Queen Jezebel and the Quest for Qabalah & Repentance and Making a Vow

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Aug 10, 2010

News Letter 5846-027
3rd day of the 6th month 5846 years after creation
The 6th Month in of the first year of the third Sabbatical Year
The Third Sabbatical Year of the 119th Jubilee Cycle

August 14, 2010,

Shabbat Shalom Family,

I have been asked by people from France and Texas about Feast sites in their respected areas. I do not know of all those that are keeping the Feast according to the Sighted Moon. If you have a site which records these things please let me know so I can share it with our readership.

Here again are some lists of places you could attend with people who are keeping these Feast Days using one or both calendars. Contact them and then join them.

http://7thday.web.officelive.com/fot2010_asia.aspx
http://beastwatchnews.com/sukkot_hub.htm
You can do a word search for Feast of Sukkot site 2010; or Feast of Tabernacles site 2010.

I have just been told our Feast site L’CHAIM EPHRAIM 2010 in Jerusalem is now 85% full. If this is where Yahovah is directing you to come for Sukkot then you do need to send an email or call Frank Mecklenburg at zionpath@yahoo.com 541-447-5723 and let him know you are coming.

Sightedmoon.com has been teaching about the Sabbatical and Jubilee years since 2005 and this is the main focus of this web site. We again read in Leviticus the curses that we are to incur for not obeying these Sabbatical and Jubilee years. And I do point them out when they occur so you do not mess them. The curses that are coming will kill you and your family if you do not repent and begin to obey the Torah. So I also try to warn you of what is coming and how it shaping up in real terms as you read it on the nightly news.

Leviticus 23: 14 ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not do all these commands, 15 and if you reject My laws, or if your being loathes My right-rulings, so that you do not do all My commands, but break My covenant,

The First Curse;
16 I also do this to you: And I shall appoint sudden alarm over you, [Terror] wasting disease and inflammation, destroying the eyes, and consuming the life. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 ‘And I shall set My face against you, and you shall be smitten before your enemies. And those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.

The Second Curse;
18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I shall punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 ‘And I shall break the pride of your power, and shall make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. [Drought]20 ‘And your strength shall be spent in vain and your land not yield its crops, nor the trees of the land yield their fruit.

The Third Curse;
21 ‘And if you walk contrary to Me, and refuse to obey Me, I shall bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins, 22 and send wild beasts among you, which shall bereave you of your children. [Epidemics] And I shall cut off your livestock, and make you few in number, and your highways shall be deserted.

These three curses are in the news on a daily basis around the world. Israel was to teach the law of the Torah to the nations. She did not because she did not even keep it herself. Now the nations are reaping the consequences of disobedience.

But know and understand there are two more curses that are coming. The first one of war begins in 2017 and the second of captivity beings in 2024. Each new curse is added to the previous ones and they all become cumulative.

We have just begun the third Sabbatical cycle and the third curse. Mathew 24 along with Lev 23:21 explains what to look for.

Fourth Curse;
6 “And you shall begin to hear of wars and reports of wars. See that you are not troubled, for these have to take place, but the end is not yet. 7 “For nation shall rise against nation, and reign against reign.

Third Curse;
And there shall be scarcities of food, and deadly diseases, and earthquakes in places. 8 “And all these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “Then they shall deliver you up to affliction and kill you, and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. 10 “And then many shall stumble, and they shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. 11 “And many false prophets shall rise up and lead many astray. 12 “And because of the increase in lawlessness, the love of many shall become cold. 13 “But he who shall have endured to the end shall be saved.

Last fall there was the swine flu scare worldwide; WHO has this week declared it is now over; but now we have a new super bug coming out from India; New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1; this spring there was the rash of severe and damaging earthquakes around the world. Now we are reading in the news about the shortage of wheat due to the heat wave in Russia. This is the first year of the Third Sabbatical cycle which contains the third curse of Lev 23. It will intensify up until the 6th year and then a Sabbatical year of rest in the seventh year, from Aviv in the spring of 2016 until the spring and Aviv of 2017.

The question is will you believe by then and begin to obey the Torah and keep the 4th commandments of keeping the Weekly Sabbath on Saturday Holy and keeping the annual Holy Days Holy at their appointed times, and will you keep the Sabbatical year and not plant and not harvest and store up food in the previous year? Are you going to obey by then or are you going to do what we are told the people will do in Revelations, and curse Yahovah for the punishments you are receiving?

Once again I urge you to review and for those who are new to watch the video for free to learn about these curses and to know from where they come and why?

In the news this past week are the following;
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100807/world/eu_russia_fires

Smog over Moscow worsens as wildfires rage

Nearly 600 separate blazes were burning nationwide Saturday, mainly across western Russia, according to the Emergencies Ministry, which said that the area affected had increased over the past 24 hours. Hundreds of forest and peat bog fires have ignited amid the country’s most intense heat wave in 130 years of record-keeping.

“The smoke is everywhere — at home, in shopping malls, on the subway,” added Roman Morozov, a 29-year old architect.
Nearly 600 separate blazes were burning nationwide Saturday, mainly across western Russia, according to the Emergencies Ministry, which said that the area affected had increased over the past 24 hours. Hundreds of forest and peat bog fires have ignited amid the country’s most intense heat wave in 130 years of record-keeping.

At least 52 people have died and 2,000 homes have been destroyed in the blazes. Russian officials have acknowledged that the 10,000 firefighters battling the blazes aren’t enough — an assessment echoed by many residents, who said the fires swept through their hamlets in minutes.

Moscow has had temperatures approaching 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), and that is forecast to stay unchanged over the next week in contrast to the city’s average summer temperature of around 23 C (75 F).

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100808/world/china_weather_floods
China mudslides leave 127 dead, 1,300 missing
August 8, 2010

BEIJING (AFP) – At least 127 people were killed and nearly 1,300 missing Sunday after mudslides swept away homes and destroyed roads in northwestern China as the nation battled its worst flooding in a decade.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100808/world/europe_weather_floods
Ten dead, thousands evacuated in central Europe floods
August 8, 2010

WARSAW (AFP) – Floods caused by torrential rain left 10 people dead and several others missing in central Europe Sunday, with residents rescued from rising waters in boats, buses and helicopters.

While rivers burst their banks and dykes were breached in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic, in western Europe about 500 firefighters tackled wildfires in Portugal.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100807/world/pakistan_weather_floods

Pakistan races to help 15 million affected by floods
SOOMRA PANHWARI, Pakistan (AFP) – Pakistan raced to evacuate families threatened with fresh floods on Saturday as heavy rains worsened the disaster in its second week, with up to 15 million people already affected.

Floods across the largely impoverished, insurgency-hit country have swept away entire villages and killed at least 1,600 people, according to UN estimates.

“The scale of the needs is absolutely daunting,” Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said Friday.

Take Special Note of the following!

Last week I led off the News Letter with an article about Egypt’s struggle for power and the Muslim Brotherhood. I then quoted the following prophecy, a prophecy about the King of the South attacking the King of the North as written about in Daniel 11: 40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind , with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over . 41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown : but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

That News article only told you about what Egypt the King of the South was doing as Yahovah prepares it for this upcoming conflict. This week I would like you to take a look again at the News and see how Yahovah is preparing the King of the North for this upcoming war.

According to the Prophecies of Abraham this event should be taking place in about the year of 2013-2016. I do suspect it will be preceded by a war against Israel from Lebanon and Gaza and maybe others. The State of Israel will then welcome this King of the North whom they believe will usher in peace. But peace is not what he brings to the land.

We read in Daniel 8:24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

We also read in Daniel 11: 20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. 21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

Consider what these two verse are telling you and then read the article below.

“And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power” Could this be Germany using the NATO forces to do its work?
“and by peace shall destroy many” Again I ask you to consider the following article and consider the power Germany/ Assyria will have under its authority. NATO a peace keeping Army being used to conquer nations in the name of peace.

ron fraser | Columnist
EU, NATO and Germany Connect

For the past two years, leaders of the 28 North Atlantic Treaty Organization member nations have been drafting a new strategic concept for the alliance.

With America’s power in decline, Europe, realizing that their postwar protector is fleeing the scene, seeks a new lease on life for NATO which will contribute to the ongoing security of the Continent.

Since the end of the Cold War, NATO’s membership has nearly doubled as it has absorbed former Soviet states, many of which joined the European Union. Now even Russia seeks an alliance with NATO.

More important to Europe’s security as America continues to draw down its military presence on the Continent is the EU partnership with NATO. “The EU and NATO are taking further steps, hand in hand, with a view to deepening their relations. 

The EU has proceeded to the signing of a set of agreements with NATO in order to obtain access to its infrastructure” (Europe’s World, March 19, 2009). It is thus that NATO has become the European Union’s proxy war machine in the pursuit of the latter’s imperialist agenda.

Defense minister Guttenberg met with Chancellor Angela Merkel in July and gained her full support for consideration of three alternative scenarios for a revamped Bundeswehr. In reality, the reforms are a reinforcement of the old High Command structure of the German military forces.

Why is Germany important to this whole equation of revamped European security?

It’s very simple. The German Constitutional Court created an opt-out for Germany in respect of any EU proposal to deploy EU forces in battle. Of all 27 EU member nations, Germany alone must refer such a proposal to its national government for decision.
This effectively places Germany in charge of deciding when and how the EU will enter combat as a combined force.

The Anglo-Saxons created NATO, as its first secretary general, Lord Ismay, declared, to “keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

The great paradox is that NATO’s new strategic concept, in tandem with the EU’s security objectives and Germany’s “new military organization,” will result in an alliance with Russia, the Americans pushed out and the Germans raised up!

We did a series of studies on the King of the North and the South back in 5843. If you want to review this study you can go to each of the following articles at;

All of this information is included in the book along with a number of pictures of key events in history.

Do not forget that now Germany has the ability to wage war in order to keep the peace through NATO forces just as Daniel 8:25 and Daniel 11:21 have stated. The whole world ought to be very scared right now, and yet the Christian groups are saying to watch out for Islam. Islam is the clay in the feet of the statute of Daniel but the Iron in the feet is Assyria who today are known as Germany. We all need to be very sober as the forces of war begin to line up for the fourth curse of war which according to the Sabbatical cycle is to begin in 2017. In just a few short years.

You will also want to read:

In the Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9,  I show you that in the middle of the last Shabuwa or the last Jubilee cycle the anointed, Israel is cut off. The middle of this, the last Jubilee cycle, which began in 1996, is 2020. 2020 is right in the middle of the Sabbatical cycle of the curse of Lev 26 of war. Just 10 years from now. Think about it….in just ten short years the USA according to scriptures is going to be destroyed. How will you plan your retirement party now?

Russia bans grain exports amid drought
Thu Aug 5, 10:41 PM

Wheat prices on the Chicago exchange hit a 23-month high Thursday after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced a temporary ban on grain exports.

“We cannot allow an increase in domestic prices and we need to maintain the number of cattle,” he told a cabinet meeting.
A government spokesman said the ban would take effect Aug. 15.

Wheat prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange rose by its daily limit of 60 cents to above $7.85 US a bushel. That’s up almost 80 per cent in a bit more than a month.

A 42 per cent jump in July alone was the biggest monthly gain in at least 51 years.

Russia is the world’s third-biggest exporter of wheat, but earlier in the week the government cut its forecast for this year’s grain harvest to between 70-75 million tonnes because of the driest conditions in decades.

The drought which has also spurred hundreds of wildfires has already destroyed a fifth of Russia’s wheat crop, and forecasters predicted continuing hot and dry weather there.

Last year, Russia exported 21.4 million tonnes of grain.

“It almost feels like no one thinks it is going to rain in Russia anymore or ever again,” said John Sanow, an analyst with Telvent DTN in Omaha, Neb. There’s some talk that if it stretches into the fall, it could effect 2011 production.”

On Wednesday, the United Nations’ food agency cut its forecast for production in 2010, citing bad weather not only in Russia but also other countries.

Flooding in Canada has led to a record level of unseeded acreage on the Prairies. Excessive moisture conditions also affected the U.S. corn belt in late spring, and China has been hit by flooding.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization cut its wheat production forecast Wednesday by 3.7 per cent to 651 million tonnes from its forecast of 676 million tonnes in June.

Still, it said world commodity supplies remain “more balanced” than during the crisis in 2007-08, when wheat peaked above $13 a bushel.

“Fears of a new global food crisis are not justified at this point,” FAO said in a report.

Wheat futures soar, bread prices may be next
by By Blake Ellis, staff reporter
Friday, August 6, 2010

With wheat futures soaring to their highest level in two years, you could soon find yourself paying more for a loaf of bread at the local grocery store.

The price of wheat has surged more than 80% from its seven-month low in June, rallying to its highest level since August 2008 this week, as Russia said it would ban grain exports until Dec. 1 due to a drought that has destroyed more than 20% of its wheat crop. Prices retreated Friday but still remain up 10% for the week.

If prices resume their upward trajectory, you could wind up paying 25% to 30% more for a loaf of bread and at least 10% more for a pizza by the end of August or early September, said Darin Newsom, a senior analyst at Telvent DTN, an agriculture and commodities information company.

That would translate into a price hike of as much as 90 cents more for a $3 loaf of bread, and a bump of $1.40 for a $14 pizza.
“Wheat is moving up so much, there’s going to be a ripple affect on what we’re seeing at stores and restaurants,” said Newsom. “We haven’t seen it play out yet, but we certainly will.”

Some think it’s still too soon to plan for price hikes at the retail level.

“Even though the price has gone up in the futures market, it has to continue to go higher or stay at these levels for another 20 or 30 days in order to justify a rise at the store,” said Mark Schultz, a chief analyst at Northstar Commodity. “Longer term, provided that the drought in Russia doesn’t get better, we’ll likely start seeing prices have to move higher in the retail level, I’m just not sure if the rise in [futures] is significant enough yet.”

If wheat prices do stay this high, expect to pay more for your rolls and pastries too, said Robb MacKie, a spokesman for the American Bakers Association.

“[Wheat] is the number one ingredient for bakers and therefore one of their top costs,” he said. “If prices hold at this level you might turn around in three months and say, ‘Hey, I used to pay $1.25 for this baguette and now I’m paying $3.25 — what happened?”

A spokeswoman for one of the world’s largest food companies, General Mills, said the company doesn’t comment on its pricing policies.

But a Panera Bread spokeswoman said the bakery-cafe has locked in its wheat prices through the first half of 2011, saying the company believes “the market will self correct once the froth is out from all the speculation.”

Out of wheat?: Because Russia is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, its wheat shortage has significantly driven up demand for the grain, and investors are worried that other areas of the world may be next to see their crops dry up.

“The drought in Russia is definitely the key factor to the rise in prices, but we’ve also seen problems in Canada, where crops are going to be smaller this year, and Australia may have a smaller crop, so there are other parts of the world that are seeing problems,” said Newsom. “The real question is what stocks of wheat on hand are going to be globally.”

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday that it has cut its global wheat production forecast for 2010 nearly 4% to 651 million metric tons, down from its June estimate of 676 metric tons.

And while the U.S. has enough wheat on hand without getting it from other countries, it will be forced to ship its wheat elsewhere if global demand for the grain continues to increase but “we’re not going to run out of wheat,” said Newsom.

This week we are going to have the second part of last week’s article on Qabala.

Queen Jezebel and the Quest for Qabalah

  • Newsletter 5846-027    Queen Jezebel and the Quest for Qabalah & Repentance and Making a Vow (Part 1)

by Stephen P. Dehnke
www.proclaimliberty.info

(NOTE: In the prior article, “The Quest for Qabalah: Uncovering the Intents of the Heart,“ we learned of the author’s discovery of the dark secret that a Torah-observant friend had kept hidden. Following the friend’s sudden death, his collection of a vast number of occultic objects was found in his home, showing that he had engaged in esoteric practices prohibited by the Bible. Evidently, his occultic practices were an extension of his deep interest in Jewish mysticism, known as the Qabalah — otherwise spelled “Kabbalah” or by numerous other variations of the Hebrew term qoph-beth-lameth-hey. Whereas in that article, the author sought to determine the nature of this mysticism, here the connection between Qabalism and the spirit of Queen Jezebel is explored.)

A warning is given in Rev. 2:20-24 over willfully allowing “that woman Jezebel” to seduce the saints go into idolatry. When we compare what is said here to the antics of this notorious harlot queen of the northern kingdom of Israel in the books of 1st and 2nd Kings, we see an evil force at work designed to destroy the faith of YHWH’s people.

Who is Jezebel and is she singled out for special attention here in this prophetic book? Is her spirit still at work in these times? What must we do to overcome her evil?

Historically, Queen Jezebel, through the acquiescence of her husband, King Ahab, led the northern kingdom of Israelites to forsake the worship of the Elohim (G-d) of their Hebrew forefathers for Ba’al, the Canaanite storm god.

King Jeroboam had already introduced pagan syncretism into the northern tribes when the Israelite kingdom was divided, following the death of King Solomon. Jeroboam reintroduced the worship of the golden calf, establishing national shrines at Bethel and Dan.

A Phoenician princess, Jezebel, was instrumental in leading both the northern and southern kingdoms into full-blown paganism with her devotion to the Canaanite mighty ones Astarte (1) (the evening star goddess later identified with Ishtar, Easter, and Venus) and Ba’al (a common Hebrew term that simply means “lord,” “master,” “owner,” and even “husband.”) Ba’al was known to be a rain-making fertility god. Many of the surviving statues of him show him with his arm raised as if using a whip. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the idol is depicted as the main rival to the one true Elohim, YHWH.

Jezebel symbolizes apostasy among YHWH’s people toward false religious practices and paganism. Jezebel hates the worship of YHWH and is intent on destroying it however she can. The Jezebel spirit is the main adversary to the end-time Elijah ministry, which is preparing the world for the advent of the Messiah, just as John the Baptizer did to prepare the Jewish people for the coming of the Messiah, Yeshua of Nazareth, Mat. 11:14.

Jezebel’s legacy lives on. (2) Easton’s Bible Dictionary summarized her life with the following description, “Jezebel has stamped her name on history as the representative of all that is designing, crafty, malicious, revengeful, and cruel. She is the first great instigator of persecution against the saints of (Elohim). Guided by no principle, restrained by no fear of either (Elohim) or man, passionate in her attachment to her heathen worship, she spared no pains to maintain idolatry around her in all its splendour.” (3) To read her story, peruse 1Kg. 16-21 and 2Kg. 9.

The marriage between King Ahab, son of the dynastic House of Omri, and Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Phoenician coastal city Sidon, created a political and commercial powerhouse. For the northern Israelite kingdom, it helped strengthen it against the growing threats to the east, namely from the Syrians and Assyrians.

According to the Torah, however, this royal wedding never should have occurred. Exd. 34:15-16, and repeated in Jdg. 3:6 and Ezr. 9:12, an Israelite was not to be given in marriage to a foreigner who is not a worshipper of YHWH, lest they lead the people into idolatry. Jezebel led more than just her husband into idolatry, though. She attempted to seduce all of Israel away from the worship of YHWH.

Jezebel is considered “a harlot queen” in that she caused the Israelite kingdoms to fall to idolatry. As part of its fertility rites to ensure agricultural productivity, the Ba’al and Astarte worship was known for its sacred prostitution. This is indicated in Rev. 2:20-25,

“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come.” (NKJV).

By “eating things sacrificed to idols,” YHWH’s people have consumed the paganism of the world so that it becomes part of their deep-down essence. By enticing Bible believers into unScriptural practices, the Jezebel spirit seeks to lead them away from YHWH’s presence and turn them over to the control of the enemy, Satan.

When studying the life of Queen Jezebel, one can see immediately that her agenda was to replace the worship of YHWH with that of Ba’al. Standing in her way, though, was the prophet Elijah. We know, of course, from Mal. 4:5 that Elijah will return at the end of the age to herald Yeshua’s return. Perhaps he also will adopt the role of one of the two witnesses who will oppose the Anti-Messiah’s bid for global dominance.

Interestingly, the contemporary feminist spirit has come to see Jezebel in a radically new light. In one instance, in her book “Jezebel, The Untold Story of the Bible’s Harlot Queen,” (4) author Lesley Hazleton engages in Biblical revisionism of the worst kind. She casts Jezebel as the heroine while Elijah, Elisha, and Jehu are the supposedly evil fundamentalist monotheistic villains.

In Hazleton’s eyes, pagan idolatry, which she refers to as polytheism, is peaceful and tolerant, while the monotheistic worship of YHWH is bloodthirsty, fanatical, male-dominated, and unwilling to permit divergent religious beliefs in its midst. On that last point, I would agree.

She also compares Biblical Yahwism with modern Muslim jihadist fundamentalism: “Behind all the Orientalist fantasies, the real woman called Jezebel was as dedicated to her many gods as Elijah was to his one. She was a powerful, complex woman whose courage and dignity (!) even her fiercest detractors would have no option but to acknowledge. Her fatal flaw was the arrogance that led her to underestimate the dangers posed by the ascent of radical fundamentalism – the same dangers we face in today’s world, with the same disastrous potential.” (5)

Makes me wonder if the book’s author might not have a bad case of the Jezebel spirit herself and felt possessed to defend the harlot queen’s soiled reputation.

And if that’s not sufficiently exasperating, she continues with the following comments: “If Jezebel’s pragmatic pluralism had held sway, it may well have saved the Kingdom of Israel from being swallowed by the Assyrians. It may also have averted the consequent fall of the Kingdom of Judea into exile. But of course if that had been the case, most of the Hebrew bible (note her telling lower case usage here) as we know it would never have been written.”

Of course, if Queen Jezebel had her way, with her progeny sitting on the thrones of both the northern and southern Israelite kingdoms, she probably would have re-united them under the Ba’al worship and outlawed the worship of YHWH. Jezebel would have begun a matriarchal dynasty with flagrant idolatry at the core of its foundation.

Theoretically, had this occurred, the Israelites, including the Jews, probably would have merged with the Phoenicians and the Canaanites and become a mingled heathen people. Think how much different history would have turned out. There would be no Bible and no Jewish legacy. There would be no Judeo-Christian culture. Life today would be far, far different — and much, much worse. The freedoms we enjoy today in the West are derived primarily from the Word of YHWH.

As we have seen, Jezebel has her defenders, just as Practical Qabalism has its defenders too. While there can be no doubt that from the Bible’s perspective, Jezebel is a symbol of the recurring apostasy that has occurred among YHWH’s people. Although Queen Jezebel lived and died nearly 3,000 years ago, her evil spirit still exerts an influence on our lives today, perhaps more than we realize.

The Jezebel spirit is the force behind the current preoccupation with occultism. One author summarized its influence as follows:
“She is the power behind the rebirth of witchcraft in our culture. She calls to millions of teenagers via popular music and movies, telling them that new age witchcraft will give them power. She is the force behind the psychic hotlines, which control and manipulate millions.” (6)

Undoubtedly, the Jezebel spirit is behind much of the fascination with the Qabalah too.

PRACTICAL QABALAH: QABALAH AS PRACTICED

In trying to understand how my departed Torah-observant friend had succumbed to the practice of witchcraft, I also began to wonder how it is that pagan practices became part of the Jewish Qabalistic “received tradition.” After all, weren’t the Jews selected to be a set-apart people and a light unto the nations (Gentiles), Isa. 49:6; Acts 13:47?

Many of us left the Church after discovering the pagan infiltration into Christian beliefs and practices. Some looked to Judaism for guidance, thinking that it had remained mostly true to the heritage given in the Hebrew Scriptures. Nevertheless, as many of us explored our Hebraic Roots, we eventually observed that Judaism has many of the same types of problems as in the Church, sometimes even worse, as in Jer. 3:6-11.

My conclusion from my research is that the occultic practices were allowed to creep in as Jewish Qabalah adherents ventured farther and farther away from following the written Word. The farther they distanced themselves from the written commandments forbidding such practices, the more they found reasons to rationalize pagan, occultic, and magical practices.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isa. 5:20.

Already, the notion had been established in the Talmud, the written-down codified Oral Tradition of the Pharisees, that rabbinic tradition takes precedence over the Written Word. So, in their errant reasoning, some observant Jews were led to believe that even though the Torah plainly forbids occultic practices, it does not really mean what it says. Regrettably, this faulty thinking has gripped some who have come to use the PaRDeS system of Bible interpretation.

Likewise, the more my friend studied Qabalah, the more he exposed himself to arguments that ran counter to plain statements in the Scriptures. If he was encouraged by certain teachers or rabbis within the Hebraic Roots movement to proceed further into Qabalistic study, he may have felt he had the permission he needed to cross the line into the occult. Surely, he may have thought, these persons have more knowledge than him on the subject and were qualified to advise him in these areas. Sadly, it seems he allowed a Jezebel spirit to deceive him.

Somehow, it was like Satan’s temptation of Eve in Gen. 3 was played over again. Instead of the serpent promising “You shall be like Elohim,” the bait was set out with a slight difference: “You shall have supernatural powers like elohim.” This is the lure of the occult: to have supernatural knowledge and abilities like a god or goddess.

As Jehu said to Jezebel’s son King Joram in 2Kg. 9:22, “How can there be peace as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother, Jezebel, are all around us?” (NLT).

We see that Jezebel not only calls herself a prophetess in Rev. 2:20, but that she also is an idolater and witch. She wishes to draw believers into the “depths of Satan,” Rev. 2:24, apparently into esoteric doctrines and away from the Scriptures. Thus, it is evident that she uses religion to mislead and control others. As long as the spirit of Jezebel continues to cause spiritual havoc, there can be no peace among the body of believers.

Jezebel is a deceiver and seductress. This is evident in her final hour as she attempted to put on her best face, so to say. “And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window.” 2Kg. 9:30.

Although author Lesley Hazleton maintains that Jezebel wished to go to her death with her regal dignity intact, she also presents archaeological information that suggests that the queen intended to resemble Astarte, as depicted in Phoenician artwork found in the northern kingdom’s palace at Samaria, when she looked through the window at Jehu. Perhaps she intended to save her own life by deceiving Jehu into thinking that he was going up against a goddess endowed with supernatural powers.

Possibly, Queen Jezebel even felt she was invincible. After putting the mighty prophet Elijah to flight, perhaps she saw herself as the ultimate winner in the contest on Mt. Carmel between YHWH and Ba’al, 1Kg. 18.

Driven by his zeal for YHWH, Jehu gave no heed to her enticement or to her apparent attempt to look like a goddess. (7) Calling on others to stand behind him, two or three eunuchs – people also immune to her seductions – put an end to her evil and cast her down to her death. Likewise, when believers can resist the temptations put forth by this spirit, they have the ability to bring down this demonic stronghold.

In essence, Jezebel is a witchcraft practitioner who also calls herself a prophetess. Thus, we see that she combines religion with occultism, as do many Qabalists. In her pride, she refuses to repent of her evil deeds, Rev. 2:21.

Those who are cast into bed with her commit spiritual fornication by embracing her pagan and occultic practices. YHWH will bring these works into judgment. Those who do not repent of “her works” will face tribulation and see the death of their children, Rev. 2:20-23. Whether the passage speaks symbolically here, we do not know for sure. In any event, we do know, however, that will go badly for those under her control.

In the Apostles’ ministries, it would seem that a Jezebel spirit also controlled the sorcerer Simon Magus, (8) who sought to buy the Holy Spirit as a means to impress others with his supernatural abilities. In response, Simon Peter sharply rebuked him, telling him “For I see that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” Acts 8:23.

So too are those who fall victim to the Jezebel spirit: deep down they may have a hateful, nasty attitude and are enslaved to sin. Employing the kind of guile and trickery as Jezebel used to have righteous Naboth falsely accused and murdered for his vineyard, 1Kg. 21, those exhibiting this spirit are relentless in their pursuits. By the threats breathed against Elijah, 1Kg. 19:2, they are filled with contempt for YHWH’s servants whom they are unable to control and dominate.

“By their fruits, ye shall know them.” Yeshua said in Mat. 7:16a.

Knowing that the Scriptures warn against false brethren, beware of whom you associate with, Mic. 7:5; 2Co. 11:26; Gal. 2:4. Even Yeshua acknowledged that there was a devil among His disciples — Judas, the traitor, John 6:70. As indicated in Rom. 1:28-32, when a believer turns from YHWH’s commandments and gives himself over to the Devil, whether by dabbling with the occult, rebellion, persistent sin, or through evil companionships, a turn for the worse will occur in that person’s character.

When believers delve into the demonic realm, they show signs of ‘turning to the dark side,’ so to say, and become like their “father,” the Devil, John 8:44. Like Jezebel, they may become accusatory, adversarial, conniving, liars, and slanderers. Within their hearts is a blood thirst for revenge and even murder. Driven by their determination to always get their way, they may resort to character assassination to take out anyone who opposes them. Possessed with the spirit of anti-Messiah, they stand against Yeshua and His assembly of believers. From within, they endeavour to undermine it, using prevarications and recriminations as their weapons of choice.

“But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of (Elohim); holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power therefore. From these also turn away. For of these are they that creep into houses, and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1Ti. 3:1-7.

Does this description remind you of anyone you know? Paul prophesied that these characteristics would be prevalent at the end of the age.

So, why would my friend accept a deck of Tarot cards from a “fellow believer” and engage in spell casting and candle magic when the Scriptures plainly tell us otherwise: “prove all things; hold fast that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” 1Th. 5:21-22? It would seem that he allowed “that woman Jezebel” not only to deceive him, but also to bewitch him.

The Torah speaks clearly on the subject in Deu. 18:10-12, “There shall not be found with thee any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination, one that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto YHWH: and because of these abominations YHWH thy Elohim doth drive them out from before thee.”

Aside from the reference to passing sons and daughters through the fire, as done in the worship of Molech, some would say this passage accurately describes practices found within Practical Qabalah – and also within classic witchcraft for that matter. Note how the passage describes those who do these things are an “abomination unto YHWH.” It seems He doesn’t even want to have to look at such people before Him.

The book of Hebrews sternly warns those who backslide into sinning willfully after having learned Scriptural Truth,

“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. A man that hath set at nought Moses law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of (Elohim), and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, (YHWH) shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living (Elohim).” Heb. 10:26-31.

In my research, I was astonished to learn that Tarot has a strong correlation to the Qabalah, namely to the concept of the Sefirotic Tree, or Tree of Life. Even the word “Tarot” may have been derived from Hebrew and might even be related to the word “Torah.” If so, what a wicked twisting of the Truth that would be.

In Tarot, the 22 trumps of the Major Arcana correspond – as with the pathways in the Sefirotic Tree – to the Hebrew alphabet. The four suits – wands, cups, swords, and pentacles — also correspond to the supposed four worlds. In the Minor Arcana, there are 10 numbers: Ace through 10, as within the numeric suites in a standard deck of playing cards. This corresponds to the 10 emanations in the Sefirotic Tree, as discussed in the prior article examining Qabalism.

As one Tarot expert noted, though, the correlation between the Tarot and the Sefirotic Tree is thrown off by the placement of the Fool card:

“But what of the Fool, number Zero? Do we place the Fool at the beginning? If we do place him in this position, then all the following numbers become misplaced. The place of the Fool has remained a problem for all those who seek a kind of Tarot orthodoxy.” (9)

Yes, YHWH certainly does have a sense of humor in confounding the wicked!

So, if one accepts the Sefirotic Tree as valid, it follows then that the Tarot system also is valid. Thus, one thing leads to another. Once one gets on the slippery slope of justifying occultism, then it is only a matter of time before that person becomes a full-blown witch – and with no broom in hand to sweep up the spiritual mess that comes with it.

The situation reminds me of 2Pe. 2:20, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of (the Master) and Saviour (Yeshua the Messiah), they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first.”

Can any good come from such a belief system so riddled with un-Biblical influences? Some people I’ve spoken with on the subject assert that all Qabalism is evil — regardless of how it’s spelled — and that there is nothing good whatsoever about it. They maintained that no good could come from its study and certainly none from its practice.

As for me, my basic position on the Qabalah has remained the same over the years: that the Qabalah should be viewed similarly as other non-canonical writings that may help elucidate a better understanding of the Scriptures. Whereas there may be some important information contained within them, these books are not inspired by the Holy Spirit. Thus, they fail the “absolute truth” test. In that sense, they are not to be taken too seriously.

Among other valuable Biblically related writings are Jewish rabbinic texts including the Talmud, the Apocrypha, Pseudipigrapha, Histories — such as those by Josephus, Eusebius, and Herodotus – and the writings of the Church Fathers. There are numerous Bible study tools available, including commentaries, concordances, dictionaries, lexicons, and exegetical books.

Despite the value of these other writings, there is only one exclusive source of Truth: Sola Scriptura, the Scriptures alone.

Moreover, one’s focus should be on primarily studying the Scriptures, not other writings. They serve to supplement Scriptural understanding but should in no wise draw away our main attention from the primary text necessary for our spiritual edification, the Bible.

Paul warns us about those who would try to derail our Bible-based Faith:

“But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in (Messiah Yeshua). Every scripture inspired of (Elohim) is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. That the man of (Elohim) may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” 1Ti. 3:13-17.

Once, I recall discarding a Bible commentary after discovering that they were written by liberal scholars espousing Higher Criticism. Coming from that mindset, nothing in the commentary seemed to be of any value. It seemed like it was written simply to discredit what the Bible says. Good riddance!

Not everything in the writings mentioned above would be considered edifying. In some cases, as with my discarded Bible commentary, probably hardly anything might be found to be agreeable. Nevertheless, even in those cases, there might still be something of value in them.

For me, of particular interest in the subjects considered part of the Qabalah is gematria, pronounced with a “j” sound, as in “gem.” “Gematria is a form of biblical interpretation in which each Hebrew letter has a numerical value. The gematria of a Hebrew word is used to show its connection to another word of the same numerical value. This method of interpretation dates as far back as the Talmud.” (12)

Space doesn’t permit going into detail here with several examples. One example, though, that interests me regards the Name of the Messiah and its connection to Biblical gematria. The prevailing view in the Hebraic Roots and Messianic movements is that the correct transliteration for the Messiah’s Name is Yeshua, or Y’shua, both spelled in Hebrew yothe-shin-waw-final ayin. The respective gematria numeric equivalents for each letter would be: 10 (yothe) + 300 (shin) + 6 (waw) + 70 (ayin) = 386.

I understand, however, that certain Church Fathers maintained that the actual Name of the Messiah, rendered from Hebrew into Greek as “Iesous,” was the same as Moses’ successor, Joshua. In Num. 13:16, we see where Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by the name Joshua, Strong’s H3091, yothe (10) – hey (5) –waw (6) – shin (300) – final ayin (70). Here the gematria would be 391, reflecting the additional letter hey, missing in “Yeshua.”

While the scribal vowel pointing indicated that the Name is to be pronounced Yehoshua, there is reason to believe the true pronunciation was deliberately obscured. Thus, based on the root word H3467, yasha’, it would seem the actual pronunciation was “Yeshua” — or possibly without the syncopation of the middle vowel: “Yahushua.” In either case, the gematria would remain the same.

While there does not seem to be any great word correlations to either 386 or 391. However, when 391 is broken down into the sum of individual digits, 3+9+1, the result is 13. With the superstitions surrounding the number 13, some might think that this is an unsuitable number to correspond to the Messiah. In Biblical numerology, 13 is the number of rebellion.

Nevertheless, it might be said that this number actually has certain symbolic applications to Yeshua. For one, to surrender all and follow Yeshua is the ultimate form of rebellion against the “god of this world,” 2Co. 4:4. Also, Yeshua paid the price for mankind’s rebellion against YHWH by His death of the tree.

Some of the meanings for the number 13 in gematria based just from the book of Genesis include the following two correlations: (13) These suggest that Yeshua came once and will be coming back a second time. (14)

‱ “I came,” Gen. 48:5
‱ “shall come,” Gen. 49:10

Moreover, the gematria of YHWH is 26, a number that is the double of 13. This correlation suggests the Elohim relationship between the Father and Son. Some Bible commentators have attempted to argue that Yeshua is not YHWH Elohim. However, gematria would suggest the He indeed is, while also affirming Yeshua’s statement in John 14:28 that “the Father is greater than I.”

Of course, the main problem with using gematria is the user’s own subjectivity. This is even admitted by the rabbis. One commented “(W)hoever wants can devise (gimatriya-interpretation) for good or for evil.” Thus, it has been acknowledged that gematria can be twisted into meanings that run counter to the spirit and letter of the Scriptures based on the individual’s particular views and biases. (15)

Admittedly, in gematria and perhaps also with some other aspects of the Qabalah, there are some things of interest that may be worthwhile to investigate further. Nevertheless, each teaching must stand on its own merits, specifically as to whether it is in agreement or disagreement with Scripture. In all things, we must be Berean about our Faith, searching the Scriptures to confirm that our beliefs and practices line up with the Word, Acts 17:10-11. (16)

Obviously, anyone who uses gematria or any type of Biblical numerology as a means to engage in divination or fortune telling would be in violation of plain statements in Scripture prohibiting such actions.

Personally, I am content to wait to learn the mysteries of the universe from the Master of the Universe Himself. That way I will know that I am receiving the right stuff. I don’t mind waiting. In the meantime, I have more than enough materials to use in studying the Bible that could keep me occupied for several lifetimes.

In my opinion, instead of rushing off into the study of Bible mysticism, the serious Bible student would be better served spending years mastering Hebrew and learning the relationships between words and subtleties of syntax in the original tongue. In this regard, the Jewish people have a huge advantage, many having learned elementary Hebrew at an early age. And if that’s not enough to keep one busy, there’s always Greek and Aramaic to be learned too. Why are people so quick to want to learn the advanced-level mysteries of the Bible when they have barely grasped the fundamentals of their faith?

Because there seems to be so much in the Qabalah, as received, that is not in harmony with plain Biblical teachings, we must ask ourselves the question: should Bible teachers also currently be teachers of the Qabalah?

The answer may rest in Mat. 18:6, Mark 9:42, and Luke 17:1-2. In the latter passage, Yeshua makes the following statement,

“And he said unto his disciples, It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come; but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were well for him if a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

To teach the Qabalah to someone who is insufficiently grounded in the Faith only then to see that person become confused and depart from the Faith would indeed be tragic — for both teacher and student.

Even in Judaism, general restrictions were placed on those who could study the Qabalah. According to tradition, students must first be well-schooled in the
Torah (i.e. Talmud), stable, and at least 40 years old. It was also thought that they should be married because of the sexual imagery involved in study of the Zohar. As shown in the movie “Yentl,” based on a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, women were not allowed in the past to be taught either Qabalah or Talmud. Much has changed in this regard during the past century.

Within the Hebraic Roots movement, I am sad to say that I have not always observed good fruits and positive spiritual attitudes coming forth from fellow believers who engage in Qabalistic study. In some instances, it seems a persistent spirit of “Wannabe Judaism” has emerged. Several persons, even entire congregations, have ended up denying Yeshua as their Savior and have gone headlong into converting to rabbinic Judaism. This should come as a great shock to everyone in the Hebraic Roots movement.

Lest I be misunderstood, we can be grateful to the Jewish people for the many treasures they have bestowed on the world — most of all, the Holy Scriptures, Rom. 3:2. However, the same cannot be said regarding Judaism’s many rabbinic traditions, several of which are not in agreement with the Scriptures. If this was a major concern for our Messiah, shouldn’t it also be a concern for you and me?

Perhaps the greatest personal piece of wisdom I learned in my younger years from a certain Torah teacher was “Never defend error.” I trust all those who read this article would agree.

HILUL HASHEM: PROFANATION OF THE NAME

One of the common elements between Qabalists and many in the Hebraic Roots Movements is a propensity for using the name of the Almighty, YHWH. Both recognize the awesome nature and importance of His Name. With Qabalists, however, they view it as the most powerful of the names of power. “The Tetragrammaton (YHWH) was held in great awe for its power over all things in the universe, including demons.” (17)

Many realize that the Third Commandment has been wrongly understood throughout the ages. While the King James Version (KJV) stated that we were not to take His name “in vain,” there was some question as to what exactly that entailed. Many people figured maybe it just meant that they weren’t supposed to swear or cuss using certain words that referred to the Almighty inappropriately.

While that is most certainly true, there’s more to it than that. The word “vain” in Hebrew is shav’, Strong’s H7723, and means emptiness, vanity, falsehood, nothingness, and worthlessness. It is derived from H7722, show’, which means to ravage, desolate, ruin, or wreck.

In attempts to protect the Name of YHWH from desecration, Judaism actually reversed the meaning of the commandment to mean that the Name was not to be used whatsoever. Thereafter, the Name was declared “ineffable” – not to be pronounced. The scribes assisted by obscuring the texts so the correct pronunciation could not be readily determined. Substitutes such as “Adonai” (“my Sovereign,” also translated as “my Lord”) and “HaShem” (literally “The Name”) were used in place of YHWH.

Pronunciation of the Name was restricted to being uttered but once a year: only by the High Priest and only on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur.

Otherwise, its usage was strictly forbidden. Those who spoke the Name were liable to be accused of committing what the religious authorities considered the Unpardonable Sin. When Stephen was accused before the Sanhedrin of blasphemy, they may have “stopped their ears” in Acts 7:57 as a response to his pronouncing the Name of YHWH. Immediately afterward, they rendered their verdict and had him taken away to be stoned.

The Hebrew Scriptures indicate repeatedly that YHWH’s people are to call upon His Name, especially in times of trouble. Ruth 2:4 indicates the greeting “May YHWH be with you!” was likely a common saying in those times. Archaeology also has indicated that the Name may have been used commonly as late as around 600 BCE. (18)

At some point, Qabalists realized that there was enormous power in using the Name. Thus, they began to use it in a way that was not Scripturally intended, namely in magic, spells, incantations, and to command angels and demons.

Prayers featuring various permutations of the Name were devised. It would seem that the Qabalists viewed the Name not as something to be treasured and handled with great care and reverence. Instead, it became like a magic key, something that could be misused to unlock doors to the supernatural realm. Whereas the Name may command power over angels and demons, it is not for us to command them to do our self-serving bidding. (19) Sadly, some could not resist misusing the Name for this purpose.

In his examination of the growing fascination for Qabalism, J.K. McKee commented on the methods attempted by Qabalists to communicate with the Almighty:

“True communion with (Elohim) is described as something that is simply unattainable by mankind, and so humans must use esoteric and mystical methods to commune with Him. These include radical reinterpretations of the Scriptures, taking entire portions of the Hebrew Scriptures, perhaps putting pages of the Bible through some kind of numerical chart to determine one’s future, and even using sĂ©ance-type techniques to communicate with the Higher Power. Certainly, while the study of Jewish mysticism is very complex, when one with a discerning eye looks at some of the practices of them, immediately the Holy Spirit inside the person should be convicting him or her that this is wrong.” (20)

Evidently, the mystics felt their prayers were not being answered so they resorted to more mystical means of communication.

With the growing interest in the Hebraic Roots movement in restoring the Name of YHWH to its rightful usage, there may be some who are drawn to using the Name for magical purposes. Hopefully, they will seriously contemplate their motives before ever engaging in such actions.

Misusing the Almighty’s Name for personal self-aggrandizement is tantamount to inviting a dreadful curse upon one’s self. Just as Elisha’s servant Gehazi was struck with leprosy when he used pretense to take something from Naaman that was not intended for him, 2Kg. 5:21-27, so too we can expect to invite repercussions upon ourselves if we misuse YHWH’s Name for our own selfish vanity.

Yeshua told us that our Heavenly Father cares dearly for us. If we are in need of something, we should humbly ask in the Messiah’s Name for provision from On High. Too often, though, people ask selfishly, desiring to indulge themselves in personal pleasures. They then find that their prayers go unanswered, James 4:1-10.

During his reign as king over Israel, Saul departed from righteousness. In so doing, he cut himself off from our Heavenly Father’s favor. Instead of humbling himself, he became set in his wayward ways. YHWH could no longer work with him. David, a man after His own heart, was chosen to replace him as king. Acting as YHWH’s messenger, the prophet Samuel relayed to Saul YHWH’s verdict:

“And Samuel said, Hath YHWH as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of YHWH? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou hast rejected the word of YHWH, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1Sa. 15:22-23

“YHWH is far from the wicked; but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.” Prv. 15:29.

We can conclude conversely from this verse that the prayers of the wicked are not answered as are the prayers of the righteous. Because the wicked have turned away from YHWH’s righteous way of living, He in turn has rejected them. So, they look to other means TO RECEIVE – the meaning of “Qabalah” — communication from the supernatural realm.

In Saul’s obsession, he consulted the witch of En-Dor in a desperate attempt to contact Samuel for some crucial advice before proceeding into battle. The results were disastrous: he died on the battlefield hours later. Afterward, his body was hung on display by his enemies as they reveled in victory.

Like Saul, people who see their prayers go unanswered turn to the occult for guidance instead of humbling themselves before the Almighty. Because of their unrepentant sinful state, the Scriptures no longer provide the guidance they seek. So, they turn to demons to give them the illusion that they have supernatural powers.

By turning to witchcraft, however, they have signaled their rebellion against YHWH’s throne. Through their actions, they have openly declared their allegiance to Satan. Henceforth, unless they repent, they will be counted among the enemies of the Most High.

ATTEMPTS TO ‘JUSTIFY’ PRACTICAL QABALAH WITH THE TORAH

There was a time not so long ago when good church-going folks knew instinctively not to get involved with things that seemed occultic. Perhaps it was a spirit of discernment that warned them, or possibly it was just an understanding from the Second Commandment that one was not to engage in anything spiritual that was not of the Almighty, even if no graven images were involved.

As the Judeo-Christian foundations of the West continue to crumble, those days are becoming ever farther distant from us. Regrettably, it seems that spiritual discipline and discernment has been clouded over in these times as the “do your own thing” mindset gains greater currency. (21) As people are leaving churches and embracing new spiritual affiliations, they are opening themselves to new beliefs and practices, and also, not surprisingly, new religious traditions.

Sadly, my departed friend was one of those people who ventured down the dark road into Practical Qabalah — essentially into witchcraft. Being a professed Torah keeper, how did he justify reading Tarot cards, casting spells, performing candle magic, and the other occultic stuff he was doing?

Good question.

Tarot card reading is typically presumed to be a form of fortune telling, or soothsaying. But defenders would say that Tarot is used primarily as a means to bring clarity to situations. Regardless of whether that may be its intended purpose, reading Tarot cards is still a form of divination, which involves inquiring into the supernatural realm. Divination literally means to be “inspired by a god.” (22)

How do purported Bible believers inclined toward witchcraft justify divination? Sadly, they twist the Torah to make it say what they wish it to mean. (23)

To begin with, the occultist may point to Gen. 44:15. While confronting his brothers in Egypt, Joseph claimed to have the ability of divination: “And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? Know ye not that such a man as I can indeed divine?”

In this passage, Joseph had not yet made his identity known to his brothers. He may have been stretching the truth in this instance as part of his overall ruse to test them to see whether they had changed since he had last seen them. Whereas he had the gift of prophetic dreams and the ability to interpret the dreams of others, there is no indication in the text that he actually used divination. Nevertheless, it seems he wished to impress upon his brothers that he commanded supernatural abilities, something they rejected earlier with his ability to have prophetic dreams concerning their family.

While Joseph may have set an example of righteousness throughout his life, there can be no doubt that the “evil reports” he brought to his father against his brothers did not help bring peace to an already dysfunctional family. Whereas he surely did not deserve to be sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers, yet perhaps there is more he could have done previously to establish peace between him and them.

Another example from the Torah that may be used in attempts to justify occultic practices is that of Balaam, the foreigner who claimed to be a prophet of YHWH, who was called upon in Num. 22-24 by Balak, king of Moab, to pronounce a curse upon the Israelites. In his desire for collecting “the rewards of divination,” Balaam apparently revealed the Israelites’ weakness for “perverseness” in his prophetic statement in Num. 23:21.

The word “perverse,” however is also used to describe Balaam’s character. In the part of the story after Balaam’s donkey warns him of the death angel who is poised to slay him, we see that the angel tells him “behold, I am come forth for an adversary, because thy way is perverse before me.” Num. 23:32b.

As Jezebel is the undisputed baddest of the ‘bad girls’ of the Bible, Balaam ranks among its most notorious fallen prophets. In 2Pe. 2:16, Balaam is likened to a madman. He accepted Balak’s offer to reward him if he would just curse what YHWH had blessed. Where was his fear of the Most High? It seems he figured that somehow he could still score a big fat paycheck if he would do his prophetic-utterances-thing long enough to say something that Balak would like. Was he so blinded by greed that he really thought he could go up against El Shaddai, the Almighty and win?

Sure enough, using the information provided by Balaam, Balak directed the Moabite women to entice the Israelites into a sexually explicit type of idolatry at Ba’al Peor. As a result, 24,000 Israelites died from the plague that swept through the camp.

Following the mention of Balaam in the Torah, Balaam is specifically named eight times later in the Scriptures. Three times he is mentioned in the NT, each time he is cited as an example of wickedness: 2Pe. 2:15; Jude 1:11; Rev. 2:14. (24)

While Balaam may have had the ability to engage in divination, he certainly is not held up as a righteous example for our emulation. In Num. 31:8, his death comes at the hands of the Israelites in battle as he fought alongside the Midianites.

While Balak sought to hire him to curse YHWH’s people, in the end he seemed to have cursed himself and paid for his evil deed with his life.

Qabalists, as with the practitioners of Satanism, black magic, and voodoo, also have been known to speak vindictive curses on their enemies. Shrouded in secrecy, Qabalists at various times have reportedly pronounced on their perceived enemies a Pulsa diNura curse, an Aramaic word meaning “lashes of fire.”

In so doing, they ask the angels of destruction to inflict the curses found in the Bible upon the “sinner” to be cursed. The intention of the curse is to bring about the person’s death and damnation. Perhaps not surprisingly, a Pulsa diNura appears in the Zohar and also is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud. (25)

Among those who reportedly have had this curse placed on them was Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the linguist primarily responsible for restoring the Hebrew language in the modern state of Israel. Evidently, in his efforts, he offended certain religious Jews, who targeted him with a curse, much like the Jesuits did with their damning “Bell, Book, and Candle” pronouncements against Protestant dissidents branded as “heretics” during the Inquisition.

Other targeted persons include Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin, before his assassination in 1995, and Ariel Sharon, before he lapsed into a lengthy coma in 2006. It is utterly despicable for supposedly Torah-observant people to resort to such witchcraft.

Sadly, there are certain ultra-Orthodox Jews who feel it is their religious duty to stand against the modern state of Israel and its leaders. However, if the Most High considers Israel, the daughter of Zion, to be “the apple of his eye,” then those who oppose it surely stand on dangerous ground. Going against Israel at the end of the age will be like going against Almighty YHWH Himself!

“For thus saith YHWH of hosts: After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which plundered you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them; and ye shall know that YHWH of hosts hath sent me,” Zec. 2:8-9.

As in the story of Balaam, YHWH forbade him to curse those He has not cursed. To do so would be to bring a curse upon one’s self, as per Gen. 12:3. (26) Those who engage in such actions risk provoking the Almighty’s retaliation against them.

What did Yeshua say on the subject? “But I say unto you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.” Luke 6:27-28.

Paul repeats the thought in Rom. 12:14, “Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not.”

It is not easy to show such kindness to those who are spiteful, sarcastic, and verbally abusive, whose mouths spew forth venomous remarks, whose tongues are quick to slander and defame, denigrate and disparage. Nevertheless, this is exactly what is required of us. We are to turn the other cheek. Perhaps through our sufferings they will repent of their malicious words and deeds and undo the hurtful damage of their hate speech.

While on the subject of curses, let us not forget the death curse Jezebel pronounced upon Elijah in 1Kg. 19:2, causing him to flee for his life. Evidently, he expected that she would stand down and concede defeat after hearing the outcome of Elijah’s contest on Mt. Carmel against the priests of Ba’al. Nothing of the sort! Instead, she only came to despise him with all the more fervor. Despite the evidence at Mt. Carmel that YHWH, not Ba’al, was the true Mighty One, she went into denial mode and remained relentless in her desire to eradicate the Yahwistic worship. Both Jezebel and Balaam are cited as spiritual antagonists in the letters to the seven assemblies in Rev. 2-3, thus sealing their evil reputations for all time.

In the end, it is Elijah’s curse against Jezebel in 1Kg. 21:23 that is fulfilled. As Elijah prophesied, most of her body was eaten by dogs, 2 Kg. 9:36-37.

It seems that even Jezebel’s name was prophetic. Various definitions have been proposed, such as “virgin to the lord,” “chaste,” “modest,” or “without cohabitation” based on the apparent original form, Itha-Ba’al (Isha-Ba’al?). Evidently, a Hebrew wordplay was used in which the name was changed in the Bible to I-zevel, or “woman of dung.” (27)

The irony did not escape even an ardent admirer: “Jezebel has been submitted to abjection not once but three times: she has been thrown to the dogs, then eaten by them, then execrated by them. The degradation has finally reached its limited
.Now the dogs’ dung will dry in the sun, to be eroded by the wind into dust, invisible to the human eye. There will be nothing left of Jezebel – no tomb, no monument, no shrine. In the minds of the biblical authors, the gods she represents have been overthrown and trampled, devoured and ejected, to be erased from human memory.”

A most fitting end, I say, to an unrepentant murderous villain!

“Rise up, O YHWH, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” Num. 10:35b.
Some have drawn symbolic comparisons between the harlot queen, Jezebel, and the harlot who rides the beast, Rev. 17. Protestant commentators have long been fond of saying the harlot points to the Roman Catholic Church. Certain similarities are evident between Jezebel and the harlot. This suggests that there also is a connection between the Jezebel spirit and the Anti-Messiah spirit, both of which intend to stamp out the worship of YHWH and His people. For the two to work together, along with the False Prophet of Rev. 16:13, 19:20, spell terrible times of persecution ahead for believers.

A SCRYING SHAME!

Another occultic art favored by Qabalah practitioners is scrying: that is, gazing at crystals or other similar objects as a means of divination or fortune telling. It would seem that some might justify this practice with the Urim and Thummim used by the Levitical High Priest for receiving directions from On High in matters of great importance.

Urim means “lights.” The Urim were connected with the breastplate worn by the High Priest. The Scriptures do not provide the details, but somehow the Urim gave answers or revelations to the questions submitted to it.

Thummim means “perfections.” Thus, by combining the words, Urim and Thummim, it would suggest that a perfect solution to the problem posed could be expected when they were used.

Lest anyone be mistaken, the Urim and Thummim was not some Magic Eightball type of toy, where one could get answers to trivial concerns, like whether rain was expected later in the week, or whether a job promotion was forthcoming, or the highly unlikely prospect of whether the Chicago Cubs would finally win the World Series this year. The High Priest was essentially handling the Light of Truth. Only he was allowed to consult it. It was imperative that before doing so that he was in an absolutely purified state. Anything less might court disaster – as when Nadab and Abihu offered “strange fire” in the Tabernacle unto YHWH, Lev. 10:1.

And disaster is what people, especially professed Bible believers, are inviting upon themselves when they engage in these esoteric Qabalistic, New Age, and occultic practices — especially when they should know better.

And don’t think for a moment that the interest in the Qabalah is just a “Jewish thing.” There is also a centuries-old mystical system known as Christian Qabalah (usually spelled “Cabala” to differentiate it from other Qabalistic systems). Lately, there has been a resurgence of interest among churches in esotericism. Emergent theology, New Age ideology, and practices such as yoga and eastern meditation also are making a profound impact. Not being grounded in the Torah, many churches are vulnerable to this onslaught of occultism. Some Christians may even think that they are covered by grace to venture into these forbidden realms and dabble as they please.

Of course, Christianity has its supernatural deceptions as well. There are those who have received a counterfeit Holy Spirit and seek to impress others with their supposed ability to perform healings and miracles. Some claim that they have a special connection to the Almighty that others don’t have. They attempt to corroborate this assertion by speaking in unknown languages. They may also claim to have received a word from the Most High to share with others. What may really be happening, though, is that Satan has created a deception from the demonic realm to counterfeit the Holy Spirit, 2Co. 11:14-15. (29)

If those persons truly have been given these gifts, then it follows that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are also abundant in their lives.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. And they that are of (Messiah Yeshua) have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk.” Gal. 5:22-25.

Of course, if these fruits aren’t evident, then it would seem that they have received a counterfeit Ruakh HaQodesh and perhaps should even be shunned for their falsehood.

The list of Qabalistic occultic practices hardly ends at those ones mentioned above. Among the other practices and paraphernalia linked to Practical Qabalah are astrology, amulets, incantations, spell casting, red string bracelets, (30) evil eye talismans and jewelry, and using names of power to command angels. Qabalistic magic was said to even be used to create life, as in the legendary tales of golems, monstrous Frankenstein-like creatures made supernaturally from mud to serve a specific purpose, good or bad.

So, this is what one can expect if he or she were to practice Practical Qabalah. Pretty wicked stuff, wouldn’t you say?

Nevertheless, for some people, they simply must have their idols and bow down to them too. Essentially, this is the history of the Israelite people: a history of recurring idolatry, of adopting the pagan practices of the nations around them and making those practices their own. Is there anything new under the sun?

ILLUMINATED WITH DARKNESS

As with other occultic practices, emphasis in Qabalistic practices is accorded the use of candles, evidently to symbolize divine illumination. While I’m personally not opposed to candle-light dinners and emergency candles for when the electricity goes out, using candles ceremonially is another matter. Some research on the subject will show that candles are used for a plethora of ceremonial purposes among pagan and occultic religious systems but not in the Biblical worship of YHWH. (31)

While some Bible translations use the word “candlestick” to describe the construction of the seven-branched oil-burning candelabrum commanded in Exd. 25, the word in Hebrew is menorah, H4500, and refers to the word nir, Strong’s H5216, which means “lamp” or “light.” In Biblical times in the Holy Land, oil lamps, not candles, commonly were used.

With this new understanding came the realization that it would be best not to use candles for my weekly in-home ceremonies to welcome the Shabbat, Kabbalat Shabbat (“Reception of the Sabbath”), and to mark the end of the Shabbat day, Havdalah. For the blessing of the lights, I now use oil lamps. The light symbolizes the Written Word, Psa. 119:105, which is to be our daily guide through life.

Of course, critics may say that I’m accommodating tradition by holding these Shabbat beginning-and-ending ceremonies. It is true that nowhere do the Scriptures command such ceremonies. Nevertheless, they are held in observance of the commandment to keep the Shabbat holy, or set apart, Exd. 20:8; Deu. 5:12. Thus, they complement the commandments without violating them, as required to be a beneficent tradition.

Paul speaks of such customs in 1Co. 11:2; 2Th. 2:15, 3:6. Obviously, he was referring to customs kept in accordance with the Hebrew Scriptures (TaNaK, or the OT). Those other traditions, the ones kept in accordance with Jewish Oral Law and not in agreement with the Written Word, are mentioned in Col. 2:8,

“Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after (Messiah).”

Additionally, from my research for this article, I no longer speak the L’cha Dodi (Come, My Beloved) pronouncement during my weekly Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony at home to begin the 24-hour Shabbat period. To my dismay, I discovered it had an underlying Qabalistic meaning in its use to welcome in the Queen of the Week, a Qabalistic allusion to the Shekhinah Presence. In Biblical allegory, though, the bride is not the Shekhinah, it’s the assembly of believers. So, this was another conflicted tradition that had to be rejected.

Purging out the hidden leaven is a year-around process, not just something done for Passover.

Candle visualization also is something to be wary of it. Different colored candles are used in witchcraft to wish for something specific, such as love, romance, health, happiness, purity, popularity, financial success, etc. As with the teachings promoted in the popular book and DVD “The Secret,” the key is to focus on the candle flame and mentally visualize the object of desire. When the candle flickers out, the request is delivered and the cosmos sets in motion a way to bring about that wish.

Many people who celebrate birthdays by blowing out candles on a birthday cake are unknowingly engaging a rudimentary form of candle magic. Little children are told to make a wish, visualize it (kavanah), and then if they blow out all the candles at once, their wish will come true. Seems harmless, doesn’t it? But then when Job’s children – who should have known better – were having a festive birthday celebration, destruction came upon them unawares, Job. 1:4-5, 13, 18-19.

DESTRUCTION

As it turns out, this article is being written during the week of Tisha b’Av, the ninth day of the month Av. This is the annual day when the Jewish people commemorate the destructions of the two Jerusalem Temples, both of which occurred during the same month and day, with fasting and solemnity.

The Bible records the destruction of the first Temple, the Temple built by King Solomon. YHWH allowed its destruction by the Babylonians of His people’s recurring idolatry. It seems the Jezebel spirit persisted on well after her death.

The second Temple was remodeled by Herod the Great during Yeshua’s lifetime. While the Jewish people had put away their graven images, they embraced a new idol: rabbinic traditions, several of which contradict the Written Word. Yeshua pointed this out to the Pharisees repeatedly, with statements such as found in Mat. 15:3, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of Elohim because of your tradition?”

As we have seen, the teachings of the Qabalah, the mystical “received tradition,” along with the tradition of the Oral Law, later codified as the Talmud, were both in circulation during Yeshua’s lifetime, prior to the Second Temple’s destruction.

Unwilling to give up their traditions, many of His own people rejected Yeshua’s message. Whereas there are certain anti-Semites, many of them probably professing Christians who falsely believe that the Almighty allowed the Romans to destroy Herod’s Temple 40 years later, in 70 CE, as retribution against the Jews for supposedly being “Christ killers.”

From a Jewish perspective, the Second Temple was destroyed because of divisions and unwarranted hatred among Jews against one another. Perhaps the Jews would have prevailed in their struggle against the Romans had the people embraced Yeshua’s Torah message to love YHWH and to love His neighbor as the two greatest commandments to be followed, Mat. 22:35-40. “On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets.” (v. 40).

As symbolized by the two tables of stone Moses received, Yeshua summarized the entirety of the Hebrew Scripture with two simple commandments, both united under the theme of projecting love from deep inside one’s self outward toward Elohim and toward one’s neighbor.

From a Nazarene perspective, the destruction of the Second Temple was a fulfillment of the warning in Deu. 18:18-19 for not heeding the message of “the prophet,”

“I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”

That particular prophet, the prophet likened unto Moses, was none other than Yeshua the Messiah. Most of his countrymen, it seems, chose not to hearken and obey. As a result, destruction came upon them 40 years later, the Biblical number of probation.

By their traditions, the people added to the Torah, which is expressly forbidden in Deu. 4:2. In so doing, they had broken the first great commandment. By the way they treated one another, they had violated the second. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments;” — this is a recurring theme throughout the Bible, Exd. 20:6; Deu. 5:10, 11:13-28; Neh. 1:9; Prv. 4:4; John 8:42, 14:15, 15:10.

Sadly, though, YHWH’s love for His future bride often goes unrequited.

AFTERMATH: THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER

This article is not intended to accuse and condemn certain believers for the direction away from the Torah they have gone. My purpose is to call those who have departed from the Way to forgiveness, to realize their error, and to repent of it before it is too late.

In a commentary I did earlier this year on an encyclopedia article on magic and witchcraft during Biblical times, I was surprised afterward with the apparent lack of interest among those who received it. It was almost as if many were unconcerned about the inroads that these foreign, unBiblical practices have made into the Hebraic Roots movement.

Recently, for the local Independence Day celebration in nearby Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a street festival was held downtown along the banks of the Susquehanna River. Several stages were set up for musical bands. There were carnival rides, vendors selling their wares, food stands, and the usual festive activities.

A headline in the newspaper’s weekly entertainment guide previewing the event caught my attention: “Festival of India, A celebration of culture.” (32) The listing reported the following:

“
(T)he second Festival of India will offer up to 1,500 free meals on a first-come, first-served basis as well as information about India’s spiritual and cultural heritage. People can learn yoga and about Hinduism or try on traditional Indian clothing.”

The event was sponsored by a certain institute. It was set to begin with a traditional Chariot Parade, or Rath Yatra.

A Web site address was provided for further information. When I looked it up, my initial suspicions were confirmed. This institute’s objective was to teach “Krishna Consciousness.” In other words, it was part of the Hare Krishna outreach. I encountered one of these types of events several years ago in Philadelphia while visiting a museum there. From the newspaper description, it sounded like a virtual duplicate of the event I witnessed.

One might think there would be some public outcry over a notorious cult setting up shop right alongside a festival area. Well, if there was any outcry from the public or from local churches, I surely didn’t hear any. I imagine the 1,500 first-come, first-served meal patrons were only too happy to get themselves a free lunch.

Personally, I’m very fond of Indian cuisine, but I wasn’t about to partake of food that more than likely was dedicated to idols, as we are warned against in Rev. 2:20. Yuk!

One of the newspaper articles shared the following information from one of the persons in charge of the food’s preparation:

‘“We will cook the food in a temple in Philadelphia and transport it to Harrisburg.’ Much like kosher cooking, the manner in which the food is prepared is vitally important.

‘“[The food] is prepared in a clean atmosphere, and those who cook it take part in a mental and physical cleansing beforehand,’ (the spokesman) said. “As it is prepared, the mood is very reverent. We view it as gift to the people and to God; it is made with love.’

“‘This tradition of mindful eating is called prasadam, which translated means “The Lord’s Mercy” and is defined as food prepared with pure consciousness and ingredients as an act of reverence and offered with love to God.’”

Food prepared as a gift to god? Hmmm
(No, not Mmmm!).

Here we see the importance of calling the Almighty by His Name YHWH and not by the title Ba’al, meaning Lord. “And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of YHWH, Thou dost call Me — My husband, And dost not call Me any more — My lord (ba’ali). And I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered any more by their name.” Hos. 2:16, Young’s Literal Translation (YNG). (33)

Anyway, I cited this event because of the way in which it was promoted: like another entertainment event, only with a free exotic meal thrown in. As far as I know, there was no outcry from the local churches. If anything, the local community seems only too quick to be supportive of such events since it shows recognition for an ethnic culture.

This is not to say we should as a rule be shunning cultural events. In this case, though, it seems to me that the event was more about deceptive religious proselytization than it was about promoting culture.

Nevertheless, is this event much different than what Bible believers are currently facing? This is an example of why we must be vigilant against the Jezebel spirit and not allow ourselves to be cast into a bed with her. (34) Committing fornication with her is symbolic for engaging in her sins, which YHWH looks upon with disgust, Rev. 2:20-25.

When the Jezebel spirit seduces us with new teachings and ways of practicing our faith, what do we do? As Paul observed in Berea, “they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11b.

We should hold up every new teaching to the light of the Scriptures, as did the Bereans. Or do we let the “deep teachings” tickle our ears, so that we seek out even more with which to indulge ourselves while ignoring the fundamental lessons essential to our spiritual growth?

J. K. McKee writes: “If there is any lesson to be learned by the present infestation of mystical ideas in the Messianic movement, it is that we must reexamine ourselves to make sure that we have the proper motivations for being where we are today. Are we truly here so that we can become more Messiah-like, and grow and mature in our faith?” (35)

There’s a popular saying, “People believe what they want to believe.” Among Bible believers, I would hope the prevailing saying is “Be Berean” when it comes to putting our faith to the test. This is especially true in matters involving philosophy, mysticism, esotericism, and the occult. The Devil is using every trick in the book to wage war against us and then devour us. If he can cloak mysticism under the mantle of truth to overthrow us, he surely will.

Take heed that you be not deceived.

ENDNOTES

(1) “Jezebel, The Untold Story of the Bible’s Harlot Queen,” by Lesley Hazleton. Doubleday, 2007. The book’s author maintains that Jezebel also was an ardent worshiper of Astarte, Ba’al’s consort and may have even deliberately attempted to make herself look like Astarte according to images of the Canaanite goddess.

(2) More about the acrimonious nature of the Jezebel spirit can be found in my article “Hatred among Brethren,” proclaimliberty.info. Much of the material presented is cited from two of Bree Keyton’s books on spiritual warfare: “Jezebel vs. Elijah” and “Stripes, Nails, Thorns, and Blood.”

(3) “Jezebel” online article, Easton’s Bible Dictionary.

(4) Hazleton.

(5) Ibid, p. 12.

(6) “The Spirit of Jezebel” online article by Jon Hamilton.

(7) This incident is reminiscent of Acts 12:21-23 in which Herod arrayed himself in royal finery and spoke as if he were a god. The passage says that as a result he was struck down by an angel and died a horrible death.

(8) For more about Simon Magus, see the Sighted Moon Newsletter article at https://sightedmoon.com/sightedmoon_2015/?page_id=662.

(9) “The Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot” by Rachel Pollack. Element, 1999.

(10) Mark 9:47 would seem to support this conclusion.

(11) “The Effects of Mysticism and Gnosticism on the Messianic Movement” online article by J.K. McKee.

(12) “The Everything Kabbalah Book” by Mark Elber. Adams Media, 2006, p. 30.

(13) Cited from “The Spice of Life – Gematria” by Gutman G. Locks. Judaica Press, 1985.

(14) Interestingly, Gen. 49:10 also contains a Messianic prophecy: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come: And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.”

(15) Locks, introductory section p. XXIV. The quotation cites R. Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Torah commentary, 1977.

(16) This statement is made in acknowledgement of William Schnoebelen’s well-articulated defense of Qabalah study in his online article “Confessions of an ‘Ex-Qabalist.” In that my friend Bill is a former high-level Satanist, he has the advantage of being readily able to discern the pagan and occultic elements within the Qabalah that many others might not have to detect. My main issue with Qabalism among fellow believers is the teaching of its traditional belief systems and, of course, its occultic practices — not one’s personal study of it when used to further his understanding of the Holy Scriptures. True, “no one is forcing anyone to study Kabbalah,” as he says in his article. However, at the same time, I maintain that we also have a duty to warn fellow believers not to allow their Hebraic Roots curiosity to lead them to spiritual derailment.

(17) “Kabbalah” article, The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, Facts on File, 1989.

(18) For instance, in 1979 Holy Land archaeologist Gabriel Barkay discovered within the Jerusalem vicinity a small silver item, possibly used as an amulet, that had a condensed version of the priestly blessing of Num. 6 in Paleo Hebrew letters. Of considerable interest and surprise was that the inscription also included the Name of YHWH.

(19) Yeshua has commanded us to cast out demons in His Name, which means “YHWH shall save.” See Mark 16:17; Luke 10:17.

(20) McKee article.

(21) This corresponds to the sad commentary of the times placed at the end of the book of Judges: “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Jdg. 21:25.

(22) “Divination” entry, Online Etymological Dictionary.

(23) This predilection is not unlike Satan’s propensity to misquote Scripture when tempting an individual to sin.

(24) See the article “Deceiving and Being Deceived: Discerning the False Prophets among Us,” proclaimliberty.info.

(25) “Pulsa diNura” article, worldlingo.com

(26) More on the dangers of cursing can be found in the article “Blessings and Cursings” at proclaimliberty.info.

(27) Hazleton, p. 2.

(28) Ibid, p. 189.

(29) For more about “Healings in the Name of Satan“, see the Sighted Moon Newsletter article

(30) During my most recent trip to the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, I unexpectedly encountered someone along one of the pedestrian walkways who grabbed hold of my wrist and attempted to place a Qabalistic red string bracelet on it intended for warding off the effects of the evil eye. “Get your hands off from me!” I ordered, telling the person that wearing one as protection against the evil eye was unBiblical, not to mention that my permission was not even requested. The KJV has references to the evil eye in three passages: Prv. 23:6, 28:22; Mark 7:22. While a “scarlet thread” is mentioned on several occasions, it is never used in the Bible as a talisman against the evil eye. To my amusement, after the red string bracelets were put on the wrists on people passing by, someone would then come up and request five shekels as payment. So, it would seem that their motives for putting the red string bracelets on others were not entirely altruistic.

(31) Perhaps a good place to begin researching this subject is with the Wikipedia.org articles entitled “Candle” and “Ceremonial Use of Lights.” The Christian Website demonbuster.com asserts that demons are typically attracted to the use of candles and incense. Thus, they should not be used at all. It should be noted, though, that incense was used according to the Scriptures in the Tabernacle and in the Jerusalem Temples. There also is no prohibition against using candles for practical lighting purposes. For more information about the questionable use of candles within a Hebraic Roots context, see the Sighted Moon Newsletter article at:

(32) News stories by Alexis Dow Campbell and David N. Dunkle in the July 1, 2010 “Go!” entertainment section of the Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA.

(33) To the astonishment of many, the deistic term “God” also is problematic. See the footnote for Gad, pronounced the same as God, in Isa. 65:11 in the most recent edition of the NKJV. Interestingly, the term used in several English translations is “Fortune.” If we connect God with Fortune, it would seem that the saying on U.S. currency could then read “In Fortune We Trust.” Essentially, for many in the U.S. that sums up the so-called American Dream – to make for themselves a financial fortune.

(34) The Aramaic-English New Testament, compiled, edited, and translated by Andrew Gabriel Roth, 2008. The AENT uses “coffin” instead of “bed” in Rev. 2:22. Alternative translations from the Greek are “sickbed” or “bed of suffering.”

(35) McKee article.


 

Triennial Torah Portion

We continue this weekend with our regular Triennial Torah reading which can be found online.
We are now in our 22nd week of this 3 œ year study.


Gen 24

We read now of Abraham securing his servant to find a wife for Isaac back amongst Abraham’s people but the servant in no ways was to take Isaac back there. As the promises from Yahovah were for this land of Israel and for Abraham’s descendants.

As to raising a hand; or placing his hand under the thigh. In making an oath, it was customary to raise the right hand. Yahovah speaks of himself as doing this, symbolically.

(De 32: 40 ‘For I lift My hand to the heavens, And shall say: As I live forever, Isaiah 62:8 ???? has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength,)

The angel in Daniel’s vision raised both his right hand and his left to heaven to utter an oath. (Daniel 12: 7 And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, and he held up his right hand and his left hand to the heavens, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it would be for a time, times, and half a time.)

Another method of confirming an oath was to place one’s hand under the other’s thigh (hip), as Abraham’s steward did in swearing that he would get a wife for Isaac from Abraham’s relatives (Genesis 24:2, 9), and as Joseph did for Jacob in swearing not to bury Jacob in Egypt. (Genesis 47:29-31)

The word “thigh” applies to the upper part of the leg from the hip to the knee, in which the femur is located. According to the Jewish rabbi Rashbam, this method of swearing was used when a superior adjured an inferior, such as a master his servant or a father his son, who also owes him obedience. And according to another Jewish scholar, Abraham Ibn Ezra, it was the custom in those days for a servant to take an oath in this manner, placing his hand under his master’s thigh, the latter sitting upon his hand. This signified that the servant was under his master’s authority.

Source.—The Soncino Chumash, edited by A. Cohen, London, 1956, p. 122. and the scriptures cited – please look them up in your own Bible.

Read more: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/509760#ixzz0w2bxOmal
We can also read in Mathew 5: 33 “Again, you heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to ????.’ 34 “But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by the heaven, because it is Elohim’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Yerushalayim, for it is the city of the great Sovereign; 36 nor swear by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black. 37 “But let your word ‘Yea’ be ‘Yea,’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ And what goes beyond these is from the wicked one

I would like you all to take notice of where the servant of Abraham went in verse 10. He went to Nahor. So many bible commentaries tell you that Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldeans. And they will then direct you to Ur in the land of Summer to a place just north of what is now call Basra in Iraq. This Ur near Basra is not where Abraham came from.

Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldeans who lived in region of Southern Turkey. To this day there is a city there and it is called Urfa and it has a huge mosque built over the cave in which Abraham was born. To help add to this proof in the area of Urfa are other cities named after ancestors of Abraham. The Tel of Terah, Suruc, Haran and Nahor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Eanl%C4%B1urfa
The Unnamed Servant traveled with a caravan of men and camels to Upper Mesopotamia, to “Aram of the Rivers” (Mesopotamia). Aram Naharaim is the area of Mesopotamia bordered by the Euphrates and Habur Rivers, near Haran, Abraham’s home before leaving for Canaan. The city of Abraham’s brother Nahor was a site on the border of modern day Turkey and Syria. That the servant took ten camels loaded with riches is evidence of Abraham’s wealth.

Haran was an ancient city of strategic importance, now a village, in south-eastern Turkey. It lies along the Balikh River, 24 miles (38 km) southeast of Urfa. The town was located on the road that ran from Nineveh to Carchemish and was regarded as of considerable importance by the Assyrian kings. Its chief cult in Assyrian times was that of the moon god. It is frequently mentioned in the Bible; Abraham’s family settled there when they left Ur of the Chaldeans (Genesis 11:31-32).

We can read of Abraham ancestors in Genesis 11: 10 This is the genealogy of Sh?m: Sh?m was a hundred years old and brought forth Arpak?shad?, two years after the flood. Arpakshad is the ancestor of the Chaldeans who lived in southern Turkey.

12 And Arpak?shad? lived thirty-five years, and brought forth Shelah?.
14 And Shelah? lived thirty years, and brought forth ?b?er.
16 And ?b?er lived thirty-four years, and brought forth Peleg?.
18 And Peleg? lived thirty years, and brought forth Re?u.
20 And Re?u lived thirty-two years, and brought forth Serug?.
22 And Serug? lived thirty years, and brought forth Nah?or. 23 And after he brought forth Nah?or, Serug? lived two hundred years, and brought forth sons and daughters. 24 And Nah?or lived twenty-nine years, and brought forth Terah?. 25 And after he brought forth Terah?, Nah?or lived one hundred and nineteen years, and brought forth sons and daughters. 26 And Terah? lived seventy years, and brought forth Ab?ram, Nah?or, and Haran. 27 And this is the genealogy of Terah?: Terah? brought forth Ab?ram, Nah?or, and Haran. And Haran brought forth Lot.

In Deuteronomy 26 we read of the blessing we receive once we have done certain duties. But the prayer starts out declaring from where we come. ‘My father was a perishing Aramean,

1 “And it shall be, when you come into the land which ???? your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, 2 that you shall take some of the first of all the fruits of the soil which you bring from your land that ???? your Elohim is giving you, and shall put it in a basket and go to the place where ???? your Elohim chooses to make His Name dwell there. 3 “And you shall come to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I shall declare today to ???? your Elohim that I have come to the land which ???? swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 “And the priest shall take the basket from your hand and place it before the altar of ???? your Elohim. 5 “And you shall answer and say before ???? your Elohim, ‘My father was a perishing Aramean, and he went down to Mitsrayim and sojourned there with few men. And there he became a nation, great, mighty, and numerous. 6 ‘But the Mitsrites did evil to us, and afflicted us, and imposed hard labour on us. 7 ‘Then we cried out to ???? Elohim of our fathers, and ???? heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression. 8 ‘And ???? brought us out of Mitsrayim with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, with great fear and with signs and wonders. 9 ‘And He brought us to this place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” 10 ‘And now, see, I have brought the first-fruits of the land which You, O ????, have given me.’ Then you shall place it before ???? your Elohim, and bow down before ???? your Elohim, 11 and shall rejoice in all the good which ???? your Elohim has given to you and your house, you and the L?wite and the stranger who is among you. 12 “When you have completed tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the L?wite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within your gates and have been satisfied, 13 then you shall say before ???? your Elohim, ‘I have put away the set-apart portion from my house, and also have given it to the L?wite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your command which You have commanded me. I have not transgressed Your commands, nor have I forgotten. 14 ‘I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for any unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of ???? my Elohim, I have done according to all that You have commanded me. 15 ‘Look from Your set-apart dwelling place, from the heavens, and bless Your people Yisra’?l and the land which You have given us, as You swore to our fathers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ 16 “Today ???? your Elohim is commanding you to do these laws and right-rulings. And you shall guard and do them with all your heart and with all your being. 17 “You have today caused ???? to proclaim to be your Elohim, and to walk in His ways and guard His laws, and His commands, and His right-rulings, and to obey His voice. 18 “And ???? has caused you to proclaim today to be His people, a treasured possession, as He has spoken to you, and to guard all His commands, 19 so as to set you high above all nations which He has made, for a praise, and for a name, and for esteem, and for you to be a set-apart people to ???? your Elohim, as He has spoken.”

All of the preceding is to show you that the Cities of Haran Terah Seruc and Nahor are all near Ur of the Chaldeans. The Aramean also dwelt in this same area and it is from them that Abraham comes. Southern Turkey just North of the present Syrain border.

From verse 11 to verse 25 we are once again shown how hospitality is to be given to those strangers in our land. Rebeccah was very hospitable.

We are also introduced to Rebeccah’s brother Laban who will play a part when Jacob returns to this land.

In verse 60 we read of the blessing that goes to Rebeccah after she accepted the offer to go back and marry Isaac. 60 And they blessed Rib?qah and said to her, “Let our sister become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your seed possess the gates of those who hate them.”

This is an important prophetic message and it tells you where you will find the descendants of Isaac. They will possess the gates of their enemies. Stephen Collins has a number of excellent books on this subject which you all need to read. They can be ordered from him at http://www.stevenmcollins.com/index.html

Others you can read online about the ten Lost tribes are; http://www.britam.org/proof.html ; http://jewsandjoes.com/the-10-lost-tribes-of-israel.html

http://www.britam.org/Proof/Blessings/blessGates.html
Abraham was told that his seed would inherit the gate of his enemies:

[Genesis 22:16]
AND SAID, BY MYSELF HAVE I SWORN, SAITH THE LORD, FOR BECAUSE THOU HAST DONE THIS THING, AND HAST NOT WITHHELD THY SON, THINE ONLY SON:
<>: by Myself God is eternal and so is the promise. The promise was now made UNCONDITIONAL and IRREVOCABLE. It had to be fulfilled as in part it has been.

[Genesis 22:17]
THAT IN BLESSING I WILL BLESS THEE, AND IN MULTIPLYING I WILL MULTIPLY THY SEED AS THE STARS OF THE HEAVEN, AND AS THE SAND WHICH IS UPON THE SEA SHORE; AND THY SEED SHALL POSSESS THE GATE OF HIS ENEMIES;
<>: Abraham was promised that his descendants would control strategic points giving him an edge over actual and potential adversaries.

THE GATE OF THOSE WHO HATE THEM

The son of Abraham was Isaac.

Isaac married Rebecca who it was predicted would become the mother of ‘alfei revava’ or thousands of ten thousands (24:60) and that her seed would possess the gate of those who hate them(24:60).

[Genesis 24:60]
AND THEY BLESSED REBEKAH, AND SAID UNTO HER, THOU ART OUR SISTER, BE THOU THE MOTHER OF THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS, AND LET THY SEED POSSESS THE GATE OF THOSE WHICH HATE THEM.
These prophecies meant that the promised seed would possess international thoroughfares and vantage points of strategic importance as the USA and Britain (and only they) have done. Obtaining bases and control over international strategic points is still a fundamental part of American and British foreign policy and military strategy. They are unique in this matter.

GATE OF YOUR ENEMIES

Abraham had been promised that his seed would possess the gate of his enemies and Rebecca likewise was promised that her seed would possess the gate of those that hate them. The promise to possess the gate of enemies refers to the possession of strategic points that allow access to or control over thoroughfares of supply or the interior of a country or something similar. This is how Rabbinical Commentators understood it, for instance it was said that the blessing was partially fulfilled in the time of Solomon by Solomon building the city of Tadmor in Northern Syria. Possession of Tadmor enabled Solomon to control the passage of caravans bearing merchandise and traveling along caravan-routes through the desert. At that time the spice trade between the Far East, India, and the West was very important and it was conducted via the desert routes.

In the past Britain and the USA controlled every important international strait and thoroughfares: Examples are Hong Kong, Singapore, Gibraltar, Falklands, Panama, Philippines, The Suez Canal, Malta, Heligoland, Cyprus, etc.- Everywhere where there was a strategic point of international importance it was in every case under official or at least de facto British or American control.

Even now many of these places are still controlled by the USA or Britain. The USA has bases all over the world. The USA does not always publicize the existence of these bases but they are known about. The host countries to whom these bases technically belong have only limited control over them. They cannot just tell the USA to leave. In some cases the host countries are open enemies of the USA and in others they are potential enemies. Even so, they have no real say on a day-to-day basis concerning what the USA does or does not do with these bases, and on them.

The USA has the Wheeler Air Base in Libya, it has a base in Cuba, it has bases in Japan, bases in islands off Japan, in the Pacific Ocean, in the Indian Ocean, in every Sea and in every Ocean, in Greenland, in Saudia Arabia, in the Persian Gulf, in northern Iraq (i.e. Kurdistan); It has all kinds of facilities of strategic importance all over the world, not all of which are publicized.

The host nations (as we said) in which these bases are located are often Americas enemies but they still can do little concerning what America does in these bases. They cannot get America out though these bases potentially allow America access to their vital points. In other words they allow America access. They allow America, if necessary, to come in. They are gates. They are the gate of your enemies that was promised to the Chosen People and these promises have been fulfilled through Britain and America.

America and Britain are the only countries who have rights of this type on such an international scale and they are the only nations where these arrangements have become a natural integrated part of foreign and military policy.

In the past Britain ruled the waves and all the major Sea-lanes and Sea passes were under Britains or the USAs control. Nowadays sea-movement is less important than it used to be. Nevertheless, Space is important. The USA has control of Space. It has Satellites and Missiles and a Space-orientated -infrastructure that allows it access by satellite to most places of the world: -for the purposes of attack or at least of surveillance. Through its satellites the USA (if it so wishes) can take very-close-up photographs of a lot of areas. In some cases, not only can they see soldiers marching below but they can even discern what signs-of-rank the soldiers filmed bear on their shoulders.

In other words the USA has gates – meaning avenues of entry. It has means of access to all of its actual and potential enemies. The possession of these gates (of option of entry into these areas) does not guarantee victory in War but it is an advantage. Other countries have got space-programs of their own but none of them so far have achieved anything like the USA. -Not that they are less gifted. It just was not there. They lacked the resources and inclination at the right time. Even when they become powerful other nations rely on other means of influence, defense, or coercion.

The principle of possessing a gate or potential point of access to a strategic position is not applied by other nations. It is not part of their traditional Strategic Orientation, Military, or Foreign Policy. Other nations had Empires and globe-encompassing policies. Examples include the Ottoman Turks, Russia, Germany, France, etc. These were all great and formidable powers. None of them applied the principle of possessing gates on a large scale and first preference as part of their overseas policy. This principle however is and always has been an integral aspect of the very pattern of thinking in British and American orientation. It was always that way. The Blessing to possess the gates of your enemies was pertinent to the British and Americans and was not applicable to other nations.

Another aspect of gates of your enemies is access to information and intelligence concerning the intentions of real and potential adversaries. In the First and Second World Wars it will remain a matter of debate amongst military historians as to whether or not the military abilities of the Allies were relatively superior (both sides made terrible mistakes) or whether their ultimate victory was due to chance, i.e. direct Divine intervention. At all events it would be generally agreed that the Allied Intelligence services were superior and much more successful. The allies had much better results when it came to knowing enemy movements, (e.g. the use of Radar), the breaking of enemy codes, divining the intentions of the enemy, and deceiving the enemy as to ones own intentions.

Stephen J. Spykerman in an article (A RULER OF NATIONS) in our magazine Brit-Am Truth no.7 reports:

 

It should be pointed out that Israeli Intelligence is also quite good and the USA would be better off if it both encouraged and relied more upon it and overlooked any indiscretions it might commit.

More Sources

Adapted from Biblical Truth by Yair Davidiy, chapter three:
[Genesis 24:60]
AND THEY BLESSED REBEKAH, AND SAID UNTO HER, THOU ART OUR SISTER, BE THOU THE MOTHER OF THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS, AND LET THY SEED POSSESS THE GATE OF THOSE WHICH HATE THEM.

<>: This blessing was mentioned above in Genesis 22:17 where it speaks of possessing The gate of his enemies. This means strategic thoroughfares such as Panama, Gibraltar, Falklands, Suez, Malta, etc. In the past Britain controlled nearly all the major international thoroughfares and strategic points. In 1890 strategic gates owned by Britain included Malta, Gibraltar, Aden, Heligoland (off the German coast), the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, India, New Zealand, Canada. To this list can be added numerous other strategic points that were subsequently obtained. The USA followed the same strategy as Britain. Major gates once owned by the USA include the Panama Canal and the Philippine Islands and numerous island bases throughout the world. Between Britain and the USA every single major strategic international by-pass was at some time or other under their control. Even now, the USA has numerous strategically located overseas bases all over the world that it can employ to penetrate the territory of potential enemies.

An article in Counter Punch of February 2, 2002 by Zoltan Grossman (New US Military Bases: Side Effects or Causes of War?) described the US practice of acquiring the gate of his enemies:

Wars for Bases.

<Indeed, the establishment of new bases may in the long run be more critical to U.S. war planners than the wars themselves, as well as to enemies of the U.S. &This is not to say that all U.S. wars of the past decade have been the result of some coordinated conspiracy to make Americans the overlords of the belt between Bosnia and Pakistan. But it is to recast the interventions as opportunistic responses to events, which have enabled Washington to gain a foothold in the middle ground between Europe to the west, Russia to the north, and China to the east, and turn this region increasingly into an American sphere of influence.The series of interventions have also virtually secured U.S. corporate control over the oil supplies for both Europe and East Asia. It’s not a conspiracy; it’s just business as usual. >>

The above article in effect says that the acquirement of control over the gates of your enemies is a major factor of US policy or at all events an outcome of this policy almost forced upon the USA by circumstance. This is both a fulfillment of the blessings to the seed of Abraham and Also an identifying characteristic.

According to official reports for the year 2002: The USA has major bases in Germany designed to support forces throughout Europe, Africa, and the Mediterranean. The USA has bases in Hungary, Bosnia, Panama, in Saudi Arabia, in Northern Iraq, in Central Asia, in Guam in the Western Pacific, in Iceland, Italy, Spain, Libya, Cuba, Turkey, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, and elsewhere. American fleets and aircraft carriers patrol the worlds oceans ever-ready to strike anywhere necessary.

By way of illustration, an official description of just a section of the USA dispositions says that :

The USA bases and dispositions are coordinated with those of Britain and in many ways the two powers supplement each other everywhere. The USA military is also coordinated in many ways with that of the State of Israel which provides a back-up anchorage in the Middle East linking Asia, Africa, and Europe. The State of Israel through its research abilities and industrial feedback also helps ensure that USA armaments will be the best that exist.

On 11th September, 2001, the Twin Towers in New York were blown up by two terrorist-captured planes manned mostly by Saudi Arabians crashing into them and the subsequent loss of much life and property. As a result the USA and Britain attacked the ruling powers of Afghanistan who had backed the attack. A consequence of this war was described by Leonid Shebarshin in a Russian intelligence-linked weekly named Zavtra (14th September, 2002):

 

According to the above report, the USA and Britain had established gates giving a strategic advantage, if ever needed, against Russia, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and every other potential power in Asia.

The American Space Program to a degree serves the same purpose of acquiring gates since the USA is enabled to oversee the activities of its enemies and to a degree eventually target them if necessary from outer space.

This practice of acquiring the GATES of potential adversaries, of THOSE WHICH HATE THEM, was always a fundamental pillar of American and British foreign and military policy. It was and still is unique to them and they succeeded in it. Britain and America received the blessings of Israel. Their populations MUST comprise the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.

1Sam 1-2

I Samuel 1:1 “Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.”

The place “Ramathaim-zophim” are “the two (or double) heights of the watchers”. The “watcher” is a prophet or an angel that is to stand guard for the protection of the community, to watch for the approaching of the enemy. We will see some prophecy here, for Ephraim is the largest of the tribes, and the tribe that was to have the double portion, as was committed by Jacob [Israel] when he passed the blessings of the the Abrahamic covenant on to Ephraim, as recorded in Genesis 48:17-20.

Here in the beginning of Samuel we are told how Elkahnah and Hannah would go up yearly to Shiloh. As we have said before the Ark was kept at Shiloh during this time and this is where the Nation of Israel came to keep the Feast of Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles. “Shiloh” and “Sabbath” are both words for “rest”.

Hannah prayed for a Son and gave an oath that he would not cut his hair. This is a Nazarite vow.

Nazarite Laws

—Biblical Data:
Three restrictions are imposed upon the Nazarite, according to Num. vi.: he may not take wine, or anything made from grapes; he may not cut the hair of his head; he may not touch the dead, not even the body of his father or mother. If a Nazarite has become unclean by accident, he must offer a sacrifice and begin the period of his vow anew. He is “holy unto the Lord” (Num. vi. 8), and the regulations which apply to him actually agree with those for the high priest and for the priests during worship (Lev. x. 8 et seq., xxi.; Ezek. xliv. 21). In ancient times the priests were persons dedicated to God (Ezek. xliv. 20; I Sam. i. 11), and it follows from the juxtaposition of prophets and Nazarites (Amos ii. 11-12) that the latter must have been regarded as in a sense priests. Young men especially, who found it difficult to abstain from wine on account of youthful desire for pleasure, took the vow. The most prominent outward mark of the Nazarite was long, flowing hair, which was cut at the expiration of the vow and offered as a sacrifice (Num. l.c.; Jer. vii. 29).

In Ancient Israel.
The history of Nazariteship in ancient Israel is obscure. Samson was a Nazarite, whose mother abstained from wine during her pregnancy. His superhuman strength lay in his long, unshorn locks (Judges xiii. et seq.). Samuel’s mother promised to dedicate him to God during his whole life, saying, “There shall no razor come upon his head” (I Sam. i. 11);

Read more: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=N&artid=142#ixzz0w3AkNEVf

“Samuel” in the Hebrew tongue “Shemuel” means, “asked of El Yahovah”, or “Yahovah heard”.

Once again we seem to have a theme in our studies as in Genesis it was the making of a vow by placing the hands of Abraham’s servant under his thighs and now Hannah promising to give Samuel to Yahovah once He has blessed her with a child. And Hannah keeps her word.

In verse 24 it says three bulls 24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ?phah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the House of ???? in Shiloh. And the child was young.

But other translations say a three year old bull. I tend to believe it was three years old because we read in very next verse that 25 And they slaughtered a bull, and brought the child to ?li. Just one bull was slaughtered.

This fact is not brought to the attention by many teachers, but Hannah was a prophetess, and we know from the book of Judges that Deborah was a Judge that ruled over Israel, and even led the army of Israel against the Philistines. Deborah took charge when all the men of Israel did not have the courage to do that. Yahovah was interested in Hannah, and knew that she, like Deborah would respond to the call when the time was necessary, which she did. Yahovah accomplished his plan through her, and she prepared the child for the duties that Yahovah would expect of Samuel. Yahovah brought forth Samuel for the duties of Judge, priest, and prophet.

Within this prophecy of Hannah is the foretelling of a coming Messiah, also called the “Anointed One of Yahovah”. “His Anointed” is “Yahshua”, the Anointed by the Father to have the power and strength of the Father within him. However we see that the full power of kingship is not taken until the second coming of Mahshiach. The first time Yahshua came as a servant, riding on a donkey, and being served up as the sacrificial Lamb for our sins. However, the second time Yahshua comes will be with the power and authority to rule the world with the rod of iron. Hannah is a prophetess, and she was prophesying of the coming Messiah.

Eli the priest had two sons and neither of them were any good. They were evil men that did not care for the things or ways of Yahovah. They were priests only because they were the sons of a priest, of the Levitical tribe.

I Samuel 2:13 “And the priests’ custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand:”
When it was time for the Israelites to make an offering sacrifice to Yahovah, and the meat flesh was in the pot boiling, to the point of being ready. The custom of the priests would be to come into the persons home with a great big three hooked tool, and scraping out the pan for himself, to take the lions share. This wasn’t Yahovah’s way of doing things, but the priests had become greedy that they carved out this act and made it their traditions. It was not according to Yahovah’s law, but the tradition formed by crooks in priests robes. These two preachers, the sons of Eli were nothing but a couple of crooks filling the role of the priest. Just like in many priests and ministers filling places of the pulpit today, they are ripping the people off.

I Samuel 2:14 “And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.”
It just didn’t matter to these men where the meat was, or how deep the pot was, they took all that their three fleshhooks could grab a hold of. Did you catch who this flesh meat was for? Not for Yahovah but for themselves. These two sons of Eli were breaking the law and they were doing it to all the tribes of Israel, who ever came to Shiloh to offer their sacrifices to Yahovah.

Leviticus 7:34 “For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel.”

This is what the priest is supposed to have, not the entire animal. The priest was supposed to have one shoulder, and a brisket off the animal, and both were choice pieces of the animal. That was it, and all the rest, including the three pronged hook was part of the priest’s greed taking hold and forming traditions that did not conform to the Word of Yahovah nor His laws. It sounds like many of the traditions that are going on today; money makers and things that deal with greed sort of have their way of creeping in, when the priests and ministers turn their back to Yahovah’s Word. The reason the fat was taken and burned by the priest, was so that the people would not eat the fat of the animal. Yahovah knew that fat would make his people sick, and keep them from good health.

I Samuel 2:15 “Also before they burnt the fat, the priests’ servant came and said to the man that sacrificed. “Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.”

This is going the extra mile to rip off the people, it is like the modern day preacher passing the plate four times. After the priest came and went with his hooks and half the man’s food, the priest would send one of the servants to the door to beg for another raw portion. When the people trimmed the animal and cut the fat away from the lean meat, the priest was suppose to take only the fat, however these begging servants would come and demand much of the lean meat right along with the fat, even if it meant by force. These priests wanted many times over what their three pronged meat hooks would gather out of the boiling pot, and they would keep returning for another portion from the lean meat that was set aside for latter use for feeding the family.

So what this all means is that Eli had a couple of crooked preachers for sons. They were taking advantage of their daddy’s positions as the priest. These two sons of Eli were not preachers, but they were crooks, rip-off artists in the robes of the priests and doing their deeds under the name of Yahovah. There is nothing new under the sun, for their kind are here with us today, just as they were back in Samuel’s day.

I Samuel 2:22 “Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”

When Eli was the Judge and High Priest over Israel, his sons Hophni and Phinehas were sleeping with women at the temple and running wild in lust and perverse behavior (1 Samuel 2:22-25) . They were unrestrained in their behavior, and saw no need to repent of their physical and spiritual adulterous behavior. This resulted in the judgment of Yahovah (1Samuel 3:11-14).

Even now today in many of the churches, we have “preachers gone wild.” They are generally driven by the lust for fame, sex, and money. Unfortunately, today in the church world integrity, morality, humility, and anointing take a back seat to showmanship, talent, pride, and those who can draw big crowds and money. They look to be “Sunday’s best” by being the hottest preacher or singer instead of living holy every day of the week and presenting their bodies to be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto Yahovah which is their reasonable service (Romans12:1).

There have been scandals of pastors caught in immorality. Why is this? The American church has been caught in the trap of pursuing the most popular, crowd-commanding preacher to put it on the map instead of praying and seeking the face of Yahovah to see if the Holy Spirit has endorsed the preacher or not (Acts 13:1-3). For the most part it seems like churches are not trying to build the kingdom of Yahovah through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, but through devilish sensual earthly wisdom (James 3:15).

Even Aaron the father of the priesthood, had two sons that Yahovah killed. Aaron’s two sons brought strange fire to the altar of Yahovah, and were messing around with the priesthood, just as Eli’s sons were.

Ps 49-50

http://www.ucg.org/brp/brp.asp?get=daily&day=22&month=July&year=2005&Layout=

Now Consider This, You Who Forget God” (Psalms 49-50) July 20-22

In its note on Psalms 49-53, the Zondervan NIV Study Bible says: “This cluster of psalms presents a striking contrast [from the previous grouping] that brings the Psalter’s call for godliness into sharp focus. On the one hand, we meet two psalms that face each other: (1) as God’s summons to his people to come before him and hear his verdict concerning their lives (Ps 50), and (2) as a penitent’s humble prayer for forgiveness and cleansing (Ps 51). On the other hand, these are bracketed by two psalms (49; 52) that denounce those who trust in their wealth (49:6; 52:7) and make their ‘boast’ either in that wealth (49:6) or in the ‘evil’ practices by which they obtained it (52:1). These descriptions of the ungodly are found nowhere else in the Psalter. In the first of these framing psalms, such people are characterized as ‘foolish’ and ‘senseless’ (49:10). So it is appropriate that this four-psalm segment of the Psalter has appended to it in climax [Psalm 53] a somewhat revised repetition of Ps 14 with its denunciation of the fools whose thoughts and ways are God-less. Placed immediately after Ps 46-48, these five psalms serve as a stern reminder that only those who put their trust in the Lord have reason to celebrate the security of ‘the city of our God’ (48:1, 8…).”

In the first psalm of this new cluster, Psalm 49, itself the last in the sequence of Korahite psalms beginning Book II of the Psalter, the psalmist declares that he has a message of universal importance: “Give ear, all inhabitants of the world.” He aims to resolve the “dark saying” (verse 4) or perplexing “riddle” of life (see NIV) concerning the apparent blessing of godless people who care more about money and possessions than about God (compare Job 21; Psalm 73).

Such people often pursue wealth at the expense of others. The psalmist asks himself, “Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity at my heels [i.e., those who trip me up] surrounds me? Those who trust in their wealth…” (Psalm 49:5-6). The psalmist realizes that these people are not as blessed as they think. “Wealth cannot buy escape from death—not even one’s family ‘redeemer’ can accomplish it” (Zondervan, note on verses 7-9).

The psalmist poignantly remarks, “For the redemption of their souls is costly” (verses 8-9). That is, it was more than a mere man could pay. This insight had prophetic significance. For God would actually pay the costly price in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ to make it possible for all people to have eternal life (John 3:16).

Just as anyone can, materially driven people can see, as Psalm 49:10 states, that all people, even the wise, die and leave their wealth to others (compare Ecclesiastes 7:2; 9:5; 2:18, 21). So those focused on money and possessions seek solace in what they leave behind—in establishing a legacy, leaving an inheritance, naming their estates and territories after themselves—all in a vain attempt to immortalize at least some aspect of themselves (verse 11).

But this pursuit is pointless in the face of the gaping mouth of death—into which people who think like this nevertheless go helplessly as sheep (verse 14). This metaphor of death (Hebrew muwt) as a monster feeding on people like sheep helps to verify the historical setting of the writing of the psalms, as it has also been found in Canaanite literature—one document warning people to not approach Mot (Death) “or he will put you like a lamb into his mouth” (see Zondervan, note on verse 14). This was therefore imagery familiar to Israelite culture.

Dominion will ultimately go to the righteous (same verse). Indeed, the psalmist is confident that God will redeem him from the power of the grave and receive him (verse 15). This does not refer merely to God’s general protection of His people throughout their physical lives—for the focus, as verse 9 makes clear, is on living eternally. Verse 15, then, is a prophecy of the resurrection, wherein the righteous will inherit from God the rule and possession of all things.

In the similar refrains of verses 12 and 20, those who live in pursuit of riches are described as perishing like beasts. Since all human beings die just as animals and all, unlike animals, are destined to be resurrected, what does this mean? It must reflect the fact that the godless, like animals, die without genuine feeling of hope. They have no confident assurance of eternity with God in the same way the psalmist has. Those whom God has not called in this age do not know His plans for their future—that they will be resurrected and given an opportunity to repent and change. And those whom God has called and given His Spirit but then reject His way and pursue selfishness do know their future—that they will utterly perish.

Psalm 49 makes the sobering point that when a rich man dies “he shall carry nothing away” (verse 17)—that is, nothing of earthly value. No money, no glory, no praise and no honor will descend with Him into the grave. The apostle Paul spoke similarly in 1 Timothy 6:6-10 when he warned us against the danger of materialism: “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Psalm 50 is the first of 12 psalms in the Psalter attributed to Asaph, one of David’s music leaders (see 1 Chronicles 23:2-5)—with only this one occurring in Book II and the other 11 in Book III. It seems most likely that Asaph composed these. However, as noted in the Bible Reading Program comments on Psalms 42-45, it could also be that David wrote these, or just this first one, for Asaph to perform (or one composed the music and the other the lyrics). Yet this particular psalm “may have been separated from the other psalms of Asaph (73-83) in order to be paired with Ps 51 in the cluster of Ps 49-53” (Zondervan NIV Study Bible, note on Psalm 50 title)—the idea being that Psalm 50 is a divine calling to account followed by a repentant response in Psalm 51 (where the sacrifices God desires are reiterated).

In Psalm 50 God delivers a summons and declares that He is the supreme Judge. Where the NKJV speaks of God calling the earth and the heavens in verses 1 and 4, the NIV properly renders this as God summoning them—or their inhabitants—into His presence for the purpose of judgment. Note verse 4: “He summons the heavens above and the earth, that he may judge his people” (NIV). In verse 1, the summoning of the earth from the rising to the setting of the sun simply means that His summons reaches around the entire world.

Verses 2-3 speak of God shining forth from Zion, “the perfection of beauty,” and the coming of God with fire and storm. This would seem to tie the psalm back to Psalms 46-48, which describe God’s coming in great power to put down His enemies and His ascension to the throne in Zion in its lofty beauty to rule over all the earth (compare also Isaiah 29:6). At that time, He will gather His saints (see Psalm 50:5; Isaiah 40:11; Isaiah 56:8) and will institute righteous judgment (Psalm 50:6; Daniel 2:20; 4:34-35; Psalm 75). He will then instruct Israel in the ways of righteousness and warn of the consequences of hypocrisy (Psalm 50:7-23).

Yet just as in Psalm 48, there is likely a measure of duality all these verses. For God shining forth out of Zion could relate to the proclamation of His truth and call to repentance through His Church in this age as well as the law and judgment going forth from Zion in the Kingdom. The gathering of saints for judgment (Psalm 50:4-6) may relate to God’s judgment beginning with the Church today (see 1 Peter 4:17)—not in the sense of final sentencing but of an evaluation process through their lives. Alternatively, it may refer to the Church being gathered for the work of delivering God’s judgments to the world—especially to physical Israel (see Psalm 50:7).

Yet if the mention of God’s saints having made a covenant with Him by sacrifice (verse 5) is related to the discussion of sacrifice in verses 7-15, it is possible that the same people are intended. That is, it could be that the saints or holy ones bound to God in covenant refers to the faithful of Israel—in ancient times meaning those who persisted in God’s covenant and today referring to the elect remnant of Israel according to grace, God’s Church.

Getting into the meat of the psalm’s message starting in verse 7, note that God is the one speaking—and He has something to say against His people. It is a rebuke. Not for their sacrifices per se, as God has commanded these and they are certainly to offer them (verse 8). The problem is that the people had lost the perspective of why God had set up the sacrificial system in the first place. God didn’t need their sacrifices (verses 9-13). They were not doing Him a favor by giving them. All the animals already belong to Him (verses 10-11).

In verse 12, God says, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you.” This is figurative, as God does not get hungry. The stress should be on the word “you.” He is saying that He does not need to go to them to be provided for. What physical things could they possibly give Him since He already owns everything? “For the world is mine,” He declares, “and all its fullness.”

Indeed, the whole point of the sacrificial system was to show the people how much they needed God—His forgiveness and spiritual help—not the other way around. It also afforded them an opportunity for obedience and character development.
And this God did want. The offerings of the heart—these were and are the true offerings that God desires as a prelude to any physical offerings, as was noted earlier in the Bible Reading Program comments on Psalm 40. God wants a relationship with His people, wherein they live before Him in humility and obedience and He blesses and provides for them (50:14-15). As God says in Hosea 6:6, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (see also Matthew 9:13; 12:7). We will see this reiterated in the next psalm.

These words are as important to us as they were to the ancient Israelites. We do not offer burnt offerings today, but we do give offerings—of money and service. Yet these things, as important and required as they are, can become a wrong focus in a number of ways. We may start to think that we are upholding the Church or work of God with our tithes and efforts and develop a wrong sort of pride over that. We must never make the mistake of thinking that God needs what we have or is dependent on what we do. The reason He instructs us to give is to benefit us, to help train us for even greater service. Another pitfall is to get so wrapped up in the ritual aspects of prayer, Bible study, Sabbath services, Holy Day observance, etc., that we neglect to consider our utter dependence on God, to humbly repent of our sins or to serve the well being of others. Indeed, even serving others can fall into this category too if it does not flow from a genuine heart of love but, rather, from a desire to appear spiritual (compare 1 Corinthians 13:3).

This brings us to verse 16 of Psalm 50. Some commit to God’s laws with their mouths but then turn around and flagrantly violate them as a matter of course (verses 16-20). This is not talking about the wicked of the world in general—but of those who profess to have a relationship with God.

God in His mercy does not immediately destroy such people. But sadly, they tend to take from this that He must be okay with what they’re doing (verse 21). In their drift from God they basically forget what He’s all about (verse 22). Yet God says He’s going to set them straight on the matter (verse 21)—and warns them of dire consequences if they will not consider His words and, by implication, repent (verse 22). Of course, they must desire to change. What power can release a person from sin who doesn’t want to be released? Who can help a person who doesn’t understand he needs help? “So are the paths of all who forget God; and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, whose confidence shall be cut off” (Job 8:13).

Those who remember God and glorify Him will see His salvation (verse 23). The NRSV translates this verse as: “Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.” Herein is assurance offered to those who serve God with a proper attitude—and hope offered to those who have drifted from Him. They can repent. God wants to save them. That’s the reason He warns them. And He shows them the way to repent in the next psalm—along with a restatement of the kind of sacrifices He is truly looking for.

Mat 28 – Mark 1-28

1 In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Luke 24: 1 And on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared, 2 and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 And having entered, they did not find the body of the Master ?????.

John 20: 1 And on the first day of the week1 Miryam from Mag?dala came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

This is important to understand because Yahshua said He would be in the grave 3 days and 3 nights. We have just read that He was already gone by the start of Sunday which began at sunset of Saturday evening.

You can read about the sign of Jonah at https://sightedmoon.com/sightedmoon_2015/?page_id=19 This teaching of Jonah is for all of you who do not yet know how to count to three.

We read of a very important event at this time as recorded in John 20: 1 And on the first day of the week1 Miryam from Mag?dala came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and came to Shim?on K?pha, and to the other taught one whom ????? loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Master out of the tomb, and we do not know where they laid Him.” 3 Then K?pha and the other taught one went out, and they were going to the tomb, 4 and the two were running together, but the other taught one outran K?pha and came to the tomb first. 5 And stooping down he saw the linen wrappings lying, but he did not go in. 6 Then Shim?on K?pha came, following him, and went into the tomb. And he saw the linen wrappings lying, 7 and the cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but folded up in a place by itself. 8 So, then, the other taught one, who came to the tomb first, also went in. And he saw and believed. 9 For they did not yet know the Scripture, that He has to rise again from the dead. 10 Therefore the taught ones went away again, by themselves. 11 But Miryam was standing outside by the tomb weeping. Then as she wept, she stooped down to the tomb, 12 and saw two messengers in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of ????? had been laid. 13 And they said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?” She said to them, “Because they took away my Master, and I do not know where they laid Him.” 14 And having said this, she turned around and saw ????? standing, but she did not know that it was ?????. 15 ????? said to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Whom do you seek?” Thinking He was the gardener, she said to Him, “Master, if You have carried Him away, say to me where You put Him, and I shall take Him away.” 16 ????? said to her, “Miryam!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 ????? said to her, “Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My Elohim and your Elohim.’ ”

This is very important Mary was not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended.

Back in Lev 23 we are told of the wave sheaf offering. 10 “Speak to the children of Yisra’?l, and you shall say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 ‘And he shall wave the sheaf before ????, for your acceptance. On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest waves it. 12 ‘And on that day when you wave the sheaf, you shall prepare a male lamb a year old, a perfect one, as a burnt offering to ????, 13 and its grain offering: two-tenths of an ?phah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to ????, a sweet fragrance, and its drink offering: one-fourth of a hin of wine. 14 ‘And you do not eat bread or roasted grain or fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your Elohim – a law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
This first day of the week during the Days of Unleavened Bread is the day the wave sheaf is to be done. Yahshua was the first fruit and He was the wave sheaf offering and He had not yet ascended to heaven.

1 Corinthians 15: 20 But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, and has become the first-fruit of those having fallen asleep. 21 For since death is through a man, resurrection of the dead is also through a Man. 22 For as all die in Ad?am, so also all shall be made alive in Messiah . 23 And each in his own order: Messiah the first-fruits, then those who are of Messiah at His coming, 24 then the end, when He delivers up the reign to Elohim the Father, when He has brought to naught all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He has to reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy to be brought to naught is death.

20 But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, and has become the first-fruit of those having fallen asleep. Yahshua is our first fruit and he took with Him others from the grave as an example of the rest of mankind. Where it says those at His coming is referring to the next wave offering of Pentecost and this symbolizes the saints being raised up when He comes the next time.
Remember what we read in Mathew 27: 50 And ????? cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. 51 And see, the veil of the Dwelling Place was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth was shaken, and the rocks were split, 52 and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the set-apart ones who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the set-apart city and appeared to many.

These saints and the thief on the tree whom Yahshua promised would be with Him in the Kingdom this very millennial day were those who went with Him to heaven as the first fruits. You can read this detailed explanation at: Pentecost Hidden Meaning

The very same day on Sunday after Yahshua had gone to heaven He then allowed them to touch Him and put their fingers in His wounds.

18 Miryam from Mag?dala came announcing to the taught ones that she had seen the Master, and that He had told her this. 19 When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week,and when the doors were shut where the taught ones met, for fear of the Yehud?im, ????? came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 20 And having said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The taught ones therefore rejoiced when they saw the Master. 21 Then ????? said to them again, “Peace
The last thing we are told in chapter 28 is the very first thing we read about in Mark 1 about John baptising the people and the people repenting of their sins. Again another theme of this week’s Study; repentance.

Mathew 28:19 “Therefore, go and make taught ones of all the nations, immersing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Set-apart Spirit, 20 teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Am?n.

Mark 1: 1 The beginning of the Good News of ????? Messiah, the Son of Elohim. 2 As it has been written in the Prophets, “See, I send My messenger before Your face, who shall prepare Your way before You,1 Footnote: 1Mal. 3:1. 3 a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of ????, make His paths straight.’ ”1 Footnote: 1Isa. 40:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of ????; make straight in the desert a highway for our Elohim.. 4 Yoh?anan came immersing in the wilderness and proclaiming an immersion of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Yehud?ah, and those of Yerushalayim, went out to him and were all immersed by him in the Yard?n River, confessing their sins.

Brethren I would like to digress here and again tell you. It was not until I confessed my sins publicly and began to honestly seek to change, that only then did I come to understand certain key scriptures. I had been keeping the Sabbath for 23 year. Once I confessed my sins I understood about the Sighted Moon and could prove it from scriptures. Once I began to keep the Holy Days according to the Sighted moon then I was shown the Sabbatical and Jubilee information I now share. This all took place in 2004 and 2005. In 2006 I was re-baptised in the Gihon Spring and since then this web site and my speaking out has not stopped and in fact it has increased. All the glory goes to Yahovah. But it all begins with confession of sins and repenting from them. Then we are told to be baptized.

But I urge each of you to confess your sins to one another and repent of them and begin to change. Then once again be re-baptised and do it from year to year and from Holy Day to Holy Day, renewing your covenant with Yahovah each time.

We are also going to continue to study the 613 laws of Torah which we can read at http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm
We are doing 7 laws each week and this week we shall study laws 149-155. We also have commentary, with editing from me, again from http://theownersmanual.net/The_Owners_Manual_02_The_Law_of_Love.Torah

149 To examine the marks in locusts, so as to distinguish the clean from the unclean (Lev. 11:21) (affirmative). See Animals that may not be eaten.

(149) Examine the marks in locusts, to distinguish the clean from the unclean. “All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you.” (Leviticus 11:20-23) Bugs in general are on the “inedible” list. “Creeping on all fours,” of course, is merely a figure of speech: it says less about the number of legs than the mode of transport. Insects, spiders, centipedes, scorpions—all kinds of creepy crawlies are hereby declared unclean. But there’s one notable exception: insects that have jointed legs used for hopping are approved as food. Grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets are okay to eat.

Because of recent swarms in which billions of locusts have swept across 60 countries in Africa, Asia, and Australia eating everything in their path, researchers have been studying these creatures intently in recent years. They can eat their body weight (2 grams) in food every day while traveling up to 130 kilometers. But stopping them with pesticides has proven problematical. It turns out that they are incredibly fussy eaters who know better than humans how to regulate and balance their food intake.

They “taste” their environment through microscopic “hairs” on their legs as well as through their mouthparts. This helps them avoid areas that have been treated with pesticides. Oxford University researchers have discovered that locusts will regulate their food intake: when given food diluted fivefold with indigestible cellulose, the locusts merely increase their intake—fivefold! They will also compensate for past deficiencies in their diet if given the opportunity, eating precisely the right balance of proteins, carbohydrates, and salts. So locusts and their cousins are safe to eat (which is not to say they’re not an acquired taste).

150 Not to eat a worm found in fruit (Lev. 11:41) (CCN98). See Animals that may not be eaten.

(150)Do not eat a worm found in fruit. “And every creeping thing that creeps on the earth shall be an abomination. It shall not be eaten. Whatever crawls on its belly, whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet among all creeping things that creep on the earth—these you shall not eat, for they are an abomination.” (Leviticus 11:41-42) What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple? Finding half a worm! Moses is clarifying here the description of what constitutes an unclean “creeping thing.” It includes worms, caterpillars, grubs, centipedes—things with many legs or no legs at all. If they crawl around on their bellies and don’t have hopping apparatus like locusts, they’re not good to eat.

151 Not to eat of things that creep upon the earth (Lev. 11:41-42) (CCN97). See Animals that may not be eaten.

(151)Do not eat of things that creep upon the earth. “And every creeping thing that creeps on the earth shall be an abomination. It shall not be eaten. Whatever crawls on its belly, whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet among all creeping things that creep on the earth—these you shall not eat, for they are an abomination.” (Leviticus 11:41-42) This is pretty much a restatement of #150, as are #152-154. It’s interesting to note that Yahweh’s issue with pork (among other things) has a lot to do with the avoidance of inadvertently eating “creeping things” that the Israelites couldn’t even see—creeping things that would nevertheless cause disease and death. They weren’t being asked to analyze and understand microbiology, however; they were merely being told to trust Yahweh for guidance.

152 Not to eat any vermin of the earth (Lev. 11:44) (CCN100). See Animals that may not be eaten.

(152)Do not eat any vermin of the earth. “For I am Yahweh your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Leviticus 11:44) I can’t really see the distinction between “vermin” and “creeping things” in this context. But it’s clear that the Israelites had quite enough information to avoid eating unhealthful foods. Failure to observe God’s statutes in this regard carried its own natural consequences with it: “It shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you…Yahweh will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever…” (Deuteronomy 28:15, 21-22) God didn’t have to make a special effort to come and “punish” those who didn’t keep His dietary Laws. The fruit of disobedience was built in. The whole point of giving them the “law” was to spare them from the consequences of breaking it. The creepy crawlies of God’s creation all have their place, their jobs, their functions, whether the pollination of plants, breaking down organic matter into usable soil, cleaning up the carcasses of the dead, or any number of things. If we take them out of their proper environments and put them within our bodies, they’re going to do their jobs there instead if they can. And that could be a bad thing.

153 Not to eat things that swarm in the water (Lev. 11:43 and 46) (CCN99). See Animals that may not be eaten.

(153)Do not eat things that swarm in the water. “You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them…. This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth, to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.”

(Leviticus 11:43, 46-47) These rabbinical directives are often maddeningly imprecise, but Yahweh’s words are crystal clear.

Swarming in the water is not the issue; many clean fish, from sardines to tuna, “swarm,” that is, they swim in schools. When we elevate the commentary of man over the precepts of God, we’ll fall into error every time. As far back as the Garden of Eden, we have been twisting God’s words to our own harm. It seems funny to say it, but we need to constantly ask the very thing Satan asked Eve: “Has God really said that?” When men and angels presume to tell us what Yahweh wants, we need to go back and check—Has God really said that? (By the way, that goes for what I’m telling you as well. Test everything I say in the crucible of God’s Word. I’ve been known to make mistakes.)

154 Not to eat of winged insects (Deut. 14:19) (CCN96). See Animals that may not be eaten.
(154)Do not eat winged insects. “Every creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.” (Deuteronomy 14:19) “All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you.” (Leviticus 11:20) In contrast to bugs that merely crawl along the ground, flying insects are singled out here as being unclean. We have already seen the exception to the rule: locusts and their hopping cousins—even though they also fly—have been declared clean. It’s worth noting that while flying insects themselves are unclean, the product that one of them manufactures—honey—is not. John the Baptist is said to have eaten “locusts and wild honey” in the wilderness. Yum.

155 Not to eat the flesh of a beast that is terefah (lit torn) (Ex. 22:30) (CCN87). See Kosher slaughtering.

(155)Do not eat the flesh of a beast that is terefah (literally, torn). “You shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.” (Exodus 22:30) It’s fascinating that Yahweh links the concept of “holiness” to obeying His rules concerning what and what not to eat. Here we see that animals—even those that would ordinarily be considered clean, or edible, must not be eaten if they have been killed by carnivorous beasts in the wild—even if the kill is fresh. The Israelites couldn’t have known what was going on at the microbiotic level, how the bite of a scavenger or carnivore could spread deadly microorganisms to the victim, or how the blood left to pool within the carcass could be harmful (see #167). If a shepherd saw a wolf kill one of his sheep, the natural reaction might be, Well, it’s dead but it’s fresh—we might as well go ahead and eat it. Waste not, want not. Yahweh didn’t bother telling them that it could be hazardous to their health; He just said, I have set you apart from the peoples around you, those who wouldn’t hesitate to eat road kill like this. So trust Me to know what’s best for you: you can feed it to your dogs—part of whose job is to be scavengers—but don’t eat it yourself. Part of being “holy,” or set apart to Yahweh, is trusting Him enough to obey Him, even if we don’t understand His reasons.

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