No Pagan Links to Catholicism and Christianity

by Rod Thomas | Jan 14, 2019 | Blog

No Pagan Links to Catholicism and Christianity

Pagan Links to Catholicism and Religion in Doubt

I have, of late, become somewhat concerned over what I see as growing support by a good many leaders within and without our Faith for there being no pagan links to Catholicism and Protestant Christianity. And how are these folks backing their outrageous claims? Quite simply: by claiming there is no academic, scholarly documentation and proof of such connections in existence. In their eyes, if there is no documented, scholar-backed proof of such pagan connections, then it doesn’t exist.

Doubting the Enemy’s Influence and Existence

What I fear we are seeing in this present move to wipe away any pagan connection to Catholicism and a great deal of Protestant Christianity from minds of Truth-seeking believers today, is a soft denial that the enemy even exists. And the danger that these leaders are posing to the Body of Messiah and any who would seek Truth, is a subtle spiritual disarming of believers.

Spiritual Warfare Has Existed Since The Fall

Now I realize that some would say that I am being a foolish sensationalist by making such statements. Everyone knows the devil exists and has existed from the beginning. Nevertheless, what most folks in positions of leadership in and out of our Faith fail to recognize is the spiritual warfare that has been ongoing in this world since the Fall. And it is that inability and in some cases refusal to recognize the spiritual war that has been waging since Eden by these leaders that is leading them to deny pagan-links to many of the practices, traditions and doctrines of the Catholic Church.

Proof is in the Pudding? Or No?

Of course there would be no documented proof of such pagan links. If there were, would it not then cause the masses to take note and maybe flee from these organizations? The enemy is crafty and is expert at covering up his tracks over the course of millennia. And men’s minds are quick to forget why he does the things he does.

Alexander Hislop Under Attack

Some people in and out of our Faith are calling Hislop a fraud because of his stance on pagan links to Catholicism.

Much of the ire being expressed against any suggestions of pagan links to the Catholic Church and parts of Protestantism seems to be directed at the man Alexander Hislop and his book “The Two Babylons.” In the last few years, Christian and Hebrew Roots leaders have come out of the woodwork, so to speak, to condemn and discredit the man and his book. In case you are unfamiliar with the man and his work, Alexander Hislop was a British minister of the early to middle 1800’s. He wrote “The Two Babylons” as a polemic against the Catholic Church, with a specific focus on supposed links to Babylonian paganism dating back to the days of the Tower of Babel.

Hislop and Book Once Revered

Many evangelicals and not too fee Messianics and Rooters over the years developed quite a bit of admiration for the man and his book. Many Christian and Hebrew Roots teachers have written books, based a number of their teachings and bible doctrines on the content of the book. I would venture to say that a great deal of Hislop’s book has shaped the way Hebrew Rooters view the ways of Catholicism and Christianity in general.

Hislop and Book No Longer Appreciated

Yet, over the last few years, a handful of Christian and Hebrew Roots leaders, teachers and preachers have come out against Alexander Hislop and his “The Two Babylons” book, accusing Hislop of being a fraud; a liar; an uninformed antagonist of the Roman Catholic Church. Some have gone so far as to medically diagnosed the man as being a schizophrenic. I should add, however, that none of these individuals are medical doctors and it is not clear to me what gives them the gravitas to diagnose someone who lived a century and a half, of which very little is known.

Academics Over Spirituality and Truth

Regardless, the issues being raised against Hislop and his book is simply that none of Hislop’s claims from the book can be academically proven. And because none of the book’s claims can be verified by scholars, then the author and his book are fraudulent.

I get that there may be a lack of proof as it relates to some of the book’s content and the author’s claims. Furthermore, I get that some of the content, given some of the archaeological and other documentary evidence that so-called scholars have come into possession of in the 20th and 21st centuries, may contradict or even debunk some of the Hislop’s claims. Things like this happen all the time in several areas of our Faith and the bible research. Just in recent years, the circumstances and timeline for the Hebrew Exodus out of Egypt has been challenged effectively changed as a result of recent archaeological findings. But no one goes out of their way to call the scientists and researchers who postulated the inaccurate circumstances and timeline of the Exodus in the first place frauds.

The Body Begins to Eat Their Young

What we are sadly seeing, even in Hebrew Root’s circles today, those who stand firm in their belief of the pagan-link to the Universal Church and her traditions, being labelled as frauds and deemed as divisive people in the Faith.

The Two Babylons is Alexander Hislop’s polemic against the pagan links to the Universal Church.

Just in the past few years, more and more Hebrew Roots teachers and preachers are speaking out in somewhat of a reserved defense of Christmas–at least they are saying that there is no pagan ties to Christmas as far as any scholars or authorities can determine. Many then launch into a polemic against Hislop. What most folks don’t understand, however, is that Christmas in this country, for the first century of so of its history, outlawed the keeping of Christmas. Bear in mind, this outlawing of Christmas came prior to Alexander Hislop’s birth and the publishing of The Two Babylons. [If you are interested, I posted a podcast on the subject of the pagan-links to Christmas.]

So one must ask themselves: what did those early settlers and Christians know about this Roman Catholic Church derived holiday that so many claim is not known today?

It’s Probably a Duck

I like the old adage: “If it quacks like a duck; if it waddles like a duck; if it looks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” In other words, there’s something not right about the traditions and practices and doctrines of the Universal Church (ie., the Catholic Church and her offspring). Maybe it requires spiritual insight to see such things that maybe those who speak out against the existence of pagan links to the religion don’t see. I don’t know. For when we begin to speak and defend the Church Triumphant that has the traditions of venerating the dead and saints; worshiping the Virgin Mary; the rejection of the Feasts of the Creator with replacement of holidays such as Easter, Christmas, All Saint’s Day; Fat Tuesday; Lent; indulgences; infant baptism; and so many other Traditions, we are doing nothing but deluding ourselves and denying the Truth that is right before our eyes.

Let’s Be Reasonable About This Thing

Maybe Alexander Hislop’s work in some places is lacking scholarly integrity (whatever that actually looks like), but the premise of what he was trying to get across is that we must be able to discern the holy from the unholy; the pure from the impure; the Truth from lies; the biblical/God-breathed from the manmade; the spiritual from the carnal; and hold to Truth that comes only from the Word of YHVH and the revelation of YHVH’s Holy Spirit.

If scholarly documentation and archaeological proofs are required to certify the existence of pagan-links to the Universal Church and some of her offspring, what’s next? Will they then begin to require scholarly documentation and archaeological proofs that our Creator and our Master Yahoshua Messiah exists? Just because we don’t have the proverbial smoking gun for pagan-links to religion don’t mean it ain’t so. Just saying.

Faithfully submitted.

Paul Opposing God On Issue Of Circumcision?

by Rod Thomas | Jan 13, 2019 | Blog

Paul Opposing God On Issue Of Circumcision?

A Matter of Circumcision or No?

As I was watching Kenny Russell’s (Bulldozer Faith) most recent Sabbath teaching entitled “Press On!,” the text of which he based his message being Philippians 3, I became fixated on verses 2 and 3 of that chapter. It is here that Paul touches upon the issue of circumcision.

What Was Paul Writing About If Not The Abolition of Circumcision?

However, Paul was not at all discussing whether or not a male disciple of Y’shua Messiah should or should not be circumcised. He was actually speaking to “matters of the heart.” Yet many within and without our Faith have used this brief passage to dissuade untold numbers of people from keeping Torah. These take the dangerous step of suggesting Paul opposed YHVH on the issue of circumcision. We will find this is not the case at all.

Beware of the Mutilation!

Phiippians 3:2,3 read as follows:

Beware of dogs; beware of evil workers; beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

The inflammatory verbiage Paul uses here has the high potential of leading the reader down a path of believing Paul was rejecting Torah. It is rather easy to see that Paul’s use of the phrase “beware of the mutilation” is either directly or indirectly referring to the practice of circumcision given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Torah (Gen. 17:11; Exo. 4:25, 26).

What About Circumcision Is Paul Talking About?

However, in this particular passage, Paul elected to NOT use the Greek term “peritemno” to describe the act or practice of circumcision. Instead, Paul uses the term “katatome,” which is a rather derogatory or negative term to describe cutting something up or mutilating something, which many English translations have chosen to use. Some English translations have chosen to use the term “concision” over mutilation such as the Young’s Literal Translation which reads:

Look to the dogs; look to the evil-workers; look to the concision…(Phi. 3:2).

Another Challenging Pauline Text?

Some of us might have some fundamental problems with this passage. If we read the plain wording of the passage, Paul seems to be instructing the Philippian assembly members to beware of those of the mutilation, or more civilly, those of the circumcision, suggesting that circumcision is a bad thing.

As Torah Observant Disciples of Yahoshua Messiah, how must we reconcile this anti-Torah stance that Paul seems to be taking. Abba gave the instruction to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and it has been carried down throughout generations by His people. When the Hebrews entered the Land of Promise, Joshua had all the males circumcised, suggesting that most of those males entering the land had not been circumcised as Abba directed.

Is Paul Telling Us to Reject Torah?

Is Paul actually denigrating or rejecting the instructions of Yah here? Is Paul giving New Covenant male disciples a full pass on circumcision?

Well, no.

Concision or mutilation–katatome–according to Nave’s Topical Bible denotes a “term for ‘over-zealous’ circumcision.

What we are seeing here is classic Pauline play on words. The apostle to the Gentiles is clearly playing to the conventional wisdom of his Gentile audience in Philippi by using a play on terms and phrases common to that time and culture.

A Play on Words and Phrase

We know from the Book of Maccabees, that the Greeks viewed the Hebrew practice of circumcision as barbaric. They called the practice mutilation. Philippi was a Greek city and her citizens would have no doubt held similar views of circumcision and used the derogatory term katatome to refer to orthodox Jews.

In order that he “might gain them that were without law,” Paul sought to appeal to them that were without Torah by using their common vernacular–their common terminology–their method of talk–their slang to get his point across to them (1 Cor. 9:21).

Paul expertly used common Gentile terminology to describe a certain class of individual causing confusion and division in and around the body of Messiah there in Philippi. Essentially, Paul was warning his Philippian readers to beware of Judaizers who were going about in the body insisting that the members of the Philippian Assembly follow to the letter of the law, Rabbinic Judaism. Among so many other things, these Judaizers were pushing a requirement that all Gentile male converts to the Way had to first convert to Judaism, which meant they had to first be circumcised.

Religion Corrupting the Purity of the Gospel Message

This was not the Gospel message that Paul originally brought and taught them. In fact, these Judaizers, or “dogs” and “evil doers” as Paul refers to them, were perverting the Gospel that Yeshua brought and that Paul had taught.

So Paul was using Gentile terminology to get his warning across to the Philippian Assembly members. He also chose to flip the verbiage around on the Judaizers as well. Jews often referred to Gentiles as “dogs” (ie., Greek=kuon) and “evil workers.” Thus Paul’s reversing and plays on words and phrases would have a poignant impact upon his readers across the board.

Labels Can Be Powerful

According to ESV Study Bible, Paul “labels those who extol good works of the law as evildoers…”

Beware of those who mutilate the flesh is Paul playing on the Gentile’s perspective of the practice of circumcision. Whereas the Judaizers’ badge of pride and honor was circumcision (as opposed to a relationship with YHVH and Y’shua), it was actually a sign of their destruction. These are ultimately leading men down a path away from the Truth of the Gospel by forcing converts to focus on Rabbinic laws and traditions.

Master Yahoshua has effectively freed us from such things–that is, He freed us from religion.

None of this is to say that circumcision in and of itself is bad. Heavens no. Father gave it as a sign between Him and His people. Therefore, who are we to denigrate and reject that which Abba has given?

Circumcision and Heart–Inseparable

The point is that true circumcision is of the heart–as it always has been. Physical circumcision is still valid in the Body of Messiah, even today. Once one’s heart is properly situated with Messiah and YHVH our Elohim, then it becomes an issue between the disciple of Messiah and God the right time for circumcision. This plays right back into the whole Aggadah first, then Halakhah second. We looked at this in our Paul and Hebrew Roots series.

Father in His Torah always sought for a circumcision of one’s heart before that of the flesh. And Paul taught the same thing.

Circumcision of the heart first and then the flesh was always Abba’s desire and requirement for all the men of Israel:

Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart; and don’t be stiffnecked any longer (Deu. 10:16; HCSB)!

YHVH your Elohim will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul so that you will live (Deu. 30:6; HSCB).

Yet ancient Israel violated Torah both aggahdically and halakhically:

When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, to occupy My sanctuary, you defiled My temple while you offered My food–the fat and the blood. You broke My covenant by all your detestable practices…This is what Master YHVH says: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, may enter My sanctuary, not even a foreigner who is among the Israelites (Eze. 44:7,9; HCSB).

As Torah Observant Disciples of Yahoshua Messiah, each of us are commanded to circumcise our hearts–to give our hearts, minds and souls over to the Creator of the Universe. In doing so, our walk–our obedience to His eternal Torah will fall naturally into its proper place in our lives.

Not to leave his Philippian readers hanging, Paul clarified what he was referring to regarding “beware of the mutilators” or “concision” or katatome in verse 3 of the same 3rd chapter. Paul writes: “For we are the circumcision; meaning that are hearts and minds are that of Messiah and thus we walk in the newness of life and obedience of YHVH and Yeshua Messiah.

Bottom line saints: it’s a heart thing. We must ask ourselves: is our hearts circumcised

My Last Word on the Cepher Bible and the Divinity of Yeshua–At Least Till Next Time

by Rod Thomas | Jan 4, 2019 | Podcasts

My Last Word on the Cepher Bible and the Divinity of Yeshua-At Least Till Next Time

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Why Discuss the Cepher Bible Yet Again

So I elected to do a rather quick reiteration–albeit last word on the Cepher Bible and the Divinity of Yeshua. At least, until the issue comes up, let’s just say.

Over the last year or so I’ve received a number of inquiries about my position(s) on the Cepher.

Born out of a 2016 post I did entitled: The Cepher Bible–A Violation of Torah?

The Cepher Bible I feel has some significant problems attached to it that I feel detracts from its accurate usefulness.

Over the last year or so I have received multiple hits on the website by Cepher inquiring minds.

Questions about my thoughts on the Cepher and about Philippians 2:10,11.

But set Christ (ie., Messiah) apart as Lord (ie., Master) in your hearts and always be ready to give an an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Messiah (ie., Christ) may be put to shame when they accuse you (1 Pet. 3:15,16; NET).

2 Reasons I Don’t Recommend The Cepher Bible

Practical usefulness of Cepher is sorely lacking.

The Cepher is a bulky book.

The Bible uses 1611 KJV Elizabethan English.

There is an over-emphasis on Hebrew names of people, places and things.

The Cepher uses or provides no cross-references.

If you don’t have tabs, you could spend an unreasonable amount of time searching for a particular passage.

The translators and editors took great liberties in their translation of the text. Philippians 2:11,12 is an prime example of such liberties.

I originally purchased the Bible for its advertised accuracy, which I found was not necessarily there.

The Cepher lacks commentary and references to explain translation, which forces the reader to rely exclusively on the integrity of the Cepher organization.

Positives of the Cepher

The Cepher contains the apocryphal OT books, including the books of Jasher, Enoch and Jubilees.

The Cepher is a well bound hardback book with quality paper.

It has a handsome appearance.

My stance on the Divinity of Yeshua Messiah–Is Yeshua and YHVH one and the same Being?

I believe that Yeshua Messiah is NOT YHVH.

Yeshua Messiah was and is a Created Being. For me, this does not mean that Yeshua did not pre-exist the creation of the earth and heaven. We know the Angels were existed before the Creation.

Which stands to says also that I do not believe Yeshua is the Illusive Angel of the LORD (YHVH).

There is no Biblical support for Yeshua being YHVH and such a belief defies Hebraic understanding of the Person of YHVH despite what many in our Faith Community say to the contrary.

Yeshua Himself never described or identified Himself as YHVH, although He did identify Himself as the Messiah and the Son of Yehovah, along with some other titles such as the Bread of Life and the Good Shepherd.

I won’t rehearse fully why I don’t believe Yeshua is YHVH–having done a series on the divinity of Yeshua which you are invited to listen to or read at your leisure. However, here is a quick run-down of some of my reasons:

YHVH cannot die.

The Creator said Himself that He cannot be tempted.

Abba declared that He is the Creator of the Universe and there is none other. He never declared Himself as being Y’shua Messiah.

Yeshua said He received His instructions from His Heavenly Father.

Our Master prayed to His heavenly Father.

Yeshua Messiah never identified Himself as YHVH–the Most important proof.

All alleged scriptural proofs offered by those who hold to YHVH and Yeshua being one and the same Person/Being are shaky at best and are built upon certain placement of punctuation and order of words in the received, sacred texts.

Belief in Y’shua being YHVH/YHWH by anyone in our Faith Community is in no way a relationship impediment. In fact, most of the folks I personally know in our Faith Community believe opposite what I believe. Nevertheless, I respect their belief and understanding of the divinity of Yeshua.

Any further questions on this issue in terms of my personal understanding or belief on this any any other issue I am happy to discuss via email.

Paul on Aggadah–Part 5 of Paul and Hebrew Roots Series

by Rod Thomas | Dec 28, 2018 | Podcasts

Paul on Aggadah--Part 5 of Paul and Hebrew Roots Series

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Paul on Aggadah—Part 5 of the Paul and Hebrew Roots Series

Let us quickly recall from Part 4 of this series that Aggadah is that unseen/invisible aspect of our lives that prompts or influences or even controls our behavior; in particular,that inward motivation, zeal, commitment or love that causes us to walk out our Faith in a certain way. In short, aggadah is really more about matters of the heart than anything else.

Conversely, the walk (the behavior) that results from aggadah is that visible/seen aspect of our lives that others can see if they so desire.

The Hebrew Root Word For Aggadah is Agricultural in Nature

Let’s briefly look at the Hebrew Root word for aggadah as it may shed some clarifying light on the wider meaning of the term. The root word from which aggadah derives is Aleph–Gimmel–Dalet–Hey.

As with so many things in our Hebrew Roots Faith, this root form of aggadah has an agricultural meaning attached to it. The root word means something that is ripened and comes to its intended form. Thus when applied to one’s life of Faith, the root form of aggadah has to do with a nascent fruit (maybe best seen as a seed or bud) that ripens and ultimately matures into a ripe fruit.

Another way to look at this thing is that the fruit is the halakhah; the seed is the aggadah.

Aggadah From a Practical Perspective

Practically speaking, aggadah is that thing—be it inspiration; uncompromising love and reverence for the Creator; whatever–that moves us to live righteous, obedient lives. When the heart ain’t feeling right about the Faith, it’s a fair bet that our walk isn’t going to be right either. One will likely live a less than righteous life and be less likely to properly keep the Creator’s instructions as He intended them to be kept. It’s just human nature.

Recall that old, but sage saying: “Home is where the heart is.” I used to think that saying was just about the love of family and home by someone who was for whatever reason separated from their folks. But when we apply this saying to aggadah, then this wise saying adds a whole new dimension to this essential concept.

Aggadah–It’s a Heart Thing

Having a right heart is at the center of aggadah.

If our hearts desire after that which is not of God—that is, anything that may be carnal, then we invariably will make our homes in that carnal realm, metaphorically speaking. It is only natural for one to behave in accordance to the leading of one’s heart. If our hearts are tuned to holy, pure and righteous things, our behavior will follow suit such that we will be holy, pure and righteous in our behavior.

If our hearts are tuned to carnality—lust; hatred; idolatry;; adultery; fornication; anger; envy; foolishness and strife just to name a few, our behavior will naturally fall in line with such things. That is, we will behave carnally. Paul described these carnal behaviors as “works of the flesh” (Gal. 5).

If one’s heart is overwhelmingly carnal yet claim he or she claims to be a Torah Observant Believer in Yeshua Messiah, does that mean he or she is incapable of keeping most aspects of Torah (ie., halakhah)? Oh dear God no. We saw this brilliantly exampled by the Pharisees and Scribes of Paul’s day. These individuals went out of their way to keep every rote nuance of the Law (both the written and their oral traditions). Yet, like their wilderness wandering fathers of old, they went through the motions of keeping Torah, but used their Talmud and other ancient writings to get around the spirit of Torah.

Yeshua acknowledged the steadfast obedience of the Pharisees and Scribes to Torah and their traditions in one of His many rebukes of them:

“Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise (ie., a medicinal plant) and cumin and all manner of herbs…ye strain at a gnat…ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter…” (Mat. 23:23-26; KJV).

So even Master recognized their discipline to Law-keeping—that is, their halakhah.

Yet Master clearly recognized the inward functioning of their walk in Judaism and he exposed them for what they truly were as men of faith. That is, Master exposed the true nature of their aggadah:

“…Ye have omitted the weightier matters of , judgment, mercy and faith: these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone. Although you strain at a gnat, ye swallow a camel…within the cups and platters ye clean so well, they are full of extortion and excess…”(Mat. 23:23-26; KJV)

Yeshua likened the Pharisees and Scribes of His day to “whited sepulchres” (ie., whitewashed tombs) which He went on to describe as:

“You look beautiful on the outside but inside you are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Mat. 23:27,28; NET).

One of the things that the wilderness Hebrews of old lacked in their journey, that caused them continued run-ins with the Creator and Moses, was heart. In describing their great meeting-up with their Deliverer Yehovah at Mount Sinai where they agreed to His proposed covenant in sincerity and reverence (Exo. 19), Father desired for them to possess the same heart they possessed back at Sinai.

“Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever” (Deu. 5:29; NASB)!

Seems that our wilderness wandering Hebrew forefathers had a proper heart at one time during their journey. Something, somewhere along the way, happened, and their hearts became sullied and turned away from their Deliverer.

Can the Heart Be Tamed and Cultured

Can this inward element—the heart—be cultured or trained to love? Revere? To thirst after righteousness? To purpose to live righteously? To live a life worthy to be called a child of the Most High? To desire to be like our Master Yahoshua Messiah in every conceivable way? Can such a heart be cultured or grown or developed.

I think so. Absolutely. But I think more so that there must be a seed within the disciple of Yeshua that purposes to maintain such an inward, insatiable desire for the “weightier matters of the Torah such as justice, mercy, and trust” (Mat. 23:23). There must be a willingness to give one’s self over to the leading of the Holy Spirit (ie., the Ruach HaKodesh) in order to tame and culture his or her heart. There must be that initial resolve to give one’s heart over to God. And from there, I believe, the Spirit of the Living God and the Spirit of Messiah germinates that nascent seed within us that causes us to desire to be and do all that our God requires of us.

Did not our Father promise to write His Torah upon the fleshly tablets of our hearts; so that no one who truly sought to serve Him would be enslaved to sin; such that our hearts and our spirits would be totally in-sync with Yehovah/Yahuah/Yahweh, our Elohim; such that we would not be as the Pharisees adn Scribes described previously.

“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith YHVH, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer. 31:33; KJV).

“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh” (Eze. 11:19; KJV).

“Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Messiah, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (2 Cor. 3:3; KJV).

Some will contend that these verses—the foundation of the Renewed Covenant–applies only to the Jews in the End Times of the World to Come. But I fully believe this absolutely applies to those of us today who are disciples of Yeshua Messiah. Paul likened our particular situation as “wild olive tree branches” that have been “graffed in” to the cultivated olive tree of Israel. As wild olive branches that have been engrafted into that cultivated olive tree which is Israel, we become part of that cultivated tree. We receive all the benefits received by the original branches. This comes as a result of the goodness and kindness of our Heavenly Father (Rom. 11:17; 22; KJV).

Aggadah Is Also About Relationship

Relationship is an Essential Element to Aggadah

We must know YHVH as opposed to knowing about YHVH.

For as much as aggadah is about one’s heart in relationship to one’s walk, aggadah is also about relationship. THE relationship. The most important relationship that a human being could ever have on this planet.

One of the handful of missions our Master fulfilled through His earthly ministry was to re-establish the broken relationship that has existed between the Creator and mankind since the fall.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again: our Hebrew forefathers generally knew of Yehovah/Yahuah/Yahweh, but they did NOT know Yehovah/Yahuah/Yahweh.

It’s one thing to know about a person, but it’s an entirely whole other level and thing to actually know a person. How can one truly be in-sync with the Creator of the Universe if one only knows of their Creator. Only knowing of the Creator leads one to stumble through their life, never truly knowing whether or not they have pleased their God.

After 34-years of marriage and prior to that, a 2-year courtship, I’m still getting to know my wife Hilary. At the beginning of our relationship, I made a ton of mistakes, thinking I knew all I needed to know about her. Truth be told, early on, I knew a lot about her, but I didn’t really know her. I would go out of my way to do things I thought she would appreciate, only to find out later that she really didn’t care for what I did. It wasn’t that she was impossible to please. It was that I was trying to appeal to the woman—the person—that I thought she was in my efforts to please her. Thus I made up in my mind and purposed in my heart to please her in relation to what I knew, or thought I knew, about her. Needless to say, my efforts at pleasing her was often hit and miss. And in those times that I missed pleasing her, I became extremely disappointed and frankly hurt. I often thought that she was just a hard person to please. Truth be told, however, Hilary was not hard to please per se. I had not invested enough effort, energy and time in getting to know her. Thus, when trying to please her, I was more times than not, operating in the dark; operating according to my understanding and conceptions of her.

It wasn’t until a few years ago after blowing it with one of my efforts to please her that I asked her why she was not pleased with my efforts. She told me that she appreciated my efforts to please her, but I failed to to fully understand and learn what things truly pleased her.

Brad Scott makes mention of halakhah and aggadah in relation to the marriage relationship in his teaching on Paul. Scott notes:

One can suggest things to express a man’s love for his wife; but no one can teach a man to love his wife.

Case in point: I knew that Hilary desired that we have frequent times together—sort of like dates. So, I would arrange for us to go to a movie or some type of show. After a while, I noticed that Hilary was not really into these shows and movies. I ultimately learned that she preferred to go for walks together in lovely, natural settings, than to go to a movie. Talk about a lot of wasted, unproductive together time, huh?

I would never learn the truth of what pleases Hilary until I really began to know her, as opposed to knowing about her. Without getting to know her better, as opposed to knowing about her, I would invariably make the same mistakes of not pleasing her, conceivably, for the remainder of our married life together. And frankly, that situation would not bode well for either Hilary or me.

The same thing applies to our relationship with Father and us as individuals. We saw beautifully expressed in the lives of our Hebrew forefathers, both those wandering the Sinai wilderness and those occupying the Land of Promise, how they failed to please the Father in great part because their hearts were not in alignment with the things of Yah, and they never invested the time, energy and effort to personally know the Creator. These knew of Yah, but they did not know Yah.

Yeshua knew Yah better than any Person to have graced this planet; Moses knew Yah on a level described as a friendship (Deu. 34:10); Joshua knew Yah; David knew Yah; the prophets of old knew Yah; the apostles knew Yah. Thus, it was the deep, abiding relationship that existed between each of these great people of God that led to them to successfully and brilliantly walk in the Creator’s ways and perform unbelievable acts through the power and might of Yah’s Spirit operating on and in each of them (aggadah).

The great thing about our Bible is that it gives us example after example of how we are to live out our lives and the relationship that one must have with the Creator if we are to walk in a way that is wholly pleasing to Yehovah/Yahuah/Yahweh. That relationship has and continues to be based entirely upon love. That love in turn causes the would-be disciple of Yeshua Messiah to honor and obey their God with their whole heart, mind and soul (Deu. 6:4; Mat. 22:37). This is halakhah in its truest and purest form.

Aggahdically, the heart of the disciple belongs exclusively to Yehovah/Yahuah/Yahweh; it could never be shared with or owned by the powers of darkness. In fact, disciples of Yeshua reject and turn away from that which is evil and ungodly. From there, an intense and personal relationship develops between the disciple and Yehovah, which leads to the disciple leading a life beyond the norm of all human existence. It’s beyond simply keeping the weekly Sabbaths and the Feasts and not eating port or shellfish. It’s walking out one’s Faith everyday in a way that is pleasing and wholly acceptable to Yehovah/Yahweh/Yahuah.

Paul wrote to the Roman Assembly of Believers in Yeshua Messiah:

“So brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service” (Rom. 12:1; CEB).

Notice that Paul wasn’t focusing his instruction on demanding that his Roman disciples to keep Torah commands a certain way (ie., halakhah). No. Paul’s focus here was on the newness of life that every disciple of Yeshua Messiah has been called to live out. Continuing on to verse 2 of this same chapter in Romans, Paul states:

“Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world (halakhah), but be transformed by the renewing of your minds (aggadah) so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature” (Rom. 12:2; CEB).

When we commit ourselves to being disciples of Yeshua Messiah and we give over our hearts to Yah, and we then fall in love with Yah, our minds are renewed. We see things the way Father sees them. We begin to understand things Father understands. We begin to desire the things Father desires; love the things Father loves; hate and despise the things Father hates and despises; and so much more. We became one with the Father and Yeshua because we have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Thus our day to day walk (ie., halakhah) in Messiah has to be positively impacted and influenced.

This is what Paul was trying to get across to both the Jews and the Greeks in his evangelical work; much to the chagrin and rejection of the Judaizers in the midst of the various assemblies he oversaw.

Over Focusing on Halakhah—Diminished Focus on Aggadah

The condition of our hearts is what Father is primarily interested in over our walk.

Over the years I’ve seen many people stumble into our Faith Community—our Faith Movement as some would call it—and at the very start of their walk, they are so fixated on the nuts and bolts of Hebrew Roots/Messianic Judaism. And one of the very first question lead-offs they always ask: “How do I?” How do I keep the Shabbat? How do I celebrate the Feasts? Somehow, our Faith community/movement has put forth this image that the only thing that matters is doing. The Faith Movement/Community has become known only for its keeping of the LAW. Nothing else. Nothing more. I recall when I was member of my high school’s Christian club, we used to sing a popular 70’s Christian Folk song with the resounding refrain: “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Yes, during those days, Christianity was really big on love, unity, joy and peace. And this was the environment in which I began my Christian journey, so to speak.

Roughly three-decades later I’m introduced to the so-called Hebrew Roots of the Christian Faith, and the very first things I’m told are a must is that I have to start keeping the Sabbath; got to start keeping the Feasts; that I have to obey the food laws. Not once, did I come across any teaching that even remotely suggested that I establish a relationship with the Creator of the Universe; to seek after Him in all my ways; to love Him even more than I love myself or my spouse or my children. It was never suggested that if I failed to establish a relationship with the Almighty at the beginning of my Faith journey, I could hit some really difficult times throughout the course of my walk with Messiah. For it is that relationship, as I mentioned earlier, that brings one’s heart, mind and soul in sync with the Almighty (aggadah) which then leads to a proper walk with Yeshua Messiah (halakhah).

Before one starts out in Faith, there should be a desire to know the ways of the Almighty. Far too many converts to Hebrew Roots/Messianic Judaism, desire instead, to know learn and follow the traditions of Judaism and the Jewish sages. These marry the Faith instead of marrying the Almighty. These fall in love with the Faith instead of falling in love with the Almighty. These obey the Faith and the Faith’s leaders instead of obeying the Almighty. And all too often, these same ones want to tell everyone else how to live and walk out their Faith in accordance to what they end up believing how things are supposed to be. In their zealous quest to lead and teach others the way they believe they should go, these same ones more times than not neglect to convey to their followers the teachings and example of Yeshua Messiah.

Then there are others in our Faith Community whose focus is only Torah—Torah—Torah, sprinkled with the traditions of the sages. These worship Torah as opposed to worshiping the God who gave Torah. Again, you will hardly ever hear mention of Yeshua in their many rants and power-trips aimed at capturing the hearts and minds of the less knowledgeable.

Do these individuals possess aggadah? Are their hearts driving their chosen life’s walk? I believe they do possess aggadah. The difference, I believe, is that their hearts are intricately linked to their religion as opposed to the Creator. They know of the Creator as opposed to knowing the Creator. And this is the sad tragedy of much of our Faith Community. There are way too many of us who know a whole lot about Yehovah/Yahuah/Yahweh, but we don’t know Yehovah/Yahuah/Yahweh.

So you may be asking yourself: Rod, what does any of this have to do with the teachings and writings of the Apostle Paul? Well, all that I’ve been discussing thus far regarding aggadah, has a great deal to do with the teachings and writings of Paul. And it is all that we’ve been discussing that has the Apostle Paul (aka, Shaul), wrongly accused.

Wrongly accused of perpetrating the grace perversion that under-girds much of evangelical and charismatic Christianity today.

Wrongly accused of perpetrating a “lawless” gospel of the kingdom that so many of us in Hebrew Roots and Messianic Judaism struggle to understand and explain.

Wrongly accused of being a liar.

Wrongly accused of not being a true apostle of Yahoshua Messiah.

One of the essential things that we as Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah must first understand about Paul and his writings and teachings, is Paul’s exceptional understanding and application of the critical balance that must exist between halakhah and aggadah in every believer’s life. Knowing, loving, revering Yah must precede walking in Yah’s ways—walking in Yah’s Torah. If the heart is not properly placed in one’s relationship with the Creator (the aggadhik), then one’s walk (the halakhic) will be compromised.

The walk then becomes all about us instead of becoming all about Him; how it makes us feel; how we appear to others; what we may get out of the deal by walking in such a manner. There is no love of Messiah in this walk; there is no accepting of direction from the Holy Spirit, especially when those directions contradict the direction we desire to go in; there is no true understanding of Truth that comes only from the pages of our Bible and the revelation of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives.

If anyone understood the importance of a proper aggahdic and halahkic life, Paul did. The best example of how not to live out one’s Faith was clearly seen demonstrated in the lives of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes. And who were the very ones who gave Paul the most problems throughout all the assemblies he oversaw during his ministry? Yes, the Pharisees. The Judaizers. To these, it was all about being ultra orthodox; keeping the traditions of the sages; even if you were a Gentile convert.

Their negative influence over the various Messianic Assemblies Paul oversaw was so great, that much of Paul’s teachings and writings were devoted to reversing their religious influences on the Body. It wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination that Paul is erroneously and famously seen as being anti-Torah by Evangelical and Charismatic Christianity. The fact of the matter was that Paul was desperately trying to get members of the various assemblies he oversaw to understand that they belonged to Yeshua Messiah. Their example had to be first and foremost Yahoshua Messiah. And if that was too much of a stretch for them to comprehend, Paul encouraged the members to simply imitate him, as he—Paul—was imitating Messiah in every aspect of his life. But before imitation of Messiah could properly take place, there had to first be a renewal of one’s mind and heart; a relationship had to be established between Yah and the disciple. This was the gist of what Paul was trying to convey in much of his teachings and writings.

Examples of Aggadah and Halakhah

I believe I’ve beaten aggadah to death enough for us to now take a step back and look at these two Hebrew concepts from a practical standpoint as we prepare to look at Paul’s teachings and writings in the succeeding installments of this series.

Aggadah and Halakhah: A Dual Concept

We will see illustrated over and over throughout Paul’s teachings and writings that aggadah and halakhah go hand-in-hand. Both halakah and aggadah are important to be practiced together. Unless practiced together, there is an imbalance that can come to bear upon the life of the believer. These are designed to be one! I described this as a dual concept.

Grace and Love

True grace and love are the purest forms of aggadah. When activated in the disciple of Yeshua Messiah, good works result, which is halakah in its purest form. Both halakhah and aggadah in their purest forms come from Yah.

The Apostle John defines who and what a True disciple of Yeshua Messiah is: “One that keeps the commandments of God (halakhah) and who has the witness of Yeshua Messiah (aggadah)” (Rev. 12:17). It’s not choosing Torah over grace: it’s choosing grace first and foremost, and then keeping and walking out Torah.

According to Brad Scott, Grace serves a purpose as does Torah serve a purpose in Father’s grand Plan of Redemption for mankind. No truer words related to this subject has ever been spoken.

The Letter Versus the Spirit of Torah

The letter of the Torah is halakhah. It was first written on stone tablets. Torah is printed today on the pages of our Bibles. Many who come to adopt the Hebrew Roots of the True Faith focus exclusively on the Torah of the printed pages of the Bible. They fear not keeping certain Torah commandments and instructions properly. And this is a real fear among many new converts. This fear has the potential of making or breaking some of those converts.

The spirit of Torah is aggadah—that is, the worship of Yah in Spirit and Truth. It’s the keeping of Torah, not blindly through rote, mechanical obedience to every Torah command and instruction, but keeping Torah in the spirit in which Father intended it be kept.

However, for many, the Greek side of us chooses to keep the letter of Torah as opposed to the spirit of Torah. We must ask ourselves, however, what are we seeking to accomplish in our keeping of Torah? That which is on our heart is seen in the things we do.

On Sabbath, do we simply not work; read our weekly Torah Portions; maybe watch a video or two in order to substitute or replace a holy convocation? Or do we rejoice and worship the God that gave us the Sabbath with our whole being? Do we seek to do something that shows our love for Yah and for our fellow disciples? Instead of watching that video or reading that Torah Portion without fail every Sabbath, do we seek out and establish fellowship with other like-minded believers in Yeshua Messiah so that we share our witness and bless one another, whereby glorifying our Father which is in heaven? I’m not saying one way or the other. I’m simply asking about the Spirit of Keeping the Sabbath Commandment. What does keeping the Sabbath mean to you?

When Yeshua walked and ministered on this earth, He redefined what it meant to keep the Sabbath by healing, fellowshipping and teaching Truth to His disciples on the Sabbath. Yet, the Jewish religious leaders vehemently claimed that He broke the Sabbath commandment. We know that Master did not break the Sabbath at all. In fact, Master showed us how to keep Sabbath to its fullest. Indeed, Master Yeshua kept the Spirit of Torah in respect to the weekly Sabbath.

Paul looks at this thing from the perspective of the one going before the other: the spirit of Torah (aggadah) drives you to the things we can see (halakhah).

I’m going to just put this out there and ask you to think a little on it. Could one of the reasons mainstream Christianity is so hostile towards those of us in Hebrew Roots and Messianic Judaism be that we place almost all our focus on halakhah—that is Torah keeping—while ignoring almost entirely aggadah—that is the heart and relational aspects of our Faith? Think about it: mainstream Christianity sees what it sees of us; that we care only about keeping the Sabbath, the feast days and the food laws. Yet mainstream Christianity fails to see the love we must have for Yehovah/Yahuah/Yahweh and for one another and the fact that we keep Torah because we love our Yah and that we desire to please Him and that it is also the right thing to do.

Another way to view this dual concept, from a Torah perspective, is that love for Yah is aggahdic in nature while love for one’s neighbor is haggahdic in nature.

And here’s the thing that blew me away about this dual concept that I did not consider early one: one concept came before the other. Do you know which came first?

Aggadah came first. Father’s love for His creation preceded His giving of Torah. And that same principle applies to us today. It’s not one or the other. Consider this, the first 4-commandments are aggahdic and the remaining 6 are halahkic. When we do all 10-commandments, we then possess true love.

Brad Scott yet again states that halakhah is the form (the actual walking out of Torah) while aggadah is the function (the inward aspect of our walk that involves the heart and our relationship with the Almighty) of true Torah living. First the function then the form. The form must match the function. Unfortunately, today we are more drawn to the form than the function. Both must be one.

Paul and the Holy Spirit convinced James and the Jerusalem Council that it was important that the Gentile converts first establish a relationship with Yehovah (Acts 15). Thus the Council instructed that only a few rules would be imposed upon the Gentile converts so that they would spend their early time and attention in the Faith on developing a relationship with the Creator. Later on, more instruction would be given to those converts after the relationship had been fully established.

Why have we not adopted this same understanding and practice in our Faith today? Have we not worn down a great many converts to Hebrew Roots by beating into their heads Torah-Torah-Torah at the expense of neglecting the converts’ relationship with their Creator? Just saying.

Brad Scott brilliantly explains the importance of relationship versus the walk through the example of raising children. Scott contends as brand new parents, we develop a relationship with the baby at the beginning of their lives and then once the child gets to an age of understanding, we train and instruct the child on how to live. My friends, the very same principle applies to the newbies of our Faith Community. And this is what Paul so ardently pressed the assembly members and leaders to pay attention to and set aside the overbearing demands of the Judaizers: let’s educate the Gentile converts on the essential elements of Grace and the new life they’ve embarked upon. Then, as the convert matures, train the convert on walking out their Faith consistent with the Spirit of Torah.

Personal Insights Related to Halakhah and Aggadah

Hearkening back to my days as a Coroner administrator who managed roughly 2-dozen death investigators (not at all seeking to blow myself up as we all have interesting and important jobs and careers), when it came to training new investigators, it was easy to introduce and indoctrinate them into the various established investigative techniques, procedures and policies of the craft. It was an entirely different thing to instill into those same recruits an investigator’s mindset and persona: teaching them to be nosy; to know the right questions to ask at the right time; to be suspicious; to know where to look for clues; to have compassion for the people they are serving; to be dedicated to their work and not seek after shortcuts for the sake of getting through their shifts quicker. These are all internal things that must come first and that ultimately drives the recruit to perform those established investigative techniques, procedures and policies of the craft well.

Closing Thoughts and Call to Action

And this is where we’ll conclude our preparatory discussion of the pre-conversion Paul.

Now, we’ve talked extensively about halakhah (the walk; that element of our Faith that is readily seen by others—the actual doing of good works and obedience to the instructions and commands of the Almighty) and aggadah (the inward piece; that element of our Faith that is not seen by others and that drives and moderates our walk—it’s the state of our heart and our relationship with the Almighty).

We’ve seen that it is impossible to properly halakhah—walk out—this Faith of ours the way Father always intended it to be, unless our heart and our relationship with Father is right. The two work together and the way Paul seems to approach this dual concept in most of his teachings and writings is to encourage aggadah be firmly established before the halakhah.

So my call to action for this installment is pretty simple: that we take an honest and complete assessment of ourselves and the health of our Faith in Messiah. Let us ask ourselves with as much honesty and purpose that we can muster: is my heart right with God? Do I actually have a true and healthy—substantive relationship with the Creator of the Universe? And if our assessment turns out to be lacking in one or both these areas, let us get down on our knees and earnestly seek the Face and will of our God.

Forget for the moment whether or not we are keeping Torah perfectly or if we know every nuance of Torah there is to know. Forget what the sages of old and our modern day Torah teachers are instructing or telling us to do in order to be perfect Hebrew Rooters. For the moment, let us stop worrying about how we are going to sort out the relationships we currently have with family, friends and our church affiliations. There will be more than enough time to deal with these issues in the days ahead for Father will graciously order our steps in all areas of our lives.

Instead, let us focus on loving our God; praising and worshiping our God; confessing and repenting from our sins; turning over to our God every aspect of our lives that we have yet to turn over to Him. Let us purpose in our hearts, minds and souls to seek first the kingdom of Yehovah/Yahweh/Yahuah our Elohim. In so doing, Master promised that if we do this first—the aggadah first—then all the remaining stuff will be fulfilled in our lives in the grandest fashion.

Halleluyah!? Halleluyah!

Hey look: I know that some of this stuff that I’ve been talking about to you this morning may not fully resonate with you. Or for that matter, maybe it does resonate with you, but you have questions or concerns that may be hindering your walk with Messiah. That’s okay my beloved friend. It’s more than okay.

Email me your concerns or questions at perceptionwp@gmail.com and let’s work this thing out. Let’s reason together and figure this thing out. For nothing else in life truly matters. Nothing. Yes, keeping Torah is important, but in the end, the only thing that matters is our Father and the relationship we have with Him. Period.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: It’s all about Him; not about us.

And I think we are now ready to actually get into the teachings and writings of Paul, beginning with Part 6 of this installment. I’m not entirely sure where we’ll actually begin in our journey, but I’m looking so forward to it.

A little warning beforehand. We are going to really dig deep into Paul’s teachings and writings. Much of what we will examine are from the inspired text, as well as we will tap extra-biblical resources to get a feel of what may have actually been going on behind the scenes to prompt the Pauline writings in questions.

I’ve stated on more than one occasion on this program that I am not a bible scholar. I don’t have letters before nor after my name. I’m just a Torah Observant Believer in Yeshua Messiah, like most of you, seeking Truth and I’m not afraid to go to the highest heights and deepest valleys to find it. We deserve to know the Truth and not be snookered into denominational and religious gibberish turned doctrine turned bible truth. This has gone on long enough. We live in a world today where information—even Truth—is right at our fingertips if we so choose to grab hold to it. Why not seek Truth now while we still can. Father’s Spirit will provide and lead the way. Just saying.

May I ask you to pray for me as I prepare for these upcoming discussions? I can tell you: it’s not going to be easy and I’m certain I’ll experience some spiritual warfare along the way in my preparations. I truly covet your prayers and your continued support.

So, until next time, may you be most blessed Fellow Saint of the Most High Elohim. Warmest shalom to you and your family. Take care.

The Meaning Behind The Recent Dedication of an Altar in Jerusalem

by Rod Thomas | Dec 18, 2018 | Podcasts

The Meaning Behind The Recent Dedication of an Altar in Jerusalem

If you’ve been keeping up with world news of late, you may know (or not) that the resurrected Great Sanhedrin, headquartered in Jerusalem, sanctioned a Levitical offering of a previously sacrificed lamb upon a practice altar somewhere in Jerusalem. (Yes, there really is a reconstituted Sanhedrin in Jerusalem today.) Representatives of the Biblical 70-nations of the world were invited to witness this so-called historical event.

The recent dedication of this altar in Jerusalem by the reconstituted Sanhedrin is said to be linked to the future building of a 3rd Temple.

An altar had been secretly constructed. Cohenim (Levitical Priests of the line of Aaron) have been selected and trained to perform this and all future sacrifices and offerings on the altar. Furthermore, the implements for performing all the ceremonies of the Temple and altar have been constructed and are ready to go at a moment’s notice.

According to an article published by WorldNetDaily on 12/7/2018, entitled, “Israel’s re-established Sanhedrin to dedicate altar for new Third temple; 70 nations invited:”

“The re-established Jewish Sanhedrin is pushing the envelope on the rebuilding of the Temple next Monday, the last evening of Hanukkah, by consecrating a stone altar and reading of a declaration to all nations intended as an invitation to participate in receiving its blessings – leading to an effort to replace the United Nations with a new, God-centered organization.”

Messianic Jewish Rabbi Zev Porat gets to the bottom of the recent dedication of an altar in Jerusalem by the reconstituted Sanhedrin.

According to Messianic Jewish Rabbi Zev Porat, the Sanhedrin wants to set up a new god-centered United Nations (a replacement United Nations) to be headquartered in Jerusalem.

Beyond wanting to set up this nebulous replacement United Nations, what is the Sanhedrin’s true motivation? It is purely financial in nature, as confirmed in a recorded conversation between Rabbi Porat and a member of the Sanhedrin.

In terms of uniting with other people in this and future endeavors, the Sanhedrin suggests that it might be interested in uniting with other Faiths such as Protestant Christianity. The Sanhedrin representative, however, was not willing to comment as to how unification with other nations and Faiths would actually look or how it would work.

After some prodding, Rabbi Perot discovered that the unification is first and foremost financially driven. When pressed by Rabbi Perot, the Sanhedrin representative indicated that his organization was not interested in any dialogue of spiritual significance with Messianics and Christians. In the Sanhedrin’s mind, it’s okay for Messianics and Christians to be a part of such a unification, as long as they follow the lead of the orthodox Jewish Sanhedrin. Otherwise, they are not interested in any true relationship with Messianics and Protestant Christians.

Nevertheless, in putting this staged event on, the Sanhedrin, according to the representative Rabbi Porat spoke to via phone, is primarily interested in raising money for their projects. Those projects supposedly are related to the building of a 3rd Temple.

A lot has come out of this story. Some Christians, Messianic and Orthodox Jews have made special note that this so-called dedication of the altar took place on the last day of Hanukkah. For those of you who are not familiar with the true Hanukkah story, the Maccabean Revolt ultimately resulted in an 8-day purification and then rededication of the previously desecrated temple and altar (mid-2nd century BCE). This desecration was, in my opinion, the first iteration of Daniel’s prophesied Abomination of Desecration. The second iteration of this prophecy in my opinion occurred during Titus’ 68-70 C.E. destruction of the Temple and altar. Consequently, I personally do not believe there’s enough evidence in Scripture to support the building of a 3rd Temple and operation of an altar; at least not before the return of Yahoshua our Messiah. But that’s a discussion for another day.

The point to be recognized, however, in Christians, Messianic and Orthodox Jews making note of the dedication of this altar taking place on the last day of Hanukkah, 2018, is prophetically symbolic and significant. These believe that this event signals the imminent return of Messiah—be it Judaism’s version of Messiah or the imminent return of Yeshua.

One fundamental Christian organization took extreme umbrage over this event, especially citing the event’s funding aspect. The Sanhedrin group that hosted and rain this event, apparently somewhere near the Joppa Gate near the Temple Mount, was soliciting money from those who attended and others who did not attend but may have some interest in seeing a 3rd Temple built on the Temple Mount as soon as possible. This Christian Group calls themselves RISE, their seeming anti-semitic video appearing on YouTube, suggested that unsuspecting Christians are being duped into giving money for the construction of the 3rd Temple for purposes of forcing or ushering in the End Times, the Great Tribulation and the return of Christ. The RISE video also suggested that the Sanhedrin group pushing their financial agenda was playing upon certain Christian perspectives of Dominion Theology (ie., the belief that Christians have the responsibility of ushering in the Kingdom of God and so forth by whatever means necessary—so to speak).

Although I agreed with RISE’s take on this whole event, I was terribly offended by the group’s overt disdain for Hebrew Roots and Messianic Jewish believers. RISE suggested that some of the blame for the Sanhedrin’s misleading agenda related to this event can be laid at the feet of Hebrew Roots. So you can see that it doesn’t take much for our name to be dragged in the mud by our cousins in both Christianity and Judaism.

In a later interview of Rabbi Zev Porat by SkyWatchTV’s Derek Gilbert, I learned that the reconstituted Sanhedrin—at least the group that planned and ran the altar dedication ceremony—does not in any way hold the respect and followership of most of the orthodox Jewish leaders and people in the Land of Israel today. In fact, Rabbi Porat reported that a good number of orthodox Jews residing in the Land of Israel were vehemently opposed to the event. Porat suggested that this extreme division and the Sanhedrin’s unpopularity in the Land of Israel may be the reason the organization kept the event so low key.

Another interesting thing came out of this event. The Sanhedrin announced that a full ceremonial sacrifice of a lamb is planned for this coming Passover, utilizing the newly dedicated altar.

Regardless where you stand on this story, it cannot be denied that there’s a lot to be had here: both politically, prophetically and spiritually. The question that we must ask ourselves, however, is whether we as Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah, should involve ourselves in such things. I know that some prominent Hebrew Roots/Messianic teachers are falling over one another touting how significant this thing is to our immediate future as believers in Messiah. At least two-Messianic Jewish teachers went so far as to predict that the abomination of desolation spoken about in one of Daniel’s great prophecies and the Great Tribulation may occur in 2019.

Really? Really? Did not our Master emphatically state in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24) that no man knows the day nor hour that the end times—the return of Messiah will occur; no, not even the angels in heaven (verse 36). Only the Father knows.

My question and comment is this: if Yeshua was not given the 411 on when the End Time events will occur, what makes us think we have the 411; or for that matter, that we can figure out when these things are going to occur? It’s a fool’s quest when we start to throw out dates and time frames of Messiah’s return; even if the quest is innocent speculation.

And this is one of the things that grabbed my attention about this story, and that has to do with the impact it seems to be having on certain segments of our Faith Community. When this story first broke last month, biblical prophecy hunters from both sides of the aisle (ie, Messianics and Christians), were falling all over themselves and one another to attach some End Times—Last Days significance to the story. The general consensus from some orthodox Jewish and some Messianic/Hebrew Roots prophecy speculators is that this event would herald in the End Times which includes the building of a 3rd Temple on the Temple Mount; the Abomination of Desolation written about by the Prophet Daniel; the Great Tribulation; and the advent of the Jewish Messiah, which members of our Faith Community tag as the return of Yeshua HaMashiyach to earth.

My purpose in discussing this event is not to get into any Apocalyptic—End Times—prophetic speculations. The subject in and of itself is just too fraught with scriptural interpretational and idealistic differences for a fair, substantive and biblically accurate discourse. Rather, my purpose is just to throw out to you a word of caution as many prophetic speculators would have us all worked up over this altar event in Jerusalem being the linch-pin to the imminent construction of the 3rd Temple and return of Messiah.

Just because this or that man says a thing is so, doesn’t mean it’s so. Although there’s nothing at all wrong in speculating—something I find myself doing a great deal from time to time. However, when we begin to place so much of our focus and brain space on speculations and we treat those speculations as truth, even at the expense of reading into scripture things that may or may not be in there, we run the risk of doing ourselves a bit of harm.

In fact, Master corrected such speculation that was brewing in the midst of His chosen disciples on the Mount of Olives just prior to His ascension to His Father. When asked by his disciples if He would at that time establish the Kingdom of Yehovah, Master responded:

It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. (Act 1:7 KJV)

As alluring and intriguing as speculations about End Times and Tribulation things may be to some of us, at the end of the day, they are just speculations. These speculations must be kept in their proper perspective. It cannot be something that we default to in order to cause us to do something we would not otherwise have done or otherwise do.

Master Yahoshua gave us enough to worry about as His chosen emissaries: “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations…”(Matt. 28:19; NASB)

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