I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among you yourselves men will arise, speaking perversions of the truth in order to draw away the disciples after them.

Acts 20:29-30

The controversy started in the early church, and we find Paul caught in the middle. Today, scripture is twisted to make Paul appear to be against the law of God, when he has quite a history of being just the opposite. When one searches deep into the scripture, along with church history, the true essence of the faith can be found beneath all the prophesied apostasy and lying that has been done throughout Christendom. John tells us who will endure:

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

Christianity teaches “faith in Jesus” only, while Judaism focuses on the “laws of God”, despising Jesus. Both religious systems are actually polluted with the traditions of men, and Paul understood the balance perfectly. This is one of the charges brought against Paul early in his ministry:

Act 24:5 For we have found this man to be a public menace and one who causes riots among all the Jews throughout the Roman Empire and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,
Act 24:6 who even attempted to desecrate the temple, and we arrested him.
Act 24:8 When you yourself examine him you will be able to find out from him about all these things of which we are accusing him.”

The people brought false charges against Paul saying he was teaching against the Torah. In his own words he denies this.

Act 24:14 But I do confess this to you, that according to the Way (which they call a sect), so I worship the God of our fathers, believing all things that are in accordance with the law and that are written in the prophets,
Act 24:15 having a hope in God which these men also themselves await: that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

I read the letters written between Jerome and Augustine several years ago, but I never picked up on the relationship between Paul and the sect of the Nazarenes. Augustine’s letters are very interesting, and shed light on the early church.

Paul was called the “ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes”, and did not deny this label. The Nazarenes were known for keeping the commandments and having the faith of Jesus. The following is a letter from Jerome to Augustine, fifth century church fathers, discussing this subject.

Augustine letter 75. A response from Jerome:

The matter in debate, therefore, or I should rather say your opinion regarding it, is summed up in this: that since the preaching of the gospel of Christ, the believing Jews do well in observing the precepts of the law, i.e. in offering sacrifices as Paul did, in circumcising their children, as Paul did in the case of Timothy, and keeping the Jewish Sabbath, as all the Jews have been accustomed to do. If this be true, we fall into the heresy of Cerinthus and Ebion, who, though believing in Christ, were anathematized by the fathers for this one error, that they mixed up the ceremonies of the law with the gospel of Christ, and professed their faith in that which was new, without letting go what was old. Why do I speak of the Ebionites, who make pretensions to the name of Christian? In our own day there exists a sect among the Jews throughout all the synagogues of the East, which is called the sect of the Minei, and is even now condemned by the Pharisees. The adherents to this sect are known commonly as Nazarenes; they believe in Christ the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary; and they say that He who suffered under Pontius Pilate and rose again, is the same as the one in whom we believe. But while they desire to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither the one nor the other. I therefore beseech you, who think that you are called upon to heal my slight wound, which is no more, so to speak, than a prick or scratch from a needle, to devote your skill in the healing art to this grievous wound, which has been opened by a spear driven home with the impetus of a javelin. For there is surely no proportion between the culpability of him who exhibits the various opinions held by the fathers in a commentary on Scripture, and the guilt of him who reintroduces within the Church a most pestilential heresy. If, however, there is for us no alternative but to receive the Jews into the Church, along with the usages prescribed by their law; if, in short, it shall be declared lawful for them to continue in the Churches of Christ what they have been accustomed to practise in the synagogues of Satan, I will tell you my opinion of the matter: they will not become Christians, but they will make us Jews.

Somewhere early in Christianity, the leaders left the true faith. Peter warned us that people would twist Paul’s words to their own destruction.

2Pe 3:14 Therefore, dear friends, because you are waiting for these things, make every effort to be found at peace, spotless and unblemished in him.
2Pe 3:15 And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom that was given to him,
2Pe 3:16 as he does also in all his letters, speaking in them about these things, in which there are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, as they also do the rest of the scriptures.
2Pe 3:17 Therefore, dear friends, because you know this beforehand, guard yourselves so that you do not lose your own safe position because you have been led away by the error of lawless persons.

Jerome, as most early church fathers, hated the Jews and anything considered Jewish. Unfortunately for them, the Messiah was Jewish and came teaching the truth that was given by the Creator for them to be a light to the world. Stephen reinforces this concept in the speech he gave before he was stoned. The irony here is that Paul watched in approval as this stoning took place.

Act 7:51 “You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in hearts and in your ears! You constantly resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so also do you!
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become,
Act 7:53 you who received the law by directions of angels and have not observed it!”

The quote, “for history is written by the victors and framed according to the prejudices and bias existing on their side”, is said to originate from various people, and it holds true in the case of the church fathers. Many of the church fathers viewed heresy as anything that disagreed with their belief system. It is clear the majority of church fathers hated the idea of keeping the commandments of the Creator, the people group whom the Creator set apart and established the covenants, as well as anyone who would say, (Psalms 119:97), “How I love your law! The whole day it is my meditation.”. There is an exception with the church father Irenæus, however. His creed included keeping the commandments. This is from book one, chapter ten of Against Heresies.

“but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.”

Epiphanius was a fourth century father whom I was not familiar with until recently. He devotes a section of his writings to write against these people who were hated by the Jews and Christians for their beliefs, that is the Nazarenes.

Epiphanius Panarion 29

7,2 They use not only the New Testament but the Old Testament as well, as the Jews do. For unlike the previous sectarians, they do not repudiate the legislation, the prophets, and the books Jews call. “Writings.” They have no different ideas, but confess everything exactly as the Law proclaims it and in the Jewish fashion-except for their belief in Christ, if you please! (3) For they acknowledge both the resurrection of the dead and the divine creation of all things , and declare that God is one, and that his Son is Jesus Christ.
7,4 They are trained to a nicety in Hebrew. For among them the entire Law, the prophets, and the so-called Writings-I mean the poeticbooks, Kings, Chronicles, Esther and all the rest-are read in Hebrew, as they surely are by Jews. (5) They are different from Jews, and different from Christians, only in the following. They disagree with Jews because they have come to faith in Christ; but since they are still fettered by the Law-circumcision, the Sabbath, and the rest -they are not in accord with Christians. (6) As to Christ, I cannot say whether they too are captives of the wickedness of Cerinthus and Merinthus, and regard him as a mere man-or whether, as the truth is, they affirm his birth of Mary by the Holy Spirit.
7,7 Today this sect of the Nazoraeans is found in Beroea near Coelesyria, in the Decapolis near Pella, and in Bashanitis at the place called Cocabe-Khokhabe in Hebrew. (8) For that was its place of origin, since all the disciples had settled in Pella after they left Jerusalem-Christ told them to abandon Jerusalem and withdraw from it because of its coming siege. And they settled in Peraea for this reason and, as I said, spent their lives there. That was where the Nazoraean sect began.

Note where this sect supposedly originated: it was Beroea, also known as Berea. Anyone familiar with the book of Acts should see a correlation.

Act 17:10 Now the brothers sent away both Paul and Silas at once, during the night, to Berea. They went into the synagogue of the Jews when they arrived.
Act 17:11 Now these were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. They accepted the message with all eagerness, examining the scriptures every day to see if these things were so.
Act 17:12 Therefore many of them believed, and not a few of the prominent Greek women and men.

I find this all very interesting. Is “Christianity” the heresy for not accepting the commandments of the Almighty Creator, Yahuah, labeling anyone who did as a heretic?

What is more interesting is that this sect of the “Nazarenes”, which Paul was called ring leader, has a name with prophetic ties. It is often dismissed as just being a place name, Nazareth, because Jesus was from Nazareth. However, the “town” of Nazareth is scarcely mentioned in the New Testament, and not mentioned at all in the Old Testament. Here is some of what the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature has to say about Nazareth:

Ναζρέθ Ναζαρέτ; usually thought to be a Graecized derivative from נֵצֵר, a sprout, Aram. נצראת, see Hengstenberg, Christol. 2, I sq.; comp. Keim, Gesch. Jesu [Zur. 1867], 1:318; but Hitzig, in the Heidelb. Jahrbichern, 1870, page 50, conjectures somewhat wildly an original form, נָזְרִת, with the signif. “goddess of success”), the place of residence (but not the birthplace) of our Lord. In the following account we bring together whatever is known respecting this interesting locality.

Scripture Mention. — Nazareth was the town of Joseph and Mary, to which they returned with the infant Jesus (εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἑαυτῶν) after the accomplishment of the events connected with his birth and earliest infancy (Mat 2:22). Previous to that event, the place is altogether unknown to history. In Old Testament Scripture it is never once named, though a town could hardly fail to have existed on so eligible a spot from early times. Josephus, though personally familiar with the whole district in which it lies, is equally silent regarding it. The secluded nature of the spot where it stands, together with its own insignificance, probably combined to shroud it in that obscurity on account of which it would seem to have been divinely chosen for the rearing of God’s incarnate Son. As his forerunner, John the Baptist, “was in the desert,” unnoticed and unknown, “till the day of his showing unto Israel,” so the great Messiah himself, till his public ministry began, was hidden from the world among the Galilaean hills.

There are references to the branch or branches in the prophecies concerning the Messiah. Just as Nazareth was thought to be the Graecized form of netser, which is a sprout or branch, it is also what the Saviour was called.

Isa 11:1 And a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from its roots will bear fruit.
Isa 11:2 And the spirit of Yahweh shall rest on him—a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.

“Branch” is Strong’s H5342.

H5342
נצר
nêtser
BDB Definition:
1) sprout, shoot, branch (always figuratively)
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H5341 in the sense of greenness as a striking colour

The related word is Strong’s H5341.

H5341
נצר
nâtsar
BDB Definition:
1) to guard, watch, watch over, keep
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to watch, guard, keep
1a2) to preserve, guard from dangers
1a3) to keep, observe, guard with fidelity
1a4) to guard, keep secret
1a5) to be kept close, be blockaded
1a6) watchman (participle)

In Hebrew we can have the same three letters having different meanings with different vowel sounds. It is this way in English too. For example, mp could be mop or map, depending on the vowel. In Hebrew, often times there are closer relationships to the root words. It is a more complex language.

We see that the three Hebrew letters, nun (n), tsadi(ts), and resh (r), can be pronounced “netser”, or “natsar”. One is a noun that means sprout or branch, and one is a verb that means to watch, keep and guard. Therefore, we could say that the “netsarim”, plural for “netser” could be considered branches that watch, keep and guard. Yahusha references both these things. The best example of this is in the Gospel of John.

Joh 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Joh 15:2 Every branch that does not bear fruit in me, he removes it, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it in order that it may bear more fruit.
Joh 15:3 You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Joh 15:4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit from itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
Joh 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything.
Joh 15:6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
Joh 15:8 My Father is glorified by this: that you bear much fruit, and prove to be my disciples.
Joh 15:9 “Just as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.
Joh 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

In case anyone thinks that Messiah’s words are different than the Father’s, He cleared that up in the previous chapter.

Joh 14:24 The one who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

We have this idea of branches guarding the words and commandments. Is this the true meaning of “the sect of the Nazarenes”, or does it just mean a group of people that follow a guy from Nazareth? Is this why the town of Nazareth is such a mystery, or at least, extremely obscure in history? Here are examples in Psalms of “natsar” regarding keeping covenant and statutes:

Psa 25:10 All the paths of Yahweh are loyal love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and statutes.
Psa 25:11 Also, for the sake of your name, O Yahweh, forgive my sin, because it is great.

Psa 119:2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies; they seek him with a whole heart.
Psa 119:3 They also do no wrong; they walk in his ways.

There is at least one more reference to this idea that true believers are branches. Paul makes reference to this in his letter to the Roman church.

Rom 11:17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although you were a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a sharer of the root of the olive tree’s richness,
Rom 11:18 do not boast against the branches. But if you boast against them, you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Rom 11:19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off in order that I could be grafted in.”
Rom 11:20 Well said! They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand firm because of faith. Do not think arrogant thoughts, but be afraid.
Rom 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Rom 11:22 See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity upon those who have fallen, but upon you the kindness of God—if you continue in his kindness, for otherwise you also will be cut off.
Rom 11:23 And those also, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God is able to graft them in again.
Rom 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

The idea of Yahusha being the shoot, believers the branches or watchmen of God’s commandments, Nazareth, and the sect of the natsarim is not coincidental. It is clear that church fathers hated the people who were part of the sect, which Paul was called the ring leader. This sect of the “Nazarenes” guarded the commandments of God through faith in Messiah Yahusha, and were hated by Jews and Christians alike.

This is why Christians today get very angry when discussing commandment keeping. Through this blog and social media I am able to have these discussions with many from different sects of Christianity. They can turn ugly quickly, because just as the early believers were hated by Jews and Christians, anyone who dare tries to bear the fruit of His commandments, is quickly ridiculed. Mega pastors such as John MacArthur and Andy Stanley are no different than Jerome and Epiphanius in this regard.

Paul told the church of Ephesus that false teachers would arise from their very leaders!

Act 20:28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he obtained through the blood of his own Son.
Act 20:29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30 And from among you yourselves men will arise, speaking perversions of the truth in order to draw away the disciples after them.

My conclusion is that in the first and second century, fierce wolves rose up as prophesied by Paul. They took the church away from the truth and perverted it into a new religion that embraced lawlessness and pagan traditions, becoming haters of anyone who fit this description by Epiphanius: “They use not only the New Testament but the Old Testament as well, as the Jews do. For unlike the previous sectarians, they do not repudiate the legislation, the prophets, and the books Jews call. “Writings.””

I hope this is as disturbing to many of the readers of this blog post as it is to me. Welcome to the “strong delusion”.

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

James 2:10-11

Many use these verses from James in the above quote to say we, as Christians, no longer need to be concerned by the instructions given to us by Yahuah. If we break one commandment, we have broken them all, so there is no need to try. Jesus did all the commandment keeping for us, and now we do not need to, nor should we even attempt it. This is how the narrative in many dispensational type churches is presented.

It may help us understand these verses if we look at them in context. We must also keep the context of the whole of scripture. James isn’t going to tell “the twelve tribes in the dispersion”, to go ahead and sin, and the more the better; however, there are people who hold on to this teaching.

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

Jas 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
Jas 1:20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Jas 1:21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
Jas 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Jas 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
Jas 1:24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
Jas 1:25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Jas 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
Jas 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Where does James get the idea of a perfect law of liberty? It is actually the theme of all of scripture. Martin Luther wanted to toss out the writings of James because he could not reconcile them with his hyper-grace theology. He would also have had to remove Psalms and many other books.

Psa 19:7 The law of Yahweh is perfect, reviving life. The testimony of Yahweh is firm, making wise the simple.
Psa 19:8 The precepts of Yahweh are right, making the heart rejoice. The command of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Psa 19:9 The fear of Yahweh is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of Yahweh are true; they are righteous altogether,
Psa 19:10 more desirable than gold, even much fine gold; and sweeter than honey, even honey in the comb.
Psa 19:11 Moreover, your servant is warned by them; in keeping them is great reward.

Psa 1:1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the advice of the wicked; nor does he stand in the way of sinners; nor does he sit in the assembly of mockers.
Psa 1:2 Instead, in the law of Yahweh is his delight, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psa 1:3 And so, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that gives its fruit in its season; its leaf also does not wither. Therefore all that he does prospers.
Psa 1:4 Not so the wicked. Instead, they are like the chaff that the wind scatters.
Psa 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
Psa 1:6 for Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

James chapter two, where we get our quote for this blog post, goes on to explain the perfect law of liberty. How can something that is perfect in Psalms 19, hundreds of years before James, be improved upon?

Jas 2:1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
Jas 2:2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,
Jas 2:3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”
Jas 2:4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Jas 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
Jas 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
Jas 2:7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
Jas 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
Jas 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Jas 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
Jas 2:11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
Jas 2:12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
Jas 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James’ point was that if we show partiality to a rich man over a poor man, we have sinned and transgressed the law. We are guilty. This is not a reason for us to stop pursuing righteousness. The logic that we are to forsake Yahuah’s law because we break one, we break them all, is faulty. What if we break five? Ten? One hundred? Is it better to break one hundred commands because the guilt is the same as for one? Is this really what James was trying to convey?

Some confuse “good works” with their own definition of good. The Pharisees were guilty of this as well. For example, “good works” are not how many times one attends church services in a week, volunteers for fundraisers, abstains from habits deemed inappropriate by religious groups, etc.. “Good works” are defined by the commandments of Yahuah. Deuteronomy 12:28, “Be careful to obey all these things that I am commanding you, so that it will go well for you and for your children after you forever, because then you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.”.

Mat 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Mat 19:18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Mat 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

We know the rest of this story where the man tells Jesus he has kept all the commandments from his youth. In the writings of the church father Origen, there is another version of this story told in a book called the Gospel of the Hebrews, where Jesus rebukes the man and says that he hasn’t kept the commandments because his neighbour is without clothes and clad with dung. That gives us more insight than “sell everything and give it to the poor”.

Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.1
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

“Ye that work iniquity” are those who cast aside the commandments of God, which are the works we should be doing, rather that our own “good works”. Faith without works is meaningless. Works are the perfect law of God.

Repent, read the Bible and do what it says.

The featured image is by Steve Knutson on Unsplash.

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.