News Letter 5859-022
The 7th Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 28th year of the 120th Jubilee Cycle
The 11th day of the 6th month 5859 years after the creation of Adam
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence
July 29, 2023
Shabbat Shalom to the Royal Family of Yehovah,
We are now just 3 weeks away from the Feast of Trumpets on Friday August 18 and then the Day of Atonement on Sunday August 27. These feasts begin the night before.
Are you ready?
We will host a zoom meeting at 10 AM and 2 PM eastern time zone for all those who would like to join us on these High Holy Days. On the Day of Atonement which is a 24 hour fast, when you do not drink water or eat any food at that time. Yehovah takes this day very serious. On the Day of Atonement we will meet at 1 PM eastern time.
For Sukkot I will be in Israel. We have someone who is going to host our zoom room for these Holy Days and Sabbath, and we will post more about that when we get closer to the time
Are you getting ready for the Fall Feast days? We are approaching the time when our understanding of the Holy Days is going to be crucial during the 10 Days/years of Awe that begin in 2024. Are you READY?
If you do not know the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets then I urge you to get our book It Was A Riddle Not A Command and learn the very basics about this day. When you do you will also learn from the Scriptures which calendar you should be following, whether Hillel or Rabbinic, or the Barley and Crescent Moon.
Make the small investment and learn something important today.
You do not want to be told I never knew you. Take a little bit of your Feast money and order the book now at Amazon.com.
Our Groom is coming and You do not want to be told I never knew you. This is the best book to give to all your loved ones to help them learn why Yehshua was not born at Christmas and it will show them how to prove He was born Sept 11, 3 BC. It will also show them that He is coming back on this day. The Expression no man knows the Day or the Hour was a Hebrew idiom telling those who understood the very day He was coming back on.
2024 represents the year, which represents the Feast of Trumpets. Judgment is about to begin. We were the only group warning you about 2020 and we were doing since 2005. We are the only ones warning you about the abomination being set up this fall. Order the book and begin to learn these simple truths that are built one precept upon another. Order it now while your thinking about it.
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Don’t be told I never knew you!
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There is way too many events taking place in the world right now for me to post them all in this newsletter. The world temperatures are shooting through the roof. Climatic disasters are following one after another. And Russia has walked away from the grain deal with Ukraine. All of these things leading to the 5th curse of famine. I am trying to keep you updated so that you are aware. But I am now doing so daily on Telegram.
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The Shmita Year of 2023
Brethren find a way to obey. Stop finding excuses why you can’t do this or that.
If you just discovered this was the Shmita year, then stock up now for the remainder of the year. Don’t plant or harvest this year. Obey Yehovah.
The Shmita Year of 2023
Aviv 1 on February 21/22, 2023 began the 7th Year of Rest. You can prove this by understanding that 2 King 19:29 spoke about a 49th and 50th-year land rest. Knowing this was 701 and 700 BC, you can then count by 7 or 49 and land on every Sabbatical year or every Jubilee in history. All of our proof’s line up with this understanding.
We want to encourage you to watch and share this video of our teaching at GLC about the Sabbatical Year.
In this Sabbatical year, you are:
- Not to Plant
- Not to Harvest
- Stock up on Food in the 6th year
- Forgive Debts
- Read the Torah Out Loud on the 1st day of Sukkot.
These are the basic rules that you are to keep in order to be blessed by Yehovah. As of this writing, it is not too late to stock up for the year.
There are 365 days in the year. Let’s just say there are 400 days, in case there is an Adar Bet next year. You can buy 400 Cans of Soup to have one meal of soup each day during the year. One can of soup costs about $2, so for $800 you have a year’s supply of soup. But if you are not going to eat soup every day then take out half and buy canned beans, vegetables and fruits.
You can do this. Do not say you can’t do this. Find the will to find a way to get this done. Find excuses as to why you will obey. We are coming into the 5th curse over the next 7 years. That curse is famine and it will be so bad that people will eat their own children. So stock up on food now so you can obey Yehovah. And extra food will be a welcome blessing later.
Brethren, this is not that hard to do. What it takes is the willpower to do it: that and a little planning. You can buy meat throughout the year. It is not a ban on meat. You can also eat anything that grows of itself during the year. But do not plan on living off of those things that come from the ground. It they fail then you have no food. Stock up now, and if something grows, they are a bonus, but they are also free game for the neighbours and the animals. So they might eat it before you do. Plan ahead and stock up now. You still have time to get it done.
I received this email this week and want to share it and answer it with you all.
Message: Hello Joseph
I was wondering – are we allowed to still buy “old stock” from the store up to 22 Feb 2023? Most products have Production dates and Sell by dates on them. I am staying away from fresh vegetables and fruit but if I can see on a canned item or on frozen vegetables that the Production date in well outside of the beginning of the Shmita year, I am allowed to buy it?
As you might know, we (South Africa) are sometimes without power for up to 8 hours, sometimes more, a day. I therefore did not invest in an extra freezer or fridge for we are expecting the collapse of the grid any day and all those frozen things will have to be thrown away. I have stocked up for the Shmita year, but still have this impression on my spirit that I have to keep doing it for as long as I can – especially canned goods.
Personally I do not see why I can’t, because it is old stock. Nowhere do I read in the Torah that you are not allowed to buy the old stock in the Shmita year (provided of course that you can find a Production date on the can/container that is well outside the beginning of our Shmita year. But, my understanding of it may be wrong, so I would really appreciate your input.
Shalom
Melanie
South Africa
As I always do here is my standard answer as to what you are to do during the Sabbatical year.
- Not to Plant
- Not to Harvest
- Stock up on Food in the 6th year
- Forgive Debts
- Read the Torah Out Loud on the 1st day of Sukkot.
Each person is different. Each person has a different culture they live in. Some do not have electric power. Some are called and discover this information and the sabbatical year has already begun. Yehovah has called each of us from the walk we are in. Different races, different problems. But He HAS called you to begin NOW to obey. So, start to obey from that point on with all your might and all your ability. But Start!!!
Joe Dumond Rules
In answer to Melanie, these are now what I do. They are not written in Torah. This would come under Joe Dumond rules, which must be changed when found to be out of alignment with Yehovah’s Laws. Each of you will develop you own rules for you and your family. I might not agree with them but so long as we are all keeping the 5 rules of the Shmita year then do not judge others who are trying to obey. Let Yehovah judge them. Let Yehovah bless them according to what they do right and what they do wrong. But do not let us go around attacking each other, and especially those who are trying.
I have stocked up my food for the upcoming year. Here in Ontario, Canada, I will use Shavuot as another one of my benchmarks. I will explain in a moment.
Here in Ontario, I will continue to buy and eat apples that were grown in Ontario up until about Shavuot 2023. This means any apples marked as product of Ontario would have been grown and harvested in 2022. New Apples will not be available from Ontario until some time in the summer of 2023. So my cut off date will be Shavuot 2023. Potatoes grown here in Canada either from Ontario or Prince Edward Island, the main place potatoes are grown in Canada will not come on the market until about August. Again, I can use last years stocks up until my cut off date of Shavuot 2023.
Here in Ontario, our lettuce and most fresh fruit and vegetables comes from around the world and take about 7 days to go from being picked to the store. So for me, as of Passover 2023, I will not be eating any fresh greens from the stores. I will eat only what I have already bought before that date which is now passed. Most canned fruits and vegetables are from last years harvest. So canned goods I will continue to stock up on. I believe I will finish this the week after the Days of Unleavened Bread. I know there is no yeast in them, but I have had many problems to resolve with my wife about storing food here in the apartment, which is forcing me to be very precise in all I do.
Now if I am going to use Shavuot as my cut off date for those things grown here in Ontario, then next year when the Sabbatical Year ends at Aviv in 2024, then I also will continue to not eat those things grown in Ontario, until they come into season here locally. For example, I will wait until August before eating Apples again. I will wait until August before I eat new potatoes.
After Aviv 1 in 2024, when fresh strawberries begin to arrive on the store shelves in Ontario I will wait until around the 1st of the second month before I eat them. I am doing this because the shelve life is about a week or two. So if I wait until the 1st of the 2nd month, then those fresh products will have been harvested in 2024 after Aviv, when we can then again harvest. In the past I have waited and to set the date at Shavuot.
Here is an example from the Bible you need to understand and once you do then can decide what to do for yourself. It is upon this understanding that I set the date for myself of Shavuot.
Lev 25:20 And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase!
Lev 25:21 Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
Lev 25:22 And you shall sow the eighth year, and eat of old fruit until the ninth year; until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old fruit.
The Barley was sown around Sukkoth in the fall. It is harvested after Passover. In a Sabbatical year you could not harvest the barley in the Sabbatical Year. You would not be able to plant in the Sabbatical year in the fall. This then meant you would not have a barley crop the year after the Sabbatical year at Passover. This is now the 8th year. In the fall around Sukkoth in the 8th year, you could plant but would not be able to harvest until Passover in the 9th year.
What ever the crop or food you are desiring to plant or harvest, in what ever part of the world you you live in, you must plant and harvest according to the Sabbatical Year rules from Aviv to Aviv.
So each person must figure out when Strawberries are planted and harvested according to this understanding. When Potatoes are planted according to this understanding. Our society does not obey Yehovah. So each of us must read the labels and decide if this is kosher or not. To this day, I do not drink any wine harvested in the year 2016 or 2009 both Sabbatical years I have kept.
We all must obey. Do the best you can and pray Yehovah helps you to understand and to be able to obey.
If you want to use aquaponics or soilless planting then you must decide if this is kosher or not. I am not going to come up with an entire Targum or set of Tamudic do’s and don’ts. Read the rules or read Lev 25 and then you decide. You are called to be a King and Priest in the Kingdom of Yehovah. As a King and Preist you must uphold the Law of Yehovah and enforce it. As a King or Priest in the Kingdom, is what you are going to do, upholding those laws? Is what you are going to do pleasing to Yehovah? You must decide. I am not your judge.
Php 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, cultivate your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Php 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings,
Php 2:15 so that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. Among these you shine as lights in the world,
Php 2:16 holding forth the Word of Life, so that I may rejoice with you in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain nor laboured in vain.
Some are asking how to do you travel? When you go to someones home what do you do? YOU can assume that those people are obeying Yehovah and you eat. Or you can pull out your own food from your purse and eat it in front of them. Again I am not your judge. You must decide what to do.
Joshua crossed the Jordan in the 50th year. He did not plant anything the year before or this year. And yet he ate everything they captured from the cities of the Caananites. They did not obey Yehovah. Joshua ate their food.
There is not commandment telling you you cannot eat. I have given you Joe Dumond rules above. They are not Yehovah’s rules. You must decide what you are going to do.
The Countdown Has Already Begun!
The Countdown Has Already Begun!
The Countdown To the Abomination Began March 11, 2020 when W.H.O. announced a world wide pandemic!
We are just weeks away from this event taking place. Do you know what to look for, and do you know where to look for it? Are you even watching? It is time to get right with Yehovah now with fasting and prayers and turning back to Him while you have time.
THE ABOMINATION THAT MAKES DESOLATE must surely qualify as one of the most misinterpreted subjects in the entire Bible. In truth, it is a mystery, as evidenced by the fact that even the prophet Daniel himself did not fully comprehend its meaning. (Daniel 12:8-9)
Clearly, therefore, there is no shame in failing to understand all the details of this major End-Times’ prophetic event. This is where Joseph Dumond’s second book in his Elijah Trilogy comes as such a timely and most befitting word in season. This work is best suited for those who genuinely and in earnest seek after truth, as it provides an accurate compass guiding the reader safely through the maze of all the key End-Times’ prophetic markers that enable one to come into a full understanding of the content therein. As the author leads you step-by-step; you will come to know the true meaning and full import of this earth-shattering event. For starters, you will be impacted by the urgency of the hour, as the timing of this event is just around the corner.
You will marvel in amazement as you have your eyes opened to the true understanding of what is meant by the 70th week of Daniel.
You will find out the true biblical location of the sacrificial altar for the Red Heifer, as well as the most probable timetable for this event. It will come as a revelation for you to learn that it may not necessarily mean a Temple has to be built before this sacrifice is made.
You will discover when the Antichrist intervenes to stop the sacrifices being offered at the altar in Jerusalem, and also, when he plans to set up “The Abomination That Makes Desolate.”
You will also learn when the “Two Witnesses” commence their ministry in Jerusalem, and how Nadab and Abihu—the two sons of Aaron—may have been prophetic symbols of those Two Witnesses.
The strength and beauty of this work is that, unlike so many other authors, Joseph Dumond actually gives answers that pinpoint exactly where we are prophetically today. Not only this, he gives us the tools to prove the answers for ourselves. He does this by demonstrating in the clearest terms aided by his colourful charts that the major KEYS to understanding END-TIMES’ PROPHECY are the Sabbatical and Jubilee Cycles. Most students of the Bible sadly are wholly unaware of their existence. Yet, once you understand these, you are able to—with a significantly improved level of accuracy—pinpoint exactly where we are in these biblical cycles of time. The amazing—or some might even say scary part being—that all of these spectacular, apocalyptic and catastrophic events will be taking place in just a few years from now!
The 1290 Days has already started counting down. Yehshua warned what was going to come next. Get ready!! We are there now and no one is prepared.
If you want a PDF version and you want it now just go to our store and you can begin to read this book as soon as you fill in your information.
Restoration of All Things
Restoration of All Things
It Was A Riddle Not A Command
It Was A Riddle Not A Command
Yehshua always spoke in parables publicly.
Matthew 13:34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable, so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
He did this on purpose so they would not understand.
Matthew 13:10-17 And the disciples said to Him, Why do You speak to them in parables?
He answered and said to them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
For whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whoever does not have, from him shall be taken away even that which he has.
Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not; nor do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which said, “By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive; for this people’s heart has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear what you hear, and have not heard them.
Yehshua spoke about the 5 Foolish Virgins in a parable.
Matthew 25:11-13 Afterwards the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
But he answered and said, Truly I say to you, I do not know you.
Therefore watch, for you do not know either the day or the hour in which the Son of Man comes.
The expression “No Man Knows the Day or the Hour” is what Yehshua was speaking about in the previous chapter, Matthew 24:36 and here He is using the same expression in this parable again.
This is what most Christians use to dismiss any and all end time prophecies as being false teachings. They do not realize it was a parable meant to say something and hide the truth from those who hearts have grown stupid which is what that word gross means when Isaiah says their hearts have become gross.
Yehshua was telling the foolish they would not and could not know the day or the hour and at the same time telling the wise the precise time He would return on.
The question is which one of the virgins are you?
Order the book and find out which one you are and learn how to change from being a foolish virgin to one of the 5 Wise Virgins.
If you want to understand the Feast of Trumpets…if you want to know about Yehshua birthday, if you want to get the basics understanding of the 10 days of Awe, which we are about publish then you need to read this book as your foundation.
Order the book so you never have to hear the words, I never knew you.
You can also buy the PDF direct from us and start reading it right now. Just click the button below.
The 10 Days of Awe
The 10 Days of Awe
Sign up for the third book in the Elijah Trilogy
10 Days of Awe
We are almost done. Make sure your name is on the list to be notified the moment this 3rd book is available. I have now got just 4 subchapters to go to finish it.
But then it has to go to the editor. I have told the supporters that they will get a copy of the unedited book once I have completed it, and that will be in the next few weeks.
If on the other hand you want a free copy of the PDF when it is done then make sure you are supporting sightedmoon.com with a regular monthly donation of any amount. Those who are have access to all our PDF books as often as they want.
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TORAH PORTIONS
Torah Portions
We read through the entire Torah along with the Prophets and the New Testament, once over the course of 3 1/2 years. Or according to the Sabbatical Cycle which means we read it all twice over a 7 year period. This allows us to cover more in-depth rather than being rushed to cover as much as is covered on an annual basis. We allow all to comment and take part in the discussions.
Septennial Torah Portion
If you go to Torah Portion at our archived section, you can then go to the 7th year which is the 7th year of the Sabbatical Cycle, the one we are in now, as we state at the top of every News Letter. There you can scroll down to the proper date, and see that this Shabbat we could very well be midrashing about:
Numbers 36
Nehemiah 1-4
2 Corinthians 4-5
If you missed last week’s exciting discoveries as we studied that section you can go and watch past Shabbats on our media section.
Spokesman Club Manual
Spokesman Club Manual
At our leadership meeting we discussed how it was going in relationship to letting others speak at sightedmoon.com on Shabbat.
We had a wide range of discussions on it. On the whole, meetings are now too long, is the one complaint I am hearing. We still want to do the midrash and the Torah studies.
Some only want to come and have me teach. This puts a lot of pressure on me to prepare a sermon each and every week. My goal here at sightedmoon.com is to teach people the torah and how the Jubilee Cycles along with the Holy days teach you the plan of salvation. Another goal I have is to have people capable of teaching these things to others.
In order to do the second goal we must have a place for people to practice and fail at giving teachings. This is also why we allow and encourage midrashes. So people know how to argue in love about the many and various false teachings they are going to be presented. Iron sharpening Iron.
I have asked Shane Diltz to help me by looking after this aspect of sightedmoon.com. He organizes the speakers and makes sure their subject is kosher.
Many years ago while I was attending the WWCG, they had this program to teach you how to speak. After our meeting I went out and found it on line. I want to encourage you all to go through it and do each step in the speaking program. Practice on your spouse or on your dog or cat. But practice before you come to give your presentation to us. Practice.
Your goal is to teach us the subject on your heart and to do so in 15 Minutes 20 Minutes TOPS. Going forward we will shut you down after so many minutes. We may give you a one minute warning. But we will shut you down. We want you to learn how to pack your presentation in small but powerful punches. We want you to learn. And we are going to allow you to do so at sightedmoon.com.
Please do look over the manual. Prepare your subject according to one of the learning courses and practice. We look forward to your presentation and growth.
Many of the fonts do not transfer over well, so I will give you the link to the manual and you can read it on the original site. https://www.hwalibrary.com/cgi-bin/get/hwa.cgi?action=getacmanuals&InfoID=1397922400&page=&return=bklets
Join Our Sabbath Meetings
Join Our Sabbath Meetings
There are many people in need of fellowship and who are sitting at home on the Sabbath with no one to talk to or debate with. I want to encourage all of you to join us on Shabbat, and to invite others to come and join us as well. If the time is not convenient then you can listen to the teaching and the midrash after on our YouTube channel.
What are we doing and why do we teach this way?
We are going to discuss both sides of an issue and then let you choose. It is the work of the Ruach (Spirit) to direct and to teach you.
The medieval commentator Rashi wrote that the Hebrew word for wrestle (avek) implies that Jacob was “tied”, for the same word is used to describe knotted fringes in a Jewish prayer shawl, the tzitzityot. Rashi says, “thus is the manner of two people who struggle to overthrow each other, that one embraces the other and knots him with his arms”.
Our intellectual wrestling has been replaced by a different kind of struggle. We are Wrestling with Yehovah as we grapple with His Word. It is an intimate act, symbolizing a relationship in which Yehovah and I and you are bound together. My wrestling is a struggle to discover what Yehovah expects of us, and we are “tied” to the One who assists us in that struggle.
Today, many say Israel means “Champion of God”, or better — the “Wrestler of God”.
Our Torah sessions each Shabbat teaches you and encourages you to constantly challenge, question, argue against, as well as view alternative views and explanations of the Word. In other words, we are to “wrestle with the Word” to get to the truth. Jews worldwide believe that you need to wrestle with the Word and constantly challenge Dogma, Theology, and views or else you will never get to the Truth.
We are not like most churches where “The preacher talks and everyone listens.” We encourage everyone to participate, to question and to contribute what they know on the subject being discussed. We want you to be a champion wrestler of the Word of Yehovah. We want you to wear the title of Israel, knowing that you not only know but are capable of explaining why you know the Torah to be true with logic and facts.
We have a few rules though. Let others talk and listen. There is no discussion about UFO’s Nephilim, Vaccines or conspiracy-type subjects. We have people from around the world with different world views. Not everyone cares who is the President of any particular country. Treat each other with respect as Fellow wrestlers of the word. Some of our subjects are hard to understand and require you to be mature and if you do not know, then listen to gain knowledge and understanding and hopefully wisdom. The very things you are commanded to ask Yehovah for and He gives to those who ask.
Jas 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and with no reproach, and it shall be given to him.
We hope you can invite those who want to keep Torah to come and join us by hitting the link below. It is almost like a Torah teaching fellowship talk show with people from around the world taking part and sharing their insights and understandings.
We start off with some music and then some prayers and it’s as though you were sitting around the kitchen back in Newfoundland having a cup of coffee and all of us enjoying each other’s company. I hope you will grace us with your company someday.
Sabbath services begin at 12:30 PM EDT where we will be doing prayers songs and teaching from this hour.
Shabbat Services will begin at about 1:15 pm Eastern.
On the Holy Day, Shavuot, we will be having two meetings. One at 10 AM Eastern and the afternoon will be 2 PM Eastern. Look forward to seeing you all there.
We look forward to you joining our family and getting to know us as we get to know you.
Joseph Dumond is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Joseph Dumond’s Personal Meeting Room
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The 700 Club Asia 4th Interview
4th Interview with Peter Kairuz of The 700 Club Asia
Last week after we posted the News Letter The 700 Club released our interview with Peter Kairuz and as of this week, or just after one week it is approaching 3000 views. I do hope you will share this with all your Filipino brethren and family.
Keeping Shabbat Holy
Keeping Shabbat Holy
In Exodus 19 and 20 we read about Yehovah coming down on Mount Sinai in spectacular form on the 49th day of counting the Omer. He then begins to speak so that the entire nation heard His voice. Once Yehovah had spoken the ten commandments, then the people feared and Moses says the following:
Exo 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled, and stood afar off.
Exo 20:19 And they said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Exo 20:20 And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and so that His fear may be before your faces, so that you may not sin.
Exo 20:21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
The Sabbath is a TEST!
The Sabbath is a test? How is it a test?
We have been sharing this scripture in all of our presentations here in the Philippines. Yehshua spoke these words to the Pharisees who were looking for and expecting the Messiah. Today we can say the same thing. All Christians are looking for and expecting the Messiah. But….
Joh 5:46 For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me.
Joh 5:47 But if you do not believe his writings, how shall you believe My Words?
Everyone claims to love Jesus and believes in Him, but all Christians do not know the books of Moses and as such they do not know Yehshua, because Moses wrote about Yehshua. He did so in the Holy Days of Leviticus 23. And having done away with the “Old Testament” they have thrown out the information that tells them how to know and love Yehshua.
In Matthew 25, five of the foolish virgins are about to be told I never knew you. He does not know them because they do not know Yehshua. Where do you stand in this scenario? Do you know Him? Do you DO the Holy Days which show you all about Him? Or do you not keep any of the Holy Days at all? Just by answering these three questions, you will know what Yehshua is going to say to you very soon. He will let those who know Him enter into the wedding or tell many I never knew you.
The Sabbath and Holy Days are a test.
Eze 20:1 And it happened in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to ask of Jehovah, and sat before me.
Eze 20:2 And came the Word of Jehovah to me, saying,
Eze 20:3 Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Have you come to ask of Me? As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you.
Eze 20:4 Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers.
Eze 20:5 And say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: In the day that I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt; when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, I am Jehovah your God;
Eze 20:6 in the day that I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;
Eze 20:7 then I said to them, Let each man throw away the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.
Eze 20:8 But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me. They did not each man throw away the abominations of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. And I said, I will pour out My fury against them to fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
Eze 20:9 But I worked for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the nations among whom they were, for I made Myself known to them in their eyes, by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
Eze 20:10 And I caused them to go out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
Eze 20:11 And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
Eze 20:12 And also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah who sets them apart.
Eze 20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does, he shall even live in them. And they greatly profaned My sabbaths. And I said, I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness to destroy them.
Eze 20:14 But I worked for My name’s sake, so that it should not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I brought them out.
Eze 20:15 And also I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey; it is the glory of all lands;
Eze 20:16 because they despised My judgments and walked not in My sabbaths; and they profaned My sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
Eze 20:17 But My eye spared them from destroying them, nor did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
Eze 20:18 But I said to their sons in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols.
Eze 20:19 I am Jehovah your God. Walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them,
Eze 20:20 and keep My sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am Jehovah your God.
Eze 20:21 But the sons rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes, nor kept My judgments to do them; the judgments which, if a man do, he shall even live in them; they profaned My sabbaths and I said I would pour out My fury on them, to fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.
Eze 20:22 But I withdrew My hand and worked for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations, from whom I brought them out in their eyes.
Eze 20:23 I also lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations and scatter them through the lands,
Eze 20:24 because they had not done My judgments, but had despised My sabbaths and had profaned My sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.
The Sabbath is a test and it is also a sign between us and Yehovah. We are told that judgment begins at the house of Yehovah (1 Peter 4:17). Many times people think of this judgment as condemnation. But it’s a process of evaluation, of learning, of growing, of learning how to walk with Yehovah. We are His people and He is showing us through His Holy Days and His laws how we can be part of His family.
“I will test them …”
Before Isreal even arrived at Mount Sinai, and right after they crossed the Red Sea, Yehovah said something we all need to be aware of.
Exo 16:1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 16:2 And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
Exo 16:3 And the sons of Israel said to them, O that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Exo 16:4 Then Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain amount every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My Law or not.
Exo 16:5 And on the sixth day it shall happen, they shall prepare what they bring in. And it shall be twice as much as they gather day by day.
Yehovah was going to put Israel to a test! On what? “Whether they will walk in My law or not.” The fact that Yehovah here announced that He would test whether the Israelites would obey His laws—several weeks before He inscribed the Ten Commandments in stone at Mount Sinai—tells us that His divine laws already existed (compare Exodus 16:28; Genesis 26:5). He would soon reveal them anew at Mount Sinai.
Exo 16:13 And it happened at evening, the quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morning the dew lay all around the host.
Exo 16:14 And when the layer of dew had gone up, behold, there was a small round thing upon the face of the wilderness, small as the hoar-frost upon the ground.
Exo 16:15 And when the sons of Israel saw, they said each one to his brother, What is that? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat.
Exo 16:16 This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded: Each man gather of it according to his eating, an omer for a head, according to the number of your souls. Each one shall take for those who are in his camp.
Exo 16:17 And the sons of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, and some less.
Exo 16:18 And when they measured with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little lacked nothing. They gathered each one according to his eating.
Exo 16:19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it until the morning.
Exo 16:20 But they did not listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning. And it became rotten with maggots, and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
Exo 16:21 And they gathered it every morning, each man according to his eating. And when the sun became hot, it melted.
Exo 16:22 And it happened, on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
Exo 16:23 And he said to them, This is that which Jehovah has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath to Jehovah. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil. And that which remains over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
Exo 16:24 And they laid it up until the morning, as Moses said. And it did not stink, neither was there any worm in it.
Exo 16:25 And Moses said, Eat that today. For today is a sabbath to Jehovah. Today you shall not find it in the field.
Exo 16:26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
Exo 16:27 And it happened some of the people went out on the seventh day in order to gather. And they did not find any.
Exo 16:28 And Jehovah said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My Laws?
Exo 16:29 See, because Jehovah has given you the sabbath, therefore He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day. Each one stay in his place. Let not any one go out of his place on the seventh day.
Exo 16:30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
Yehovah chose which day was the Sabbath. Not the people. He did this for 40 years by having no Manna on the weekly Sabbath. 40 years x 52 weeks in a year is 2080 times in which they got to see exactly when the Sabbath was. Manna was provided every day but one, which was the 7th day, or Saturday.
If they gathered too much manna on each of the other days of the week it would stink. But they were allowed to gather twice as much only the 6th day, Friday in preparation for the weekly Sabbath. We are to prepare our meals on Friday. What ever we want to eat on the Sabbath, we are to make and have ready on the Friday, the day before. It is called the preparation day.
Exo 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates.
Exo 20:11 For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.
No one is to work for you on the Sabbath. Let me say this loud and clear.
NO ONE IS TO WORK FOR YOU ON THE SABBATH!!!
NO ONE! You do not hire staff to serve or cook your food on the Sabbath. You do not use non-believers on the Sabbath because they don’t believe. You do not go out to a restaurant on the Sabbath to eat. You do not go shopping on the Sabbath. You do not buy gas on the Sabbath. You get everything ready the day before. Fill your tanks before you have to drive to services.
If you have to clean your assembly, then do it on the preparation day. Let everyone, including your wife, your husband, your children, and your staff, have the day off. They should not have to work for you because you’re wealthy or because they are not believers. Yehovah said for everyone, including the animals, to rest.
Here in the Philippines, I have seen it many times—those claiming to have the truth use those of lower status to work for them on the Sabbath. You want the blessings. You want to be blessed by Yehovah, but because you are continuing to sin in this manner, He is not going to bless you. Still, unless you repent and do so immediately, you will reap the curses and are no different than anyone else. Yet, you are different because you do know, and in knowing, you still sin. Be very careful; Yehovah is not going to be mocked.
Let’s notice several important points in these verses:
“Remember the Sabbath day …” The Sabbath is something to remember. Many assume this is the first time Yehovah expected anyone to observe the Sabbath day. But the fact that He commanded the Sabbath to be remembered should help us to realize that it already existed before the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Indeed, He had revealed it to the Israelites earlier, in Exodus 16. But its origins go much further back, as we will see. It is in that regard that the Sabbath was to be observed as a remembrance—a memorial of something of great importance.
“… To keep it holy.” The Sabbath is to be kept holy. Holy means set apart for Yehovah‘s use and purpose rather than our own.
“… The seventh day is the Sabbath …” The Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week (observed from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, as the Bible counts time; compare Leviticus 23:32). Most people go to church on Sunday—which is the first day of the week, as shown by most calendars and almost any encyclopedia.
“… of Jehovah your God. “ The Sabbath belongs to Yehovah, not to the Jewish people, as many people assume.
“In it you shall do no work …” One aspect of keeping the Sabbath holy is to do no regular work on that day.
“… You, nor your son, nor your daughter …” The Sabbath is to be kept by all members of the household, as well as employees and guests. Even animals were given the day to rest.
“… For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.” Here is what the Sabbath memorializes. It is linked to Yehovah’s creative acts in Genesis 1, thus pointing to Him as the true God, the Creator, as distinct from the false gods of human invention. After creating Adam and Eve on the sixth day, Yehovah rested on the seventh day (Genesis 1:27-2:3). He instituted the Sabbath at that time in the presence of the first two human beings—long before there was a nation of Israel or a people known as the Jews. And, in resting on that first Sabbath, Yehovah set us an example to emulate.
” Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.” Again we see that God established the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Hallow means to make holy. By definition, God alone can make things holy, dedicating them for His use. Man cannot make anything holy, nor can he make unholy anything God has made holy—an important consideration when we examine whether we should still observe the Sabbath and, if so, on which day.
A Test of Faith
Every week, year in and year out, Yehovah is testing mankind, and He is testing you. Will you pass His test? Will you do everything in your power to make the Sabbath a rest for you and all those around you? Will your staff have the Sabbath off? Will the food and anything else be prepared on the Friday?
You claim to be followers of Yehshua, will you be the light, will you be the example this world needs and keep Holy The Sabbath? Or are you going to fail this weekly test and suffer the curses along with the rest of the world?
Immediately after giving them the Ten Commandments, Yehovah said:
“Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!”
Deu 5:23 And it happened when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, for the mountain burned with fire, you came near me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders,
Deu 5:24 and you said, Behold! Jehovah our God has revealed His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. We have seen today that God talks with man yet he still lives.
Deu 5:25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more, then we shall die.
Deu 5:26 For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
Deu 5:27 You go near and hear all that Jehovah our God shall say. And you speak to us all that Jehovah our God shall speak to you, and we will hear and act.
Deu 5:28 And Jehovah heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me. And Jehovah said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken.
Deu 5:29 Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their sons forever!
Deu 4:5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as Jehovah my God commanded me, so that you should do so in the land where you go to possess it.
Deu 4:6 And you shall keep and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
Deu 4:7 For who is a great nation whose God is coming near to them, as Jehovah our God is, in all our calling on Him?
Deu 4:8 And who is a great nation whose statutes and judgments are so righteous as all this Law which I set before you today?
Deu 7:12 And it shall be, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, Jehovah your God shall keep to you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.
Deu 7:13 And He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, your grain, and your wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep, in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you.
Deu 7:14 You shall be blessed above all people. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your cattle.
Deu 7:15 And Jehovah will take away from you all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which you know upon you. But He will lay them upon all who hate you.
Deu 28:1 And it will be, if you shall listen carefully to the voice of Jehovah your God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command you today, Jehovah your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth.
Deu 28:2 And all these blessings shall come on you and overtake you, if you will listen to the voice of Jehovah your God.
Deu 28:3 You shall be blessed in the city, and be blessed in the field.
Deu 28:4 The fruit of your body shall be blessed, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your cows, and the flocks of your sheep.
Deu 28:5 Your basket and your store shall be blessed.
Deu 28:6 You shall be blessed when you come in, and blessed when you go out.
Deu 28:7 Jehovah shall cause your enemies that rise up against you to be stricken before your face. They shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways.
Deu 28:8 Jehovah shall command the blessing on you in your storehouses, and all that you set your hand to. And He shall bless you in the land which Jehovah your God gives you.
Deu 28:9 Jehovah shall establish you a holy people to Himself, as He has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of Jehovah your God and walk in His ways.
Deu 28:10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of Jehovah, and they shall be afraid of you.
Deu 28:11 And Jehovah shall prosper you in goods, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers to give you.
Deu 28:12 Jehovah shall open to you His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. And you shall loan to many nations, and you shall not borrow.
Deu 28:13 And Jehovah shall make you the head, and not the tail. And you shall be always above, and you shall not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you today, to observe and to do them.
Deu 28:14 And you shall not go aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Yehovah wanted Israel and all of mankind to have a heart of obedience, to recognize that His laws are an expression of His holy, righteous, loving character
1Jn 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.
1Jn 4:8 The one who does not love has not known God. For God is love.
1Jn 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
He wants us to recognize that His laws reveal a way of life based on love (Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9-10; Galatians 5:14; 2 John 1:6) and that by living that law they would develop character like His.
Lev 19:16 You shall not go as a slanderer among your people; (Lashon Harah)
Rom 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves another has fulfilled the Law.
Rom 13:9 For: “Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not lust;” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Rom 13:10 Love works no ill to its neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law.
Gal 5:14 For all the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
2Jn 1:5 And now I beseech you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
2Jn 1:6 And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
The Sabbath would be a sign that those who kept it would be Yehovah’s people. Those who want to be grafted into Isreal must also keep this sign and pass this test to remain in His grace.
Exo 31:12 And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying,
Exo 31:13 Speak also to the sons of Israel, saying, Truly you shall keep My sabbaths. For it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you.
Exo 31:14 You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it isholy to you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death. For whoever does any work in it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Exo 31:15 Six days may work be done, but on the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to Jehovah. Whoever does any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Exo 31:16 Therefore the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant.
Exo 31:17 It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.
Failing the Test
We have already quoted Ezekiel showing you how Israel failed the Sabbath test over and over again until finally Yehovah removed them from the land. We are right now on the cusp of the second greater Exodus. One in which the Philippines plays a major role. Are we going to be recorded as those who would not keep the Sabbath and after seeing the mighty miracles of Yehovah not obey Him?
Is the Sabbath important to Yehovah? He specifically stated that one of the Israelites’ most flagrant sins that led to their national downfall and captivity was profaning the Sabbath.
Eze 22:26 Her priests have broken My Law and have defiled My holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and the common, and have not taught between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am defiled among them.
Jer 17:21 So says Jehovah, Take heed to yourselves, and carry no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.
Jer 17:22 Nor carry out a burden from your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.
Jer 17:23 But they did not obey, nor bowed down their ear, but made their neck stiff, so that they might not hear nor receive instruction.
Jer 17:24 And it shall be, if you carefully listen to Me, says Jehovah, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy, to do no work in it;
Jer 17:25 then kings and rulers sitting on the throne of David shall enter into the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their rulers, the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem. And this city shall remain forever.
Jer 17:26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of Jehovah.
Jer 17:27 But if you will not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to carry a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be put out.
Why Are the Sabbaths So Important to Yehovah?
As we have already quoted, Yehshua tells us in John 5:46 that if you want to know Him, then you must also understand the five books of Moses. But because Christianity refuses to read those books or obey them, they do not and cannot know Yehshua, because wrote about or explained the heart of Yehovah.
Here is the one verse which the Jews have no idea what it means nor do Christians and yet it is the one verse that explains the heart of Yehovah.
Lev 23:36 Seven days you shall offer a fire offering to Jehovah. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. And you shall offer a fire offering to Jehovah. It is a solemn assembly. And you shall do no work of labor.
Once you understand that all the Holy Days, the moedim, the sacred times of appointments all point to the 8th Day, Shemini Atzeret, and Yehovah’s overwhelming desire to dwell with mankind here on earth, then you will understand how all the Holy Days explain His plan of salvation. By keeping them, we express to Him our desire to learn His plan and be part of it.
Heb 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear His voice,
Heb 3:8 do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
Heb 3:9 when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years.
Heb 3:10 Therefore I was grieved with that generation and said, They always err in their heart, and they have not known My ways.
Heb 3:11 So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.”
Heb 3:12 Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through thedeceitfulness of sin.
Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
Heb 3:15 while it is said, “Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”
Heb 3:16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke; however, not all who came out of Egypt by Moses.
Heb 3:17 But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18 And to whom did He swear that they should not enter into His rest, but to those who did not believe?
Heb 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
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.
Heb 4:2 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.
Heb 4:3 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.
Heb 4:4 For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested the seventh day from all His works.”
Heb 4:5 And in this place again, “They shall not enter into My rest.”
Heb 4:6 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,
Heb 4:7 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.”
Heb 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
Heb 4:9 So then there remains a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
Heb 4:11 Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief.
This rest is shown to us every week by the Saturday Sabbath. It is a weekly example of the rest Yehovah wants all of us to enter into. That is the 7th millennium which begins in 2045. He wants us to enter that rest by practicing weekly the Sabbath and the Holy Days.
Israel failed this test. Are you also going to fail this test now that you have been told these truths?
In Isaiah, Yehovah tells us that our sins have separated us from Him.
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have come between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing.
Notice what Yehovah says about us in Chapter 58. If we will humble ourselves before Him.
Isa 58:1 Cry aloud, do not spare, lift up your voice like a ram’s horn, and show My people their rebellion, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Isa 58:2 Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and one who did not forget the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in drawing near to God.
Isa 58:3 They say, Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and crush all your laborers.
Isa 58:4 Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness; you shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isa 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day pleasing to Jehovah?
Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and that you break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, and that you should bring home the wandering poor? When will you see the naked and cover him; and you will not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Isa 58:8 Then shall your light break out as the dawn, and your health shall spring out quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Jehovah shall gather you.
Isa 58:9 Then you shall call, and Jehovah shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from among you, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity;
Isa 58:10 and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.
Isa 58:11 And Jehovah shall always guide you and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
Isa 58:12 And those who come of you shall build the old ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Pay close attention to the last two verse in this chapter. Does this sound like the Sabbath is done away?
Isa 58:13 If you turn your foot because of the Sabbath, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Jehovah, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,
Isa 58:14 then you shall delight yourself in Jehovah; and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed yourself with the inheritance of Jacob your father. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.
Why is the Sabbath important to Yehovah? Because He wants us to have a proper, loving relationship with Him. To do that we must spend time with Him. He wants us to surrender one of our most precious possessions—our time—so He can teach us through His Word, the Bible, the Torah. He wants the Sabbath to be a time and a way to ” then you shall delight yourself in Jehovah”
These Are Divine Appointments
Lev 23:2 Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, The feasts of Jehovah, which you shall proclaim, holy convocations, even these are My appointed feasts.
These are His feasts, His “sacred assemblies.” Most people would not miss a doctor’s appointment, but think nothing of missing a divine appointment with the creator of the universe.
The Hebrew word moed, the plural form here translated “appointed feasts,” means “appointed time” or “meeting” (Lawrence Richards, Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, 1985, “Feast/Festival”). The word assemblies is translated from the plural form of miqra, denoting a summoned gathering. In other words, Yehovah says His Sabbath is a divine appointment that He commands His people to keep through their gathering before Him to build their relationship with Him and other believers.
Heb 10:24 and let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works,
Heb 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Notice that He is the one who sets the appointment, not us. He is the one who determines the time—His weekly Sabbath and annual festivals.
That raises an interesting question: If we don’t come before Him at the time He commands, either by not coming at all or coming on a different day, are we really keeping an appointment with Him?
If someone makes arrangements to meet with you next Wednesday but decides to show up on Thursday instead, would you think he had kept the appointment? Of course not. So why should we think Yehovah would find it acceptable if we decide to assemble on a day different from the one He commands?
Will you pass the test? Are you willing to surrender a portion of your time to build the kind of relationship God wants to enjoy with you?
There are many churches today who say the commandments are done away. Yet in the very last book of the Bible, it says something different to what the churches are saying.
Rev 22:12 And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each according as his work is.
Rev 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they who do His commandments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter in by the gates into the city.
Rev 22:15 But outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie.
Rev 22:16 I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify these things to you over the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and Morning Star.
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let the one hearing say, Come! And let the one who is thirsty come. And he willing, let him take of the Water of Life freely.
Rev 22:18 For I testify together to everyone who hears the Words of the prophecy of this Book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add on him the plagues that have been written in this Book.
Rev 22:19 And if anyone takes away from the Words of the Book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which have been written in this Book.
Rev 22:20 He who testifies these things says, Yes, I am coming quickly, Amen. Yes, come, Lord Jesus.
Rev 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.
Will you now pass the Test?
Leviticus 1
Leviticus 1
by Sombra Wilson
Before we sing the Shema, let’s open our bibles to the passage
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
As we open up this new book of Leviticus, this is the book most people avoid. It is hard to understand, it is full of rules for the Priesthood, so we think it doesn’t apply to us. But this book expresses the heart of Yehovah. I want to show you an overview of how this whole book is a Chiastic structure, all pointing to the focus point of Leviticus Chapter 16, the chapter about the Atonement Sacrifice and the service inside the Holy of Holies. One of the beauties of a Chiastic structure is that it helps people memorize the scriptures. If you know the form of the book, you know where to find the portion you are looking to reference.
These rituals, like the sacrifices we are about to look at in depth in a moment are given to us at both the beginning and end of the book of Leviticus, then we have instructions about the priesthood, and then instructions about how the people are to behave in purity. All this instruction is so that we can be found the Pure Spotless bride when our Bridegroom comes for us. We don’t want to be told “away from me, I know you not”.
Let’s begin our reading. Please read all of Leviticus 1
[1] The LORD called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, [2] “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.
[3] “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. [4] He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. [5] Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. [6] Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, [7] and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. [8] And Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; [9] but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
[10] “If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish, [11] and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. [12] And he shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar, [13] but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
[14] “If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons. [15] And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. [16] He shall remove its crop with its contents and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes. [17] He shall tear it open by its wings, but shall not sever it completely. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
The Hebrew name for Leviticus is Vayikra. It means And He Called. Notice the first word is And. The letter Vav which begins this word Vayikra is a picture of a nail. It connects things. So from this clue we see that this book Vayikra is connected to the previous book Exodus, or Shemot, which means Names. Vayikra continues the instructions, now that we have the Tabernacle constructed, now we teach the Priests and the People how to engage with Yehovah within the Tabernacle.
We are instructed to bring an offering, a sacrifice. This word in Hebrew is Korban. In pagan cultures, a sacrifice is to appease an angry god and beg for good weather, or for fertility, but that is not what this Korban is about. The word Sacrifice is NOT a good translation, because it gives this connotation that we are “buying favour”. An offering is a better translation, because even when you approach a King, A President, or a Prime Minister, you bring a gift as a sign of respect and honour, so an offering is a better understanding. But Korban means to approach a Holy God, the emphasis is on the approach. When we want to approach our Heavenly Father, there are certain ways to do this. Leviticus 1 tells us we are to bring a burnt offering. Again, this translation leaves much of the understanding lost. This first Approach, this first Korban is a Korban Olah. Olah is sometimes translated as free will offering. It is the picture of lifting up the yoke to put it on your shoulders. The root word Ol is the word for yoke, and means ”to experience the staff”. The staff is for correction, so when we bring Korban Olah, we are approaching Yehovah to willingly put ourselves under His Yoke and His correction.
Verse 4 tells us this is an atonement offering. The word for atonement is Kaphar. We know the Feast of Atonement is called Yom Kippor, and Kaphar is the same word with different grammar. Kaphar means to cover, to cancel, to cleanse, to forgive, to be merciful, to pardon, to purge, to reconcile. Oh that we would all have the courage to bring a freewill offering that we may be cleansed and pardoned and forgiven, wawacho ne (Luo Language) Amen!
We have three different options of what to bring for this Olah offering. It can be from the Herd, the Flock or Fowl.
- The herd animals till the soil, break up the ground. Are we coming because we need the ground in our hearts broken up, tilled, prepared for the seed to be planted?
- Flock animals migrate, they move from one place to another to feed. Are we approaching Yehovah because we are migrating, being moved in our spirit to chew on the meat of the word?
- Fowl are birds who spread their wings and take flight. Are we approaching Yehovah to spread our wings and take flight with what has been deeply planted in us and born fruit, so that we may go off and share it with others?
Notice too, once the herd animal is cut into pieces, the head and the fat are to be arranged on the fire. The head represents Authority and the Fat represents glory. When we bring our free will offering, this yoke we have willingly submitted to, we need to place Yehovah as our only authority and not seek our own glory, but Glorify Yehovah, we need these things correctly placed in our mind and in our heart. Why are the entrails and the legs washed? What picture is that portraying for us? The entrails are our inward parts. We must clean our insides, our heart and our mind, of all the filth of this world. The legs represent the bowing of the knee, kneeling… or subduing our hearts. The washing of the legs is a picture of being willing to die to self and be resurrected holy in submission to Our King.
Let’s move on to Leviticus 2
[1] “When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it [2] and bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. [3] But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the LORD’s food offerings.
[4] “When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers smeared with oil. [5] And if your offering is a grain offering baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mixed with oil. [6] You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. [7] And if your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. [8] And you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the LORD, and when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar. [9] And the priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. [10] But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the LORD’s food offerings.
[11] “No grain offering that you bring to the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the LORD. [12] As an offering of firstfruits you may bring them to the LORD, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing aroma. [13] You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
[14] “If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits fresh ears, roasted with fire, crushed new grain. [15] And you shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. [16] And the priest shall burn as its memorial portion some of the crushed grain and some of the oil with all of its frankincense; it is a food offering to the LORD.
Now we are looking at a grain offering. What is this Korban? What is the Hebrew word we translate as grain? Or does your Bible say it’s a meat offering? Or a meal? How confusing! And what does it mean? This offering is called a Korban Minchah. The root of Minchah word is Nach. The pictograph nun is a picture of a seed representing continuance, the chet is a picture of a wall that separates the inside from the outside. Combined these mean “continue outside”. The shepherd would guide his flock to a place of water. Here is water for drinking as well as green grass for pasturing. Once the flock arrives, they are free to rest after the long journey. A guided journey to a place of rest. A sigh of rest.
With the Offering from Leviticus 1 we did work! We had to plow our hearts, to till the soil, we had to chew the meat, we had to spread our wings and fly. But this offering is about resting. We approach our Abba Father to rest with him. We are refreshed from this approach, strengthened, encouraged. In other teachings I have said the Minchah was a meal, a conversation, an opportunity to develop a relationship. Think about your own family, your own community. When you work hard together the focus of the conversation is on the work, but when you rest, you can spend that time sharing concerns and struggles and achievements. You can confess one to another, encourage one another, forgive one another. This is the meaning of this approach with the Holy One, that all your burdens are laid at His feet.
If we read on, the verse says “this offering it is to be of fine flour” in Hebrew flour is Soleth. This word flour is related to the word Sal which means a basket which is lifted up. It is related to Sebal which is a burden to carry, a load to bear. When we are in this rest state we are bearing one another’s burdens and lifting one another up. And this we can also get from and with Yehovah in this Leviticus 2 approach. Oh my friends, it gets better. Not only does it say the offering is fine flour, it also says it is to be mixed with oil and frankincense. Oil is richness, fruitfulness, anointing, and Frankincense is related to restoration of the purity, white, clean! Is this not the greatest “sacrifice” we can make! To approach our Father and gain rest and be lifted up and enriched and restored!
I want to look at honey and salt for a moment. We are NEVER to make our offering with honey, but we are ALWAYS to make our Korban Mincha with salt. What do these two things represent?
The Hebrew word for honey is Debash. It means something sweet and sticky, slow moving. Honey is generally seen as a good thing. It pictures a delicacy rather than a necessity, abundance and prosperity, something desirable. It can be good medicine. But it can also be seen as a curse in judgment. Isaiah 7:15: “He will eat cheese and honey until he knows how to reject evil and choose good.”, too much honey will make us sick, so in this scenario honey is a picture of scarcity and judgment. So adding honey to our offering would be a little like gloating, our approach is not to be about glorifying ourselves, even though the whole purpose of approaching Yehovah is to draw nearer to Him and to elevate Him in our holiness, we do not come with an attitude of “hey look at me, I’m so holy I Approach you to elevate You Yehovah” NO NO! We must never come with this arrogant attitude! And putting honey in our Korban Mincha would do just that!
Salt in Hebrew is Melach, a seasoning, easily pulverized, easily dissolved. Land that is salty is barren. From this we can see we are to bring our offering empty of ourselves, humble, barren of our own arrogance. It is a contrast to the concept of honey. There is no glory in salt, and yet, salt is necessary for life, it is not extravagant, it is necessary, without salt our body can not hold water, the organs shut down and we die. Bringing salt as a part of our korban is showing we have died to self. It also shows how absolutely vital coming before our King is. We need to be in relationship with Him or we die.
The last word I want to look at comes from verse 16; it is the word Memorial. In Hebrew that word is Azakharah. Similar to the name Zachary, it means a remembrance, to remember, or like a storyteller, or one who reminds us of the history. When we come into this Mincha relationship, sometimes we engage in reminiscing of things in the past, remembering how faithful our Father has been to us, how He has protected and provided for us. When we reminisce like this, it builds trust, for we know our God never changes. If he was faithful to protect us in the past, He will be faithful to protect us in the future. It is we who have the ability to change, and our desire is to change to benefit the relationship, to become more righteous, more steadfast, more honourable, more caring and compassionate, more at peace. Remembering His goodness changes us. HalleluYah!
Are we ready to move on to the next chapter? It’s so exciting. How could anyone think this book is boring! What could we possibly find in this next chapter that will surpass these first two chapters?
Let’s read Leviticus 3
3 “If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. 2 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar. 3 And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the Lord, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 5 Then Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire; it is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
6 “If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord is an animal from the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. 7 If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the Lord, 8 lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it in front of the tent of meeting; and Aaron’s sons shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 9 Then from the sacrifice of the peace offering he shall offer as a food offering to the Lord its fat; he shall remove the whole fat tail, cut off close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 10 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 11 And the priest shall burn it on the altar as a food offering to the Lord.
12 “If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the Lord 13 and lay his hand on its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 14 Then he shall offer from it, as his offering for a food offering to the Lord, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 15 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 16 And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the Lord‘s. 17 It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”
Ah, sweet! A peace offering. Easy peasy right, we all know what peace is, right? Or do we. Let’s look at peace in Hebrew. Shalom. Simply said, it is a state of completeness. But how are we made complete? Shalom means “to destroy the authority of Chaos”. It is an action word, not a feeling. Our action is about giving complete authority over to God, no matter what the chaos is going on in our lives, we need to realize that nothing holds any authority over us other than Yehovah. It’s only by our own choosing, that we ALLOW chaos to control us. We all know Chaos exists, it will always exist, but we do not need to give it control over us.
One thing we have not looked at yet, which we see in all these sacrifices is that the one bringing the offering is to put his hands on the head of the animal. Remember the head represents the authority, and laying your hands on the head is transferring your authority to this animal. If you are offering an Olah, free will offering, you are transferring your free will to this animal. If you are bringing a Shelem, a Peace offering, you are laying your own peace, your destruction of the authority of chaos, onto this animal. If we never lay our hands on these animals, it’s not a sacrifice, it’s just a slaughter. The whole picture of this is that we know these animals are only standing in for Yeshua. If we never lay our hands on Yeshua and give Him the authority to take from us, our free will, our peace; and next week we’ll see our sin and our purity; if we don’t give it over to Him and allow Him to do this for us, then His sacrifice is for naught in our lives. We can’t do anything ourselves. We can’t save ourselves. We need Him to do it all for us. And how we do that is pictured in this laying on of hands. This is our Peace, when we lay it all on Him, and trust in Him, and Him alone.
We do not need to fear. We look at the world around us, the droughts, the earthquakes, the super storms, the fires, we know the Abomination that makes desolation is coming soon. We are heading for 10 years of hard times. But WHO IS IN CONTROL? Yehovah is in control and when He is in control, His plan will bear good fruit! We need to trust Him, laying our hands on Him and giving Him the authority to deal with all our fears. Let’s remind, memorialize, Azakharah, for ourselves of the plagues in Egypt and the plague of death that passed over the Children of Israel. With the story of Passover, we know the end of the story! They made it to the promised land! Wawacho ne Amen! We also know that there is an 8th great day that we are headed to the crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land. We need to endure until the Wedding Feast of the Lamb is complete and then we will be United with our Bridegroom for eternity. AMEN!
Kaphar
Kaphar
“Teshuvah – Turning back to Yehovah”
On Tuesday July 18, 2023, began new moon of the 6th month. This Sabbath July 29 is day 11 of this 6th month. We all need to be thinking about Teshuvah. We all need to fast more than just on Yom Kippur once a year. We all want to be forgiven and we all need to forgive. So allow me to share this article from a few years back.
“Teshuvah – Turning back to Yehovah”
As we approach the High Holy Days the theme is Teshuvah. This is why we have been sharing with you the 40 days of repentance. Some of you do not see this in your bible as one of the commandments of Lev 23 and therefore will not do it.
How bizarre?
Teshuvah is often translated as repentance, although it is more properly understood as turning back to Yehovah. (Shuv) This is where we get the expression Shabbat Shuva. The Sabbath of return found during the 10 days of Awe leading up to and climaxing with the Day of Atonement.
The Torah reading for Shabbat Shuva is;
Hos 14:1 O Israel, return to Jehovah your God, for you have fallen by your iniquity. 2 Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah. Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, that we may repay with the calves of our lips. 3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses. Nor shall we say any more to the work of our hands, Our gods, for in You the fatherless finds mercy. 4 I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned away from him. 5 I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall grow as the lily and cast out his roots like Lebanon. 6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 7 They who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive like the grain, and grow like the vine. Their scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him and watched him; I am like a green fir tree. Your fruit is found from Me. 9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Understanding, and he shall know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but sinners shall fall in them.
Mic 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not keep His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. 19 He will turn again; He will have pity on us. He will trample our iniquities. Yea, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will give faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
Last week we wrote to you about forgiveness, and how you had to forgive those who had offended you. Many of you still hold on to the hurt of your parents and spouses and you will not forgive.
Recently the news has been about the disclosing of the many secret names on the Ashley Madison list that was hacked and publicly displayed. The article says there are over 400 Church leaders on this list. That means there are at least 400 church leaders who wanted to have an affair and keep it secret so as not to be found out.
Is your name on this list? More importantly is your name on Yehovah’s list of those who want to commit sexual sins? Forget Ashley Madison. Where are you in relationship to Yehovah?
“One evangelical leader was skeptical of survey findings that said 50% of Christian men have looked at porn recently. So he surveyed his own congregation. He found that 60% had done so within the past year, and 25% within the past 30 days.” (Porn’s Stranglehold, by Timothy C. Morgan)
I often share that between pornography and sports we’ve lost a good portion of our dads and men. Throw in work and hobbies and our fatherless and man gap grows even more. Unfortunately, we are now an online culture that thrives on pornography and we’ve hit a critical mass point. To do nothing is not an option.
How many of you righteous people are going to forgive those caught in this act of adultery?
Our society promotes sexual liaisons everywhere we turn. But should anyone get caught doing so, we kick into hyper righteous mode and execute them to hell on the fastest train possible.
How many of you watched any of the James Bond films? Does not our hero in these films have many a sexual affair with some of the most beautiful women, both good guys (women) and bad ones? Yes he does and many of us were envious if we are honest.
Are not most of the films out of Hollywood based on affairs outside of marriage and we support this by watching them?
Do you recall the story of David and Bathsheba. Today people call it a love story. Is it? It is an act of lust and adultery by the nations leader and one of our heroes of the bible. Yehovah was going to execute David for this sin. Do you realize that?
Yehovah was going to execute the man who was after Yehovah’s own heart.
2Sa 12:1 And Jehovah sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said to him, There were two men in one city, one rich and one poor. 2 The rich one had exceeding many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor one had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished up. And it grew up together with him and with his sons. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him like a daughter. 4 And there came a traveler to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the traveler that had come to him. But he took the poor man’s lamb and dressed it for the man who had come to him. 5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die. 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 And Nathan said to David, You are the man! So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that was too little, I would have given to you such and such things besides. 9 Why have you despised the Word of Jehovah, to do evil in His sight? You have stricken Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 And therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11 So says Jehovah, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. 13 And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah.
And Nathan said to David, Jehovah also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
14 Only, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, this child born to you shall surely die.
Yehovah said He would have given David even more wives and more of anything he wanted. David’s sin was lust. He coveted and that led him into these other sins of murder and adultery.
Do you realize that coveting is the greatest cause of most sins and yet it is considered the least of the commandments?
- They covet other gods so as not to have to obey Yehovah.
- They covet other days of rest for their own convenience.
- They covet what others have so they murder.
- They covet sex so they commit sexual sins and adultery.
- They covet people possessions so they steal.
- They want people to not think bad of them so they lie.
- They covet the appearance of godliness.
David lusted and did not contain it.
How many of you lust after careers, status, sex, food, cigarettes, drugs, attention and you can fill in the blank if I omitted your lust factor. We all cross the line at times and replace Yehovah with something physical and we all want and need to be forgiven. We hope we will never be exposed for our secret sins.
And yet we do keep them secret because of our vanity. Our desire to appear before others as righteous and good when in fact we are not.
Jas 5:16 Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much. 17 Elijah was a man of like passion as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for the time of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth caused its fruit to sprout. 19 Brothers, if anyone among you err from the truth, and if anyone turns him back, 20 know that he who turns back the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Two things to note from this passage of James. One: Elijah had like passions.
Two: when you confess to trusted friends your weaknesses they can help you, much like the 12 step of Alcoholics Anonymous. When you’re weak they can talk to you and help you come back from the ledge.
This week’s News letter is a result of a conversation I had with a sister about this subject of sex. It is time to turn back to Yehovah. But many men & women are stuck on repeatedly going to the porn sites or to bars looking to meet that someone for a one night stand. As you just read, between 50% and 60% of Christian men are trapped in this addiction. Those numbers will be the same for those who call themselves Messianic Torah observers. Sadly.
And many of the rest of you want to stand on the sidelines of righteousness and point the finger and wag the head. But in fact what you are doing is expressing how you are better then they are because you have not done that sin. It is self righteousness.
Do you not recall what we said last week about fasting? Did you not get the point of the article? Are you really that thick? Let me now explain it again to you.
Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, and that you should bring home the wandering poor?
When will you see the naked and cover him; and you will not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break out as the dawn, and your health shall spring out quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Jehovah shall gather you. 9 Then you shall call, and Jehovah shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am.
If you take the yoke away from among you, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul;
then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.
Yehovah is telling you to get in there and get dirty as you help those who are afflicted by their sins. He is telling you to stop pointing the finger at them, condemning them, and to show them their sins and help them to return to Him. To Shuva to Yehovah. To have empathy and say there but for the grace of Yehovah go I.
The Day of Atonement is to kaphar, to cover over the sins of the people who have shuva’ed back to Yehovah. So why do you not cover over the sins of those around you when they repent?
Not to hide the sin, no, we are to expose it. But once exposed as David’s sin was, then to forgive as Yehovah did and move on. The consequences will come for the sin. You will have to deal with it.
Each one of us used to worship idols and never kept the Feasts. Now we do keep Torah and now some of you accuse and condemn those who still keep the false feasts you used to. You are no different than them. You just got off that merry-go-round before they have, so show some empathy.
Jim Staley of Passion for Truth Ministry has recently been found guilty of crimes committed many years ago. And yet many of you today are pointing the finger and saying aha. How many of you are guiltless of past sins? And how many of you would be mortified to have them exposed for the world to see?
I do not agree with all of Jim Staley’s teachings, nor he with mine, and yet he is a brother who like me, has sinned. Where is your atonement for him? Yehovah will cover his sins once he has repented. So why do you want to send him to hell? You are the one that needs to repent of the gossip that you have been spreading.
Have you forgotten the example Yehshua had for the woman caught in adultery?
Joh 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman taken in adultery. And standing her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, Teacher, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned. You, then, what do you say? 6 They said this, tempting Him so that they might have reason to accuse Him. But bending down, Jesus wrote on the ground with His finger, not appearing to hear. 7 But as they continued to ask Him, He lifted Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her. 8 And again bending down, He wrote on the ground. 9 And hearing, and being convicted by conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the oldest, until the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 And bending back up, and seeing no one but the woman, Jesus said to her, Woman, where are the ones who accused you? Did not one give judgment against you?11 And she said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I give judgment. Go, and sin no more.
King Solomon at the Feast of Dedication on the Eighth day of Sukkot said the following prayer. Read it slowly and remember even Solomon fell victim to the sin of sex and because of it he was lured into building temples to other gods on the Mount of offense.
1Ki 8:33 When Your people Israel are crushed before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and shall turn again to You and confess Your name, and pray, and cry to You in this house, 34 then hear in Heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them again into the land which You gave to their fathers. 35 When the heavens are restrained, and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, if they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them, 36 then hear in Heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, and of Your people Israel, for You shall teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain on Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance. 37 If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blasting, mildew, locusts; if there are stripping locusts; if their enemy encircles them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness, 38 any prayer, any supplication from any man of all Your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house, 39 then hear in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart You know. For You, You only, know the hearts of all the sons of Adam. 40 Do this so that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You have given to our fathers. 41 And concerning a stranger who is not of Your people Israel, but who comes out of a far country for Your name’s sake; 42 for they shall hear of Your great name and of Your strong hand and of Your stretched-out arm; and if he shall come and pray toward this house, 43 hear in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as Your people Israel do , and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name. 44 If Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You shall send them, and shall pray to Jehovah toward the city which You have chosen, and the house that I have built for Your name, 45 then hear in Heaven their prayer and their cry, and maintain their cause. 46 If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin), and if You are angry with them, and have delivered them up before the enemy, and they have been led away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near, 47 yet if they shall think within themselves in the land where they are carried captives, and repent, and pray to You in the land of their captors saying, We have sinned and have done perversely, we have done wickedly, 48 and so return to You with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and if they pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, to the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name, 49 then hear their prayer and their cry in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and maintain their cause, 50 and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, even all their sins which they have done against You, and give them pity before their captors, so that they may have pity on them. 51 For they are Your people, and Your inheritance, which You brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the furnace of iron, 52 for Your eyes shall be open to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your people Israel, to listen to them in all that they call for to You. 53 For You have separated them from among all the people of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by the hand of Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Jehovah. 54 And it happened as Solomon finished praying all this prayer and petition to Jehovah, he rose from before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55 And he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 Blessed be Jehovah, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant. 57 May Jehovah our God be with us as He was with our fathers. Let Him not leave us nor forsake us, 58 to incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments which He commanded our fathers. 59 And let these my words, with which I have prayed before Jehovah, be near Jehovah our God day and night, so that He may maintain the cause of His servant, and the cause of His people Israel of each day in its day, 60 for all the people of the earth know that Jehovah is God; there is no other. 61 And let your heart be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commandments, as at this day.
When I first began this web site I wrote an article titled Confessions of a Sex Addict. This link will give you 6 articles that have come up out of that one about our lusts and the lack of control we give them.
Lust is like this old Indian trick to kill a wolf. They would take a sharp knife and cover it in blood and then freeze it and place it in a block of ice. The wolf would smell the scent of the blood and go and find it. He would then begin to lick the blood. The more blood he tasted the more he wanted. So he would lick more fervently. With each lick the blade of the sharp knife would reveal more of itself and thus cause the tongue of the wolf to bleed more and more each time. This then caused the wolf to taste more of the warm blood from his own mouth and lick even more. A perpetual cycle that only leads to the death of the wolf, who eventually bleeds to death.
It is the same with porn and with all other sexual gratification methods out there. Those gratification methods are not just sexual. They can be cigarettes or chocolate cake. Workaholics seek the praise of their bosses and peers for their gratification. These will all lead to your death if you do not curb them.
Sex with others or porn is never satisfactory. Even after using the prostitute or paying for the lap dance with the stripper, you are left with this painful empty feeling. The one you wanted to get filled when you went to the whorehouse is still there. Sex never filled that hole.
Chocolate cake never fills that hole. Drugs or sports or anything else you shove into this hole will never ever fill it. The reason they can never fill that hole is because it can only be filled by Yehovah. He is the only thing that fills that void you are feeling and heals the other problems of your life caused by you trying to fill this hole with the wrong things. Square peg in the round hole syndrome.
Enough with the generalities. Let me get specific about sex and how it works.
All young girls seek the attention of their father and also of young men when they are hoping to find a husband. They will dress up to make themselves look attractive to the potential beau. Sometimes this goes too far and becomes sexier in trying to attract a man. It is, after all a very competitive time as everyone is seeking to land the same guy or so it seems.
Women know men are attracted through their eyes. In fact women in the sex industry also know this very well. We are going to begin to compare these two methods to help you women understand your men.
Men also want to attract a wife so they excel in sports and work to show off their talents. Muscular abs and rugged features are enhanced. All through the childhood of a boy he is told over and over how good he is and how strong he is. They are made to feel like big men even while they still have on their diapers.
But men do not get it. They do not understand that women are not attracted by vision as like men are. Yes, to a degree but not nearly as much. A woman wants to yield herself to someone who romances her and appeals to her emotionally & intellectually, as well as physically.
But grown up men never grow up. They always do need that affirmation from their wife and daughters about how much you appreciate the things they do for you. The same as when they were patted on the head as a child.
Those women in the sex trades also know this. This is why they tell the men how great they are, how muscular they are, or how handsome they are or how virile they are. It can be the biggest lie ever and both of them know it, but the man is in need of hearing this and feeling the attraction from a female because of it. With the prostitute or stripper it is all an act to lure you to give them your money. And many men are willing to do just that in order to be praised up for a few moments by any women.
Ladies, you all need to read that last statement again.
I again challenge each and every women right now to go and tell your spouse how awesome they are. And to say nothing else and leave the room. In less than a minute your spouse will come running after you like some lost puppy dog wanting to hear more of your praising them.
WE MEN ARE STARVED FOR THIS FROM OUR WIVES!!!!
Do you get it?
So in a man’s mind, if he is not getting the praise at home then when it does come from somewhere else, no matter where it comes from, he will seek to go back to get more of that praise to soothe his ego, whether this comes from the woman down the street or the one at work or the one in the strip club. It is more powerful than anything else out there.
But if you provide this at home then he will seek it at home. If he is not starving for some attention and then your spouse will not be attracted to it when it comes from other places.
Now it’s the same thing for sex. If a man is starving for sex at home and his wife is withholding it because of this or that reason, then understand his sexual drive is starving to be satisfied. I am not condoning him seeking it elsewhere, but I am advising you it is there. You can control it as his wife and partner or you can let others control it.
Dr James Dobson has written that the men’s sexual urge is ready to go every 3 to 4 days. Yes, every 3 -4 days. And many women are saying “we just did it the other day”. I want to urge all men and all women to read this short article by Dr. Dobson. In fact, I would urge you all to do more research into this subject from Dr. Dobson.
1Co 7:1 Now concerning what you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 But, because of the fornications, let each have his own wife, and let each have her own husband. 3 Let the husband give to the wife proper kindness, and likewise the wife also to the husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. 5 Do not deprive one another, unless it is with consent for a time, so that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer. And come together again so that Satan does not tempt you for your incontinence. 6 But I speak this according to permission, not according to commandment.
Many women today say it is their body. They say this in order to justify the abortion of the child in them. And this has rubbed off on all of us. Yet the Apostle Paul wrote that your body belongs to your spouse, both men to the women and women to the men. Think about this for a long long moment.
That word incontinence in verse 5 means without self control, want of self restraint, and powerless to the temptations of the other sex.
You withholding your sexuality from your spouse is, according to Paul, contributing to their temptations and weakness.
Let me now give you an extreme example.
Women under Sharia law are commanded to wear a burka so as not to tempt men. The Burka removes all the curves that make a women attractive and it also covers the face. What do we hear now about this religion of peace over the entire news? How they wage jihad so they can capture other women and rape them as often as they want.
I am telling you that these Islamic men have pent up sexual desires which they vent on captured women.
Yes, an extreme example. But I say it as lead up to this. Many women who seek to be modest remove those things that make them beautiful to others including, their husbands. Taking their God given curves and hiding them. Be careful you are not helping Satan by leaving your spouse in a position that they will be tempted by Satan.
I was always very proud to take my wife out when she was all dolled up. To have her hold my arm.
I have had many women write me asking for help with their husband. One lady said she had all the right curves in all the right places and could not understand why her husband still looked at porn.
The husband then told me he had a high sex drive, (3-4 days, remember) and she was only willing once or twice a month. Am I describing any of you?
Another lady wrote me. She was very shapely and was sexually abused all her life because of it. She is now walking this walk and every group she attends wants her to stop coming because the men can’t stop looking at her. The problem is not her beauty, it is that the men looking are starved in their own homes.
If you want to stop the porn industry, if you want to stop the sex industry, then start to make your spouse feel important at home. Give them every reason to look forward to coming home to you. It does not matter if your curves have disappeared and turned up in other places.
In the late summer of 1981, I was coming home from working out of town for a number of weeks. In fact, it was near the end of July. I have never forgotten this one event.
I was tired and looking forward to time with my wife. As I pulled in the driveway, the sun was setting and she was standing in the door with a fur coat on. The sun made the whole front of our house and her shine in this red glow. I started to get very angry as I was opening the door of the truck. Where did she get the money for this fur coat. We could not afford it. What is she thinking.
Sometimes I am such an idiot.
As I opened the door and just as I was about to say something really, really stupid, my wife opened up the fur coat to reveal to me all her beauty and all her curves in her birthday suit. I immediately shut up and no longer cared about this fur coat. It might have cost a million dollars and it did not matter. My sexual starvation from working away for those weeks was now about to be taken care of. My wife got it and new what I needed. We had another baby as a result of that. Go figure!
And to this day I have never forgotten it. Not one detail. I am telling you all this for a reason. To show you how powerful this sex thing is, if you use it as Yehovah has given it to you. Not to abuse it and not to withhold it from our spouses.
Years ago we had a lady as a neighbour who would always be dressed up and looking her best. She dressed up to go out shopping and to work all the time looking her best. She was middle aged and her curves showed up in other places at this time. I commented on this to my wife one time when my wife was wearing sweat pants to the mall. She told me that her husband was always happy when my wife talked to him. That was the end of the sweat pants.
Brethren, many of you will not agree with me about those things I am saying. You will blame the person doing the sin and not admit your part in it. So be it. Continue to perpetuate the problem and not help solve it. For others it is too late. You are already divorced or separated and still have not forgiven them for what they did to you.
I have some women come up to me after I relate this to them and they said they drove their husband into the arms of another woman. They then say they always bitched at him and never told him how much he meant to them and it would then spiral into an endless fight. These ladies are now living alone.
Again I dare you all to tell your spouse how much they mean to you, or how much you appreciate them fixing the toilet and then walk away. When they come after you, if you play your cards right you could get them to buy you anything you wanted. But you will also see how deprived for attention they are and then realize how close to temptation they are. Read Love and respect by Dr. Emmerson Eggerich. Read the difference between men and women by Dr Dobson. Get educated on this subject and do it right away.
The sexual exploitation is everywhere being advertised for everything. The temptation to find gratification elsewhere, as demonstrated by Ashley Madison, shows you it is real and growing and not even being hidden from the public.
In this short article I have by no means addressed the entire issue of sex between men and women. I do urge you all to read Dr. Dobson and Dr. Eggerich’s books on the differences and love and respect.
Sure you can go ahead and write me. Just do not expect me to take advice from those on their third and fourth marriage telling me how to be happily married, even though I am in my 37th year with my first love. I am not a saint by any measure. I have much to learn, but have already learned a great deal. Study what these two doctors have to say and help your spouse, both men and women.
1. Is there another method to purchase these books? I do not use Amazon; lost my password and cannot learn how to fix that.
2. I testify I had held anger at a financial theft by a business. A godly woman prayed me through the forgiveness last week and that burden is 100% gone. Today I read your newsletter about “40 days of repentance.” Right on time. Proof to me that God DOES work in scheduled seasons and sabbaths.