Hear the Matter started just over a year and a half ago. We are happy that it has been so widely received. Thank you to all that have liked, commented and shared on all the various social media platforms and WordPress itself. Here is a map of all the places that regularly hit the website.

I realize not everyone will agree with everything that is written on Hear the Matter, and that is a good thing. For years I sat absorbing information in church, some wrong, some right, but never truly searching if the things I was being taught were true. It was not until I decided to let the scriptures speak for themselves that I realized how far we have strayed from the truth. For example, do you know what Paul is talking about in the following passage, and who Jannes and Jambres are that opposed Moses?

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.
2Ti 3:8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.
2Ti 3:9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

I encourage everyone to search the scriptures daily to see if the matters, discussed at Hear the Matter, are true. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but the Messiah says He will send the Holy Spirit of Truth to those who are obedient.

Joh 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Joh 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Joh 14:17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Joh 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Joh 14:19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
Joh 14:20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Joh 14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Joh 14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

We have started a YouTube channel to hopefully one day be able to discuss some of the matters brought forth at Hear the Matter in video format. It’s just an idea currently, but it will help to have subscribers to the channel.

Previous Blog Posts:

Choosing Your Sins Carefully in 2025

And I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and I brought them to the desert,  and I gave my statutes to them, and my regulations I made known to them, which, if a person does them, then he will live by them. And also my Sabbaths I gave to them to be a…

by Gary Vail September 6, 2025

This is How it Works

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place! For all who take up the sword will die by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot call upon my Father, and he would put at my disposal at once more than twelve legions of angels? How then would the scriptures…

by Gary Vail June 17, 2025

Today is the Day of Pentecost

Pentecost is a Greek term meaning “fifty”. Many churches are celebrating the day of Pentecost today, which in most cases is viewed as the start of the Church and the giving of the “Holy Ghost”. (This is, by the way, a terrible translation of the term Spirit of God.) However, Pentecost is the 50th day…

by Gary Vail June 8, 2025June 8, 2025

Imaginary Jesuses

Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness,because they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 (LEB) When Jesus delivered his famous sermon on the mount, one of his statements was “Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be satisfied.” Unfortunately, we are not given the definition of righteousness…

by Gary Vail May 10, 2025

AI Bot Understands the Sabbath Better than Many Christians…

He will speak words against the Most High.He will harass the holy ones of the Most High continually.His intention will be to change times established by law.The holy ones will be delivered into his handfor a time, times, and half a time. Daniel 7:25 (NET 2nd ed.) I decided to enter the world of artificial…

by Gary Vail January 31, 2025

Have You Been Programmed by the Religious Establishment?

The one who is from God listens to the words of God. Because of this you do not listen—because you are not of God.” John 8:47 Confusion is a state of existence that does not come from the Creator. What could be more confusing than 50,000 Christian denominations of Christianity that all disagree with each…

by Gary Vail January 11, 2025

Jesus is more than a Baby; He is the Administrator of the Eternal Covenant

And the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple, and there were lightnings and sounds and thunders and an earthquake and large hail. Revelation 11:19 (LEB) There are many sects of Christianity in today’s world. Christianity started with a sect of people practicing first century…

by Gary Vail December 25, 2024

“Jesus is the Real Reason for the Season!” Really????

“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, take care so that you are not ensnared into imitating them after their being destroyed from before you, and so that you not…

by Gary Vail December 15, 2024

“Jesus is my Sabbath Now”???? Are we being Bamboozled?

 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand, and they asked him, saying, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?” in order that they could accuse him.  But he said to them, “What man will there be among you who will have one sheep and if this one fell into a…

by Gary Vail December 7, 2024

We Can be Sure of This One Thing

And it shall be righteousness for us if we diligently observe and do all of this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.’ Deuteronomy 6:25 (LEB) I recently heard a minister preaching on Romans chapter five where Paul is contrasting the work of Adam and Jesus. This minister’s conclusion was that Jesus…

by Gary Vail November 30, 2024

Sacrifices to Demons Happening in 2024

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. John 6:54-55 Yeshua, commonly known as Jesus in English, told His followers some hard things that caused many to walk away.…

by Gary Vail November 23, 2024

Who is Your Antichrist Pick for 2025?

Here is the patient endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith in Jesus.  Revelation 14:12 (LEB) As I was going through some of my mother’s religious books written from the 1970’s to 1990’s, I realized that many prophecies that were supposed to happen in those decades, according to…

by Gary Vail November 10, 2024November 20, 2024

Many us have heard the story of Esau selling his birthright to his brother for a cup of stew. Is this just a cute Bible story, or is there a message for us today? Esau stated he was about to die. Why did he think he was going to die? We have to look outside the sixty-six book Bible to find a possible answer.

And all the mighty men of Nimrod, who had left him to go to the wilderness, heard the cry at a distance, and they knew the voices of those two men, and they ran to know the cause of it, when they found their king and the two men that were with him lying dead in the wilderness. And when Esau saw the mighty men of Nimrod coming at a distance, he fled, and thereby escaped; and Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod’s father had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land, and he ran and concealed them in his house. And Esau took those garments and ran into the city on account of Nimrod’s men, and he came unto his father’s house wearied and exhausted from fight, and he was ready to die through grief when he approached his brother Yaaqov and sat before him. And he said unto his brother Yaaqov, Behold I shall die this day, and wherefore then do I want the birthright? And Yaaqov acted wisely with Esau in this matter, and Esau sold his birthright to Yaaqov, for it was so brought about by Yahuah. And Esau’s portion in the cave of the field of Makpelah, which Avraham had bought from the children of Cheth for the possession of a burial ground, Esau also sold to Yaaqov, and Yaaqov bought all this from his brother Esau for value given. And Yaaqov wrote the whole of this in a cepher, and he testified the same with witnesses, and he sealed it, and the cepher remained in the hands of Yaaqov. YASHAR (JASHER) 27:9-14 את CEPHER

Jacob and Esau’s life spans overlapped that of the great king Nimrod. Anyone who is familiar with this history knows that Nimrod was a type of anti-messiah in Abraham’s day, and actually sought the life of Abraham when he was still a baby. Esau came across Nimrod while they were both hunting, and for whatever reason, decided to ambush Nimrod and two of his attendants.

Gen 10:8 And Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty warrior.
Gen 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it was said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh.”
Gen 10:10 Now, the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Most understand that “a mighty hunter before Yahweh” was not a good attribute of Nimrod. The word translated “before” could also be translated “against” or “in the face of”. Nimrod was likely where the mystery religions started after the flood, and he is the start of all world mythologies, from Gilgamesh right down to Santa Claus.

Rev 17:9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;
Rev 17:10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.
Rev 17:11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.

What does this all have to do with Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of stew? Esau was running from the anti-messiah system of his day because he just slayed their leader, a type of anti-messiah. He was on the run and was assuming he would die. He made several mistakes. For one, he murdered Nimrod on his own accord when Yah says, “do not kill”. Instead of repenting and trusting Yah to save him, he went to his brother and sold his birthright for a final meal, figuring he was going to die. He gave up his inheritance to the kingdom that Abraham was promised by Yah.

Rev 13:13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,
Rev 13:14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
Rev 13:15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
Rev 13:16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,
Rev 13:17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

Someday we may find ourselves in the position where if we do not worship the image of the beast and take its mark, we will not be able to by or sell, and be slain. It is not so hard to picture this happening any more in a world where tyranny rules and even Christians are being used as tools of the satan [השטנ[. To take the mark and worship the image is the same as selling our birthright. Our birthright enables us to inherit the kingdom.

Both Revelation and the prophet Isaiah tell us of the beast that is slain.

Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
Rev 19:21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

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

In this picture we have those with the mark and who worshipped the image thrown into the lake of fire, and the rest were slain by the sword of the Messiah. It doesn’t look good for either group at this event. Where are those who did not sell their birthright?

Rev 19:6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Rev 19:7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
Rev 19:8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Rev 19:9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Isa 27:13 And this shall happen: on that day, a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria will come, and those who were scattered in the land of Egypt, and they will bow down to Yahweh on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

“The fine linen of the saints is the righteous deeds of the saints”. This should shout out “commandment keeping” to anyone who understands scripture. This is the age old argument. James states that we are justified by our faith producing works.

Jas 2:22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;
Jas 2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
Jas 2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Jas 2:25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
Jas 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Paul seemingly contradicts James in his letter to the Romans to those who do not understand:

Rom 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Paul is saying that following the letter of the law will not justify a person. He is fighting that mindset continually in his letters. James, on the other hand, is telling us that having faith will produce works, the result being that works prove faith and without them a person isn’t justified because it shows they do not have faith. Faith is still the focus, and our actions will determine if we really have faith. A person can camp out at either place, trying to rely on works, or a lawless gospel. Both camps are in error.

Our Saviour spelled it out for us. Notice there was no mention of faith at the judgement of the nations. If works were required of these people, why not us? Their works were the evidence of their faith. How can a person say they have faith in the Creator, yet not do what He says?

Mat 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
Mat 25:32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Mat 25:33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Mat 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
Mat 25:36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Mat 25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
Mat 25:38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
Mat 25:39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
Mat 25:40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Mat 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Mat 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Mat 25:44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’
Mat 25:45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
Mat 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

We need to figure this out now more than ever. A weak, “anything goes” gospel is not going to suffice. We take all of our passions very seriously, so why not studying scripture and learning what Yah expects from us? There will be no one to blame but ourselves when the day to judge sheep from sheep and goats from sheep comes.

Previous blog posts:

Israel and End Times Prophecy; is this the End of Days???

And as Jesus went out of the temple courts he was going along, and his disciples came up to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered and said to them, “Do you not see all…

by Gary Vail October 5, 2024

Can the “Rapture” be Triggered?

 And behold, one of those with Jesus extended his hand and drew his sword, and striking the slave of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place! For all…

by Gary Vail August 3, 2024

Thirsting for Righteousness

Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness,because they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 (LEB) When Jesus delivered his famous sermon on the mount, one of his statements was “Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for…

by Gary Vail July 6, 2024May 10, 2025

Absent from the Body? Now What?

for we live by faith, not by sight—so we are confident and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:7–8 (LEB) “Absent from the body, present with the Lord”…

by Gary Vail June 29, 2024

The Worthless Shepherd

“Woe, my worthless shepherdwho deserts the flock!May a sword fall on his armand on his right eye!May his arm wither completelyand his right eye be utterly blinded!” Zechariah 11:17 (LEB) Often we see the subject of a worthless shepherd or…

by Gary Vail April 27, 2024

Traditions or the Word of God?

 For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother must certainly die.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or his mother, “Whatever benefit you would have received from…

by Gary Vail March 9, 2024

Religion, Doctrine and Cults

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of…

by Gary Vail March 2, 2024March 2, 2024

Earthly Kingdom by Force or Spiritual Kingdom by God? Dispensationalism and Zionism.

Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.”…

by Gary Vail January 13, 2024

The Meek Will Inherit the Earth

 Blessed are the meek,because they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5 (LEB) The world can be an unfriendly and intimidating place. We have forgotten how to maintain a simple life, and have embraced a society that cries for more war,…

by Gary Vail January 1, 2024

Observing Times

But at that time when you did not know God, you were enslaved to the things which by nature are not gods. But now, because you have come to know God, or rather have come to be known by God,…

by Gary Vail December 17, 2023

Overtaken

The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but…

by Gary Vail December 9, 2023

The Regathering

And a highway shall be there, and a way,and it shall be called the way of holiness.The unclean shall not travel through it,but it is for them, he who walks on the way;and fools shall not wander about. Isaiah 35:8…

by Gary Vail November 18, 2023

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Someone who has been raised in Christianity will likely know how displeased Jesus was with the religious leadership of His day. In fact, this is such a theme in Christianity, many confuse the anger of Jesus towards the religious leader’s misrepresentation of Yahweh, thinking Jesus is angry at the actual ways of Yahweh, or His righteous commands found in scripture. This is where we need to look hard at our belief system of who Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yeshua, claimed to be. There is a dichotomy between modern Jesus, and Yeshua, the salvation of Yah, who is seen in the Bible.

The Word of Yah, came to Ezekiel, speaking against the shepherds over Israel. They harvested wool from the flock and neither fed or healed them, eventually causing them to be scattered.

Eze 34:1 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
Eze 34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and you must say to them, to the shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who were feeding themselves! Must not the shepherds feed the flock?
Eze 34:3 The fat you eat, and you clothe yourself with the wool; the well-nourished animals you slaughter, but you do not feed the flock.
Eze 34:4 The weak you have not strengthened, and the sick you have not healed, and with respect to the hurt you have not bound them up, and you have not brought back the scattered, and you have not sought the lost, but rather you ruled over them with force and with ruthlessness.
Eze 34:5 And they were scattered without a shepherd, and they were as food for all the animals of the field when they were scattered.
Eze 34:6 My flock went astray upon all of the mountains and on every high hill, and so upon all the surface of the world my flock were scattered, and there was no one seeking them, and there was no one searching for them.”
Eze 34:7 Therefore, hear, O shepherds, the word of Yahweh:
Eze 34:8 “As I live,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “Surely because my flock have become as plunder, and my flock became as food to all the animals of the field, since there was not a shepherd, since my shepherds have not sought my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and they fed not my flock,'”
Eze 34:9 therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh,
Eze 34:10 ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against the shepherds, and I will seek my flock from their hand, and I will put an end to them from shepherding flocks, and the shepherds will no longer feed themselves, and I will deliver my flocks from their mouth, so that they will not be as food for them.”

Yeshua, the Word of Yah in flesh, delivered this message in person, face to face, with the religious leadership in His day. Yahweh Himself says He will deliver His flocks from these worthless shepherds.

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 23:4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
Mat 23:5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,
Mat 23:6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues
Mat 23:7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
Mat 23:8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Mat 23:10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
Mat 23:11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mat 23:12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Mat 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
Mat 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Mat 23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
Mat 23:17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?
Mat 23:18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’
Mat 23:19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Mat 23:20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
Mat 23:21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it.
Mat 23:22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
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.
Mat 23:26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
Mat 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Yeshua also tells us who He has come for, which fulfills Ezekiel 34, in part. Yeshua’s message was “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand”. This is what we should be proclaiming throughout the world; turn back to the ancient path.

Mat 15:24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Yeshua is both the Word of Yah sent to Ezekiel, and David, the leader of the people. Look at what will happen when we repent and turn back to the ancient path.

Eze 34:11 “‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I, even I, will seek my flock, and I will look after them,
Eze 34:12 just like the caring of a shepherd for his herd on the day when he is in the midst of his scattered flock. Thus I will look after my flock, and I will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on the day of storm and stress.
Eze 34:13 And I will bring them out from the peoples, and I will gather them from the countries, and I will bring them to their soil, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all of the settlements of the land.
Eze 34:14 I will feed them in good pasture, and their pasture will be on the mountains of the heights of Israel; there they will lie down in good pasture, and on lush pasture they will feed on the mountains of Israel.
Eze 34:15 I myself will feed my flock and I myself will allow them to lie down,” declares the Lord Yahweh.
Eze 34:16 “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the scattered, and I will bind up the one hurt, and I will strengthen the sick; and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed her with justice.”
Eze 34:17 “‘And you, my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am judging between one sheep and another, between the rams and between the he-goats.
Eze 34:18 Is it not enough for you that you feed on the good pasture? And still you must trample the remainder of your pasture with your feet, and clear water you drink, and the leftover water you must make muddy with your feet.
Eze 34:19 And my flock must graze the pasture treaded upon by your feet, and must drink the mud puddle stirred up by your feet.”
Eze 34:20 “‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh to them: “Look! I, even I will judge between fat sheep and between lean sheep,
Eze 34:21 because with your flank and with your shoulder you shoved, and with your horns you pushed all of the sick animals until you scattered it to the outside.
Eze 34:22 And so I will save my flock, and they will no longer be for plunder, and I will judge between one sheep and another.
Eze 34:23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, and he will feed them; that is, my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be for them as a shepherd.
Eze 34:24 And I, Yahweh, I will be for them as God, and my servant David will be a leader in the midst of them. I, Yahweh, I have spoken.

Yeshua is the servant David, taking care of the lost sheep, and the Word of Yah who is coming back in His glory to separate the goats and the sheep. He will also judge between one sheep and another somewhere in that timeline of resurrection, wrath and setting up the Millennial kingdom.

1Co 3:11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
1Co 3:13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
1Co 3:14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Many things will be sorted out on that Day.

Mat 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
Mat 25:32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Mat 25:33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

Revelation gives a more detailed look at this scene:

Rev 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
Rev 19:12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
Rev 19:13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
Rev 19:14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.
Rev 19:15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
Rev 19:16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

The prophet Baruk, whose writings are included in second temple literature, puts it this way:

After the signs have come, of which you were told before, when the nations become turbulent, and the time of my Mashiach [Messiah] is come, he shall both summon all the nations, and some of them he shall spare, and some of them he shall slay. These things therefore shall come upon the nations which are to be spared by him. Every nation, which knows not Yashar’el and has not trodden down the seed of Ya`aqov, shall indeed be spared. This because some out of every nation shall be subjected to your people. But all those who have ruled over you, or have known you, shall be given up to the sword. BARUK SHENIY (2 BARUK) 72:2-6 את CEPHER

One more view of this scene from the prophet Ezra, comes from Second Esdras, a book removed from Protestant Bibles around 1647. This is from the King James Version of the Bible:

2Es 13:3 And I beheld, and, lo, that man waxed strong with the thousands of heaven: and when he turned his countenance to look, all the things trembled that were seen under him.
2Es 13:4 And whensoever the voice went out of his mouth, all they burned that heard his voice, like as the earth faileth when it feeleth the fire.
2Es 13:5 And after this I beheld, and, lo, there was gathered together a multitude of men, out of number, from the four winds of the heaven, to subdue the man that came out of the sea
2Es 13:6 But I beheld, and, lo, he had graved himself a great mountain, and flew up upon it.
2Es 13:7 But I would have seen the region or place whereout the hill was graven, and I could not.
2Es 13:8 And after this I beheld, and, lo, all they which were gathered together to subdue him were sore afraid, and yet durst fight.
2Es 13:9 And, lo, as he saw the violence of the multitude that came, he neither lifted up his hand, nor held sword, nor any instrument of war:
2Es 13:10 But only I saw that he sent out of his mouth as it had been a blast of fire, and out of his lips a flaming breath, and out of his tongue he cast out sparks and tempests.
2Es 13:11 And they were all mixed together; the blast of fire, the flaming breath, and the great tempest; and fell with violence upon the multitude which was prepared to fight, and burned them up every one, so that upon a sudden of an innumerable multitude nothing was to be perceived, but only dust and smell of smoke: when I saw this I was afraid.
2Es 13:12 Afterward saw I the same man come down from the mountain, and call unto him another peaceable Multitude.
2Es 13:13 And there came much people unto him, whereof some were glad, some were sorry, and some of them were bound, and other some brought of them that were offered: then was I sick through great fear, and I awaked, and said,
2Es 13:14 Thou hast shewed thy servant these wonders from the beginning, and hast counted me worthy that thou shouldest receive my prayer:
2Es 13:15 Shew me now yet the interpretation of this dream.
2Es 13:16 For as I conceive in mine understanding, woe unto them that shall be left in those days and much more woe unto them that are not left behind!
2Es 13:17 For they that were not left were in heaviness.
2Es 13:18 Now understand I the things that are laid up in the latter days, which shall happen unto them, and to those that are left behind.

How does He determine the sheep from the goats? How does He judge between sheep and sheep? It looks as if the determining factors are the deeds in our life that showed whether or not we chose the righteousness path Yeshua pointed to for us to walk. Saying a onetime prayer then living a life of disobedience is not going to provide eternal security. Baruk stated that those nations who showed mercy to the people of Yah would have a better outcome. Yeshua words it a bit differently here in the Gospel of Matthew.

Mat 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Mat 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
Mat 25:36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Mat 25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
Mat 25:38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
Mat 25:39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
Mat 25:40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Mat 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Mat 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Mat 25:44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’
Mat 25:45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
Mat 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

There will be those considered both the least and greatest according to the Messiah when He judges between sheep and sheep. Eze 34:22, “And so I will save my flock, and they will no longer be for plunder, and I will judge between one sheep and another”.

These are verses I often write about. This time I am using the ISR 2009 version of the Bible. It is a free download on eSword, and comes from the Institute of Scripture Research. Compare it to your favourite translation.

Mat 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to complete. Footnote: The Law and the Prophets is a term used for the pre-Messianic Scriptures.
Mat 5:18 “For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one yod or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done. Footnote: Luk 16:17.
Mat 5:19 “Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.
Mat 5:20 “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the reign of the heavens. Footnote: See also Mat 23:28, Mat 15:3-9, Mar 7:7-13, Joh 7:19, Act 7:53, Rom 2:23-27, Gal 6:13.

The question becomes “how least is the least?” We see one group in Zechariah still around during the Millennium, so they are still part of the Kingdom, but not taking part in the affairs of the “bride” whom some of which became a “kingdom of priests” ruling with King Yeshua. Another possibility is much worse, found in Isaiah and quoted by Messiah, speaking of the aftermath of the wrath of Yah at the beginning of the Millennium.

Isa 66:15 “For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16 For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many.
Isa 66:17 “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the LORD.
Isa 66:18 “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory,
Isa 66:19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations.
Isa 66:20 And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.
Isa 66:21 And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.
Isa 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain.
Isa 66:23 From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD.
Isa 66:24 “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Those who are least in the Kingdom could also be those who are cast into outer darkness. They didn’t have oil in their lamps, invest their talents, or have a wedding garment. They miss the wedding. Whether or not outer darkness is permanent damnation is unclear, but it does not sound like an enjoyable place to be.

Mat 22:11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
Mat 22:12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Repent and follow the ways of Yah, shown to us again by His son Yeshua. Strive to be the greatest in the kingdom. We have a responsibility to warn people of the coming wrath and judgement, pointing to the way the Messiah showed us. This is loving your neighbour as yourself.

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Freedom in God’s Laws

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Which Feast are You Planning to Attend?

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After celebrating a couple Sabbaths with some new friends we have made over the course of the last few weeks, I want to share some thoughts about the Sabbaths and the blessings they bring.

Acts 20:7 records the disciples meeting on the first day of the week. What if I told you that this is an erroneous translation?

Act 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

In honest translations, the word “day” is italicized because it is an inserted word found no where in the original language. Here is the Strong’s numbers in the verse.

e-Sword Act 20:7 AndG1161 uponG1722 theG3588 firstG3391 day of theG3588 week,G4521 when theG3588 disciplesG3101 came togetherG4863 to breakG2806 bread,G740 PaulG3972 preachedG1256 unto them,G846 readyG3195 to departG1826 on theG3588 morrow;G1887 andG5037 continuedG3905 his speechG3056 untilG3360 midnight.G3317

G4521 and G3588 are mistranslated to “day of the week”. There is no word “day” in the text, and translators desperately wanted to make this about Sunday. Let’s look at Strong’s G4521, translated “week”.

G4521
σάββατον
sabbaton
Thayer Definition:
1) the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work
1a) the institution of the sabbath, the law for keeping holy every seventh day of the week
1b) a single sabbath, sabbath day
2) seven days, a week

This word most definitely means Sabbath, even if we want to call it a week, it is the end of the week. So how do we make sense of this verse without the erroneously inserted word “day” and mistranslating the Greek word Sabbaton to “week”? The context helps us understand once one understands the feast days of Yahweh.

Act 20:16 For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

Pentecost is the feast of Shavuot that is determined by counting seven Sabbaths after Passover.

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.

The verses preceding Acts 21:7 tells us it is after Passover and the week of Unleavened Bread.

Act 20:5 These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas,
Act 20:6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

Acts 20:7 should read “and upon the first Sabbath, when the disciples came to break bread”.

The Cepher translation gets it right.

Act 20:7 And upon the first Shabbath, when the Talmidiym came together to break bread, Pa’al preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

For a second witness to this concept, we can turn to this account in Luke from the English Standard Version.

Luk 6:1 And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.
Luk 6:2 And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?

“Second Sabbath” is Strong’s G1207, which is the second Sabbath in the counting to Pentecost. “Second after the first”.

G1207
δευτερόπρωτος
deuteroprōtos
Thayer Definition:
1) second-first
2) the second of the first Sabbaths after the feast of the Passover

One must apply the whole of scripture to understand what is written. It is also imperative to learn the feast days of Yahweh to understand what is happening during recorded events. Putting forth the idea that the believers of the first century would abandon the fourth commandment does not really make sense until we realize it is the goal of our enemy to rob us of the blessings associated with the Sabbaths. Jeremiah warned us of this.

Jer 8:7 Even the stork in heaven knows its appointed time, and the turtledove, and the swallow, and the song bird, they observe the time of their coming. But my people do not know the ordinance of Yahweh.
Jer 8:8 How can you say, ‘We are wise and the law of Yahweh is with us’? Look, surely the lying stylus of the scribes has made it a lie.
Jer 8:9 The wise will be put to shame, they will be dismayed, and they will get taken. Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh, and what is wisdom to them?
Jer 8:10 Therefore I will give their wives to others, their fields to conquerors, because from the smallest to the greatest, all of them make profit for unlawful gain, from prophet to priest, all of them practice deceit.
Jer 8:11 And they have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.

The Bereans were considered more noble than the Thessalonians because they searched the scriptures daily to see if the things Paul was explaining to them were true.

Act 17:10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
Act 17:11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Be like the Bereans and not like the Thessalonians. Search these matters out in scripture for yourself. There will be no one to point the blame to when we meet Messiah. Jesus and Paul both kept the Sabbath as Yah commands.

Feature image by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash.

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In the age of smooth talking and ear tickling, we as a collective church are rarely warned about the coming wrath and judgement of the Creator. While church people bicker and entangle themselves with everything worldly, entertaining the anti-messiah spirit of error, there are millions of people who will eventually face the wrath of God. Many of these people sit in the pews week after week. Why are there no warnings from the very place we expect the Word of Yah, the Creator of the Universe to be proclaimed?

Isa 42:5 Thus says the God, Yahweh, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it.
Isa 42:6 “I am Yahweh; I have called you in righteousness, and I have grasped your hand and watched over you; and I have given you as a covenant of the people, as a light of the nations,
Isa 42:7 to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoner out from the dungeon, those who sit in darkness from the house of imprisonment.
Isa 42:8 I am Yahweh; that is my name, and I do not give my glory to another, nor my praise to the idols.

If we are His people, this is our commission: “to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoner out from the dungeon, those who sit in darkness from the house of imprisonment”. How are we to do this when it is we who are blind, sitting in darkness, imprisoned by demons?

Joh 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Joh 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Joh 14:17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Joh 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

If we do not keep the commandments, how can we walk in the light by the Spirit of Truth promised to us with this condition? For anyone who thinks the commandments of the Messiah are different than those of the Father, Yah, He is quick to correct the error.

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

Apparently, there are people who think Yeshua was only talking to the Jews when He told us to follow the commandments. There are people who say Paul spoke a different message to the “church” than our Saviour. This is an old heresy called Marcionism. Today it is referred to as hyper or ultra Dispensationalism, and it is still hyper-deception. Paul tells us what he thinks of hyper-dispensationalism in his letter to Timothy.

1Ti 6:3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,
1Ti 6:4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
1Ti 6:5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

At some point in the future, the almighty Creator is going to come off His throne and pour His wrath out on the Earth for rejecting His ways. When this happens, the people dwelling on Earth will be looking for rocks to fall on them.

Isa 2:12 For there is a day for Yahweh of hosts against all of the proud and the lofty and against all that is lifted up and humble,
Isa 2:13 and against all the lofty and lifted up cedars of Lebanon, and against all the large trees of Bashan,
Isa 2:14 and against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills,
Isa 2:15 and against every kind of high tower, and against every kind of fortified wall,
Isa 2:16 and against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the ships of desire.
Isa 2:17 And the haughtiness of the people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.
Isa 2:18 And the idols shall pass away entirely,
Isa 2:19 and they will enter into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the ground from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty when he rises to terrify the earth.
Isa 2:20 On that day humanity will throw away its idols of silver and its idols of gold, which they made for it to worship, to the rodents and to the bats—
Isa 2:21 to enter into the crevices of the rocks and into the clefts of the crags from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.

This is the same scene we see in the book of Revelation. It is talking about the time when the sixth seal is opened.

Rev 6:14 And the sky was split apart like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved from their place.
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the most important people, and the military leaders, and the rich, and the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,
Rev 6:16 And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
Rev 6:17 because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

It is my experience that most church going people do not read or understand most of scripture. Some of this comes from poor teaching, no teaching, willful ignorance or they have been handed over to a strong delusion as Paul speaks of in writing to the Thessalonians.

2Th 2:9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,
2Th 2:10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
2Th 2:11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,
2Th 2:12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Loving the truth or pleasure in unrighteousness, seems to be the two choices we have in this life. What is the truth? What is unrighteousness? The Psalmist defines truth for us:

Psa 119:160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

Yeshua the Messiah, commonly referred to as Jesus, embodied the truth by walking it out perfectly on Earth in flesh, pointing us to the truth and sending us the Spirit of Truth if we are obedient.

Joh 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Joh 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

The wrath of Yah will be a bloodbath. It cannot be allegorized away. It is clear that everyone does not get saved in the end as some false doctrines teach.

Eze 39:8 Look! it is coming, and it will happen,” declares the Lord Yahweh. “It is the day about which I have spoken.
Eze 39:9 “‘”And the inhabitants of the towns of Israel will go out, and they will set ablaze, and they will kindle a fire with a weapon and a small shield and a shield, with a bow and with arrows, and with hand clubs and with spears, and so they will light a fire with them, a fire lasting seven years.
Eze 39:10 And they will not carry trees from the field, and they will not chop wood from the forests, for with the weapons they will light a fire; and they will plunder those plundering them, and they will plunder those plundering them,”‘ declares the Lord Yahweh.
Eze 39:11 “‘”And then on that day I will give to Gog a grave there in Israel, The Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea, and it will block the travelers and Gog and all of his hordes they will bury there, and they will call it the Valley of Hamon-Gog.
Eze 39:12 And the house of Israel will bury them for seven months to cleanse the land.
Eze 39:13 All of the people of the land will bury them, and it will be an honor for them on the day when I appear,”‘ declares the Lord Yahweh.
Eze 39:14 ‘”And they will set apart men to continually go through the land burying the travelers, the ones left over on the surface of the land to cleanse it; for the whole of seven months they will explore it.
Eze 39:15 And the ones going through, they will go through within the land, and if anyone sees the bones of a person, then he will build beside it a sign to remain until the buriers have buried him in the Valley of Hamon-Gog.
Eze 39:16 And furthermore the name of the city there is Hamonah, and thus they will cleanse the land.”‘
Eze 39:17 “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Say to all kinds of birds and animals of the field, “Be gathered, come be gathered from everywhere to my sacrifice that I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, and you will eat flesh, and you will drink blood.
Eze 39:18 Flesh of warriors you will eat, and the blood of leaders of the land you will drink; rams, young rams and goats, bulls, and the fattened animals of Bashan—all of them!
Eze 39:19 And you will eat fat until you are satiated, and you will drink blood until you are drunk from my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you,
Eze 39:20 and you will be satisfied at my table with horse and horsemen and warriors and every man of war,”‘ declares the Lord Yahweh.
Eze 39:21 “And I will display my glory among the nations, and all of the nations will see my judgment that I have executed and my hand that I have laid upon them.
Eze 39:22 “And the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their God from that day and beyond,
Eze 39:23 and the nations will know that because of their guilt the house of Israel went into exile, because they acted unfaithfully against me, and I hid my face from them, and I gave them into the hand of their foes, and they fell by the sword, all of them.
Eze 39:24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgression I dealt with them, and I hid my face from them.

Notice that the birds and animals are going to help clean up the flesh of all those destroyed. It is going to take seven months to bury all of the remains. Revelation speaks of this event as well.

Rev 19:17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God,
Rev 19:18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”

The Earth will be harvested and put through the wine press of Yah.

Joe 3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty warriors; let them approach and come up; let all the men of war approach.
Joe 3:10 Beat your cutting tools of iron into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, ‘I am a mighty warrior!’
Joe 3:11 Hurry and come, all the nations, from all around, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your mighty warriors, O Yahweh!
Joe 3:12 Let the nations be roused and let them come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations from all around.
Joe 3:13 Send forth the sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Go tread, for the winepress is full! The vats overflow, because their evil is great!

The sickle of the great harvest is also spoken about in the book of Revelation. The only thing that makes the book of Revelation hard to understand is ignorance of the rest of scripture. Revelation lays out in great details the prophecies given in the so-called Old Testament.

Rev 14:17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
Rev 14:18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.”
Rev 14:19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

The same description of this day is spoken about again in Isaiah.

Isa 63:1 Who is this, coming from Edom, from Bozrah in bright red garments? Who is this honored in his garment, lying down in his great strength? “It is I, speaking in justice, mighty to save!”
Isa 63:2 Why are your garments red, and your garments like he who treads in the winepress?
Isa 63:3 “I have trodden the winepress alone, and there was no man from the peoples with me. And I trod them in my anger, and I trampled them in my wrath, and spattered their juice on my garments, and stained all my clothing,
Isa 63:4 for the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my blood-vengeance has come!
Isa 63:5 And I looked, but there was no helper, and I was appalled, but there was no one who sustains, so my arm came to assist me, and my wrath was what sustained me.
Isa 63:6 And I trampled peoples in my anger, and I made them drunk in my wrath, and I brought their juice down to the earth.”

So how do we miss the great wrath of Yah? Is it by saying a prayer, “giving your heart to Jesus” and continuing to live a life in disobedience to the righteous commands of the Creator? This is what some teach; however, there is nothing like this found in scripture. It is quite the opposite. We are to walk as Messiah walked.

1Jn 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
1Jn 2:4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
1Jn 2:5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
1Jn 2:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The righteous who have the teaching of Yahweh in their heart will have to endure tribulation, but not the wrath of God. There is much confusion about these things due to the erroneous dispensational theology that has raised up like an over-proofed loaf of bread during the last 200 years. Run from the dispensational pre-trib, mid-trib , post-trib arguments that so many are enraged by. This was an attempt to throw the reformation off track; and it did. The bread loaf is about to deflate and be exposed as worthless.

Isa 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look to the earth beneath, for the heavens will be torn to pieces like smoke, and the earth will be worn out like a garment, and those who inhabit her will die like gnats. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces.
Isa 51:7 Listen to me, you who know righteousness, people who have my teaching in their heart; you must not fear the reproach of men, or be terrified because of their abuse.
Isa 51:8 For a moth will eat them like garments; a moth will devour them like wool, but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation for generation after generation. “
Isa 51:9 Awake! Awake; put on strength, O arm of Yahweh! Awake as in days of long ago, the generations of a long time back! Are you not the one who cut Rahab in pieces, the one who pierced the sea-dragon?
Isa 51:10 Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, the one who made the depths of the sea a way for those who are redeemed to cross over?
Isa 51:11 So the redeemed ones of Yahweh shall return, and they shall come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy shall be on their heads. Joy and gladness shall appear; sorrow and sighing shall flee away!

Yeshua confirms the time lines that are throughout scripture.

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

This is the first great reaping, possibly the wheat that is gathered into the barn.

Rev 14:14 And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud was seated one like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
Rev 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Send out your sickle and reap, because the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe!”
Rev 14:16 And the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Yeshua gives us many parables to explain what is going to happen. The evil will be separated from the righteous.

Mat 13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
Mat 13:48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.
Mat 13:49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous
Mat 13:50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The question is: “will you be gathered into the barn or thrown in the fire to be burned?” Pray that you escape the wrath of Yah and heed the words of Paul, written to the Philippians:

Php 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Php 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Php 2:14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
Php 2:15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
Php 2:16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
Php 2:17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
Php 2:18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Feature image by Kym MacKinnon on Unsplash

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The words “left behind” have different meanings to different audiences. To some, it was an act by the US Congress to help school children, to others, it brings to mind the Tim LaHaye fictional depiction of what many still believe the “rapture” of the church will look like, based on his Left Behind movie and book series. There is another group of people getting left behind, whose numbers are increasingly growing. These are people which can no longer tolerate the direction modern Christianity is heading, or in many cases, where it has been for decades.

2Ti 4:3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
2Ti 4:4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

As mega churches are exposed for their fraud, prosperity preachers fleece their flock, giving a false doctrine and false hope in return, many are walking away. There are others in more traditional churches watching leadership and laity become more apostate everyday, and they are turning to studying scripture for themselves. The problem with people reading the Bible for themselves is that it exposes all of the discrepancies of man made doctrines with the actual Word of God. Pastors and leadership are not prepared to answer hard questions, in a lot of cases, simply because there are no logical answers. The doctrine is simply wrong.

For example, I know of a person who had legitimate questions about the Sabbath. This was a person in a leadership role in a church. The first couple times he asked his pastor, he mostly was brushed off. Finally, after a third attempt, the Pastor yelled at him not to ask about the Sabbath again. So, it created another one “left behind”, leaving the institutional church to find a home study group to get some answers. Twenty years later this person has a large following, meeting weekly on the Sabbath, teaching scripture.

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.”

It is my understanding that pastors are bound by contract in many cases not to even discuss certain topics. They will ignore, steer away or get angry when off limit topics are brought forward. Many church denominations are set up much like secret societies where the upper tier keeps the esoteric knowledge and the lower tier, the laity, only get the exoteric knowledge. If a church official were to tell someone in the laity what he may really think about any given topic, their job as pastor, presbyter or bishop may be at stake.

A topic that often makes people open their eyes to error in the church are the church festivals that coincide with the same festivals celebrated in witchcraft, using all the same symbols of trees, lights, logs, eggs, rabbits, pumpkins, pine cones, berries and greenery. A person would have to have their head buried in the sand not to realize they are taking part in thousand-year old festivals that Yahweh said not to do. It is willful ignorance, or cognitive dissonance in many cases.

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.”

Where God never changes, I thought this was a slam dunk scripture passage in Deuteronomy explaining not to use the same symbols or days as done in ancient mythology. These were all the same gods whom Christians are celebrating today; Baal, Nimrod, Molech, Astarte, who became, Mithras, Saturn, Ishtar, and Woden, the Queen of heaven, and Santa. All these gods are packaged in modern secular holidays and the church celebrates them all in the name of Jesus. This is exactly what Yeshua (Jesus) said would happen. John 5:43, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him”. By celebrating all these other gods in the name of Jesus, the name Jesus has become a catch all for the pagan deities. It is fitting that Jesus is not even a real name, but a Germanic, Greek representation of Yeshua or Yahushua. This is not even a topic of discussion that is allowed in most churches.

The typical response from church people is that we no longer have to do what the Old Testament says, that was for someone else, “That’s not why I celebrate them”, or “God knows my heart”. However, there are many scriptures in the New Testament that speak against these festivals. They are scriptures rarely discussed for obvious reasons.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful more than anything else, and it is disastrous. Who can understand it?
Jer 17:10 I, Yahweh, examine the mind, I test the heart, and give to each one according to his way, according to the fruit of his deeds.

The very first instruction to the new believers coming into the faith from all the pagan religions is to get rid of their pagan symbols and practices of foreign gods. This is what “abstain from things polluted by idols” or “meat polluted by idols” means. The church should not be blending the holy, set apart things of Yah with deities from other nations. This is serious business, serious enough to be a deal breaker once a person realizes the gravity of the situation. There is also the implication that these new believers would be learning about what Moses taught every Sabbath. Once they understood the milk, they could handle the meatier things of Yahweh. Most never did the very first commandments the Jerusalem council gave them to do.

Act 15:19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
Act 15:20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
Act 15:21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

Yahweh gave us His special days to celebrate. The Sabbath is a weekly festival the church could be celebrating by sharing songs, scripture prayer and food with each other.

There are many people being left behind by institutional Christianity, which follows man, not Yeshua, that there are organic Sabbath meetings taking place in every corner of the world by people interested in following Yeshua, and “walking as He walked”. This is how the early church operated when the institutional religion of the day rejected Yeshua.

Act 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Act 2:43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
Act 2:44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
Act 2:45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Act 2:46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
Act 2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Early on they were meeting together in homes and at the temple, devoting themselves to the teachings of the apostles. Just as home meetings that are not sanctioned by the church are “illegal” in most churches today, these early believers would soon feel the wrath of the synagogues.

Act 8:3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Stephen pointed out how the church wrongly paid homage to all the foreign deities, and they were so enraged they stoned him.

Act 7:36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
Act 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
Act 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Act 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Act 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Act 7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
Act 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

There are many people who have left institutionalized religion who view the current day, 40,000 denominations, as prophecy in the book of Revelation. I am not saying I agree or disagree with this interpretation, just pointing out that it is prevalent among people leaving organized religion.

Rev 17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,
Rev 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”
Rev 17:3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
Rev 17:5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

The theory is that the whore, who is the mother of harlots, is the universal church that came out of fourth century Rome, who is the mother of all the 40-50,000 denominations that now exist. Yahweh often compared His people to a whore and eventually divorced the House of Israel for their whoredom with other gods. It is clear that there is a plethora of foreign gods in the church system today. If you do not believe that, just try suggesting removing a Christmas tree from an altar at Christmas time at your local church. People have an unnatural bond with these symbols that can be understood better considering Paul associates them with demons. The Christmas tree is an ancient symbol that has been modernized to fit the “Christmas tree Jesus” model of religion. It is a form of the Asherah pole, or groves in the Old Testament, and it is a phallic symbol, just like the obelisk. If true research is done, this is undeniable. A person can spend five minutes on the internet to find something that supports what they already believe, but that is not research. Do not be deceived. This is extremely important.

1Co 10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
1Co 10:15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
1Co 10:16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
1Co 10:17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
1Co 10:18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
1Co 10:19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
1Co 10:20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
1Co 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
1Co 10:22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

The root of the “left behind” Christians does not come from Christmas trees or Sabbath keeping. These are simply examples of the result of discovering that the Ten Commandments are still relevant for believers today. Once a person realizes what the Ten Commandments, or words, are really about, the Old Testament instruction on how to follow them, and then the instruction Yeshua gave to follow them, a person can no longer go along with blatant attacks on their integrity.

For example, the first words are as follows:

Deu 5:4 Face to face Yahweh spoke with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire.
Deu 5:5 I was standing between Yahweh and you at that time to report to you the word of Yahweh, for you were afraid because of the presence of the fire, and so you did not go up the mountain. He said,
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.

In chapter six of Deuteronomy, more detail is given.

Deu 6:13 “You shall fear Yahweh your God, and you shall serve him, and by his name you shall swear.
Deu 6:14 You shall not go after other gods from the gods of the peoples who are all around you,
Deu 6:15 for Yahweh your God is a jealous god in your midst, so that the anger of Yahweh your God would be kindled, and he would destroy you from the face of the earth.
Deu 6:16 You shall not put Yahweh your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
Deu 6:17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of Yahweh your God and his legal provisions and his rules that he has commanded you.

Yeshua, commonly referred to as Jesus, quotes Deuteronomy six when asked about the greatest commandment.

Mat 22:36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
Mat 22:37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the great and first commandment.

We do not get to define how to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”. Yahweh, the name of the “Lord God”, tells us what he loves and hates in scripture, The writers of the New Testament assume you have read and understood the milk of the Old Testament. These Old Testament scriptures are what they were teaching. I believe the writers of the gospels didn’t write a word for word manuscript of the exact dialogue of people. It is unlikely Matthew was sitting there taking short hand notes of all the conversations. It is the teachings that they learned and later recorded. Deuteronomy six is something that the audience of Yeshua was very familiar with because they recited it multiple times a day.

Deu 6:4 “Hear, Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is unique.
Deu 6:5 And you shall love Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might.
Deu 6:6 And these words that I am commanding you today shall be on your heart.
Deu 6:7 And you shall recite them to your children, and you shall talk about them at the time of your living in your house and at the time of your going on the road and at the time of your lying down and at the time of your rising up.
Deu 6:8 And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as an emblem between your eyes.
Deu 6:9 And you shall write them on the doorframe of your house and on your gates.
Deu 6:10 “And then it will happen that when Yahweh your God will bring you to the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to you large and fine cities that you did not build,
Deu 6:11 and houses full of all sorts of good things that you did not fill, and hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant, and you have eaten your fill,
Deu 6:12 then take care for yourself, so that you do not forget Yahweh, who brought you out from the land of Egypt from the house of slavery.

Just as loving God with all your heart relates to purging symbols of the ancient deities from your life, keeping the Sabbath is not just a new fad for rebellious church goers to start to embrace. These are Yahweh’s commands for His people to follow. When we come to the Father through faith in Yeshua, we are to align with Him, not make Him align with our beliefs.

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

Yeshua, speaking of the Sabbath:

Mat 12:7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

“Lord” of the sabbath comes from Strong’s G2962. It is also the word the Greek translation of the Old Testament uses to replace the name Yahweh.

G2962
κύριος
kurios
Thayer Definition:
1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
1a) the possessor and disposer of a thing
1a1) the owner; one who has control of the person, the master
1a2) in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor
1b) is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master
1c) this title is given to: God, the Messiah

Jesus is basically saying that He invented the Sabbath, and should know what He can or cannot do. In no way did this ever nullify the Sabbath.

People will argue that Paul later said not to regard one day over the other due to the following passage in Romans, and that this nullifies the fourth commandment. If this is truly what Paul meant, why is Sunday, the venerable day of the sun, regarded so highly by Christianity? After all, everyday is regarded the same now according to this understanding of Paul’s letter to the Romans. That should mean that pastors who want to change their church gatherings to the Sabbath day should be embraced, not forced to give up their credentials.

Rom 14:2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.
Rom 14:3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.
Rom 14:4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Rom 14:5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
Rom 14:6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

Paul was not talking about Sabbath’s or unclean animals being used for food. The audience would already understand Pauls’s position on those things. There were apparently arguments about which days one should fast and whether a person should eat meat.

The covenant was made with Heaven and Earth as the witnesses.

Deu 30:19 I invoke as a witness against you today the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring,
Deu 30:20 by loving Yahweh your God by listening to his voice and by clinging to him, for he is your life and the length of your days in order for you to live on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them.”

Yeshua enforces the heaven and Earth witnesses by proclaiming that not one jot or tittle will change in the law until heaven and Earth pass away.

Mat 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Mat 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

When does heaven and Earth pass away and when will all be accomplished? It is clearly marked in scripture at the end of the Millennium, when death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire.

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.

This is the new Covenant in full. Everyone present will know Yah because He is there among His people.

Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

These are examples of things that make it hard to carry on in institutionalized religion once a person learns about what the Word of the living God actually says. It is okay to get “left behind” from this “Christmas tree Jesus” system, and soon there will be many more places to gather on the Sabbath and exhort one another with scripture and song in every corner of the Earth.

No Other Gospel!

Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets!’ And he will reply, saying to you, ‘I do not know where you are from! Go away from me, all you evildoers!’  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see…

by Gary Vail December 17, 2022December 17, 2022

Jesus and the Prophet Like Moses

 For if you had believed Moses, you would believe me, for that one wrote about me. But if you do not believe that one’s writings, how will you believe my words?” John 5:46–47 (LEB) Is Jesus the antithesis of Moses? That is what we are lead to believe. After all, Moses was all about mean laws…

by Gary Vail December 10, 2022January 1, 2023

Christianity without Hanukkah? Not Possible!

Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade. John 10:22–23 (CJB) I know that Hanukkah is not a commanded, Biblical feast day or celebration found in Leviticus. Someone who strictly follows those days may hate Hanukkah and think its origins are tainted. Those in…

by Gary Vail December 3, 2022December 9, 2022

Are You Satanic?

And he humbled you and let you go hungry, and then he fed you with that which you did not know nor did your ancestors know, in order to make you know that not by bread alone but by all that goes out of the mouth of Yahweh humankind shall live. Deuteronomy 8:3 (LEB) When…

by Gary Vail November 26, 2022November 26, 2022

When did the Church Start?

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. And Yahweh of hosts, the one who planted you, has spoken evil against you,because of the evil of the house of Israel…

by Gary Vail November 19, 2022November 18, 2022

Fulfilling Prophecy Poorly

Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him in everything that he says to you.  And it will be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet will be destroyed utterly from the people.’ Acts 3:22–23 (LEB) There are…

by Gary Vail November 12, 2022November 11, 2022

The Age of Grace

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former desires you used to conform to in your ignorance, but as the one who called you is holy, you yourselves be holy in all your conduct, for it is written, “You will be holy, because I am holy.”  And if you call on him as Father who judges…

by Gary Vail November 5, 2022

Demons and You

Therefore, what am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?  No, but that the things which they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become sharers with demons. You are not able to drink the cup of the…

by Gary Vail October 30, 2022

Can Our Righteousness Exceed that of the Pharisees?

 For I say to you that unless your righteousness greatly surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20 (LEB) One of the errors Christians believe is that the Pharisees were constantly being upbraided by Jesus for being a stickler on the keeping of the law…

by Gary Vail October 29, 2022October 29, 2022

What if it is True?

Therefore is the law opposed to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, certainly righteousness would have been from the law. But the scripture imprisoned all under sin, in order that the promise could be given by faith in Jesus Christ to…

by Gary Vail October 22, 2022October 21, 2022

To Be Like Jesus

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world! The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 (LEB) Remember the old chorus we used to sing in church, To Be Like Jesus? “All I ask is to be like…

by Gary Vail October 17, 2022

Are There Antisemitic Roots in Christianity?

Therefore, what is the advantage of the Jew, or what is the use of circumcision? Much in every way. For first, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. Romans 3:1–2 (LEB) Erasing history is not a new phenomenon, and there is a considerable amount of history erasing happening in real time today. Our…

by Gary Vail October 15, 2022October 13, 2022

The dividing line between the world system and the body of believers has become very blurred. The music, attitude, doctrine and actions of the believer vs. the non-believer in Yeshua, are sometimes indistinguishable. What should it look like? Do we see strong, righteous, Spirit-filled people when we look across Christendom, or weak, defeated, lawless ones? Yahweh tells Moses that His people are to be a peculiar treasure to Him.

Exo 19:3 And Moses went up to God, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you will say to the house of Jacob and you will tell the Israelites,
Exo 19:4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and I brought you to me.
Exo 19:5 And now if you will carefully listen to my voice and keep my covenant, you will be a treasured possession for me out of all the peoples, for all the earth is mine,
Exo 19:6 but you, you will belong to me as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.”

“Treasured possession” is Strong’s H5459, mean peculiar treasure.

H5459
סגלּה
segûllâh
BDB Definition:
1) possession, property
1a) valued property, peculiar treasure
1b) treasure

We see this word again in Deuteronomy when given the reason to eat only what creatures Yahweh declares as food. “Peculiar” is used in the King James Version of the Bible.

Deu 14:2 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

That’s all Old Testament though, right? We need not be concerned about that because “Jesus did away with all that Old Testament God stuff”. Keeping Yahweh’s commands was meant for the Jews, as so many will claim. Some will pick and choose saying one is from “moral law“ and one is from “ceremonial law”. However, this is a man-made construct that is found nowhere in scripture. Moreover, we can also find language in the New Testament telling us to be obedient and peculiar.

1Pe 2:7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
1Pe 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1Pe 2:10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

We should be a holy, obedient, peculiar people that stand out from the other people of the nations who do not follow the way, truth and light. Jesus gives the Apostles a checklist for those who believe.

Mar 16:14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
Mar 16:15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Mar 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Mar 16:17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
Mar 16:18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Mar 16:19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
Mar 16:20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

Jesus, whose name is Yeshua, was not telling the Apostles anything that is new. There is much confusion about what it means to believe, the gospel and the term “in my name”. Doing something “in His name” does not simply mean saying “in the name of Jesus”, as done with a magic trick. The word “Jesus” is not the name of the Messiah, it is a morphed version of the Greek name Iesus “ee a soos”. Iasus was a Greek god of healing, as a side note. There is no “J” sound in Hebrew or Greek. The point is ,“in His name”, means something more than words. There has to be accompanying action. “Name” in Hebrew is Strong’s H8034.

H8034
שׁם
shêm
BDB Definition:
1) name
1a) name
1b) reputation, fame, glory
1c) the Name (as designation of God)
1d) memorial, monument

This is the reason “taking His name in vain” means more than using His name inappropriately. It is more about saying you are His and living contrary to His ways.

Jas 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

If the demons believe, as James states, what sets you apart from them in your belief?

The reason I am saying Yeshua (Jesus) was not bringing new concepts to the Apostles is found in Psalms chapter 91.

Psa 91:13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
Psa 91:14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
Psa 91:15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
Psa 91:16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

In Psalms 91, Yahweh is telling us the signs of someone who loves Him and knows His name. Psalms 91:16, “With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Salvation is yeshua. Strong’s H3444, the name the angel told Mary to name her son.

H3444
ישׁוּעה
yeshû‛âh
BDB Definition:
1) salvation, deliverance
1a) welfare, prosperity
1b) deliverance
1c) salvation (by God)
1d) victory

As I look around at the landscape of modern Christianity, I do not see people treading on adders, serpents or young lions. I do not see people calling on His name, meaning the fame, reputation and glory. I barley see anyone “holding fast to Him in love”. I see lawlessness, fear and complete compliance to the beast system.

Psalms 91:14, “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.” What does Jesus say about loving Him? There is only one way to love God. John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”.

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

What does “keeping his words” which are the Father‘s words mean? Start with the Ten Commandments. The word commandment, in this case, comes from Strong’s H1697, which means words. Exodus 34:28, “And he was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights. He ate no food and drank no water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.” The Ten Commandments are literally the “ten words”. How can Jesus say to keep His words, which are really the Father’s, and at the same time, make them obsolete as many in Christianity claim?

H1697
דּבר
dâbâr
BDB Definition:
1) speech, word, speaking, thing
1a) speech
1b) saying, utterance
1c) word, words
1d) business, occupation, acts, matter, case, something, manner

What about knowing His name? It has been kept hidden from us. In Judaism the name is substituted with Adonai and H’shem, which is translated as Lord and “the name”. In Christianity, the name is hidden with “LORD” or “God”. In the Greek, Kurios is used for the name in many cases. This generic substitution also makes it possible to hide the fame, reputation and glory. What Lord or God are you speaking of? “In God We Trust” is on the American dollar, as is the eye of Horus. No one who trusts in Yah would also have a picture representing a foreign deity along side His name. If you don’t know who you serve, you will be deceived. There is only one Yah and His salvation, Yeshua. Yahweh (YHWH, יהוה) has certain characteristics, commands, statutes and ordinances, and expects obedience from the ones who love Him. Yeshua (Jesus) only reinforced this concept and made the way to come back to Yahweh.

A cessationist is someone who believes that only the Apostles were given the power of the Spirit to do the things that Jesus said would be a sign of those who are baptized and believe. John MacArthur is a famous, modern pastor and cessationist who has published his own study Bible. How can anyone who denies the power of the Spirit in those who believe be taken seriously? Paul defines them as commandment breakers.

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.

Paul knew what it was to have the power to pick up a serpent, get bit and not be affected by it.

Act 28:3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand.
Act 28:4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
Act 28:5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.
Act 28:6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

Fear is a sign of unbelief, as is disobedience. If we are serving Horus or Baal, we should be fearful; however, if we serve the creator of the universe, Yahweh, we have no reason to fear. Being obedient to His words is a sign of belief that separates us from the demons, who also believe. Read the full context of that in the letter from James.

The Messiah tells us to keep the Word of God. Luke 11:18, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”. It really cannot be said more clearly than that; hear, watch, guard and understand. The gospel is simply repent, which means turn back to Yahweh and His ways, and be baptized. After washing in baptism, do not again be soiled by the things of this world. Be obedient and faithful, so there will be no reason to fear. We have only begun to see the tribulation that will come on this Earth.

Previous blog posts:

Sukkot: The True God’s Week Long Festival

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. Zechariah 14:16 (LEB) Most Christians have no knowledge of the week long festival the Creator gave to His people to enjoy called Sukkot. However, most…

by Gary Vail October 8, 2022October 7, 2022

Should Christians Regard Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement?

Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice,to untie the ropes of the yoke,and to let the oppressed go free,and tear every yoke to pieces? Is it not to break your bread for the hungry?You must bring home the poor, the homeless.When you see the naked, you must cover him,and you…

by Gary Vail October 2, 2022

Should Christians Follow the Instructions of Their God?

You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in hearts and in your ears! You constantly resist the Holy Spirit! Acts 7:51 Anytime subjects such as the Sabbaths or dietary instructions present themselves, the average Christian will sharply reply, “that is the old covenant” or “I am saved by grace and not under the law”. It is as…

by Gary Vail October 1, 2022September 30, 2022

Happy Yom Teruah!

The Feast of Trumpets Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a rest period, a remembrance of the trumpet blast, a holy assembly. You must not do any regular work, and you shall present an offering made by fire…

by Gary Vail September 25, 2022

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Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with every good thing to do his will, carrying out in us what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory…

by Gary Vail September 24, 2022

Futurism and the Pretribulation Rapture

And he also told them a parable: “Surely a blind person cannot lead the blind, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? Luke 6:39 (LEB) Many Christians believe in a pretribulation rapture happening before a seven year period called the “tribulation” where the “church” is taken off the Earth before the so-called…

by Gary Vail September 17, 2022

The Fall Feasts of Yahuah

And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. John 1:14 The fall feast days start soon and what better time to celebrate the birth of our Messiah? There are many reasons to believe…

by Gary Vail September 11, 2022

The Burden of Yahuah

By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome 1 John 5:2–3 (LEB) People have reminded me at times that teachers and instructors will be held accountable…

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What Now?

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a faith without hypocrisy, from which some have deviated, and have turned away into fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law, although they do not understand either the things which they are saying or the things concerning…

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Counterfeit Religion

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by Gary Vail August 27, 2022

Stone Pillars and Other Things That God Hates

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by Gary Vail August 20, 2022August 20, 2022

Choose Life

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by Gary Vail August 13, 2022August 12, 2022

Remember the phrase “common sense”? We are not supposed to use that term anymore because it is supposedly unfair to expect everyone to have the same basic knowledge. Another phrase that I have heard is “stupid should hurt”, meaning when people get hurt doing stupid things it has the potential of “knocking some sense into them”. I am going to suggest this idea of common sense has a specific meaning, and that common sense has been systematically removed from society, ultimately by Yahweh, due to rebellion.

Paul gives us a hint that we all have a basic knowledge of right and wrong in his letter to the Romans.

Rom 2:13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
Rom 2:14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
Rom 2:15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
Rom 2:16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Paul is speaking of people who do not know the law of God, but yet their conscience guides them to do what the law requires. Paul knows that if you love your neighbour then you will not murder, steal, lie or take their spouse. Throughout history, even though people always have done these things, there wasn’t the same sense of approval there is now. Most people would consider these things wrong, even if they did them. There is no moral compass now and suggesting that there should be one causes anger in many parts of society.

1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
1Ti 4:2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
1Ti 4:3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

I realize many people would view leaving the institutionalized church as leaving the faith; however, it is plain to see that many of the 40,000 plus denominations have had their consciences seared. When we start to purposely abandon the instructions of Yahweh, He will give us over to our own doings, and the teachings of demons.

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.
Rom 1:24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
Rom 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
Rom 1:27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Rom 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Rom 1:29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
Rom 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Rom 1:32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

This “debased mind” is lacking the common sense of right and wrong imparted to us from the Creator. Notice Paul states that it is by unrighteousness that people suppress the truth. It is not by word, but by deed. When we stop upholding the Ten Commandments as a secular society, there is less of a voice present to revive the debased mind. It is not a secret that many laws in the West were based on the Torah of Yahweh. While ultimately Yahweh is responsible for giving people over to a debased mind, it is only due to the fact that this is what people want by rejecting the truth.

Yahweh told Israel He would scatter them for disobedience. They were supposed to be a light to the other nations because of the relationship they had with Him and the righteous instructions He gave them to live their lives. Is this not the commission of the church? How can the church be a light to the world when they are no different than the world? What the church misunderstands is that Israel was given the ability to return through Jesus, and that Christians were not supposed to start a new world religion with 40,000 different sects that all have different belief systems. It is the lost sheep of Israel and those who sojourn with them that are able to be grafted into the cultivated olive tree. This is the elect. The root of that tree is Jesus who came as a shoot from “the stump of Jesse”, who was King David’s father.

Isa 10:33 Look! The Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off the branches with great power, and the towering trees will be felled, and the tall trees will be brought low.
Isa 10:34 And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with the axe, and Lebanon will fall by the mighty one.

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.
Isa 11:3 And his breath is in the fear of Yahweh. And he shall judge not by his eyesight, and he shall rebuke not by what he hears with his ears.
Isa 11:4 But he shall judge the poor with righteousness, and he shall decide for the needy of the earth with rectitude. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and he shall kill the wicked person with the breath of his lips.
Isa 11:5 And righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

Chapter breaks do not mean a start of a new subject in the Bible. The chapters and verses were added by hopefully, well meaning men, in modern times.

It is in Deuteronomy where Israel is told they will be scattered. In the latter times, they will be regathered. Where God completely divorced the people and scattered them to the other nations to serve their gods, which were really demons, they needed a way to be reconciled to God. This is one of the jobs Jesus came to perform.

Deu 4:23 Watch out for yourselves so that you do not forget the covenant of Yahweh your God that he had made with you and make for yourselves a divine image of the form of anything that Yahweh your God has forbidden,
Deu 4:24 for Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
Deu 4:25 “When you have had children and grandchildren and you have grown old in the land and you act corruptly and you make a divine image of the form of anything and you do evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God, thus provoking him to anger,
Deu 4:26 I call to witness against you today the heaven and the earth, that you will perish soon and completely from the land that you are crossing the Jordan into it to take possession of it; you will not live long on it, but you will be completely destroyed.
Deu 4:27 And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations to where Yahweh will lead you.
Deu 4:28 And you will there serve gods made by human hands, of wood and stone, gods that cannot see and cannot hear and cannot eat and cannot smell.
Deu 4:29 But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deu 4:30 In your distress when all these things have found you in the latter days, then you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice.
Deu 4:31 For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; he will not abandon you, and he will not destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant of your ancestors that he swore to them.

The house of Israel broke the covenant with Yahweh. Yahweh disowned them and nullified the covenant with the house of Israel. It was not because Yahweh did not uphold His end. It is much like a landlord evicting a tenant for breaking the terms of a rental agreement. They may get removed from the apartment for having wild, destructive parties or for whatever was in the agreement. Yahweh’s agreement was the Ten Commandments. Jesus came with a new covenant, or rental agreement, allowing former tenants back in, along with new tenants. Unfortunately, much of the church thinks the new agreement allows for the things that caused the first agreement to be terminated. As if Jesus, the landlord, now allows wild, destructive parties, or Baal worship. We are blessed to have another chance to rent the apartment again. It is foolish to think that the things which caused Israel to be divorced are now okay in the new covenant. We are the only new part of the new covenant.

Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
Rom 3:22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Rom 3:25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
Rom 3:26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Rom 3:27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
Rom 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Rom 3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
Rom 3:30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Rom 3:31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Because we are given a free gift, which is another chance, we cannot boast that salvation is by anything we have done. This does not mean there are no terms to the covenant. As Paul emphasizes, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law”. When we break the covenant through rebellion, just like Israel, (because we have been grafted into Israel), we too can be cut off.

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.
Rom 11:22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

What is this rebellion? We must remember that there have always been forces of darkness trying to separate us from Yahweh. It was this way in Jesus’ day, in our day and in ancient times. The following is from the book of Jubilees, a book ignored by Christians, but found along side the oldest copy of Genesis in existence, in the caves of Qumran.

AND in the third week of this jubilee the unclean devils began to lead astray the children of the sons of Noach, and to make to err and destroy them. And the sons of Noach came to Noach their father, and they told him concerning the devils which were leading astray and blinding and slaying his sons’ sons. And he prayed before Yahuah Elohayu, and said: Elohiym of the ruachoth of all flesh, who has shown mercy unto me and has saved me and my sons from the waters of the flood, and has not caused me to perish as you did the sons of perdition; For your grace has been great towards me, and great has been your mercy to my soul; Let your grace be lift up upon my sons, and let not wicked ruachoth rule over them lest they should destroy them from the earth. But do you bless me and my sons, that we may increase and multiply and replenish the earth. And you know how your Watchers, the fathers of these ruachoth, acted in my day: and as for these ruachoth which are living, imprison them and hold them fast in the place of condemnation, and let them not bring destruction on the sons of your servant, my Elohiym; for these are malignant, and created in order to destroy. And let them not rule over the ruachoth of the living; for you alone can exercise dominion over them. And let them not have power over the sons of the righteous from henceforth and forevermore. YOVHELIYM (JUBILEES) 10:1-6 את CEPHER

Another job Jesus came to do was to set people free from the demonic influences, afflictions and oppression. It was an answer to Noah’s prayer.

Luk 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.
Luk 4:17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
Luk 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luk 4:20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Luk 4:21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

People were oppressed by demons and devils. Jesus cast many out of people. He was cleaning up the mess rebellion makes. Moses also exposes these demonic forces concerning idolatry.

Deu 32:16 They made him jealous with strange gods; with detestable things they provoked him.
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.
Deu 32:18 The rock who bore you, you neglected, and you forgot God, the one giving you birth.
Deu 32:19 Then Yahweh saw, and he spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
Deu 32:20 So he said, ‘I will hide my face from them; I will see what will be their end, for they are a generation of perversity, children in whom there is no faithfulness.

Even at the end, some will not give up their alliance with the demons.

Rev 9:20 And the rest of humanity who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, in order not to worship the demons and the gold and silver and bronze and stone and wooden idols, which are able neither to see nor to hear nor to walk,
Rev 9:21 and they did not repent of their murders or of their magic spells or of their sexual immorality or of their thefts.

Common sense can be found in the Ten Commandments, and one of the reasons common sense is hard to find in society, has to do with society as a whole rejecting God’s law. Now more than ever, we see the church reject God’s law too, and the evil forces of darkness celebrate, taking control of people’s lives.

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There are certain things that Yahweh calls an abomination. People sometimes like to use this word for behaviours they do not like, but then commit lesser known, or cared about abominations. An abomination is simply something Yahweh hates, and there are many things that fall into this category.

Lev 11:12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.
Lev 11:13 And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,
Lev 11:14 And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;
Lev 11:15 Every raven after his kind;
Lev 11:16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,

H8263 (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
שׁקץ
sheqets
BDB Definition:
1) detestable thing or idol, an unclean thing, an abomination, detestation
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H8262

Many would say that today we do not have to worry about these things that we eat. I would argue that these creatures that were never intended for food, cause us to have many of the diseases that we have today. The bat being used for food comes to mind most recently.

There are many things that Yahweh considers an abomination.

Pro 6:16 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
Pro 6:17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Pro 6:18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,
Pro 6:19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Shedding the blood of the innocent can be literal or figurative according to the Messiah, Yeshua, commonly referred to as Jesus. How many people’s characters are murdered in today’s cancel culture environment.

Mat 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
Mat 5:22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Haughty eyes and sowing discord among brothers are lesser known abominations. In other translations, haughty eyes is replaced with a proud look. We have all been on the receiving end of haughty eyes, and likely have flashed some proud looks down at people that are different than we perceive ourselves to be. We are not supposed to place people in these high places either, which can cause them to be filled with pride. This idea of having the Messiah, through the Spirit of Truth as our only instructor, calling no one father or rabbi, and treating each other as brothers, seems to have been lost in two millennia of church doctrines.

Mat 23:4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
Mat 23:5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,
Mat 23:6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues
Mat 23:7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
Mat 23:8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Mat 23:10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
Mat 23:11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mat 23:12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

There are some who believe that the great sin of the Nicolaitans was the hierarchy in the church lording over the laity. It is hard to know for sure because the history of the Nicolaitans seems to be scrubbed from the historical record. That in itself may be telling us that the church was guilty of this very thing and didn’t want to be exposed, but that is speculation.

Who but the Creator of the universe knows if a person is devising wicked plans in their heart or breathes out lies? These can be some well hidden abominations to Yahweh. Deuteronomy 5:20, And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Mar 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
Mar 7:22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
Mar 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Just measures are spoken about many times throughout scripture. Balances of deceit is another way to say stealing. Deuteronomy 5:19, And you shall not steal. 

Pro 11:1 Balances of deceit are an abomination of Yahweh, but an accurate weight delights him.

Pro 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination of Yahweh, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Pro 15:9 An abomination of Yahweh is the way of the wicked, but he who pursues righteousness he will love.

Pro 15:26 Plans of evil are an abomination of Yahweh, but gracious words are pure.

Luk 16:15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

So there are many abominations to be concerned with. Essentially anything that Yahweh told us to do, that we refuse to do, is something Yahweh hates. This is summed up in Proverbs 28:9. When we turn away our ear from the law, it is like us saying to Yahweh, “What? I can’t hear you. We must have a bad connection.”. Yahweh plays along and says, “Were you praying to me? I can’t hear you.”.

Pro 28:9 If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

This is quite a serious statement. The word translated “hearing” in Hebrew is Shama, Strong’s H8085, which means to hear, listen and obey.

H8085
שׁמע
shâma‛
BDB Definition:
1) to hear, listen to, obey (verb)
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to hear (perceive by ear)
1a2) to hear of or concerning
1a3) to hear (have power to hear)
1a4) to hear with attention or interest, listen to
1a5) to understand (language)
1a6) to hear (of judicial cases)
1a7) to listen, give heed
1a7a) to consent, agree
1a7b) to grant request
1a8) to listen to, yield to
1a9) to obey, be obedient

If we are to take the Bible seriously, this is telling us that when we are living in deliberate disobedience to the law of Yahweh, our prayers are an abomination. I have never heard a sermon explaining this verse. This would mean that if a person is praying about a situation in their life that God considers sin, those prayers are an abomination to God and He is not listening. Does this explain the unanswered prayers and turmoil we see many people experiencing in the church?

Jer 14:10 Thus says Yahweh concerning this people: “They have loved so much to wander, they have not spared their feet. Therefore Yahweh is not favorable to them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.”
Jer 14:11 So Yahweh said to me, “You must not pray for this people, for their happiness.
Jer 14:12 Although they fast, I am not listening to their cry of entreaty. And although they present burnt offering and grain offering, I am not favorable to them. But by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague, I am about to destroy them.”
Jer 14:13 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, look, the prophets are saying to them, ‘You will not see the sword, and famine will not be yours, but reliable peace I will give to you in this place.'”
Jer 14:14 And Yahweh said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them, and I have not commanded them, and I have not spoken to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, and a divination, worthless, and the deceitfulness of their minds.”
Jer 14:15 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophecy in my name though I have not sent them, yet they are saying, “Sword and famine will not be in this land.””By the sword and by the famine those prophets will perish.

When reading Jeremiah, it is hard to know if it is a historical event, a prophetic event or both. There are certainly prophets today prophesying prosperity to people who are blatantly in rebellion to the instructions of Yahweh. There are also many voices saying we no longer need to be concerned with the instructions Yahweh gave at Mount Horeb. This is the enemy of Yahweh deceiving people into thinking they are serving Yahweh, with ticket in hand to the kingdom, yet in the end, finding themselves outside. The scribes and Pharisees made up their own commandments, and didn’t follow the commands given by Yahweh that were reiterated by Yeshua the Messiah.

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

What does it mean to be least in the kingdom? If the Sabbath is unimportant now, why does it become important again in the new heaven and Earth scenario? These verses are in the future, and we will someday see this fulfilled. Do you want to be one who has rebelled against Yahweh? Did Jesus really abolish the fourth commandment and reduce the Ten Commandments to nine? Wouldn’t someone have brought that up somewhere in the New Testament? After all, it is ten percent of what Yahweh said in an audible voice on mount Horeb to all of Israel. How is it justified changing the day and making it not important, when it is probably the single most important day to Yahweh?

Isa 66:22 “For just as the new heavens and earth that I am about to make shall stand before me,” declares Yahweh, “so shall your descendants and your name stand.
Isa 66:23 And this shall happen: From new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come to bow in worship before me,” says Yahweh.
Isa 66:24 “And they shall go out and look at the corpses of the people who have rebelled against me, for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

I quote theses verses often because I have never heard them explained in forty-seven years of listening to sermons in three different denominations. They appear to be self explanatory, unless someone has convinced you these verses are for someone else. Another saying that Yeshua had sounds very serious as well.

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

Could these be the people who were “turning their ear from hearing the law?” Were they praying futile prayers because Yahweh stopped listening? I feel it is my commission to ask these hard questions, because there are so many who are never challenged with these scriptures. Study to ensure this is not you. Do not rely on the sermons of today to challenge or teach you. If Jesus tells you to depart, responding with, “but my pastor said” or “Billy Graham said” is going to sound ridiculous. That is why it is said there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Eze 3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me.
Eze 3:18 When I say to the wicked, ‘Surely you will die,’ and you do not warn him and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way so that he may live, that wicked person will die because of his guilt, and from your hand I will seek his blood.
Eze 3:19 And you, if you do warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way, on account of his guilt he will die, and you yourself will have saved your life.
Eze 3:20 And when the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, and I place a stumbling block before him, he will die, for you did not warn him. Because of his sin he will die, and his righteousness that he did will not be remembered, and his blood I shall seek from your hand.
Eze 3:21 And if you warn him, the righteous, not to sin, and the righteous does not sin, surely he will live, for he heeded a warning. And you will have saved your life.”

This was the commission Yahweh gave to Ezekiel. We still need to warn the people today because there are abominations all around us. Well meaning people in the churches are taking part in abominable acts and practically no one is willing to tell them. Do what the Saviour said to do. “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

Previous blog posts:

Understanding the Law of Christ

Brothers, even if a person is caught in some trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of humility, looking out for yourself, lest you also be tempted. Carry the burdens of one another, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:1–5 (LEB): What is different about the law of…

by Gary Vail April 30, 2022April 30, 2022

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“Remember the day of the Sabbath, to consecrate it. Six days you will work, and you will do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh your God; you will not do any work—you or your son or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your animal, or your…

by Gary Vail April 23, 2022April 23, 2022

Die by the Sword If You Wish

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Passover Celebration

And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and of the living creatures and of the elders, and their number was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands times thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom…

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Who is Your Father?

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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…

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The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is in the Bible

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by Gary Vail March 19, 2022April 23, 2022

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Adam’s Festivals?

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