripture. Remember the covenants of promise and repent.

The featured image is by Matthew Schwartz on Unsplash.

After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them.

Ezekiel 38:8

The prophecy of the Gog and Magog war is one that produces many speculations in Christianity. People tend to be generally confused with the time lines of Biblical prophecy. I certainly do not have all the answers, but Scripture is quite clear about these events. This war is mentioned in the books of Ezekiel and Revelation.

Eze 38:1 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
Eze 38:2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the head leader of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.
Eze 38:3 And you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, Gog, the head leader of Meshach and Tubal,
Eze 38:4 and I will turn you around, and I will place hooks in your cheeks, and I will bring you out and all of your horses and horsemen fully armed, all of them, a great crowd, holding a shield, and small shield, and holding swords, all of them.
Eze 38:5 Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them, with a small shield and helmet.
Eze 38:6 Gomer and all of its troops, Beth Togarmah, the remote areas of the north, and with all of its troops and many peoples with them.
Eze 38:7 Be ready, and prepare yourselves, you and all of your assembly, the assembling around you, and you must be for them as a guard.
Eze 38:8 After many days you will be mustered; in the last years you will come to a restored land from the sword, gathered from many peoples on the mountains of Israel which were as permanent ruins but from peoples it was brought out, and they will dwell in safety, all of them.
Eze 38:9 And you will advance like a storm; you will come, and you will be like a cloud covering the land, and all of your troops and many nations along with you.”
Eze 38:10 “‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And then on that day, things will come up on your mind, and you will devise evil plans.
Eze 38:11 And you will say, ‘I will go up against a land of open country; I will come to the people being at rest in safety, all of them dwelling without a wall and crossbars and without doors,
Eze 38:12 to loot loot, and to plunder plunder, to assail inhabited ruins and a people gathered together from various peoples and who are acquiring livestock and goods and dwelling at the center of the world.

The key phrases in these verses are the “people in the center of the world” and “are at rest in safety”. There are currently no people resting in safety in the center of the world. These are those who were gathered from the four corners of the world. Christianity tends to misunderstand where they belong in eschatology due to the error of dispensational theology. These gathered people are those who endure to the end of this current age, or are part of the first resurrection. Gog is attacking the Millennium kingdom, “to assail inhabited ruins and a people gathered together from various peoples”.

Zec 14:9 And Yahweh will be king over all the earth; on that day Yahweh will be one and his name one.
Zec 14:10 All the land will be transformed into a desert plateau from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But it will rise up high and it will stay in its place from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, up to the Corner Gate and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.
Zec 14:11 And they will dwell in it, and there will be no more ban imposed, and Jerusalem will dwell in security.

This gathering of people, sometimes referred to as the second exodus, is spoken about all through the Bible. Please read all of chapter eleven in Isaiah to see the references to the Messiah.

Isa 11:11 And this shall happen on that day: The Lord will again extend his hand a second time to acquire the remnant of his people that is left, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands of the sea,
Isa 11:12 and he will raise a signal for the nations. And he will gather the outcasts of Israel, and he will gather the scattered ones of Judah together from the four corners of the earth.
Isa 11:13 And the jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be an enemy of Ephraim.

Yahusha, transliterated to “Jesus“ in modern English, made reference of this event as well. Those expecting a pre-tribulation rapture of “the church”, practicing lawlessness and pagan rituals, are going to be disappointed.

Mat 24:30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man arriving 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 together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other end of it.

During this time the survivors of the great day of Yahuah will be required to come for the Feast of Booths, and Ezekiel’s Millennium temple will be in operation.

Zec 14:16 And then every survivor from all those nations coming against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Booths.
Zec 14:17 And then whoever of the clans of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, it will not rain on them.
Zec 14:18 And if the clan of Egypt will not go up and come in, on them will be that plague Yahweh inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
Zec 14:19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

The Gog and Magog war is after these events. It is the final chance the adversary will have to gather people of the nations against the holy mountain of God.

Eze 38:14 “Therefore prophesy, son of man, and you must say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Will you not realize on that day when my people Israel are dwelling in safety,
Eze 38:15 and so you will come from your place, from the remote areas of the north, you and many people with you, horsemen all of them, a great crowd and a vast army,
Eze 38:16 and you will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the land; it will be in the last days, and I will bring you against my land, so that the nations know me, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes, O Gog!”‘

This war will happen when Israel will be dwelling safely in the last days. It is at the end of the Millennium reign of the Messiah. We still have the gathering of of the two houses, Israel, also know as Ephraim, and Judah, ahead of us.

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison
Rev 20:8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,
Rev 20:10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Once the nations attack the Kingdom of God one last time, with the satan leading, it will be the end of heaven and Earth.

Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Rev 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

I view our current time in prophecy as still being in the birth pains. We have the fifth seal in front of us.

Mat 24:3 And as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came up to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Watch out that no one deceives you!
Mat 24:5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will deceive many.
Mat 24:6 And you are going to hear about wars and rumors of wars. See to it that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Mat 24:8 But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
Mat 24:9 “Then they will hand you over to persecution and will kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations because of my name.
Mat 24:10 And then many will be led into sin and will betray one another and will hate one another,
Mat 24:11 and many false prophets will appear and will deceive many,
Mat 24:12 and because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.
Mat 24:13 But the one who endures to the end—this person will be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

We have to endure wars and rumours of wars, witness the gathering of the elect, see Israel and Judah reunited, and living in the land in peace and safety with those who are grafted in from the nations. After all of this, the people remaining on the Earth will once again rise up against the Kingdom of God and be defeated, ushering in the new heavens and new earth.

The featured image is by Khashayar Kouchpeydeh on Unsplash.

They made him jealous with strange gods; with detestable things they provoked him. They sacrificed to the demons, not God, to gods whom they had not known, new gods who came from recent times; their ancestors had not known them.

Deuteronomy 32:16-17

There are eight specific days a year that the ancients used to honour their gods. Most of these days have been syncretized into modern culture such as Halloween, Christmas, ground hog day, and Easter. May Day and John the Baptist day were other days that coincided with ancient feast days. These days all have the cycle of the sun in common.

The nations of the world watched the sun very closely and associated it with their gods. They would celebrate the birth of the sun as the days started to get longer around the winter solstice. Rome also thought it was a good time to place the birth of the son of God. Over hundreds of years, the church has managed to syncretize all the ancient winter solstice festivals into what we call Christmas today. Deuteronomy 32:17, “They sacrificed to the demons, not God, to gods whom they had not known, new gods who came from recent times; their ancestors had not known them”.

I thought that these eight holy days, celebrated by witches and Christians alike, originally came from the Babylonian mystery religions. Enlil, Helel, Gilgamesh, Baal and Nimrod were all names for the arch enemies of Yahuah.

Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Lucifer was a name Jerome created in his Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. The word that was translated to Lucifer is Strong’s H1966. Some believe this to be a variation of Enlil.

H1966
הילל
hêylêl
BDB Definition:
Lucifer = “light-bearer”
1) shining one, morning star, Lucifer
1a) of the king of Babylon and Satan (figuratively)
2) ‘Helel’ describing the king of Babylon

The Babylonian Talmud has something interesting in the section on idolatry. The Babylonian Talmud is commentary by Rabbis on the Mishnah. The Mishnah is the oral law that that was passed down, and eventually written down. These are great historical resources, and show us where many of the traditions in Judaism come from. These are the traditions the Pharisees taught as doctrine. Jesus rightfully upbraided them for doing this.

Mar 7:3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders,
Mar 7:4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.)
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.”

Many confuse the laws in the Mishna and Talmud with those in the Torah, which are the first five books of the Bible. People think that Jesus was teaching against the laws of God, when he was just upset that the Pharisees added all of these burdens in the Talmud to God’s law. I am in no way endorsing the Talmud as a place to derive doctrine, but it does give us many historical references and understanding of the things that were happening in the first century.

Here we see the rabbis crediting Adam with the eight festivals around the cycle of the sun.

Abuda Zara Babylonian Talmud:

GEMARA: The rabbis taught: Adam the first, when he saw
that each day of the week became shortened, cried: Woe is to me, the world becomes dark to me because of my sin, and it seems to be returned to chaos and ruin. And this is my death which was decreed by heaven. He arose and fasted and prayed eight days. Thereafter, when he lived to see the solstice of the month of Tabit, when the days become longer, he understood that such is the cycle of the world, and therefore established eight holidays. The next year, he also proclaimed the eight days on which he had fasted as holidays. He has established them to laud heaven; his descendants, however, made them holidays for the idols.

According to this, Adam declared these days to “laud heaven”, but his descendants turned the days into holidays for idols. This is very interesting if it is accurate, and explains how ancient and imbedded these days are. Every culture and people group, separated by thousands of miles, has honoured these days for their gods. Today, Christianity honours its gods with these same days, when the supposed God of Christianity, Yahuah, forbids worshipping Him this way.

Deu 12:29 “When Yahweh your God has cut off the nations whom you are about to go to, to dispossess them before you, and you have dispossessed them, and you live in their land,
Deu 12:30 take care so that you are not ensnared into imitating them after their being destroyed from before you, and so that you not enquire concerning their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods, and thus I myself want to do also.’
Deu 12:31 You must not do so toward Yahweh your God, because of every detestable thing they have done for their gods Yahweh hates, for even their sons and their daughters they would burn in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32 All of the things that I am commanding you, you must diligently observe; you shall not add to it, and you shall not take away from it.”

The apostles echoed this same commandment to the Gentile believers coming into the faith. It is the first thing they told them to do.

Act 15:19 Therefore I conclude we should not cause difficulty for those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,
Act 15:20 but we should write a letter to them to abstain from the pollution of idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

Why do Christians follow the footsteps of Adam’s descendants and the northern kingdom of Israel by embracing all these things polluted by idols? It seems to be human nature. Mankind wants to do the things Yahuah forbids. It started with a Adam and carried on through history with his descendants.

Deu 32:17 They sacrificed to the demons, not God, to gods whom they had not known, new gods who came from recent times; their ancestors had not known them.

Anytime we go against the instructions of Yahuah, with different holy days, gods, sabbaths and practices, we do it unto demons. All Yahuah wants is for us to do what He said to do.

Deu 5:6 ‘I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
Deu 5:7 There shall not be for you other gods besides me.
Deu 5:8 ‘You shall not make for yourself a divine image of any type of form that is in the heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.
Deu 5:9 ‘You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, punishing the guilt of fathers upon their children and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of those hating me,
Deu 5:10 but showing loyal love to thousands of those who love me and of those who keep my commandments.

Keeping Yahuah’s commandments is simple when a person lets the Spirit of grace control their life. Grace is divine influence of the heart. Yahusha tells us that his ways are not burdensome.

Mat 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
Mat 11:26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
Mat 11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Mat 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

My advice to everyone is to stop rebelling and start following the commandments of Yahuah. It will be a life changing experience. Yahusha told us to, as well as all of scripture.

Mar 1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
Mar 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Notice that Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yahusha, said to “repent and believe in the gospel” before there was any mention of his death, resurrection or the cross. The message is the same today. Repent! The gospel, or good tidings, Jesus was referring to, was the fact that people of the nations could come into the covenant with Yahuah, the God of Israel. No one knew how these prophesies would be fulfilled up to this point, but the Messiah was to unite the scattered House of Israel and the House of Judah.

The featured image is by Joseph D’mello on Unsplash.

And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.

1 Kings 12:32

Jeroboam was appointed by Yahuah to be King over the Northern kingdom of Israel when Solomon sinned and the kingdom was divided. Jeroboam could have been a great king if he would, “listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did”.

1Ki 11:30 Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces.
1Ki 11:31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give to you ten tribes,
1Ki 11:32 but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel;
1Ki 11:33 because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the Ammonites. They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as did David his father.
1Ki 11:34 But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances.
1Ki 11:35 But I will take the kingship from the hand of his son, and I will give ten tribes to you.
1Ki 11:36 To his son I will give one tribe in order to be a lamp for my servant David, always before my face, in Jerusalem the city in which I have chosen to place my name.
1Ki 11:37 You I will take, and you shall reign over all your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel.
1Ki 11:38 It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

Jeroboam was worried that he would lose control of his new kingdom if he let the people go back to Jerusalem for the feast days of Yahuah, so he decided to make his own feast, one month after Yahuah’s feast in the eighth month. The 15th day of the seventh month was the day Yahuah ordained, but Jeroboam changed it to a different day.

1Ki 12:32 Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
1Ki 12:33 He offered sacrifices on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the Israelites, and he went up to the altar to offer incense.

Changing the days that God sets apart as holy does not go well for anyone who tries. It is a form of idolatry because who can make for themselves gods? Changing a day Yahuah has ordained is the same as trying to make your own god.

Jer 16:19 O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our ancestors have inherited only lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them.
Jer 16:20 Can a human make for himself gods? Yet they are not gods!”
Jer 16:21 “Therefore look, I am about to let them know, this time I am going to let them know my power and my might, and they will know that my name is Yahweh.”

Somewhere during early Christianity, the same principle that Jeroboam applied to changing God’s feast day from the seventh month to the eighth month, was in like manner applied to the Sabbath day. It was changed from the seventh day to the eighth day. The earliest place I can find mention of this is in the writings of Ignatius to the Magnesians.

Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for “he that does not work, let him not eat.” (2Th 3:10) For say the [holy] oracles, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.” (Gen 3:19) But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them.24 And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, “To the end, for the eighth day,” (Psa 6:1-10, Psa 12:1-8 [inscrip.]) on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ, whom the children of perdition, the enemies of the Saviour, deny, “whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things,” (Php 3:18, Php 3:19) who are “lovers of pleasure, and not lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” (2Ti 3:4)

We see Ignatius following the footsteps of Jeroboam by rejecting the things of God, allocating them to simply that of “the Jews”. He goes on to use a Psalm to justify this new concept. The Sabbath was ordained by Yahuah at creation for resting after His work. Does this mean God should not eat because He is lazy for being idle on the Sabbath, or that He was setting an example for the whole world to follow? Did anyone tell the Creator of the universe His day was no longer sanctified because Ignatius said it was a custom of the “Jews”?

Gen 2:1 And heaven and earth and all their array were finished.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
Gen 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.

Many of the Greek early church fathers were extremely antisemitic. Our Saviour was a Jew who kept the Sabbath and also told us where salvation came from.

Joh 4:22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

This idea that the Sabbath somehow changed to the “eighth day”, which is really the first day, is an invention of man that came after the apostles’ time on earth. The arguments that are made that this change was made by the apostles do not work. It is said that because the apostles met on Pentecost on the first day of the week, or that Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day of the week, it is an indication that the day changed.

Act 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

The day of Pentecost is not a day created by Christianity, or a day that was new. Pentecost, meaning fifty, is the appointed day of Yahuah called Shavout. It is fifty days from the sabbath in the week of unleavened bread, always falling on a Sunday. There is nothing new here, other than it is the feast day Yahuah decided to send His spirit to those who were gathered honouring the day.

Lev 23:15 “‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day of your bringing the wave offering’s sheaf—there shall be seven full weeks.
Lev 23:16 Until the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days; then you shall present a new grain offering for Yahweh.

One of the days used to justify moving the sabbath was actually a feast day derived from counting seven sabbaths established by Yahuah. It is the same time that the Ten Commandments were given to the church in the wilderness.

Exo 19:1 In the third month after the Israelites went out from the land of Egypt, on this day they came to the Sinai desert.

Another argument given to disregard the Sabbath is to say that Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day of the week. This stems from believing that He was crucified on a Friday and rose on a Sunday to complete “three days and three nights”. The problem with this theory is that Jesus was not crucified on a Friday. He was put in the tomb before sundown on Passover before the high sabbath of Unleavened Bread. In order to be in the tomb three days and three nights, this would mean Passover was on a Wednesday the year of the crucifixion.

Joh 19:31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

Lev 23:4 “‘These are Yahweh’s appointed times, holy assemblies, which you shall proclaim at their appointed time.
Lev 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month at the evening is Yahweh’s Passover.
Lev 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is Yahweh’s Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
Lev 23:7 On the first day there shall be a holy assembly for you; you shall not do any regular work.

Jesus was put in the tomb the evening of the fourteenth before the high sabbath of unleavened bread the next day. He rose three days and three nights later, just before evening of the weekly Sabbath. He was not there when the women came to the tomb before dawn on the first day of the week.

Mat 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
Mat 28:2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
Mat 28:3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
Mat 28:4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
Mat 28:5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
Mat 28:6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

Even if one thinks the “day” starts at night, based on the three days and three nights Jesus told us would be the only sign he would give, He would have had to leave the grave before sundown on the Sabbath.

There are many arguments people make to negate the Sabbath, and they twist scripture to do so. Calling the day the “Lord’s Day” with no scriptural authority, other than perhaps from the book of Revelation where John was in the spirit on the “Lord’s Day”. Was John embracing this new day created in Christianity by false premises having never discussed it previously? Would Yahuah change one of the ten most important commandments without a single prophecy indicating the change? Both Jesus and all the writers of the New Testament failed to mention this change. I believe the Scriptures version of the Bible has the correct translation for this verse in Revelation along with all of the places the “Day of the Lord” is used.

Rev 1:10 I came to be in the Spirit on the Day of יהוה,a and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, Footnote: aSee also Isa 13:6, Isa 13:9, Eze 13:5, Joe 1:15, Joe 2:1, Joe 2:11, Joe 2:31, Joe 3:14, Amo 5:16-20, Oba 1:15, Zep 1:7, Zep 1:14, Mal 4:5, Act 2:20, 1Th 5:2, 2Th 2:2, 2Pe 3:10.

Was John in the spirit on the Lord’s day when he witnessed what would happen in the spirit on the day of the Lord? There is such little teaching concerning the day of the Lord in the churches that it is easy to be convinced that John was having a Sunday sunrise service when he had these visions. The church tends to just talk about a pre-tribulation rapture of the “church” and ignore what scripture actually says. It is all deception. Are you seeking Yahuah with all your heart and mind? The day of the Lord, or more accurately, the day of Yahuah, is very different than anything that the church teaches today.

Oba 1:15 “For the day of Yahweh is near against all the nations! Just as you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return on your own head.
Oba 1:16 For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and they will slurp, and they will be as if they had never been.
Oba 1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be an escape, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will take possession of their dispossessors.
Oba 1:18 And the house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; and they will set them on fire and will consume them. And there will not be a survivor for the house of Esau,” for Yahweh has spoken.

Obadiah 1:18, “And the house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame”. The lawless “church” was not whisked away leaving the “Jews” behind for the day of the Lord, as dispensational theology teaches. There is only one people of Yahuah.

Rom 11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
Rom 11:14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
Rom 11:15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
Rom 11:16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
Rom 11:18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
Rom 11:19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
Rom 11:20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.
Rom 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

When Obadiah speaks of Joseph, it is the same people group as when Ephraim is spoken about. These are the same people that Paul calls “gentiles” in Romans. They are people alienated from God, or also called “the nations”. Joseph or Ephraim, Joseph’s son, is the prodigal son that forsook his father and went out amongst the Gentiles. This is the parable of the prodigal son that Jesus told. Judah is the older, jealous brother. Many of these people, “gentiles”, are descendants of the people from Jeroboam’s kingdom of Israel.

Jer 31:18 Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves, ‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like a calf that is not trained. Bring me back and let me return, for you are Yahweh my God.
Jer 31:19 For after my turning back I repented, and after coming to understand I struck my thigh. I was ashamed and also humiliated, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Jer 31:20 Is Ephraim my dear son, or the child of my delight? For as often as I have earnestly spoken against him, I still remember him. Therefore my bowels are turbulent for him, surely I will have compassion on him,” declares Yahweh.

There is no other people group who can change scripture and create a sanctified “eighth” day weekly festival in honour of Yahuah. It is the sin of Jeroboam. We must be grafted back in to the nourishing root of the olive tree. Paul was not pulling the olive tree reference out of thin air.

Jer 11:15 What rights has my beloved in my house when she has done many wicked things? Can the flesh of holiness pass over you? For you engage in your wickedness, then you exult.
Jer 11:16 Yahweh called your name, ‘A leafy olive tree, beautiful with fine fruit.’ With the sound of a great storm he will set fire to it, and its branches will be good for nothing.
Jer 11:17 And Yahweh of hosts, the one who planted you, has spoken evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, that they have done to themselves, to provoke me to anger by making smoke offerings to Baal.”

We must repent and worship in spirit and truth. This means shedding the centuries of lies we have inherited. There is only one God, Yahuah, one people group who guard His commandments, one set of feast days ordained by Yahuah, and one Sabbath day. If your religion has different feast days, different commandments, a different people group, and a different Sabbath, then at its head is a different god than Yahuah whom His son Yahusha taught us to follow.

The featured image is by Flor Saurina on Unsplash.

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.