Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Jul 6, 2017

News Letter 5853-016
The 1st Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 22nd year of the Jubilee Cycle
The 13th day of the 4th month 5853 years after the creation of Adam
The 4th Month in the First year of the Fourth Sabbatical Cycle
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence

July 8, 2017

 

Shabbat Shalom to our Family around the world

 

July 11, James is leaving for Burundi for one month. We have been able to raise most of the money. Like I said we have enough to send James there, but we or short $3500 which is needed for the costs of food and hosting. We could sure use some help from some of you that we have not heard from. Again I ask you all to pray for James to be kept safe from the Malaria in the area as well as the recent Ebola outbreak, again in this area. I also ask you to pray for peace in this area to continue while James is there and for Yehovah to put the words in James’ mouth when he goes before the Leaders of Burundi.

 

In the Mail this Week

Last week’s News Letter on the Sotah woman brought out some interesting thought. I am pleased it triggered people into thinking.

If YHWH is God then obey Him. Obey His Torah and commandments and do them to show your faithfulness to Him. But if the Jesus that did away with the laws as the churches teach, if he is god then worship him.
And the only way to prove this is to drink the cup of bitterness, the written words found in the entire Bible and read them. This is what the Sotah woman did by ingesting the words which described the curses for disobeying as well as the blessings for obeying.

Revelation 10King James Version (KJV)
10 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

The adulterous woman: She is accused by her husband of adultery, but he has no proof. This is a strange situation. Could it also not be that he is trying to prove it to her, and she is in denial?
Numbers 5:17
And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel. And the priest shall take of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causes the curse. And the priest shall charge her by an oath,
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water.
And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causes the curse. And the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.
Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing. And the priest shall say to the woman, YHWH make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Jehovah makes your thigh to fall away and your belly to swell. And this water that causes the curse shall go into your bowels to make your belly swell and your thigh fall away. And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.

Do you see the situation? This is YHWH dealing with the adulterous mainstream church, Christians who have no idea that they are pagans. Lawless Christians. The consumption of the words of the Bible will bring great bitterness, and their belly will swell and their thigh rot.
The thigh is often referred to as a euphemism for the sexual organs. If we realise that this passage is speaking of the woman’s sexual organs, it makes more sense. Her belly swells because she is pregnant. Her “thigh rotting” might be that the child within her womb is rotten, and there will be terrible consequences for her.

If the pagan Christian church who do not realize that they are pagan WILL NOT REPENT and follow the instructions of YHWH (Torah) they will bring great judgement upon themselves, and will give birth to a monster. Or die because of the fruit of this adultery. The reason why they are made to drink this potion is to prove their own adultery to themselves. They don’t see themselves as adulterous!

WOW.

Fin Moore Inspired by Joseph Dumond’s news letter this Shabbat.

I also found this next email very helpful and I have gone and added it to the end of our article for future readers to find it.

Sotah Woman Here is some more connections to consider. Maybe. See what you think anyways.

Hi  Joseph, I hope this finds you doing well.
I enjoyed the letter re: the Sotah Woman. Our fellowship studied this out a few years ago.
Let me add a couple of things that we believe happened and will happen, re: adultery past and future in the kingdom.

Exo 32:19  It happened, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain.

Exo 32:20  He took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

….. Exo 32:26  then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh’s side, come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

Exo 32:27  He said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ “

Exo 32:28  The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

We, suppose that this is exactly the same as the Sotah Woman. How did the Levites know who to slay? Why didn’t they slay all of Israel? We surmised that likely or very possibly, –after drinking the “Holy water” –many there may have had swollen bellies, themselves! I think is was the test of adultery.
Also I see it maybe happening again perhaps to the tribes of Israel. In Revelation 8: 5 an angel takes fire from the altar, ( a Holy Fire), then..

Rev 8:10 And the third cherub trumpeted. And a great burning star, like a lamp, fell out of the heaven. And it fell onto the third part of the rivers, and onto the springs of waters.

Rev 8:11 And the name of the star is said to be Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became changed into wormwood. And many men died from the waters, because they were bitter.

This is all possibly a stretch, but I see it as connections. You may already be aware of these, if not let me know what you think in light of the Sotah Woman.

Donald McGrew

 

To Those Without Sin

John 8:2-11 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

I am guilty of many things in the past. I have admitted them and written of them. I also do things today and offend some and I regret this and yet tomorrow I will do it again. Each of us can understand perfectly the things Paul is expressing in Roman7:14-25.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Brethren, I have had leaders in the past pray for my death and for the death of my family, for the earth to open up and swallow us. I have had leaders in the past split our assemblies and say many lies about me. I have had leaders in the past destroy the work we had done in other countries. I have had brethren rejoice over my failures and take pleasure in my failings. I have had other Christians threaten my life.

I have also said and done things I regret to people and about people. I have repented when I realized what I was doing.

The Apostle Paul was going around and murdering and arresting those who were followers of the way. We read of this in the book of Acts.

Acts 7:57-59 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

During those years from 31 CE to 36 CE, Paul developed quite the reputation for his persecution of the Saints. No one wanted anything to do with him.

Acts 9:10-18 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.”
And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.

Now let me show you another leader. The wisest in the world.

1Kings 3:3-14 And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”
And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

And yet even though he had all this wisdom and wealth and had seen Yehovah on two occasions Solomon still went after other gods and as far as we know never repented. And yet to this day we still use the proverbs of Solomon.

1 Kings 11:1-13 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

Yehovah used Paul even after all the evil Paul had done. Yehovah did not toss out all the Proverbs of Solomon even though he went after other gods.

King David committed adultery. We al know this. We also all know David committed murder to cover it up. And today we all know David is the one Yehovah chose to lead all 12 tribes of Israel. I know for a fact that many of you would be acting just like Nabal did when he met David. And some of you right now are acting like Shimei who cursed David. Or you would curse Moses for the murder he committed.

Brethren I have nothing to gain by saying what I am about to say. Nor do I support or endorse this man. My concern is for those of you who are railing against him. I am speaking of the sad situation about a Messianic leader in the Philippines. I do not know for sure what he has done. Nor do I want to know. He has to answer to Yehovah and not me. He is accused of lying and of adultery.

Jim Staley was caught in a serious act and has now gone to jail for it. At that time many cursed him and spit on his work. Some left the faith.

Those of you who are speaking Lashon Harah about this man in the Philippines, you need to read the rest of this article. I share this not for his but for your sakes. I also think you should read this article at this link as well about the three things Yehovah hates.

Lev 19:16 You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

The ISV says that you are not to stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. This is why I am stepping in and saying what I am now saying before you murder his reputation for ever. How will you be able to show mercy after he repents? Especially after all that many of you have said.

We are told in Mat to take up the matter with the accused one on one in private. If that does not work then take two or three others to confront the accused. And if that does not work then remove the person from the assembly. The idea is to get them to repent and once they do forgive and let them return.

But the manhunt that I see with whole pages dedicated to outing this man is shameful. Again I am not condoning anything he has done but what has he done? He has lied and committed adultery according to those who accuse him. I do not care what he has done. I am addressing those who are hounding him. One woman even said he was raping and pillaging her people. A gross exaggeration. Did Yehovah reject Moses for the murder of a man? Did Yehovah reject David for adultery and murder? Did Yehovah reject you for worshiping idols before you learned the truth?

We are told in Lev 19 not to stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is shed. This is why I am writing this article now. Some of you are seeking to utterly destroy this man. One person I read was even hating Hebrew Roots and this was justification for him to keep on hating us. Those of you who are without sin, please, by all means, cast the first stone.

Once again read Mat 18:15-35 Not just the selected parts that you want to read.
Dealing with a Sinning Brother

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

I also must point out to you all what Proverbs 6:16-19 says and just count the number of things Yehovah hates and to make sure you are not doing any of these.

These six things the Lord hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

Have you ever considered this verse and what it means?

Let’s read the verse.

Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

How does one grieve the spirit?

When we look up the word it is;

G3076 lupeo?   loo-peh’-o

From G3077; to distress; reflexively or passively to be sad: – cause grief, grieve, be in heaviness, (be) sorrow (-ful), be (make) sorry.

G3077     lupe?     loo’-pay

Apparently a primary word; sadness: – grief, grievous, + grudgingly, heaviness, sorrow.

Paul is quoting;

Isa 63:10 But they rebelled, and troubled His Holy Spirit; therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them.

The word troubled in Isaiah 63 is the word grieve.

H6087   ?a?tsab     aw-tsab’

A primitive root; properly to carve, that is, fabricate or fashion; hence (in a bad sense) to worry, pain or anger: – displease, grieve, hurt, make, be sorry, vex, worship, wrest.

Read carefully what Isaiah is telling us. Those who rebel or those who trouble Yehovah or grieve His spirit, Yehovah will become their enemy and Yehovah will fight against them. And He will fight against you, those of us who are going to grieve His spirit. Those who grieve Yehovah’s spirit are rebellious children.

Isaiah is speaking of the time that Israel came out of Egypt and how they grieved Yehovah who then caused them all to die over the next 40 years.

The way we have treated each other this past month over our understandings of the barley is grievous to the spirit of Yehovah. Think about it.

In the lead up to the destruction of the temple one of the first cities to be destroyed was Gamla. It was a zealous city and one of the cities of refuge. This was the city Yehshua was raised in. Why would Yehovah allow it to be destroyed in 66 C.E. by the Romans, with so many zealous people all seeking to obey Him?

Many of the zealots from Gamla fled to Jerusalem and there they ended up in three different groups of zealots all fighting each other. Each group sought to burn the others food supply in that sabbatical year of 70 C.E. and thus to starve the other group out. When they finally did burn the food supplies the people resorted to cannibalism and the eating of their own children just as Lev 26 warns us would happen. Josephus writes of it and as a first hand witness is mortified.

When Jerusalem fell in 70 C.E. some of these same zealots escaped to Masada. And here again when Rome defeated them in 73 C.E. they committed suicide as many did in Gamla.

Why? Why did Yehovah not rescue them? Why did Yehovah allow them all to die? Why did their zealousness not preserve them, their righteousness?

Why did Yehovah allow the zealots of Gamla and the zealots of Jerusalem and then again the zealots of Masada to all die?

They were keeping the Sabbath. They were keeping the Holy Days. They were doing the Barley searches and they were keeping the Feasts based on the sighting of the crescent moon. They were even keeping the Sabbatical years. This was all before the Hillel calendar 300 years later. So why did Yehovah not save them from Rome? Why did he not intervene and rescue them? Why was their righteousness not good enough? WHY WHY WHY? Does God even exist?

They knew the Messiah had come or was about to come, the same as we also know He is about to come again at the end of this age.

We read in Genesis;

Gen 6:3  And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, in his erring; he is flesh. Yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

This word strive is;

H1777   d??yn  du?n  deen,doon

A primitive root (compare H113); to rule; by implication to judge (as umpire); also to strive (as at law): – contend, execute (judgment), judge, minister judgment, plead (the cause), at strife, strive.

Yehovah is grieved because He always has to minister judgment, or plead with us to obey. He has set the limits on how long He would put up with it and as we have shown you we are near the end of that time. He is not going to strive with us nor plead with us nor have to judge us and be grieved because we did not listen in the 7th millennium.

Gen 6:6  And Jehovah repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was angry to His heart.

The word repented is;

H5162     na?cham     naw-kham’

A primitive root; properly to sigh, that is, breathe strongly; by implication to be sorry, that is, (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself): – comfort (self), ease [one’s self], repent (-er, -ing, self).

And the word translated as angry is;

H6087   ?a?tsab     aw-tsab’

A primitive root; properly to carve, that is, fabricate or fashion; hence (in a bad sense) to worry, pain or anger: – displease, grieve, hurt, make, be sorry, vex, worship, wrest.

The same word used by Isaiah 63. When you grieve the Holy Spirit you anger Yehovah; you make Him your enemy and He will fight against you. Think about all the things Yehovah is saying in the following psalm.

Psa 78:40  How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! 41  Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and pained the Holy One of Israel. 42  They did not remember His hand, the day when He delivered them from the enemy; 43  how He had set His signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the fields of Zoan. 44  He turned their rivers into blood, and their floods, so that they could not drink. 45  He sent different kinds of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 46  He also gave their crops to the stripping locust, and their labor to the locust. 47  He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with sleet. 48  He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire. 49  He sent on them the heat of His anger, wrath and fury and trouble, by sending evil angels. 50  He made a way to His anger; He did not save their soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague, 51  and struck all the first-born in Egypt, the first of the strong in the tents of Ham; 52  and led His people forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53  And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear; but the sea flooded over their enemies. 54  And He brought them within His own holy border, this mountain, which His right hand had bought. 55  He also cast out the nations before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. 56  Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God, and kept not His testimonies; 57  but they turned back, and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceiving bow. 58  For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. 59  When God heard, He was angry, and turned away from Israel; 60  so that He left the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men, 61  and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy’s hands. 62  He also gave His people over to the sword, and was angry with His inheritance. 63  The fire burned up their young men; and their maidens were not given in marriage. 64  Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows were not able to weep. 65  Then the Lord awakened like one out of sleep, like a mighty man rejoicing with wine.

You who are of the house of Joseph and who write and promote anti-semitic remarks about Judah and the Karaites, consider what is said next in this psalm.

Psa 78:66  And He drove His enemies backward; He put them to a never-ending shame. 67  And He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; 68  but chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He loved. 69  And He built His holy place like high palaces, like the earth which He has founded forever. 70  He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; 71  from following the ewes great with young He brought him to feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. 72  And he fed them according to the pureness of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

Do not say I am talking about those in the wilderness – no, I am writing this to you who are alive today and think you are more than what you are. I am writing this to myself, also.

Psa 95:7  For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today if you will hear His voice, 8  harden not your heart, as in the day of strife, as in the day of testing in the wilderness; 9  when your fathers tempted Me, tested Me, and saw My work. 10  For forty years I was grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways; 11  to whom I swore in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest.

Over and over Yehovah is telling us ‘it is our heart’ that is the problem. We have a heart condition and we need to fix it now or we end up fighting against Yehovah and if we do, then we will die and we will not BE IN THE 7TH MILLENNIUM. You just read about these people who will not enter into His rest.

Psa 95:11  to whom I swore in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest.

That rest

H4496     menu?cha?h  menu?cha?h

men-oo-khaw’,men-oo-khaw’

Feminine of H4495; repose or (adverbially) peacefully; figuratively consolation (specifically matrimony); hence (concretely) an abode: – comfortable, ease, quiet, rest (-ing place), still.

H4494    ma?no?ach    maw-no’-akh

From H5117; quiet, that is, (concretely) a settled spot, or (figuratively) a home: – (place of) rest.

H5117     nu?ach    noo’-akh

A primitive root; to rest, that is, settle down; used in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, intransitively, transitively and causatively (to dwell, stay, letfall, place, let alone, withdraw, give comfort, etc.): – cease, be confederate, lay, let down, (be) quiet, remain, (cause to, be at, give, have, make to) rest, set down. Compare H3241.

We must now look at some more scriptures on this point.

Num 14:22  Because all those men who have seen My glory and My miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these ten times, and have not listened to My voice, 23  surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it. 24  But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land into which he went. And his seed shall possess it.

Num 14:28  Say to them, As I live, says Jehovah, as you have spoken in My ears, so I will do to you. 29  Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me, 30  you shall certainly not come into the land which I swore to make you live in, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Yehovah hears your words. He knows your emails and the things you say to those who are supposed to be your brethren. The hurtful things you say to your brethren and no one repents and no one apologizes. No, no one says they are sorry for the things they said about you.

Deu 1:34  And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, and was angry and swore, saying, 35  Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I swore to give to your fathers, 36  except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him I will give the land that he has trodden upon, and to his sons, because he has fully followed Jehovah.

Heb 4:1  Therefore, a promise being left to enter into His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it. 2  For also we have had the gospel preached, as well as them. But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3  For we who have believed do enter into the rest, as He said, “I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest;” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4  For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested the seventh day from all His works.” 5  And in this place again, “They shall not enter into My rest.” 6  Since then it remains that some must enter into it, and since they to whom it was first preached did not enter in because of unbelief, 7  He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” (after so long a time). Even as it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” 8  For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9  So then there remains a rest to the people of God. 10  For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His. 11  Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief. 12  For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hos 4:1  Hear the Word of Jehovah, sons of Israel. For Jehovah has a quarrel with the people of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2  There is lying, and swearing, and killing, and stealing, and the committing of adultery; and blood touches blood. 3  Therefore the land shall mourn, and everyone who dwells in it shall droop, with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the heavens. Yes, the fish of the sea shall also be taken away. 4  Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another. For your people are as those who strive with the priest. 5  And you shall stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night, and I will cut off your mother. 6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priest to Me. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your sons, even I.

Our striving with each other, our lack of love we show to each other, are the same as striving with the Priest. We become Yehovah’s enemies even though we think we are being zealous for Him, and we will not enter into that millennial rest if we do not repent, and repent soon. We are constantly judging each other and everyone wants to condemn the others to hell with fire and brimstone and none, none wants to help them understand and grow.

Mat 5:21  You have heard that it was said to the ancients, “You shall not kill” –and, “Whoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment.” 22  But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be liable to the judgment. And whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the sanhedrin; but whoever shall say, Fool! shall be liable to be thrown into the fire of hell. 23  Therefore if you offer your gift on the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, 24  leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25  Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are in the way with him; that the opponent not deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26  Truly I say to you, You shall by no means come out from there until you have paid the last kodrantes.

We, those of us Yehovah has called out in these last days, those of us who are understanding the Feasts and appointed times and have repented and begun to keep them, those of us who are studying His word and trying to apply them to our lives are suppose to be His ambassadors on this earth to the rest of the world. And what does the rest of the world see us doing? Fighting, backbiting, condemning people in the faith to hell, praying for them to die, speaking evil of them to others and not talking to them ever again. Exactly the same things those zealots did to each other leading up to the destruction of the temple.

What was wrong with them? Why were they like this? Why are you like this?

Mar 3:3  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Arise! Come into the middle. 4  And He said to them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill? But they were silent. 5  And looking around on them with anger, being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand! And he stretched it out. And his hand was restored whole, like the other. 6  The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

The exact same thing that was wrong with Pharaoh, his heart had become hard-hearted. Yehshua was grieved because of the hardness of their hearts. Again, they kept the Sabbath and the Holy Days and the Sabbatical years at the right time, so doing all of these things is not what would save them and it will not save you either. He is just as grieved with your hard-heartedness that you show to your brethren.

Stephen also addressed this issue with the people before they killed him.

Act 7:51  O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so you do. 52  Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers; 53  who received the Law through disposition of angels, and did not keep it.

Yehovah is our redeemer, and He has paid the redemption price for us. Who do you think you are, who do I think I am to condemn a brother or sister who does not understand as much as I do, or to condemn them because I do not understand as much as they do or because we failed to get all the facts before we opened our mouths or before we pressed send? Yehovah redeemed all of us for His purpose. Why do you fight with those He is redeeming?

What is it that causes us to grieve the spirit of Yehovah? Let’s read the verse again. Yes, each of you, each one of us is grieving the Holy Spirit. Just stop and ponder that for a while.

Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

Bitterness is the acrid poisonous words you use against anyone, all in an effort to prove your position right. Many times when someone does not have enough facts to support them, they degenerate to name calling and the conversation turns poisonous and acrid.

G4088     pikria     pik-ree’-ah

From G4089; acridity (especially poison), literally or figuratively: – bitterness.

Wrath is to actually slay the other person much like a sacrifice. You slaughter it but in this case it is done with passion that is out of control. Once you look at the secondary meaning of this word you see it is of the heart, mind and soul, only the from the opposite point that you are to love Yehovah with all your heart, mind and soul. Here you are using the same passion to kill, slaughter and maie and not to love.

G2372     thumos     thoo-mos’

From G2380; passion (as if breathing hard): – fierceness, indignation, wrath. Compare G5590.

G5590  psuche?     psoo-khay’

From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]: – heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

Anger; this word is interesting. In the same way some entertain sexual orgies those in anger are also stimulated or excited by their anger and enjoy it.

G3709     orge?     or-gay’

From G3713; properly desire (as a reaching forth or excitement of the mind), that is, (by analogy) violent passion (ire, or [justifiable] abhorrence); by implication punishment: – anger, indignation, vengeance, wrath.

Tumult-Outcry how interesting. Making oneself heard when really they should be silent and listening.

G2906     krauge?     krow-gay’

From G2896; an outcry (in notification, tumult or grief): – clamour, cry (-ing).

Evil speaking- How many times have I written on this one subject alone.  Lashon Harah, the speaking evil of others. To Yehovah this is blasphemy. Railing on your brethren is Blasphemy. How many of you tell those that are doing this that they are Blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Maybe we all should be warning others of this.

G988    blasphe?mia      blas-fay-me’-ah

From G989; vilification (especially against God): – blasphemy, evil speaking, railing.

Malice

G2549    kakia     kak-ee’-ah

From G2556; badness, that is, (subjectively) depravity, or (actively) malignity, or (passively) trouble: – evil, malice (-iousness), naughtiness, wickedness.

Eph 4:20  But you have not so learned Christ, 21  if indeed you have heard Him and were taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus. 22  For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. 24  And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness. 25  Therefore putting away lying, let each man speak truth with his neighbour, for we are members of one another. 26  Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath, 27  neither give place to the Devil.

Is this not what we have just done by putting the leaven out our homes? The reason we do that physically each year is to learn a spiritual lesson. To put out of our lives evil and not to bring it back into our lives.

Paul back in Ephesians tells us what to do instead of these evil things.

Eph 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

These words do not need to be explained. They are very plain.

Mat 18:21  Then Peter came to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Until seven times? 22  Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. 23  Therefore the kingdom of Heaven has been compared to a certain king who desired to make an accounting with his servants. 24  And when he had begun to count, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25  But as he had nothing to pay, his lord commanded that he, and his wife and children, and all that he had, be sold, and payment be made. 26  Then the servant fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay you all. 27  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28  But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what you owe. 29  And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay you all. 30  And he would not, but went and cast him into prison until he should pay the debt. 31  So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry. And they came and told their lord all that was done. 32  Then his lord, after he had called him, said to him, O wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33  Should you not also have pitied your fellow servant, even as I had pity on you? 34  And his lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was due to him. 35  So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also to you, unless each one of you from your hearts forgive his brother their trespasses.

Imagine if you can, all of us survive the coming horrors and we enter the 7th millennium. We are living in one area, we have survived the end of this age and are now at rest, but none of us are talking to each other and we for the most part hate each other. We all keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days at the same time and the Sabbatical year, but we can’t stand each other because of the way we made our point about some Torah portion. Or you felt embarrassed by that person when they made their point. How do you think Yehovah is going to feel to have us all there and to have saved us all just to watch us all be embittered with each other?

Once again we will have grieved the Holy Spirit.

Do you have love for those who are keeping the Torah with you? Have any of you apologized to for anything you have said that offended someone else, ever? I am not able to recall ever getting an apology from someone. I must have, but I do not remember it, it is that rare an event. When was the last time you wrote to apologize to someone?

Are you not talking to brethren because they kept Passover in March? Or are you not talking to people because they are keeping Passover in April this year?

Ladies and Gentlemen, my brethren, my family, I know I argue my positions with all that I can to show and teach you. Many times I offend you with the scriptures. I make no apology for that, but if I have ever called you names or cursed you or insulted you as a person and fellow student of the Torah, then I beg your forgiveness and I repent of doing that ever again. I may call you a big dumb ass, but I do so in love.

Mat 22:35  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked, tempting Him and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the Law? 37  Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second islike it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Deu 6:4  Hear, O, Israel. Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. 5  And you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6  And these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart.

Deu 10:12  And now, Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you, but to fear Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13  to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and His statutes, which I command you today for your good?

We are to love Yehovah with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind and to keep the commandments. This is how we show Him we love Him. We are to do the exact same thing for our fellow man and especially those of us that are brethren. We are to love each other with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind.

Mat 7:15  Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16  You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17  Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. 18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19  Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20  Therefore by their fruits you shall know them. 21  Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. 22  Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? 23  And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness!

Joh 13:34  I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you should also love one another. 35  By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another.

1Co 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I have become assounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. 2  And though I have prophecies, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and do not have charity, I am nothing. 3  And though I give out all my goods to feed the poor, and though I deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, I am profited nothing. 4  Charity has patience, is kind; charity is not envious, is not vain, is not puffed up; 5  does not behave indecently, does not seek her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil. 6  Charity does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth, 7  quietly covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8  Charity never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be abolished; if tongues, they shall cease; if knowledge, it will be abolished. 9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10  But when the perfect thing comes, then that which is in part will be caused to cease. 11  When I was an infant, I spoke as an infant, I thought as an infant, I reasoned as an infant. But when I became a man, I did away with the things of an infant. 12  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know even as I also am fully known. 13  And now faith, hope, charity, these three remain; but the greatest of these is charity.

This year is the Shemitah year. How sad it has begun with confusion. But worse than anything else has been the exposure of our lack of love towards one another. And for this reason, I am thrilled that we have so much confusion. I pray you will show love towards each other. Towards those who do not see things as you do, towards those who use the name of Jesus or God, towards those Yehovah is calling and who have just begun this walk the same as you did just a few years ago. Show mercy and stop grieving the Holy Spirit this Shemitah year and from now until eternity.

 

Introduction to Galatians Law and Grace

2 Thess 2:1-12 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

I wanted to start with this verse before we get into our study this week. The falling away of many comes first. But those who do not love the law of Yehovah, those who are without the law of the Torah, those who are the same as the LAWLESS ONE, will be given by Yehovah strong delusion so that they will continue to believe the lies of the unrighteous one. They will think they are right and holy and…

John 16:1-4 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

The time is coming when those who do not keep the law will kill you because you do keep the law and they will think they do it for the service of God.

I want you all to think about these things as you go through this week’s study on Galatians. How the blind guides have misled all of us in teaching us that the law was done away.

 

Galatians Law and Grace

This week we continue to study the works of Paul.

We have been showing you these past few weeks about the teachings of Paul and how they were as Peter said twisted by those who know not the Torah.

2Pe 3:16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

We are showing you how many in the Christian world use grace in order NOT to keep the law and this is where they have erred. At the same time as we do this, this teaching will cause many in the Messianic groups to become uncomfortable. I know I am when I study this. Why? Because we too, need to be reminded that we are not saved because we keep the Torah. There is a line that some cross between keeping Torah for the Love of Yehshua and keeping all the other laws to justify themselves.

Consider the following verse in Luke 18:9-14;

9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men–extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

What I have come to learn this week as I prepared this study was something that has nagged at me for a long time. Then this week I heard it again on the radio. One of the Christian radio stations used this verse to despise the Pharisee because he kept Torah or the law. The radio host then went on to say that “We are saved by grace”.

What he was doing was putting down the Jewish Torah and he was exulting those who only need to be saved by grace. I am not going to get into his sermon but it reminded me of this theme that both Yehshua and Paul were addressing. In fact, now as I think about it Yehshua was addressing it a number of times and we have never gotten it. Paul is more plain and this is where his message gets confused by those who do not know the scriptures.

It is not the Pharisee or the Torah that is being put down. It is the attitude that is being shown as contemptible. The Pharisee thought he was saved because he kept the Law because he kept the Torah. The Tax collector knew he had not and was guilty of sin and he was in a state of repentance.

As you go through this lesson and next week’s lesson on Romans please keep the above scripture in mind. It is not the Pharisee Yehshua is attacking, it is the attitude of self-righteousness.

Law and Grace – Galatians explained

We are looking at this subject as this is the one topic that prevents Judah from coming to know Yehshua. They are prevented because of how they see all those who call themselves Christian trying to do away with the Torah. It is how those who call themselves Christian actually take the scriptures and twist it and try to sell paganism back to those who actually know what Torah says. It is on this subject that those who call themselves Christian become an embarrassment to all of Yeshua’s followers, due to the hypocrisy with the way they quote scriptures. With their lack of understanding of Jewish ways and that Yehshua was a Torah observant Jew and that He never sinned. This means He kept both the law and had grace at the same time.

Unless you know Torah, you cannot understand how grace is applied. So please read the following very carefully and do not rush through it. In fact, many of you should read the following more than a couple of times. Even Monthly until we all get it.

I am going to quote from Torah Rediscovered by Ariel and D’vorah Berkowitz. Pages 111-115.

Another factor contributing to the misinterpretation of Sha’ul is the language he uses, especially in Romans and Galatians, in discussing the believers relationship to the Torah. We have two specific phrases in mind: upo nomon (“Under the law”) and erga nomou (“works of the law”). When Sha’ul uses these terms, it is generally in a negative light.

Look, for example, at Romans 6:14 which reads “for you are not under law but under grace [italics ours]”. Here Sha’ul is stressing that the believer in Yehshua is dependent on Messiah for his salvation, which he can only receive through the grace of Yahweh. An example of the second phrase, “works of the law”, is found in Galatians 2:16 “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Yehshua the Messiah”. Whatever “works of law” means, it is clearly being used in a negative sense, denoting something opposed to having faith in Yehshua for salvation. Indeed, Sha’ul rebuked the Galatians for trusting in works of law.

In these passages, Sha’ul was teaching against legalism-the attempt to earn, merit, or keep ones salvation through obedience to law. But there were no sufficient words to express ‘legalism.” Instead he had to use certain phrases which, interpreted incorrectly, could easily lead one to believe that he was against Torah.

C.E.B. Cranfield has shed some light on the meaning of these two Greek phrases, helping us to perceive what Sha’ul actually meant as well as to understand more fully his true stand on the Torah.

‘It will be well to bear in mind the fact (which, as far as we know, had not received attention before it was noted) that the Greek language of Paul’s day possessed no word group corresponding to our “legalism”, “legalist”, and “legalistic”. This means that he lacked a convenient terminology for expressing a vital distinction, and so was surely seriously hampered in the work of clarifying the Christian position with regard to the law. In view of this we should always, we think, be ready to reckon with the possibility that Pauline statements, which at first sight seem to disparage the law, are really directed not against the law itself but against that misunderstanding and misuse of it for which we now have a convenient terminology.’

We encounter the same dilemma in the Hebrew language. There is no Hebrew word which can easily convey the concepts of “legalism” or “legalist”. Thus Sha’ul, whether using his Hebrew-oriented mind or his Greek language, was hindered in his attempts to explain that legalism was not what Yahweh intended.

The next detrimental theological tradition we must bring to light is the long standing misinterpretation of nomos/torah in the Book of Galatians. This is the book that says, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (5:18). Moreover, such people have “fallen from grace” (5:4). In addition, “I Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.” (5:2).

These rather harsh-sounding statements, among a host of others in this letter, have been used for centuries against any believer who desired to follow Torah-especially in regard to circumcision, Shabbat observance, or any other non-moral issue. What are we to make of them?

The explanation is rather simple; all we have to know are two basic facts. The first is the hermeneutical principle established by Acts 21:20. If it appears that Sha’ul was teaching against the Torah in any way, that impression has to give to the truth of how he lived his life. If Acts 21 tells us that Sha’ul lived his life according to the Torah and encouraged other to do the same, then we will miss the boat if we interpret Galatians as coming from an anti-Torah viewpoint.

The second fact to bear in mind is the hermeneutical principle of context, especially the context of the whole book. To be specific, the context of the letter to the Galatians is that of justification by faith. Sha’ul was warning them not to make a “law” out of the Torah. By turning Yahweh`s teaching and covenant into a list of legalistic laws, the Galatians were abandoning the principle of justification by faith and resorting to justification by works. They were using the Torah as a means of earning, meriting, or keeping the eternal salvation which they had received by grace through faith in the finished work of Yeshua.

Sha’ul provides several indications that this was the case with the Galatians. The first was in 2:16, “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Messiah Yeshua, even we have believed in Messiah Yeshua, that we may be justified by faith in Messiah, and not by the works of the law; since by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” The issue on Sha’ul’s mind was Yahweh’s requirement for our justification.

Looking at the Greek of Galatians 2:16, we find that the definite article before the phrase “works of law” has been left out. It is not, as many English versions translate it, “works of the law”. If the translator adds the definite article, it helps the reader to assume that “the law” is a reference to the Torah. In fact, however it is not. “Works of law” is a phrase indicating a man-made system of works, of which performance based acceptance, is the core belief. Ergon nomou should be translated “works of law”

Thus, Galatians 2:16 should read: ‘knowing that a man is not justified by works of law but through faith in Messiah Yeshua, even we have believed in Messiah Yeshua, that we may be justified by faith in Messiah, and not by works of law; since by works of law shall no flesh be justified.”

Galatians 5:4 reads, “You have been severed from Messiah, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” Many use this verse to demonstrate that those who follow the Torah have fallen from the grace of Yahweh because they are obeying the “law” instead of Messiah-who, it is argued, set them free from the law. In defense of this position, they cite the context (verse 2-3): “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Messiah will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law.” They say, “If you do what Torah says and circumcise your sons, you are no longer following Yeshua.”

Our response, Sha’ul himself provides the key for the correct understanding of this passage in verse 4, in which he tells us that anyone who observes Torah while “seeking to be justified by law” will encounter serious difficulties.

Some of the Galatians thought that obeying the Torah (or any set of standards) would cause them to receive their spiritual heritage-justification before Yahweh. However, the moment a person believes that obedience can secure righteousness, he has moved from the realm of grace, into that of works. The blessings of Yahweh, he thinks, are attainable as a result of what he does.

Sha’ul, on the other hand, says that such a person has fallen from the principle of grace to the principle of “law.” In effect, when one believes such an erroneous teaching, the atonement accomplished by Yeshua has no value for him, since he is relying on what he does instead of what Yeshua did for him.

The teachings of the Torah were never to be used for such a purpose. Eternal salvation is based on the receiving the promises of Yahweh, which are given by grace to those who do not deserve them. The only acceptable response to this grace is to receive it by faith, rather than to attempt to earn it by doing something. If we obey the Torah in order to enjoy the blessings of the grace of Yahweh received by faith, we are not “fallen from grace”; but rather, we are embracing the grace of Yahweh for our lives. Put another way, if man tries to earn the blessings of Yahweh instead of appropriating Messiah’s life, he has abandoned the principle of grace and fallen to the principle of “law”. To live the Torah is to live our new creation life in Messiah: it is actually His life in us, a life of grace and truth. Thus, the Torah is Yahweh’s revelation to those born of Him, concerning how they are to act in line with truth of the Good News. (Galatians 2:1)

Real biblical faith is the kind of trust in Yahweh that always results in a changed way of life. The Torah (as well as the New Covenant-Brit Chadasha) describes what that changed life looks like. It does not cause that changed life. That is the miraculous work of Yahweh, born of His grace.

Our point was to establish the fact that the statements in the letter which seem to teach against the Torah are not against it at all if one uses the Torah properly. There were some Galatians who were turning the Torah into “law” by using it as a means of justification rather than as a way of life resulting from their justification.

From another book by Ariel and D’vorah Berkowitz called Hold Fast we read on pages 143-149 the following.

Even more so than the letter to the Romans, the epistle to the Galatians is cited to discourage those in the body of Messiah who desire to live according to the teachings of Moses.

All of the so called “problem passages” from Galatians can easily be answered in a Torah-positive way if we simply bear in mind the context of the whole book of Galatians. The context is established in the letter’s thesis statement in 2:15-16: “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Messiah Yeshua , even we have believed in Messiah Yeshua, so that we may be justified by faith in Messiah and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

Please note what we just explained in the passage above about ‘works of law’.

The thesis is this: No person may be justified before Yahweh by obeying any list of rules or teachings. That is legalism. Rather, justification is a gift of Yahweh given by grace to those who rely solely on the person and work of Messiah Yeshua.

One of the problems in the Galatians fellowship was that there were apparently teachers circulating either from within or from without who were saying that justification is achieved by a combination of faith plus works. In other words, they were teaching that a person had to do the Torah in addition to trusting Messiah in order for Yahweh to declare him righteous. Accordingly, we can expect to find many seemingly anti-Torah statements in this letter, which we do! If we remember this background then we can realize that Paul is not teaching against Torah, but he is writing against a legalistic observance of the Torah. Let us examine several passages from this oft-misunderstood letter.

Galatians 2:15-16
“We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

As we have already stated, this passage is the thesis statement for this letter to the Galatians. The issue on Paul’s mind was Yahweh’s requirement for our justification.

There is one more point from verse 16 that we would like to make. Looking at the Greek of Galatians 2:16, we find that the definite article before the phrase “works of law” has been left out. It is not, as many English versions translate it, “works of the law”. If the translator adds the definite article, it helps the reader to assume that “the law” is a reference to the Torah. In fact, however it is not. “Works of law” is a phrase indicating a man-made system of works, of which performance based acceptance, is the core belief. Thus this phrase is Ergon nomou and should be translated “works of law”.

Accordingly, Galatians 2:16 should read ‘knowing that a man is not justified by works of law but through faith in Messiah Yeshua, even we have believed in Messiah Yeshua, that we may be justified by faith in Messiah, and not by works of law; since by works of law no flesh be justified.”

We encounter the same translation mistake in verse 19 which states, “For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to Yahweh.” Here again, in the Greek, there are no definite articles before the words translated “law”, Knowing this permits us to translate this verse: “For, I through law, died to law, in order that to Yahweh I might live.” The point here is that Paul was not saying that he died to the Torah, but merely to “law”. We can paraphrase what he was saying in this way: “It was through legalistic obedience to a set of laws that I realized that I was a sinner. For, I found that it is only through a personal relationship with Him that Yahweh grants a new life. My attempt at legalism backfired! Instead of making me closer to Yahweh, it only served to emphasize my sinfulness. Therefore, in Messiah, Yahweh caused me to die to law that I might live for Him.”

The Torah then, was not in question. Our constant need in the flesh to feel good about ourselves by believing that we have earned righteousness is what is in question! Any time that the Torah of Yahweh is reduced to a system of works, what we have is no longer Torah but a man made system of works-law. Man will always try to reduce Yahweh’s words to laws to be obeyed instead of the Words of Life-what they truly are. We who are in Messiah have died to exactly this abuse of the Word of Yahweh. Now we embrace the Renewed Covenant in our relationship with Yahweh as that which is our very life, our new creation life!

Galatians 3:2
This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

There are some who use this verse to contrast life in the Spirit against a life of Torah. Their argument is that we did not receive the Spirit of Yahweh by following the Torah.

Our suggestion is that the Torah is not even in this verse. Once again, we encounter the phrase ”works of the law”. In the Greek it is the same grammatical construction that was in 2:16. Therefore, it should not read “works of the law”, as it is the Torah that is being referred to, but “works of law”. Hence, this verse is saying that it was not through legalism that we received the Spirit of Yahweh. We could not earn Yahweh’s Spirit. Rather Yahweh gave us His Spirit by faith, at the moment of salvation. Thus, this verse is against legalism, not against Torah.

Galatians 3:21-25
21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Here is a case where the word nomos is probably being used to refer to the Torah. In the Greek, it has a definite article before it, “the Law” (the Torah). This series of verses concludes a passage where Paul is comparing the covenant with Abraham with the covenant of Sinai. His conclusion is that the Torah was not given to impart life. That was the purpose of the covenant with Abraham. We receive life by faith. He continues to argue that there are only two things the Torah can do for those who attempt to receive spiritual life from Yahweh by obeying the Torah. First, the Torah can point out their sinfulness (Verse 22) and second, the Torah can, then point them to the one who removes sin-The Messiah (verses 23-25).

Verses 23-24 represent only one of the many purposes for the Torah. In fact, the Torah has specific functions for both the righteous (the Saved) and the unrighteous (the unsaved). As far as the righteous are concerned, 2 Timothy 3:16 states, “All scriptures is inspired by Yahweh and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of Yahweh may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” Of course, “all scripture” would most certainly have included the Torah.

As far as the unrighteous are concerned, our passage in Galatians indicates what the Torah can accomplish for them. It can serve to point out their sinfulness and point them to Messiah. In this capacity, we should note that 3:25 says, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” The tutor” is, in context, the Torah. When a person comes to Messiah and receives Him by faith, that particular function of the Torah has ceased (i.e., there is no longer a need for the Torah to serve as a tutor to lead the person to the Messiah). At that point, the Torah begins to function in a totally different capacity-the capacity for which it was originally designed; it describes the lifestyle of the redeemed.

[The Greek word translated “tutor” is actually “pedagogue”. Paul was drawing upon a very familiar illustration Greco-Roman world of which he was a part. Well-to-do families often hired someone to serve as a protector for their children when they sent them to their teachers. The protector was not the teacher, but merely someone who made sure that a child would safely reach his or her teacher. Paul uses this kind of language in Galatians 3:22 to illustrate how the Torah functioned as a protector.

How does Yahweh preserve such people? One way He has chosen to do so, though certainly not the only way, is through the Torah. According to Galatians 3:22, the Torah can function as a pedagogue, as the Greek word for “tutor” should be translated (verse 24). The pedagogue’s duty was “to conduct the youth to and from school and to superintend his conduct
he was not a ‘teacher’” Hence he was something of a body guard to help ensure the students safety on the way to the teacher.

In verse 23, Paul explains this protective concept with a slightly different image. There he uses a word which has usually been translated as “kept in custody.” However, by rendering the Greek verb sunkleiomenoi in such a manner, translators have unwittingly cast a negative shadow on the Torah, depicting it as something that holds people captive, like prisoners. But the word can have a slightly different connotation. It can also be rendered “close up”, “hem in”, or “enclose” in a positive sense. Seen in this light, the verse emphasizes protection rather than imprisonment. Furthermore, this translation also fits well with the concept of the pedagogue.

Thus, the Torah was intended to preserve the mental, moral and social safety of the environment into which an individual was born and raised. The person was protected “until the date set by the Father” (Galatians 4:2) when the Spirit of Yahweh would lead them to the Teacher, the Messiah.

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

This verse has often been cited to show that there is no place in the life of a believer in Yeshua for the Torah or anything pertaining to Israel. It has often been said that, in Messiah, there is no room for Jewishness because we are new people in Messiah.

Dr. Daniel Juster remarks in his book Jewish Roots page 111-112, “Paul is not saying that all distinctions between men and women have been obliterated
It is precisely the same Jew and non-Jew in the Messiah. Both may be called to different styles of life and witness, to different fields of service, yet they are spiritually one in Messiah
 Note as well, non-Jews are called (in verse 29) not spiritual Israel, but the offspring of Abraham by faith.”

It is interesting how most believers have applied this verse over the years. Erroneously thinking that this verse teaches that there is to be no more Torah expression (“neither Jew
”), many believers have lived non-Torah oriented lifestyles. In doing so, however, they have not realized that they did not practice the second expression of the verse that says, “there is neither Jew nor Greek.” They did not realize that much of their lifestyle reflected that of gentile non-believers. For example, in their attempt to practice the “neither is there Jew” part, they replaced explicit Torah teachings with manmade traditions propagated by some church leaders decades after the Newer Covenant Scriptures were written. In this process, they have failed to realize that such practices would then, also violate the second phrase, “neither is there Greek (gentile)”. In so doing, they have espoused a decidedly culturally non-Jewish life style (and have pressured Jewish believers to do the same.)

This verse actually speaks nothing about Torah observance or non-observance. Rather, it merely emphasizes the spiritual equality of Jewish believers with believers from among the gentiles.

Galatians 4:21-31
Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. 23 But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24 This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. 27 For it is written, “REJOICE , BARREN WOMAN WHO DOES NOT BEAR; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR MORE NUMEROUS ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE THAN OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND.” 28 And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON, FOR THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.

This passage is a midrash developed by Paul in order to illustrate the difference between those who trust Messiah for their righteousness and those who are relying on a legalistic observance of the Torah or any set of laws for their salvation.

In our opinion, the key to understanding this midrash is to remember the context in which it is found. The immediate context begins in chapter three where Paul begins to compare the two covenants-the covenant with Abraham and the covenant of Sinai. In this midrash, Paul relates what happens when people reverse the proper theological order of the covenants. In other words, theologically, as well as historically, Yahweh made the Abrahamic covenant before He enacted the covenant of Sinai. It had to be that way because in the Abrahamic covenant, the promises of Yahweh were to be received by faith, while the second covenant was basically one in which those promises would only be fully enjoyed with fruitfulness through obedience.

Abraham’s relationship to Hagar and the subsequent fruit of that bond (Ishmael) is compared to those who put the covenant of Sinai first before the covenant of promise (Abrahamic). Through Hagar, Abraham was attempting to secure the promises through his own efforts instead of relying on Yahweh’s word and trusting in Yahweh’s promises concerning Sarah. Thus, it is with those who try to earn their righteousness from Yahweh by obeying the Torah. Faith always must precede obedience. In addition, saving faith always results in obedience.

Galatians 5:1-6
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we, through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

This will be the final text from Galatians that we will study. It appears to be a devastating blow to our whole argument, stating that if anyone practices circumcision (or any part of the Torah, for that matter,) he will be severed from Messiah.

The key to the proper interpretation of this passage is the following italicized phrase in 5:4 where Paul states, “You have been severed from Messiah, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” This phrase indicates the motive behind the circumcisions being performed among the Galatians, which were the focus of Paul’s criticisms. It tells us that some people were being circumcised in order to be justified by Yahweh. In other words, legalism was the problem, not circumcision.

We need to remember that Paul of Tarsus lived according to the Torah (Acts 21). He would never have taught against the Torah. Since circumcision was one of the many teachings of the Torah, we can safely conclude, therefore, that Paul was not arguing against circumcision per se. In fact, we recall that he had Timothy circumcised (Act 16:3).

Paul’s problem with circumcision in Galatians was that some were doing it in order to earn or keep their salvation; they were seeking to be justified by it. Herein was the core of the problem He had no problems with practicing circumcision provided it was done with the proper biblical motive (i.e., as the sign of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel).

Verse 4 presents the stark contrast between law and grace. One either attempts to earn or keep his salvation by what he does or he relies solely on the grace of Yahweh for salvation. The two concepts, law and grace, do not and never can mix. Paul said that whenever a person begins to trust in what he does to gain (or keep) his salvation, he has ceased practicing the principle of grace and has gone over to law. In fact, some people even attempt to make a law out of Torah (by practicing circumcision, in this context). The plain truth is that whenever someone relies on his works to gain righteousness from Yahweh, he has ceased to function according to grace. No one can be saved in this manner. Salvation is solely by grace through faith in the person and work of Yeshua.

Brethren we have looked at some very hard to understand scriptures and I hope you are able to grasp what is being taught here by Paul. Some of you have told me that the things I teach here at www.sightedmoon.com are way over your head. That I am teaching at a university level and you are just learning at a grade school level. It is the same thing with Paul. Please read these texts carefully and prayerfully.

To help you a little, consider this. You’re going to a new Church or Synagogue. You’re late and trying to find a short cut. Traffic is backed up and you see a street that goes right to the side of the place you’re looking for. You take it, and once you’re on the road you see it is a one way road and you’re going the wrong way. You safely make it to the parking lot of the church or Synagogue and a Police car pulls in right behind you.

You try to justify yourself because you are going to worship at this building. But the officer still takes your license and insurance and goes back to his car. You have driven the wrong way on a one way street. It is going to cost you $350 dollars in fines. Money you don’t have and can’t afford.

The police officer comes back and gives you a warning (go and sin no more) and asks you to be more careful next time. But this time he is not going to charge you and bids you a good day. You have now received grace. You did nothing to deserve it. You did earn the penalty for breaking the law. But you were pardoned and not charged. This is grace.

The law that says the street is a one-way street does not change. It is still a law. You are still not allowed to go the wrong way on it. If you do, people could die. Just because you have been given grace this time for breaking a law does not absolve you from obeying it from here on out. The laws still must be kept. Does this law get you into the kingdom? No. Nor are you a legalist by keeping this law.

We do not keep the laws of Yehovah to be saved. We keep the laws of Yehovah because we are saved. The laws of Torah like the laws of society are there for the good of all. We can keep these laws and not believe. It is Yehovah who has called you. By Faith you are answering that call.

I want to close this study with Jude 4

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

This word Lasciviousness;

is a compound of (as a negative particle) and a presumed selges (of uncertain derivation, but apparently meaning continent); licentiousness (sometimes including other vices) — filthy, lasciviousness, wantonness.
1. unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageous, shamelessness, insolence

King James Word Usage – Total: 9
lasciviousness 6, wantonness 2, filthy 1

In Galatians 5:19 we read

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

You become unclean when you sin. You sin when you cave into your lusts and do not restrain them. So, people can do whatever they want, believing that the sins they commit are forgiven by grace because the laws are done away. But sin is still sin.

Consider the warnings of Jude, each one of you, who are turning the grace of Yehshua into a license to continue to sin and to satisfy your own lust of the flesh.

Heb 10:26-31 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Once you have come to understand that the Torah was there to guide you, how we are to live. Once you learn the Laws, the Covenant of Mount Sinai, the laws which were there to teach us how to live, to then throw them aside and to say you are saved by grace and have no need for the law, what sacrifice is left for you?

As we shared with you in our study on Colossians 2:16, Yehshua paid the debt that you were under for not keeping the law. The law tells you the price for not keeping it and the blessings for keeping it. Yehshua paid that price, that debt, which was your life, your soul, that you owed.

Now you are to carry on with your life having had the debt removed. It does not give you free reign to keep on sinning.

1 John 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

Jude is telling you that there are some who are saying the law is done away and will lead you away from the truth. He is warning you that they are taking what Yehshua did on the tree for you and turning it into evil by telling you not to obey the law. Yehshua paid the penalty because you broke that law. Now that it is paid for go and enjoy your life and do not sin, do not break that law anymore.

The men Jude is warning you about the same ones Yehovah is speaking to on the judgment day in Mat 7:21-23

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Mat 25:1-12 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

 

May Yahweh watch over you and guide you in your spiritual growth and to know only the truth.
Shabbat Shalom
Joseph F Dumond
www.sightedmoon.com

2 Comments

  1. Lucinda Robinson

    This last newsletter was a deep one. Holy society is governed by holy laws. The kingdom of YHWH is within us by our personally keeping His will, His ways, His instructions in great humility. Messiah died for our past sins and Adamic nature. We must rise above the sins of this world as defined by His laws and live within that realm with its ensuing blessings. We do it to have fellowship with Him and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

    Reply
  2. Heidi Brown

    Thank you, I have read your plea for strive to cease concerning this man who calls himself a Rabbi, ministering in the Philippines and on Facebook.
    I felt this had gone too far. Do we not fear the Almighty, does He not know? To bring a rebuke is for the sake of the one wronged and so confusion will stop. But how would I want to be rebuked?
    I am certain that it was not done in just the right way. May YHWH have mercy on us and bring us to the place were we see as He sees and know that sin has its own reward, (punishment). If we then see our self in those places how would I want to be treated?
    Yes, we hate the sin, but we got to love that sinner! Father does! Holy Spirit does deal with me when I do react or miss it! I pray for both now, the party involved in exposing and the one exposed. Surely going in private and then with a witness and telling the body as a whole is enough when the one in sin has been unreceptive. But oh, where is my heart in this? Knowing what sin does, why are we not weeping for a brother? Or, if we doubt he is a brother, he still has an immortal soul.
    I have had to repent of my attitude toward others in sin. Believe me, I have learned the hard way to be forgiving, to pray, to walk in faith. I am new in Hebrew Roots, have been overwhelmed at times by the many things I need to learn. Your articles have helped me! Thank you!!!!
    I have been put off by some unloving, prideful spirit in some toward those who are like I was. Saved, grafted in and still not drawing from the root. What a way to win them, by being arrogant and condemning? I want to be led of Him, still loving the Church and calling out to those in there.
    Now I see were my Father is exposing some of these attitudes of the heart that reveal a Pharisees heart.
    It is as it needs to be. We are being sifted. I believe Jim Staley will be restored and be a better man and teacher and under shepherd in the long run. And what this So called Rabbi will do, I do not know. He is so in need of repenting and I pray for grace to enable him to do that! Now I shall read you writing on grace vs. the law.

    Reply

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