The Great Debate

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: Nov 12, 2021

News Letter 5857-038
The 5th Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 26th year of the 120th Jubilee Cycle
The 7th day of the 10th month 5857 years after the creation of Adam
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence
1765 Days until the Two Witnesses
534 Days into the 2300 Days Started May 31st, 2020
November 13, 2021

Shabbat Shalom Royal Family of Yehovah,


Shabbat Zoom Meeting

There are many people in need of fellowship and who are sitting at home on the Sabbath with no one to talk to or debate with. I want to encourage all of you to join us on Shabbat, and to invite others to come and join us as well. If the time is not convenient then you can listen to the teaching and the midrash after on our YouTube channel.

What are we doing and why do we teach this way?

We are going to discuss both sides of an issue and then let you choose. It is the work of the Ruach (Spirit) to direct and to teach you.

The medieval commentator Rashi wrote that the Hebrew word for wrestle (avek) implies that Jacob was “tied”, for the same word is used to describe knotted fringes in a Jewish prayer shawl, the tzitzityot. Rashi says, “thus is the manner of two people who struggle to overthrow each other, that one embraces the other and knots him with his arms”.

Our intellectual wrestling has been replaced by a different kind of struggle. We are Wrestling with Yehovah as we grapple with His Word. It is an intimate act, symbolizing a relationship in which Yehovah and I and you are bound together. My wrestling is a struggle to discover what Yehovah expects of us, and we are “tied” to the One who assists us in that struggle.

Today, many say Israel means “Champion of God”, or better — the “Wrestler of God”.

Our Torah sessions each Shabbat teach you and encourage you to constantly challenge, question, argue against, as well as view alternative views and explanations of the Word. In other words, we are to “wrestle with the Word” to get to the truth. Jews worldwide believe that you need to wrestle with the Word and constantly challenge Dogma, Theology, and views or else you will never get to the Truth.

We are not like most churches where “The preacher talks and everyone listens.” We encourage everyone to participate, to question and to contribute what they know on the subject being discussed. We want you to be a champion wrestler of the Word of Yehovah. We want you to wear the title of Israel, knowing that you not only know but are capable to explain why you know the Torah to be true with logic and facts.

We have a few rules though. Let others talk and listen. There is no discussion about UFO’s Nephilim, Vaccines or conspiracy-type subjects. We have people from around the world with different world views. Not everyone cares who is the President of any particular country. Treat each other with respect as Fellow wrestlers of the word. Some of our subjects are hard to understand and require you to be mature and if you do not know, then listen to gain knowledge and understanding and hopefully wisdom. The very things you are commanded to ask Yehovah for and He gives to those who ask.

Jas 1:5  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and with no reproach, and it shall be given to him.

We hope you can invite those who want to keep Torah to come and join us by hitting the link below. It is almost like a Torah teaching fellowship talk show with people from around the world taking part and sharing their insights and understandings.

We start off with some music and then some prayers and it’s as though you were sitting around the kitchen back in Newfoundland having a cup of coffee and all of us enjoying each other’s company. I hope you will grace us with your company someday.

Sabbath November 13,  2021, the room will be open at 12:30 PM Eastern with singing and prayers until about 1:15 PM. You are all welcome to join and watch. It is not recorded. We will have our afternoon service after this. You are welcome to come and join us before during and after we are off the air.

We look forward to you joining our family and getting to know us as we get to know you.

Joseph Dumond is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Joseph Dumond’s Personal Meeting Room

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Septennial Torah Portion

If you go to Torah Portion at our archived section, you can then go to the 5th year which is the 5th year of the Sabbatical Cycle, the one we are in now, as we state at the top of every News Letter. There you can scroll down to November 13, 2021, and see that this Shabbat we could very well be midrashing about

Exodus 13

1 Kings 21-22

Ps 119:132-176

John 2-3

If you missed last week’s exciting discoveries as we studied that section you can go and watch past Shabbats on our media section.


There is NO Inflation. Or So We Are Told.

I keep reading two opposing views. One that Inflation is transitory. That is, It is only caused because of supply chain hiccups. The other as we reported here in a recent Newsletter is that inflation is past the 14% level if we use the same metrics of 1981 the last time we had runaway inflation.

The following article is from the Wall Street Journal shared with me on Apple news. Please google it to find all the pictures and make sure you read the captions below the pictures.

I have got to say it again. We are the only ones who have consistently been saying it since 2005. No other religious organization, says what we are saying here at Sightedmoon.com. We are the only ones teaching about the Sabbatical and Jubilee Cycles and how they, those Jubilee Cycles reveal end-time prophecy. Even though I came through the World Wide Church of God and was taught by Hebert W Armstrong many great understandings, the WWCG nor the United Church of God, UCG where I attended afterwards ever taught us when the Jubilee years were. They just did not know and once I learned them, like so many other organizations they rejected this understanding when I brought it to their attention.

So I can safely say and I do so with great disappointment that we are the only ones warning you of what is coming with the understanding of the Jubilee Cycles to guide us. I wish it was not this way.

In Leviticus 23 you are taught the Holy Days. These are then followed in Lev 24 by the duties of the High Preist in regards to the Menorah and the Show Bread and then the incident of the man who blasphemes the name of Yehovah and is then put to death.

Next is Chapter 25 where the Sabbatical and Jubilee Cycles are explained. The very next chapter 26 then explains the blessings if you obeyed and the curses if you do not obey and they are laid out according to the Sabbatical Cycles. This is then followed by the last chapter in Leviticus about the valuation of men and sacrifices and the dedication of fields and how to value them according to the Jubilee year.

Now read what you are told in

Lev 26:23  And if you will not be reformed by Me by these things, but will still walk contrary to Me,

Lev 26:24  then I will walk contrary to you and will punish you seven times more for your sins.

Lev 26:25  And I will bring a sword on you that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant. And when you are gathered inside your cities, I will send the plague among you. And you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

Lev 26:26  When I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight. And you shall eat and not be satisfied.

This is the 4th curse of sword plague and famine. We have today in this 120th Jubilee Cycle, in this 4th Sabbatical cycle now received the curse of the plague around the world. There is no mistaking this is from Yehovah and comes exactly in the time slot He warned us it would come. It is not just an isolated event in some secluded corner of the world. IT IS WORLDWIDE.

And now you are about to read how worldwide inflation is causing the prices of food to go through the roof. This too is happening around the world. My wife and I went shopping yesterday and she said repeatedly how the price of meat was almost doubled in both fresh cuts and packaged. Many of the cans and jarred products are smaller in quantity and even those prices are still going up.

How long will it be before the price of food is no longer affordable, or people have to choose between paying rent or buying food? Gas too is skyrocketing. Again this is a worldwide phenomenon. It is being sent by Yehovah, it is not some men in the backroom plotting a diabolical plan. These things are sent from Yehovah so that we and the world might repent and turn back to Him and begin to keep His Torah. It is not climate change nor global warming. All these extreme weather events are sent by Yehovah to again get us to turn back to His Torah and repent.

Starting in 2024 it is going to get much worse and that is only being told to you by Sightedmoon.com and we say so with the confidence shown to us through the Sabbatical and Jubilee Cycles. No other groups, whether churches or assemblies, synagogues or messianic are telling you these things. They do not tell you because they reject and refuse to know about the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycles and how they and they alone reveal end-time prophecies.

 

Global Food Prices Surge as Inflation Spreads

From Peru to the Philippines, bad harvests and supply bottlenecks are leaving poor families hungry

SÃO PAULO—Earlier this year, Celia Matos, a single mother from São Paulo’s Paraisópolis favela, could afford to buy the basics to feed her family. Now, she says, with the price of meat and other foods up by 30%, she often goes to bed hungry so there will be enough rice and beans for her four children.

“It’s humiliating,” said Ms. Matos, 41. “Sometimes I just want to cry…I buy gas to cook and then I can’t afford food, or if I buy food then I don’t have money to buy soap.” She said she can’t even afford the butcher shop’s leftover bags of bones.

Rising food prices are causing increasing hardship across a swath of the developing world, from Peru to the Philippines. In October, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says, world food prices hit their highest level since 2011.

National governments and aid groups warn that the rise in food prices is translating into more hunger and malnutrition, especially for poor families already struggling with the other economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rise has been particularly sharp in Latin America, where widespread inflation has pushed up the prices of most goods and the U.N. estimates that tens of millions of people are malnourished or skipping meals.

In Asia, where countries have generally experienced less inflation, bad weather has hit crops, leading to price increases in some places. Heavy rains in India in recent months have caused flooding and landslides, destroying crops and sending up the price of vegetables such as cauliflowers and onions.

“We manage by eating just rice, sometimes bread with sugar. Is there any other option?,” said Shanti Horo, a 41-year-old cook and single mother from New Delhi.

In China, heavy rains have also hit top vegetable-growing provinces, deepening supply shortages that have arisen as the nation recovers from the effects of the pandemic. The Philippines and some other Southeast Asian countries have also struggled with higher prices for vegetables and palm oil.

In Latin America, the damage from rising food prices may be deeper and more long-lasting, economists and policy makers have warned.

The region’s central banks have aggressively raised interest rates in an effort to curb inflation. Brazil and Chile both recently announced their biggest interest rate increases in two decades.

That is tough medicine to swallow in a region that suffered the world’s deepest economic contraction from the pandemic as well as its highest per capita death rate from Covid-19, according to figures from Our World in Data.

“Inflation has been particularly problematic in Latin America where it’s risen much more sharply than in other regions,” said William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist at London-based research firm Capital Economics.

After recording paltry growth in the several years before the pandemic, Brazil and other parts of the region now face stagflation, a toxic combination of no growth and higher prices, he said.

Inflation is running above central banks’ targets across the region—in Brazil’s case, three times above the target. The country’s worst drought in almost a century has also hit crops and dried up the reservoirs that power hydroelectric dams, adding pressure to electricity prices.

Rising food and energy prices have also driven inflation higher in Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile. In Brazil, beef and eggs are more than 20% more expensive than last year, while the cost of chicken and tomatoes has risen almost 30%, according to a study by Getulio Vargas Foundation, or FGV.

Julieta Irureta, a 27-year-old nurse from Buenos Aires, said she can no longer afford to give her 4-year-old son the balanced diet he needs. “We spent almost two years risking our lives on the front line, and now, on our wages, it’s getting harder to eat,” she said.

Customers used to ask butchers in the city for cheap cuts like chicken giblets to feed their pets; now they are buying those same cuts to feed their families.

Miguelina Espindola, a 60-year-old maid, said she has struggled to find work since the man whose house she cleaned died from Covid-19. Even when she does, so much of her wage goes on food now that she can’t buy the Diabetes medication she needs. “I end up losing out, like always.”

In Paraisópolis on the southwestern outskirts of São Paulo, Ms. Matos has taken to waiting in line for hours each day at a local community center run by G10 Favelas, a nonprofit organization that gives out free meals in Brazil’s favela slum communities.

Several weeks ago, the center had to start shutting its gates before lunchtime after fights erupted when supplies ran out.

The center relies on donations from supermarkets and the wealthy, but as Brazil’s Covid-19 death rate has fallen those offerings have started to dry up.

“People don’t seem to get it,” said Gilson Rodrigues, director of G10 Favelas. “The situation is even worse now for the poor than it was during the middle of the pandemic.”

— Silvina Frydlewsky in Buenos Aires, Vibhuti Agarwal and Shan Li in New Delhi, Feliz Solomon in Singapore and Bingyan Wang in Beijing contributed to this article.

Write to Samantha Pearson at samantha.pearson@wsj.com and Luciana Magalhaes at Luciana.Magalhaes@wsj.com


Last Sabbath Dr. Michael Brown published this article on a recent trend that is growing stronger. More and more churches are praying to Our Mother In heaven. They are purposefully changing it from Our Father Who art in heaven.

It has been over 40 years since I left the Catholic Church. I found this article still shocking though, especially in light of our recent articles on the gods of Egypt and the mixing of the truth with these false teachings.

Our Mother Who Art in Heaven

By MICHAEL BROWN Published on October 29, 2021

A pastoral friend contacted me recently, concerned about a doctrinal deviation he was witnessing among some of his colleagues, including prayers addressed to God as Mother. Is there any scriptural support for this position? The answer is absolutely, categorically no.

As I wrote back in 2016 (responding to a rabbi who claimed that God was “transgender”), had these Christian leaders simply stated that God transcends gender, I would have no argument.

Or had they said that when God created human beings He created them male and female, indicating that the fullness of the meaning of both male and female is to be found in God, I would have concurred.

There is a reason Jesus directed us to pray to “Our Father in heaven.”

In fact, if these leaders pointed out that there are aspects of motherly care attributed to God in the Scriptures (see, for example Isaiah 49:15), I would also have concurred. (Note that rabbinic teaching about the Shechinah emphasizes the motherly aspects of God).

But when we pray to God as “Mother,” or refer to Him as “She,” or try to feminize God, we make a fatal, scriptural mistake.

The Trap of Reading the Word Through the Lens of Culture

To speak candidly, this is simply the latest example of the ideology of the sexual revolution infiltrating the Church. It began in liberal denominations decades ago. It is now infiltrating more conservative denominations.

We must always beware the snare of reading the Word through the lens of culture.

There is a reason Jesus directed us to pray to “Our Father in heaven.”

There is a reason He often spoke of God as “the Father,” over and over again (see, for example, John 5:19-23).

There is a reason Paul wrote, “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:5-6).

There is a reason that God puts the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, by which we cry out “Abba” (Father/Dad, in Aramaic), not “Imma” (Mother/Mom, in Aramaic); see Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5.

Something About the Qualities of a Father

There is something about relating to Him as Father that is important for us as believers. Something about seeing Him as the source and origin of all things. Something about His fatherly authority and protection.

It is true that He cares for us as a nursing mother cares for her children (as stated in Isaiah 49:15). But Paul said the same about himself and his colleagues, writing to the Thessalonians, “We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you” (1 Thessalonians 2:6-8a).

But that doesn’t mean that Paul was a woman anymore than it means that when God uses similar language about Himself, He should be seen as a woman or referred to as She. Has no one heard of metaphors and similes and analogies?

The Word “Like”

In the same way, when God said that He would cry out like a woman in labor (Isaiah 42:13), that is no different than when the Scriptures speak of men writhing like women in labor (see, for example, Isaiah 13:8; 21:3). The word “like” says it all.

In the same way, when Jesus said He longed to gather Jerusalem’s children together like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Matthew 23:37), He didn’t mean that He was a woman or a hen.

Yet, remarkably, some theologians cite the verses I just cited to demonstrate that these verses present God as female. What an abuse of the Word of God.

Again, had the point been that the Lord transcends gender or that God includes male and female aspects in His nature or that He cares for us in a motherly way, I would have said, “Amen.” But that is not all that is being said, which is why these new, dangerous trends must be resisted.

Who He Is

As I wrote back in 2016, “this is the consistent revelation of God in the Scriptures: He is the heavenly Father, not the heavenly mother; He is a man of war, not a woman of war; He is the King, not the queen; He is the Shepherd, not the shepherdess; He is the Husband to the widow, not the wife of the widower; He is the Lord, not the lady, the Master, not the mistress; He is the Groom while Israel is the Bride — and on and on it goes, countless thousands of times.”

Interestingly, the Catholic Church developed a major place for an important mother figure in its theology, exalting Mary to the position of Queen of Heaven. But, this too points to God being seen as Father. Had He also been the heavenly Mother, there would have been no need for (or room for) Mary — and I write this as a non-Catholic.

Please Support The Stream: Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic and Moral Issues of Our Day.

For decades now, I have watched minor deviations creep into churches or denominations or movements, only to watch them follow the inevitable trajectory into major heresy. In this case, a major heresy is already being introduced. It will quickly lead to all kinds of significant doctrinal errors, including the denial of the final authority of Scripture, the embrace of same-sex “marriage,” and the denial of salvation exclusively through the cross.

That being said, rather than simply expose these dangerous errors, we need to recover the fulness of the revelation of God as Father.

We have seen what often happens to fatherless households and fatherless kids in the natural realm. It is just as true in the spiritual realm. We dare not be Fatherless when it comes to our relationship with God. And so we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

 

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Revival Or We Die: A Great Awakening Is Our Only Hope. Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

 


It is with great pleasure that I am able to share with you a recent teaching of someone I greatly admire for his thankless and unshakable defence of the Torah and who is not only dealing with Hindu traditions but is also dealing with those who convert to Christianity and bring into this new Hebraic walk all the heresies found there with Christian misunderstanding.

I am very pleased to be able to call him a friend and coworker in the Torah. Please do read his expose on the Great Debate and how it did not do away with the Law but it does indeed support the keeping of the law.

Acts 15 The Great Debate

Torah:Abolished or Established?

The Jerusalem Councils Letter to Gentile Converts

by Ricky Chohan

Hindu2Hebrew

A nucleus of the “Torah Abolishing Paradigm” of the Mainstream Christianity parade that the Torah of Elohim (Mighty One) given through Mosheh does not apply to Gentile Believers or Christians anymore is based on Acts 15 – Yerushalayim Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers. Rapturously, many pastors twirl to a cherry-picked segment of Acts 15 to endorse a sour argument that observance to the Torah is an “unbearable yoke on the neck”, and thus they persuade many authentic truth-seeking Christians that they are not obliged to esteem any of the Torah commandments such as Shabbat, Feasts, Dietary laws etc.

Acts 15:10 “Now then, why do you try Elohim by putting a yoke on the neck of the taught ones which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?”

Did the Yerushalayim Council abolish the Torah for Gentile Converts? What was the unbearable yoke on the neck? Should my beloved Christian brethren be Torah Observants in conferred with the decree issued by the Yerushalayim Council? I urge you to open your Bible and consider this study as this might be completely new to you or even life-changing. My intention is not to disservice or dethrone any pastor or minister but to remind my beloved Christian brethren to be like Bereans and Test Every Teaching -(Acts 17:11). In this article, I will not be doing verse by verse
commentary, but expounding only on the themes which are often used to abolish the Torah as I will have to consider the space.

The habitual interpretation of mainline Christianity extracted from Acts 15 advocates the abrogation of the Torah. This turn of mind has evolved over the centuries by the misapprehension of the context and lexicon of the great debate that took place in the Yerushalayim Council. I am not blaring that my Christian brethren are intentionally missing and messing with the scriptures to raise the slogan of the Torah Abolishing Doctrine. The truth is that they are not fully acquainted with the history and promises found in the Bible, and the first-century mechanism such as Oral Torah vs Written Torah, the two great schools of learning among the Pharisees; the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel, Avodah Zarah (Idolatry), Roman Imperial Cult etc.

So, kindly allow me the opportunity to present you with this study in context and complete picture. My aim is not to make a following but to encourage others to return to the Master יהוה Elohim in total obedience. Do Bible things in Bible way!

We have heard many times from people laying down all Pharisees in the same apparatus and in their mindset all the Pharisees are treated as “evil and corrupted”. There is no doubt that the Messiah יהושע was brawling and rebuking the Pharisees for their wrongdoings -(Mark 7, Matthew 23) but don’t forget He also endorsed that unless our righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees, we will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven – (Matthew 5:20).

In the last century BC and the early 1st century AD, there were two great schools of learning among the Pharisees; the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel. The Pharisees not only followed the written Torah of Elohim, but they also had a set of man-made laws called the Oral Torah that was seldom exalted over the Torah of Elohim.

The House of Shammai meticulously adhered to their belief system that the Torah of Elohim and their Oral laws, the promises, and covenants belonged to Jews only and Ephrayim (The Ten Lost Tribes of Yisra’ĕl who assimilated into the Gentile world) or any other Gentile must legally become a Jew through works of Jewish halacha (Jewish Law), not a Torah command, to be in Covenant with Elohim and be saved. This is known as the conversion to Judaism inaugurated by a man-made ceremonial circumcision. Once a Gentle legally become a Jew through a ceremonial circumcision of Judaism, they had to maintain Torah keeping in the traditions and regulations of the oral laws for salvation. And, the ceremonial circumcision became a mark of the Jews instead of the mark of the Covenant Elohim gave to Abraham and his descendants.

Conversely, the House of Hillel taught that the door of the reign of Elohim and His Covenants are open for all mankind if they choose, desire and learn His Torah. Shaul (Paul) was a student of Gamliel, who was the grandson of Hillel – (Acts 5:34). Now, this will shed some light to better understand Shaul in his Hebraic ambient, that he was not against the Torah of Elohim but the oral laws and regulations of the Pharisees (followers of the House of Shammai) which were being forced on Gentiles as a mean to yield salvation.

Shaul had no problem in bringing the Good News of Messiah and Torah to the Gentiles while Kĕpha (Peter) hesitated to bring the Good News to Gentile (Cornelius) – (Acts 10:28) because Kĕpha had pressure from the Circumcision Party/House of Shammai – (Galatians 2:11-13), seems to have been leaning towards the teachings of Shammai.

Let us now delve into the core issue presented at Yerushalayim Council in regards to new Gentile converts. Acts 15 is a pillar of the Epistle to the Galatians and if we don’t fully understand what was the theme and result of the debate at Yerushalayim Council then our entire understanding of the Epistle to the Galatians is out of context and distorted.

The opening verses of Acts 15 give us a clear picture of the core issue around which the Yerushalayim Council congregated.

Acts 15:1-3 -“And certain men came down from Yehuḏah and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised, according to the practice of Mosheh, you are unable to be saved.” So when Sha’ul and Barnaḇa had no small dissension and dispute with them, they arranged for Sha’ul and Barnaḇa and certain others of them to go up to Yerushalayim, to the emissaries and elders, about this question. So, being sent on their way by the assembly, they passed through Phoenicia and Shomeron, relating the conversion of the nations. And they were causing great joy to all the brothers.”

The “certain men” in verse 1 are identified as the Pharisees of the House of Shammai who are imposing their Mark of Circumcision (Conversion to Judaism) to Gentile converts for their salvation.

As believers, we know this very well biblically, that circumcision or any other commandment alone can not afford us salvation. There is only one way of salvation, that is, “Saved by the favour of Elohim through Faith” -(Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 15:11) and our salvation causes obedience to the Torah with the aid of Set-Apart Spirit -(Romans 3:31, Ephesians 2:10, Ezekiel 36:25-27).

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by favour you have been saved, through belief, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Elohim, it is not by works so that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah יהושע unto good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

We are saved by favour of Elohim and justified by faith in Messiah יהושע unto good works. The good works are not defined in the Pagan parties such as Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, eating unclean meat, and lawless behaviour. The good works are expressed in the Torah of Elohim which He has prepared in advance for His people, the Believers before entering their faith in Messiah. This is because the Torah came first before the manifestation of the Messiah in the flesh.

Salvation has never been by the works alone nor through the system and dogma of religion. Salvation has always been by favour through the belief that produces obedience to Elohim’s ways. Yisra’ĕl was saved first from the bondage of Mitsrayim (Egypt) by believing the promises of Elohim, then the Torah was introduced to them in a written form as a central dynamic of the covenant made at Mount Sinai.

Abraham was not justified by the works (Circumcision), but instead, he was justified by his faith, and his faith caused him to have Circumcision-(Genesis 15:6). The same paradigm is applied to all believers, whether Jew or Gentile and to all who are yet to enter in faith. Salvation is a gift from Elohim and justification is by faith which produces obedience.

That is the teaching from the Torah itself, that we are not justified and saved by the works of the Torah alone, but by faith which produces obedience. But some Pharisees belonging to the House of Shammai were teaching the false gospel to the Gentile converts at Galatia and proposing at Yerushalayim Council that Gentiles are to be saved by the “works of the Torah (Mark of Jews/Conversion to Judaism)” by forfeiting the salvation extended to them by the favour of Elohim through belief in His Anointed One (Messiah) to whom we are commanded to Shema (Hear & Obey) – (Deuteronomy 18-15-19).

Galatians 1:6-7 “I marvel that you are so readily turning away from Him who called you in favour of Messiah, to a different ‘Good News,’ which is not another, only there are some who are troubling you and wishing to pervert the Good News of Messiah.”

Continuing the debate in Acts 15.

Acts 15:5, “And some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the Torah of Mosheh.”

This sect of Pharisees are the followers of the House of Hillel and they are identified as Believers in Messiah יהושע who believe and understand the salvation plan of Elohim extended to all people and their obedience to the Torah is a part of their faith and calling. These believing Pharisees understand that salvation to nations is not by the conversion of the dogma of the religion but by the favour of Elohim theigh belief which produces a desire to learn and over the Torah.

The debate which caused the Yerushalayim Council to convene was among the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel. It was not whether the Gentile Coverts should keep the Torah or not. Grievously, many pastors and scholars have misunderstood the heart of Acts 15 and invented a new debate of Torah Abolishing Doctrine out of nothing. And, this has caused a theological mess in modern churches.

Luqas continued to record in Acts 15.

Acts 15:6-11 “And the emissaries and elders came together to look into this matter. And when there had been much dispute, Kĕpha rose and said to them, “Men, brothers, you know that a good while ago Elohim chose among us, that by my mouth the nations should hear the word of the Good News and believe. “And Elohim, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Set-apart Spirit, as also to us, and made no distinction between them and us, cleansing their hearts by belief. Now then, why do you try Elohim by putting a yoke on the neck of the taught ones which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” But through the favour of the Master יהושע Messiah, we trust to be saved, in the same way as they.”

This passage, probably more than any other in the entire Bible, is mistreated and misapplied. Mainstream pastors and Christians abruptly snip this passage by negating the entire Acts 15 and say –

“Seeeeee, see that.. keeping the Torah is an unbearable yoke, and it has been taken off the Gentile Believers. Torah is not applied to Christians. It was nailed to the cross. It is abolished.”

Is obedience to the Torah an unbearable yoke? Nowhere in the scriptures, it has ever been concluded that keeping our Elohim’s commandments is a heavy burden. On the contrary, scriptures say it’s easy:

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

1 John 5:3 “Loving Elohim means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.”

If scriptures teach us, keeping the commandments of Elohim or the Torah is easy, then we can not accept the interpretation of mainstream Christianity, which educates that keeping the Torah is an unbearable yoke on our neck.

We can’t let the scriptures brawl. Do Bible things in Bible way.

It is the “false gospel” of Pharisees followers of the House of Shammai, teaches a “work based salvation”, that is, to become a halacha Jew starting from the ceremonial Circumcision (Mark of Jew/Conversion to Judaism) and then obliged to keep the Jewish oral laws and Torah of Elohim for salvation.

If salvation can be earned through religion and adherence to its dogma and regulations, then the Messiah יהושע died for nothing.

Galatians 5:2-4 “See, I, Sha’ul, say to you that if you become circumcised (mark of circumcision to become a Halacha Jew), Messiah shall be of no use to you (you are forfeiting the salvation through faith in Messiah). And I witness again to every man being circumcised that he is a debtor to do the entire Torah (halacha Jew is to maintain Torah and Oral Torah for salvation). You who are declared right by Torah (attempting to yield salvation by becoming a halacha Jew) have severed yourselves from Messiah (forfeiting the gospel of Messiah by the false gospel of men) you have fallen from favour (if one can earn salvation by becoming a halacha Jew, then there was no need for the Messiah to come).” Emphasis is mine in parentheses.

See how scriptures interpret the scriptures. That’s why when we read the scriptures, we read in context and we take the historical backdrop into an account. We make sure that scriptures do not contradict each other, and this way, the validity of scriptures remain to enact. We can see how the semiotics of the scriptures has been hijacked by many teachers today and what has been lied to the people of Elohim.

Then, what is the unbearable yoke Kĕpha
(Peter) mentioned? We need to sometimes consider the first-century mechanism of Ranbanical Jewish belief to accurate understand this one thing. The majority of the Jews both historically and even today endorse “Halakhah,” (Oral Torah) that governs Jewish life and this Oral Torah (Halakhah) goes above and beyond the Torah of Elohim, strictly adhered to the House of Shammai. So, Ephrayim or any Gentile person who wanted to be saved must “legally” convert to Judaism and is responsible to maintain the Torah keeping in the traditions, regulations of the oral laws of the rabbis. This is absolutely an unbearable yoke on the neck most especially for the Gentiles who are turning to the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl.

Mark 7:5-9 “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him (Messiah), “Why do Your taught ones not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” And He answering, said to them, “Well did Yeshayahu prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it has been written, ‘This people respect Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching as teachings the commands of men.’ Forsaking the command of Elohim, you hold fast the tradition of men. And He said to them, “Well do you set aside the command of Elohim, in order to guard your tradition.”

Keep in view the following as well:

Matthew 23:1-4 “Then Messiah יהושע spoke to the crowds and to His taught ones, saying , “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Mosheh. Therefore , whatever they say to you to guard, guard and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say, and do not do. “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but with their finger they do not wish to move them.”

These Pharisees are the followers of the House of Shammai who were putting an unbearable yoke on the neck and shutting the gates of heaven.

Matthew 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the reign of the heavens before men, for you do not go in, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”

It’s the different human-made rules and regulations; the oral laws of Pharisees (followers of the House of Shammai) are the heavy burden that is hard to bear, not the written commandments of our Abba Elohim.

Acts 15:19-20 “Therefore I (Ya‛aqoḇ) judge that we should not trouble those from among the nations who are turning to Elohim, but that we write to them to abstain from the defilements of idols, and from whoring, and from what is strangled, and from blood.”

The Gentile converts (Galatians) were subverted by the false gospel, they got confused and eventually, they returned to their former pagan deities and practices. Ya‛aqoḇ (James) rendered a reasonable judgment that these converted Gentiles (Galatians) should not be bombarded with everything to learn overnight. They have not fully submitted to the Elohim’s ways as they are still entangled with their pagan practices. Ya‛aqoḇ made a wise, easy and significant decision for them- they must abrogate their pagan practices first before they are accepted into the assembly of Elohim because one cannot sit at the table of Elohim and the table of Satan at the same time. And, the table of Elohim is called Shabbat. Selah!

Christians have argued that they were required to follow only these four commandments -abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and blood.

Well, then how about – do not murder, love your neighbours, honour your parents, do not steal etc. Were these not really matter for the Gentile believers, who were grafted to the family (Yisra’ĕl ) of Elohim and serve the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl?

Does it mean they were allowed to commit murder, dishonour their parents, lie, steal etc.? Certainly not, and Elohim forbids.

That’s why the most important verse of the passage is glazed over by mainstream Christianity and ignored to support their “Torah abolishing doctrine”, but they do not realise this verse is the key to understanding the entire passage of Acts 15.

Acts 15:21 – “For from ancient generations Mosheh has, in every city, those proclaiming him – being read in the congregations every Sabbath.”

The four commandments -“abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and blood”, are the prerequisite, as a charge to abolish their paganism, before they are accepted to the family of Elohim. Later, they learn the rest of the commandments, as the Torah is being taught in every city on Sabbath. Because, at that time, there were no printed Bible available, nor existed the Bible apps. The only way they were to learn the Torah, and His ways, was by becoming a part of His assembly on Sabbath.

These four pagan practices were not the only abominable things they were committing but also they were turning back to their former pagan festivals. These four pagan practices were primarily implied to Avodah Zarah (Strange Worship); Roman Imperial Cult Worship.

Galatians 4:9-11 “But now after you have known Elohim, or rather are known by Elohim, how do you turn again to the weak and poor elementary matters, to which you wish to be enslaved again? You closely observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, lest by any means I have laboured for you in vain.”

Sadly the above passage is misunderstood and mistreated to endorse that Shaul was speaking against the Shabbat and Feasts of His Elohim. Missing and Messing a context is very dangerous.

And, the four prerequisite commandments,
Yerushalayim Council’s directive, is straight out of the Torah( Leviticus 17:8-16, Leviticus 18:2-26, Deuteronomy 32:17), obviously showing that the Council did not abolish the Torah of Elohim in the decree.

In conclusion, Acts 15 -Yerushalayim Council’s Decree does not abolish the Torah in the lives of Gentiles Converts or Christians, but a directive to forsake paganism and learn the Torah on every Sabbath.

I hope and pray this study has shed some light. Be like a Berean and Test Every Teaching-(Acts 17:11) because many false teachers have gone out to deceive the elect-(1 John 4:1, Matthew 25:11).

Feel free to endorse or negate this teaching in the comments below. Your insight will be highly appreciated. We all are learning and growing in Messiah with the aid of Ruach Hakodesh (Set-Apart Spirit).

Kindly refrain from the hateful and irrelevant comments. Stay in the context and do not deflect. Do not blend this teaching with other topics. Hostile and irrelevant comments will not be entertained or might be blocked, as I know some people would smuggle in this study and attempt to create a mess.

Let us return to the Master יהוה Elohim in total obedience, esteem His Torah and stop buying lies from men.

Psalm 67:1-2 “Elohim does favour us and bless us, Cause His face to shine upon us. Selah. For Your way to be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.”

Your Brother in Messiah יהושע
Ricky Chohan
Hindu2Hebrew
Shalom!

3 Comments

  1. MARIANNE GREYLING

    Thank you I learn alwys sometheing although I do no t agree with everything written. For me there is only ONE ELOHIM .YEHOSHUA IS HIS wRITTEN TORAH (words) who became FLESH (JOHN 1 ;14)

    I can not divide my love, attension, praise to two Entities.
    He forbid it in Ex 4 :15,19.

    Reply
  2. Robert Marr

    Acts 21v18-25 is also a very important passage to consider especially when explaining to Sunday Christians. Fyi

    Reply
  3. James - Lincoln

    Excellent article by Ricky … I’ll need to re-read it several more times, but it’s quite convincing on Acts 15. Many thanks!!

    Reply

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