by Rod Thomas | Dec 23, 2015 | Blog, Podcasts
Falling into Idolatry and Paganism
Torah Living Daily Challenge 34
Deut. 13:13-19 speaks to the destruction of those people and places that are considered heretical and that follow after pagan gods and practice paganism. We live in a secular society, far different than the theocratic governmental system that we resided under at the time Torah was written and when we inhabited the Land of Canaan. This passage of Torah commands that we utterly destroy those cities and their inhabitants that insist upon following after paganism and that turn away from worship of Yahovah. Many in the secular world and even in Churchianity have rejected Yahovah and assigned descriptors and titles to our Creator that malign His character. The contention of these individuals is that the God of the Old Testament was mean and vicious and lacked even the slightest amount of compassion. I recall having a rather frank conversation with my previous boss who claimed to be a devout Christian and she held some of these same feelings to toward the Christian God. She indicated that she much preferred Jesus as the God of the New Testament over the God of the Old Testament, who better exhibited the desirable traits of compassion, love and hope. She saw the God of the Old Testament as judgmental and an executioner of uncompromising justice, which didn’t quite fit her ideal concept of God. (Funny thing, however, she admired the concept of uncompromising judgment which she sought to practice in our office in terms of keeping the staff in line, but if those who she targeted would submit to her evangelistic efforts towards them, she would show absolute compassion, love and forgiveness.)
Unfortunately, we as humans, especially in the West, feel compelled to apply Western sensibility and humanistic thinking to how we believe the Creator of the Universe should operate, which is a fatal error on our part. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that we are not like God from the standpoint of character and understanding and sensibility. His ways are higher than ours. His ways are different than ours. We can not always comprehend why He does what He does or see things the way He sees them. So we must stop trying to force Yahovah to fit into our pre-conceived Westernized-humanistic paradigms and ideals. The Prophet Isaiah said it best when he wrote: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahovah. “As high as the sky is above the earth are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts…” (Isaiah 55:8, 9 CJB)
This particular commandment, according to Rabbinic tradition, we never followed nor obeyed, and the excuse given was that there might be a mezuzah in that city that had emblazoned upon it the sacred name of our God, and we are commanded to never destroy the Name of God. This was a bastardization of the mitzvah given in Deuteronomy 12:3, 4 which reads: “Break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, burn up their sacred poles completely and cut down the carved images of their gods. Exterminate their name from that place. But you are not to treat Yahovah your God this way.” (CJB) Consequently and sadly, this commandment was wrongly carried out by the Catholic Church’s Crusaders throughout the Church’s terribly bloody and blasphemous years, with seeming joy and unbridled gusto, as the Church sanctioned the destruction and death of any that they deemed were heretical (e.g., 1097 in Pelagonia in Macedon and in the 1200s when 20,000 Albigenses residing in Southern France were entirely wiped out by these terribly misguided hordes and muscle of the papacy.) (Hertz)
Since we no longer reside under a theocracy, we are compelled to abide by the laws of the land in which we inhabit, in so much that we are not forced to violate the tenets of our Faith. Rav Shaul (aka the Apostle Paul) wrote to that great Messianic Assembly in Rome: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from Yahovah, and those that exist have been instituted by Yahovah.” (Rom. 13:1 ESV) Prior to this chapter, Paul simply wrote: “If it be possible, as far as depends on you, be at peace with all men.” (Rom. 12:18 NAS) This being the case, the commandment to destroy those cities and their inhabitants that would fall into paganism, I believe, must be viewed and obeyed by us today from a spiritual perspective. Those individuals and groups and places that adhere to paganism and that encourage us to follow suit, we must absolutely avoid and reject. As this commandment was given to us when Father was our absolute leader as we stood as one people and as His nation, it should be commonsense that we can not carry out this mitzvah in this day and age, nor should we ever conceive to do so. Yahovah is not the God of this country nor is He the God of any of the other countries and nations of this world. Unfortunately, the world has its god, but He’s not Yahovah. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Assembly: “in whose case the god of this world (hasatan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Messiah, who is the image of Yahovah.” (2 Cor. 4:4) Yahovah attempted to accomplish making us a nation that answered directly and solely to Him (that is, He attempted to be the absolute God over our nation back in the day) but we rejected Him at every turn and He finally left us to fend for ourselves amongst the other nations of this world. It is only through His grace, mercy, long-suffering and purpose that He has allowed the nations that we currently reside in to remain intact, but He Himself is not directly over us as a nation. The nations of the World do not follow His Torah nor have they consented and given over their existence to Yahovah. The nations of this world are outside the direct governance of the Most High. It will not be until Y’shua HaMashiyach comes to establish His Millennial Kingdom on this planet and restore that absolute theocracy that should have existed at the beginning, that this and other similar commandments will be restored and reenacted.
There are those, however, in remote areas of Christianity that take this and other similar mitzvot to heart, condemning people, governments and nations that do not follow their concept of the Christian God. These small pockets of extremists are what our government has labeled as “home grown terrorists” and these individuals have waged war against the West in the name of their God. Their God is NOT Yahovah. Be that all the same, however, these individuals plot the demise of sectors of our society citing such passages of Torah. These individuals suffer from a terrible case of Bible illiteracy and they obviously do not possess a true relationship with the Creator of the Universe. If they were properly versed in Scripture and possessed a true relationship with the Most High, they would realize that their focus must be on that which our Master instructed us: to seek the kingdom of Yahovah and His righteousness. Seeking the Kingdom of Yahovah does not in any shape or form involve murder, destruction and hatred, which these sorely misguided individuals clearly encourage, advocate and support. As Hebrew Rooters, we must never identify ourselves with such thinking, and especially we must never identify ourselves with such groups. Our purpose is the Great Commission and the seeking after of the Kingdom of Yahovah and His righteousness. (Matt. 6:33) Such passages of Torah as we’ve just looked at that command that we destroy those in our society that fall into paganism, do not apply to us at this time. We have a new mission which is the Kingdom of God and the Gospel Commission.
So what does that Commission and Seeking out the Kingdom look like? The Commission simply put is going forth and making disciples for Y’shua Messiah. (Matt. 28:19) We may accomplish this through various means: direct one-on-one and group evangelism as the Spirit provides the leading and opportunities; and working in the background and in support of those Hebrew Roots ministries that are out there in the trenches doing the work of the Gospel. We can provide these ministries our physical labor, correspondence abilities, prayer, use of our personal talents to support the ministry and providing them financial support. Seeking the Kingdom is simply living and walking out this Faith of ours. Our Commission and the seeking out of the Kingdom work hand-in-hand and if we do it properly, with all our hearts, minds, and souls, we always be pretty darn busy. Indeed, the fields are ripe for the harvest, but there are so few of us in this, the true Faith once delivered, to do the work—to get the job done. We must work while it is still day. At the same time, we must not allow ourselves to become distracted by all the crazy talk that surrounds our Faith and calls out to us to devote time, effort and gray matter that we really can’t afford to spend on matters that are not of Yahovah and not that which we’ve been tasked to focus on by our Master. And let us not get caught up in hateful and hairsplitting and pointless conversation that takes up so much valuable time. I’ve come into contact with those who advocate Orthodox Messianic Judaism and have all but separated themselves from the rest of our community. These individuals will spend their days arguing the minutia of Torah and engage in arguments with others on social media and emails and via websites that only cause schisms between the members of our community. Still there are others who are caught up in other culturally based groups (e.g., black Judaism or whatever else it’s actually called) and these groups and people spend inordinate amounts of time fighting and squabbling with one another over issues and topics and subjects that mean absolutely nothing as it relates to the Commission and the mission we were given by Master and that was to seek after the Kingdom of Yahovah and His righteousness and to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19) These rabbit holes of culturalism and religion split and separate us as a community. Unfortunately, I’m afraid we must kick those brothers and sisters off to the curb if they are not willing to listening to Biblical and sound reasoning. It’s not worth engaging them further. Just let them waste their days in arguments with other self-consumed individuals and at the end of the day, these individuals will be just as lost as they were when they first came into knowledge of the Faith once delivered. These individuals are in effect squandering the gift that was given to them by our heavenly Father and eventually their lamp stands will be removed from the midst of the other standing lamp stands.
Let us take this spiritual lesson that is contained in this portion of Torah and reject those people and their godless teachings that serve to lead us away from the true Faith once delivered. Instead of getting caught up in the hype and noise that seems to be taking much of our Hebrew Roots community by storm these days (in one form or another), let us hearken to the voice of Yahovah; let us keep all the commandments of Yahovah that we reasonably can keep today; and let us do that which is right in the eyes of Yahovah our Elohim. (Deut. 13:19) Let us seek to please our Father and become worthy examples to the world of the type of men and women He is seeking and separating out from the 7-billion souls on this planet, to be His chosen ones who will ultimately become His kings and priests to this world.
by Rod Thomas | Dec 8, 2015 | Podcasts
Hanukkah-The Ultimate Torah Challenge
Torah Living Daily Challenge Episode 32
No better time of the Torah Observant Believer in Y’shua Messiah’s calendar year better exemplifies challenge—that is the daily life of living Torah Y’shua-style that Hebrew Rooters face, than Hanukkah. As I’ve said on a number of occasions, although not one of the seven-mandated feasts of Yahovah, Hanukkah should hold a special meaning for the believer in Y’shua Messiah, as it contains within its history and foundation tremendous spiritual and life applications. Erroneously coined by secular and some rabbinic Jews as the Festival of Lights—due to the mythological story spun by the Jews of old about the lamp in the temple burning for eight-days on just a single day’s supply of oil-the true version of Hanukkah is more aptly coined the Feast of Dedication, or better, Feast of Re-dedication. A similar Feast that focuses our attention on dedication and seeking renewal and forgiveness and setting our purpose for each year would be Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. Atonement, the holiest day of the believer’s calendar year, certainly has hints of dedication and re-dedication written all through it by the hands of the Almighty, it tends more to turn our focus to the sin in our lives and of the world, and how the evil one will be bound and put away for a 1,000-years, as Y’shua sets up His millennial kingdom here on earth. But Hanukkah, although it focuses on sin to a certain degree, is more focused on a spirit and mindset of service and dedication to Yahovah, His Holy Temple. To the less-spiritual minded of us and to the Jewish mind, the dedication of the currently defunct Temple holds tremendous significance. However, to the Spirit-filled, Torah Observant Believer in Y’shua Messiah, this season—this eight-day festival, provides the opportunity to focus our minds and hearts on dedicating and re-dedicating the Temples that are our bodies—this temple that we reside in and that we’ve dedicated to the service and purpose of Yahovah. Rav (Apostle) Shaul (Paul) wrote to the Corinthian Assembly, “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from Yahovah?” (1 Cor. 6:19) Again, in his same letter to the Corinthian Assembly he wrote: “Know you not that you are the temple of Yahovah, and that the Spirit of Yahovah dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) And then in his next letter to the same assembly in Corinth, he addressed the issue of idolatry in a believer’s life and the defilement of the temple which is our bodies: he wrote, “And what agreement has the temple of Yahovah with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as Yahovah has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (2 Cor. 6:16)
Unfortunately, many of us fail to realize the significance of this truth that comes only via the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Solomon’s and Herod’s Temples in Jerusalem are gone and we can only presume that a third one will be built. But Father wants us to grasp the significance of the destruction of both these temples—the reasons for their destruction and where we go from the point of their destruction to where we are today in our relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Those Temples, once the center of worship for Israel and subsequently the Jew, focused our attentions on the Creator of the Universe. There is a nexus between the Believer of Y’shua Messiah and the Temples of our God.
It was to these sacred edifices that we journeyed three-times each year; that we sacrificed and celebrated before Yahovah; that our security and confidence rested; that our joy was founded upon. But we grew fat and stupid and callous in our minds and hearts and our attentions turned away from true worship of Yahovah—from true focus upon our God. We were so brazen in our being and behavior that we erected idols on the Temple grounds; we allowed dishonest commerce to take place; we abandoned true worship of the Most High and forsook His annual Feasts. Virtually every conceivable violation of Torah was committed either on the Temple Mount and or in the Temple proper. I would lovingly encourage you when you get the next opportunity to crack open the book of Ezekiel and read chapters 8 through 10. I posted a Torah Living Daily Challenge a few weeks ago that addressed this particular historic event and the spiritual significance to be gained from it. Bottom line saints, Father is very sensitive about sanctification and holiness, especially the lack thereof. He required that the place where He chose to put His name and His Spirit be sanctified and holy at all times—perpetually. Thus, when we grew spiritually dull and fat and went awhoring after idols and pagan gods and effectively defiled Yahovah’s dwelling place over and over again, He could no longer inhabit it and he left; and we’ve seen repeated twice in our history the outcome of Father’s protection and covering being removed from the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, resulting in the two Temples being effectively destroyed along with multitudes of our brothers and sisters murdered.
But with the destruction of the second Temple, Father has chosen to place His name and His Spirit within us, these human dwelling places—our bodies—our individual temples. It is indeed an amazing concept and truth that few of us are able and willing to grasp with any appreciable understanding and commitment. By commitment I mean just that: the Believer in Y’shua Messiah’s body has been identified as a temple of the Most High; yet we treat these temples no differently than we treated Solomon’s and Herod’s Temples. We defile our bodies with all sorts of evil and filth—most of us haven’t the slightest inkling that we are in fact defiling our bodies which translates in us defiling Yahovah’s dwelling place. Today, much of what we eat is not food. It is either manufactured foods—that is food that is made in laboratory kitchens and sold to us through various restaurants and grocery stores; or genetically modified foods, where a plant’s or animal’s genetic code has been tampered with for purposes of producing more of that food product or changing it in some way that makes for greater profit for the agricultural industry. And that which has not been altered by scientists in their labs that we’ve adopted as food, many of us compromise and violate Father’s Torah by consuming foods that Father has prohibited us from eating—pork, shell fish; animals and birds that are designed for purposes other than for purposes of being consumed.
And that’s just food. What about the things that we do to our bodies and minds and souls? Drug use/abuse; alcohol abuse; body mutilations such as piercings and tatoos; pornography; inappropriate television shows and movies and videos; inappropriate video games; inappropriate music and books; sex outside of marriage; harboring and taking on anger, hatred, envy, lusts, covetousness; the keeping and telling of lies; and I’m certain there are other things that we place onto and into these temples of Yahovah that effectively defile and make for edifices where Yahovah is not at all content to reside in.
So what does Hanukkah have to do with all this? Well, quite frankly, Hanukkah—the true story of Hanukkah that is—is about the restoration and re-dedication of the Temple after its defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes and his Greek armies. The story of Hanukkah is not just about the restoration and re-dedication of the Temple, however. It is also about the Jews residing in Judah during the Macabbean Revolt, who through the zealous leadership of the Maccabees, re-dedicated themselves to Torah living—effectively hitting the default bottom on their Faith and going back to the beginning and the purity of God’s Word and His Torah. It was returning the nation to its Hebrew Roots—undefiled by Hellenistic influences and assertiveness; back to the one true God—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The true story of Hanukkah is not found in a centuries’ old fairy tale whereby a lamp vessel, holding just enough oil to light the interior of the Temple for a single day, but miraculously provided fuel enough to the lamp for the flame to burn 7 additional days. No—that’s not it at all. I remember believing that tale until I actually took the time to read the book of Maccabees and through Yahovah’s teachers learned that the whole oil and lamp story was just that: a story—a fairy tale. And why would men drum up such a tale and distract our attention away from the truths to be gained from the real Hanukkah story?
These temples of the Most High are to be holy and sanctified and pure for our heavenly Father to dwell in. The lives we live must not be compromised as well. Hanukkah is a prime time for us to re-dedicate our bodies, hearts, souls, minds and lives to Yahovah our God. Let us not squander this Feast—this Festival—this season on petty squabbles about the actual dates that Hanukkah fall upon this year; the gift giving; whether or not we should observe it because it is not one of the man-made Feasts of Yahovah or that it has been taken over by secular and rabbinic Judaism. The real spirit of Hanukkah is right there in front of us and provides us the opportunity to hit the default button on our Faith so that we may live for Yahovah with zeal and truth and grace.
Shalom and Happy Hanukkah saints. Until next time—may you be most blessed fellow saints in training.
by Rod Thomas | Dec 7, 2015 | Podcasts
What About Grace Then? Part 10 of the Grace and the Law Series
Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections 39
Calendar
22nd day of the 9th Biblical Month—Kislev
Just 2-days before the start of Hanukkah—sundown December 7th, ending on Sunday the 14th
According to the Calculated Jewish Calendar, Hanukkah begins on the evening of Sunday the 6th of December and ends on Monday the 14th.
“Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple after the first Abomination of Desolation by Antiochus Epiphanes and celebrates our personal deliverance from pagan sun god worship.” (Believed to have been celebrated by Y’shua and as recorded in John9:1-41; Rood)
The story of Hanukkah is actually detailed in the Apocryphal Books of 1st and 2nd Maccabees
Celebrating Hanukkah in Charlotte at the Rood Awakening International Aviv Moon Studios December 11th through 13th.
Featured guest: Egytologist David Rohl
News You Can Use
1. Details are emerging about the couple who opened fire on an office holiday party armed with rifles and explosives, killing 14 people and injuring 23 others. The 27-year-old woman, Tashfeen Malik, had pledged allegiance to an ISIS leader and the FBI said the crime is being investigated as an act of terror.
A close friend of Nicholas Thalasinos, one of the victims of the San Bernardino shooting, said that gunman Sayed Farook had threatened to kill Thalasinos because he was Jewish and asserted that “Islam will rule the world.”
CV Claverie posted the followingFacebook messageon Thursday evening;
“The islamic terrorist who took the Life of my friend & bro in Christ, Nicholas Thalasinos, on yesterday in San Bernadino, CA, had been threatening him, telling him that islam will rule the world, Christians and Jews deserve to die; and that he (Nicholas) was going to die.”
“But, they aren’t reporting that in the “news” …I wonder why …”
The fact that no mainstream media outlet has reported on Claverie’s statement will fuel charges that the press is downplaying the role that Farook’s devotion to Islam played in the massacre.
Claverie’s claim correlates with aCNN reportthat explains how Farook had argued with Thalasinos over the latter’s fierce criticism of ISIS.
“One of Farook’s colleagues killed in the attack, Nicholas Thalasinos, liked to discuss religion and politics. Farook and Thalasinos, reportedly a devout Messianic Jew, had a “heated, passionate” discussion about politics and religion a few days earlier, said Kuuleme Stephens, a friend of Thalasinos, who called him at work while Thalasinos was in the middle of the conversation,” states the report.
Thalasinos’ widow, Jennifer, also said that he was “very upset about what ISIS has been doing and the radicalized Muslims.”
According to the pastorof one of the victims of the attack, Farook also told Thalasinos, “You will never see Israel.”
While the FBI is officially treating the shooting as an act of terror, many analysts and media outlets are still insisting that a “workplace dispute” could have played a role too.
Farook’s wife and accomplice, Tashfeen Malik, praised ISIS on social media immediately before the attack andpledged loyaltyto its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A pro-Islamic State news outletalso saidthat Malik and Farook were “ISIS followers”. Farook was known to havewatched Islamic State propaganda videoson the Internet.
The FBI announced Friday it is investigating the mass shooting as an act of terrorism. If proven to be terrorism, it would be the deadliest attack by Islamic extremists on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001.
A U.S. law enforcement official said Malik used a Facebook alias to pledge her allegiance to the Islamic State group and its leader just before the shootings.
FBI Director James Comey would not discuss whether anyone affiliated with IS communicated back, but he said there was no indication yet that the plot was directed by any other foreign terror group.
“The investigation so far has developed indications of radicalization by the killers and of potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations,” Comey said. He cautioned that the investigation has not yet shown evidence the couple was part of a larger group.
Despite signs of the couple’s radicalization, there “is a lot of evidence that doesn’t quite make sense” at this early stage, he said.
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Commentary
Friends, we’ve always known in the back of our minds that we would have to eventually face some form of persecution. I personally didn’t think it would be this soon, but this is certainly a wake up call for all of us. It’s not a question of “if” we, Yah’s elect, will face persecution and tribulation in some form or another, but a question of when. We’ve seen the first blows cast this against us this past week. And from some of the intelligence I’ve received over the last couple weeks, the Islamists are either coming our way or many of them are already here. They’re targets? The west—financial centers—symbols of democracy and capitalism–for sure. But also, Jews and Christians. Our government no longer has our best interests at heart, I’m afraid to say. Their focus is on climate control and how to control us through legislation and enforcement of established laws that are designed to reduce and or eliminate our freedoms and God-given rights. Unfortunately, we are left to defend ourselves to a lesser or greater extent. Thus in terms of our personal and collective security we, in some cases, have just each other and the providence and wisdom of the Almighty. That’s where faith comes in: a trusting faith; an unshakable faith. A faith that causes us to not fear the terrorists and what they are capable of doing to us here in our home towns and cities. Our God is sovereign and His will shall be done. It’s up to us to trust Him and secondly to rally around one another and prepare one another; love one another; support one another; to stay focused on the Kingdom of Yahovah and His righteousness. Certainly we should be cautious in our day-to-day activities and reduce any chance that we could be a target of the terrorists.
Personally, we’ve made efforts to reduce our being out in public—actually we started reducing our going and hanging out in public—movies, malls and other venues—before these recent threats of home grown terrorists started grabbing our nation’s attention. We get what we need from the stores and return home and home is where we pretty much spend all our time. We try to be as self-reliant as we possibly can.
Now please don’t get me wrong: what happened to our dear brother in the Faith this past week could happen to any of us. In this particular case, it was an innocent “office holiday party” (at least that’s what the news forums are reporting) that was targeted by these terrorists. These satanically influenced and led individuals prey upon those who they know will be unable to defend themselves and thus they scout out opportunities to “terrorize” and kill innocents for the so-called sake of their religion. We saw this in Paris a few weeks ago; we’ve also seen this played out with a Russian passenger plane that was blown out of the sky last month.
So if there’s anything I can say and admonish you with today, my brothers and sisters, is to always be aware of your surroundings. If you don’t have to be out in public, I would say don’t. Avoid public venues as much as possible. All indications are that the terrorists will be targeting public venues and their biggest fear is not being killed by military and law enforcement officials; it’s the fear of failing. Yes, you heard me: failing. They do not want to fail in their mission to kill as many people as they possibly can—especially Jews and Christians. Therefore they are targeting places where there is a reduced chance that someones/officials will be able to repel or stop their attack. Children are also prime targets for them. So I say to you, simply to take precautions each day in your comings and goings, but more importantly, let us build up our trust and reliance upon Yahovah our God and to do His will and give Him the glory He so richly deserves.
Lastly, I would propose to you to prayerfully consider giving a donation on behalf of our dear sister Jennifer, wife of Nick. She’s no doubt going through a hellish time and it is time for Hebrew Rooters to circle the wagons around our dear sister in need, and minister to her. Again, we’re getting to the point in our society that all we have beyond Father and His Spirit is one another. Let us stand with one another and hold up one another as the need is made known. This is a good cause and I believe, a cause that Father would smile upon if we lend our support to it. The direct link to the Memorial Fund is https://www.gofundme.com/apd6bz84.
I’ve never met the Thalasinos, but our heart and prayers go out to Jennifer and her bereaved family. Much love also going out to our dear sister in the Faith, Erena. Thank you for bringing the story of this brother to my attention.
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4. NATO foreign ministers invited the small country of Montenegro to join their military alliance even after Russia warned it would be very unhappy if they did so.
5. World leaders gathered for a summit on climate change in Paris, where Obama and Putin met to discuss the growing crises in Ukraine and Syria.
6. ISIS released a video that purportedly showed the beheading of a man that they claimed was a Russian spy.
9. A freight train of storms is expected to hit the northwest this weekend and into next week, dumping feet of rain and snow on the region.
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In 2015, tech billionaires pursued anti-aging and cheating death like never before.
Research into surpassing life expectancy norms has become the pet project of tech billionaires, with entrepreneurs from Mark Zuckerberg to Sergey Brin writing out million-dollar checks to fund their quest.
The list of entrepreneurs jumping on the death-defying bandwagon has grown rapidly over the past few years, creating a veritable who’s who of generous donors. Notorious within the ranks are Peter Thiel, PayPal’s co-founder and developer of Breakout Labs, a funding body for radical research into early-stage science geared toward tackling degenerative diseases; Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who has donated some $430 million to anti-aging pursuits; and Paul Glenn, a venture capitalist who doles out grants to lab researchers at the likes of Harvard and MIT to investigate “the mechanisms of biological aging.”
The pursuit of stopping the clock on corporeal degeneration has become increasingly aggressive in those intervening years, with 2015 proving to be the most dogged yet. The 2045 Initiative—Dmitry Itskov’s life-extension organization seeking to transfer personalities onto non-biological items and, ultimately, immortality—projected that this year could be the first in which such a system was created.
The “brain computer interface” has been slated for launch anytime between now and 2020, dispelling naysayers’ qualms that such technologies only have a chance of existing in the very distant future. And there’s certainly no shortage of money to keep powering this research: Google co-founder Larry Page has diverted $750 million of the company’s funds to Calico, its life extension center; Pierre Omidyar, half of the brains behind eBay, has given millions to investigating disease recovery; entrepreneurs Peter Diamandis and Craig Venter set up Human Longevity Inc. in a bid to find a means of elongating the human lifespan.
What About Grace Then? Part 10 of the Grace and the Law Series
Personal Testimony and Perspective
I had fully intended to bring this series on Grace and the Law to a close with this posting—Part 10 that is. However, it occurred to me that I had not done any appreciable job—at least that’s how I saw it—addressing the concept of “grace.” Certainly, we can not conclude this series on Grace and the Law without a proper treatment of the concept—or should I say concepts—models—doctrines—the issue of grace.
Like so many doctrines and concepts in Christianity—salvation, righteousness, sanctification, the body/soul/spirit, the truth about the Bible, baptism, the Law, the true Gospel, etc.—grace is a huge concept with tremendous importance and relevancy. Many of these concepts are of eternal relevancy for the would-be believer. Thus, gaining a true understanding—that is an understanding that is biblically-based and is devoid of denominational influences and assertiveness—of grace and these other monumental doctrines or concepts of our Faith is crucial if we are to fully and accurately grasp what our primary roles are as Believers in Y’shua Messiah. And to me, this is the crux of the entire situation dear friends. It’s Churchianity’s failure to properly and transparently flesh out what the Bible has to say about these key concepts and doctrines of our Faith that has led millions of well-meaning—sincere believers down a path of destruction and misleading. And I believe that the reason so many souls are exiting Christianity in the huge numbers that are being reported by some of these Christian research groups is because they’ve (the exiting souls that is) not been given the complete, unadulterated truth that sets men free. (Reference Joh. 8:32) We Hebrew Rooters—Netzaris—realize without doubt that it is virtually impossible for us to go back to a life that is devoid of the truth—back to secularism or back to Churchianity. The writer of the Book of Hebrew wrote so touchingly: “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt.” (Hebrews 6:4-6 ESV) The truth of the Gospel and of who we truly are in Messiah is so precious and so profound, I can’t imagine a life without it; I can’t imagine becoming so messed up in my being that I some day, simply walk away from it. What would have to happen to a person to send them packing and to leave the true Faith once delivered? I’m talking about those who are God’s elect—not those who’ve made an emotional commitment to be churched or to follow a Greek Jesus. You see, I believe that was me for most of my life—that is, until I met Y’shua haMashiyach—the Hebrew Messiah—who showed me how I must live and be of service to Him and the Kingdom of Yahovah. Prior to my coming into the true Faith once delivered, I didn’t realize that I could not mesh my Faith with secularism and carnality. To me, all that was important was that my ticket for heaven was punched and that I was good to go for the remainder of my life here on this planet.
But then, I left churchianity because of the cares of life—career, family, pride, etc.—too busy living to live for Christ. The tugs and pulls of my life were more important—more enticing—more relevant to me than my Christianity. So I left Christianity for a few years—well, to be honest, several years. Oh, I dabbled in and then exited out of Churchianity more times than I care to recite over the course of those terrible years—at least I see them as terrible years—being without truth and without a viable relationship with Father is indeed a terrible period in anyone’s life. And let me just say: I believe I had a true love for God and for Jesus Christ in those years that I was “playing” Christian—my word—playing Christian and hanging out in Church. But when I honestly look back to those days, I had no problem compromising my faith. I had a faith that worked splendidly for me on Sundays, and then that same faith I could conveniently put on a shelf during the rest of the week. My commitment to Christ didn’t affect significantly how I lived day-to-day—I still put my job, family and self first—and the order would often change, depending on what perceived crucial thing was going on in my life at the time.
But my story is inconsequential to anything. All I can say is thank Yahovah for His precious grace—His grace that brought me in to the fold, in spite of myself. I can boast of nothing that I’ve done that has led me to the place I’m at today in my walk with Messiah. For it was all through Father’s efforts and His mercy; His long suffering; His love; His grace that rescued me from certain and well-deserved condemnation. All I had to do was answer Father’s effectual call and from there, be obedient to Him in all my ways. And I can tell you, coming in to Hebrew Roots, I fought Father tooth and nail. Even though I was terribly back-sliddened—whatever that truly means as it relates to Christianity—I still held to the fundamental beliefs of Churchianity. Kind of a paradox I would say—I held to the beliefs and doctrines of Christianity, yet I did not live as a Christian should live—or live as one would commonly think a Christian should live—whatever living like a Christian is supposed to look like to the average person on the street. To me, it was heretical and cult-like to take on a life of Torah Living—to actually be obedient to the Bible when my denomination clearly taught me that I was saved through grace alone—saved by my saying the sinner’s prayer and being baptized—my name written in the “lamb’s book of life—destined for heaven. There was nothing more that I could do nor should do in my life, for my salvation was ensured. Looking back to that period of my life, I was only concerned with where I’d spend eternity. I was not at all concerned about having a viable relationship with the Creator of the Universe. And to me, that explains a lot about why others—why Christians as a whole—care so little about establishing and maintaining a true relationship with Father. It’s because the focus is on heaven, not the Kingdom of God coming here to earth; not pleasing and being obedient to Yahovah; not performing those good works that we’ve been destined to perform as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian assembly: “For we are His workmanship, created in Y’shua Messiah, which Yahovah prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10) All of this was what I was fighting against when the Hebrew Roots was first presented to me as the only viable option for a believer in Christ to adopt and walk in. Are you kidding? I have to stop eating bacon and shrimp and not work or shop on Saturdays? Who would come up with something as asinine as that? Indeed, that was me. And to see where I was then in comparison to where I am now, I can not believe it. It is only because of the grace of Yahovah and the working of His Holy Spirit—His Ruach haKodesh—that saved me from the certain destruction that I was heading for as a so-called back-sliddened—Christian. Have I arrived? Absolutely not. Like so many of you, I can only trust that “He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion at the day of Y’shua Messiah.” (Phi. 1:6)
Hey, we all have a story to tell and many of those stories are likely similar to mine. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, the concept of “grace” looms ever so bright; ever so relevant in each believer’s life. The only problem seems to be, however, that the doctrine or concept of grace is grossly misunderstood in Christian circles. The concept/doctrines of grace—yes, there are doctrines (plural) of grace–have been manipulated and fashioned by church leaders over the centuries, to fit a religion that rejects God’s laws and commandments and tells man that he need not worry about anything—that he is too sick to respond to the call of Yahovah and that his/her salvation is assured simply because God has chosen to work things out for mankind that way. That ole pesky sin issue that has plagued mankind since the crisis in the garden, has been taken care of through Jesus’ crucifixion; so all you need to do now is say the sinners’ prayer and await the rapture of the church to come. Thus, in Protestant/Reformed Churchianity, one’s salvation through the grace of God rests entirely upon the sovereignty of God—that is God’s absolute authority over His entire creation. The doctrines of grace as adopted by protestant and reformed Christianity was formed by the five-points of Calvinism—John Calvin being a 16th century French theologian and reformer who broke away from Catholicism in the year 1530. As it relates to Catholic Churchianity, one’s salvation through the grace of God rests in great part upon the sovereignty (my wording) of the Holy Roman Catholic Church and her sacraments and the Holy See—you be a good Catholic, you go to heaven; you mess up, you go to hell—although you can get out of hell if you adhere to the Catholic Church’s various sacraments and protocols. And of course, between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism—relatively speaking, the two ends of the grace spectrum you might say—there are variations on the grace theme which we’ll look at in future episodes.
What I need to say at this point is that I am not going to finish this series on Grace and the Law with this post. It’s not possible. I realized recently that I’ve not done the concept and doctrine of grace the justice it deserves in this series. I beleive that I will need to expend a few episodes on the topic of grace in order to bring the whole series to a proper close. The one thing I do not want to do is brush off or marginalize the concept of grace and focus all our efforts and mental energies on the Law and Torah, which seems to be the focus of much of our community. Torah is awesome and the lifeblood of our Faith. But Torah without Grace is a lopsided and ineffectual perspective and reality for the Hebrew Rooter/True Believer in Y’shua Messiah. For we know that it is by grace that we are saved through faith; and that our salvation is not the result of any efforts or actions that we drum up in our minds as a means to somehow earn our salvation. (reference Eph. 2:8) Our salvation is a gift of Yahovah that is rendered to us through a trusting of Yahovah. It is Yahovah’s grace that saves us in accordance to Yahovah’s purpose in Y’shua Messiah, which was established before the ages begain. (reference 2 Tim. 1:9) So it has become abundantly apparent to me that I can not shortchange this issue of grace. There actually is a great amount of information on this subject that the Spirit is showing me on grace that I am anxious to share with you, but it’s going to take a little time to do just that. There is an end in sight, friends, and I realize that many of you may be patiently hanging in there with me and I appreciate that—I truly do. Thank you for standing with me.
So what I’d like to do for the next few sessions is to conduct a survey of the various Christian denominations’ views or perspectives on grace. Then I’d like us to look at Father’s perspective on the issue of grace as recorded in the Bible, absent any denominational influence or assertiveness. Lastly, I’d like to bring this whole series to a close by discussing how grace works with Torah observance—the law—to fulfill and complete/perfect the true believer in Y’shua.
Denominationalism and Grace—A Catholic Perspective on Grace
Now let me just state here that I am not an expert on Catholicism nor am I knowledgeable of Catholic doctrines, beliefs and traditions. I know about enough to get me into deep trouble and that’s probably about as much as I really care to take on as it relates to my delving into Catholicism. So what I’m about to cover here as it relates to Catholicism’s perspectives on the topic of grace, I received through internet-based research. And the only reason I’m even bringing this up—the Catholic perspective on grace that is—is because modern-day Christianity, which I so affectionally refer to as churchianity, received much of her heritage and understanding of things related to the Christian Faith from her mother the Catholic Church or the Universal Church—be those beliefs and traditions that Protestant Christianity has retained such as Christmas and Easter and the concept of the immortal soul; or beliefs and traditions that Protestant Christianity has rejected or discarded such as saint worship, the payment of indulgences for release of loved ones from purgatory, or belief in the primacy of the Pope as the Vicar of Christ. The topic of grace is not immune to the treatment of the Catholic theologian and the Holy See, for Catholicism has taken the simple concept of grace and distorted it beyond that which was passed down to us by Y’shua’s anointed apostles. And we must be clear about this thing: Y’shua’s anointed apostles received their understanding of the concept of grace from Y’shua haMashiyach, who taught all of them—the 11-inner circle disciples and the 12th inner circle disciple, Paul, also referred to in our community as Shaul. So the concept of grace is not a principle or concept created or developed by the Apostle Paul, as Churchianity would have us believe. The concept of grace is purely of Yahovah who passed it down to His begotten son, Y’shua haMashiyach, who in turn passed it down to his anointed apostles. But somewhere after the concept was passed down to us by Y’shua’s apostles, it was hijacked by certain individuals who wormed their way in to our Faith and who the Brother of our Lord and Savior, Jude, described as ungodly people who perverted God’s grace into a license for debauchery and disowned our only Master and Lord, Y’shua the Messiah.” (Reference Jude 1:4) And from what I’ve gathered in my research on Catholicism and their handling of the concept of grace, Catholicism has done a bang-up job distorting the purity and truth about grace.
The Catholic understanding of grace is that of the love and mercy of God that is given to mankind. To the Catholic, grace is a spontaneous gift that is undeserved by mankind and it takes the form of “divine favor, love, clemency and a share in the divine life of God.” (Diderot, Denis-1757) Talk about vagueness and a definition that leaves a lot of room for jiggery pokery by the Catholic leadership, which, of course, was done. This definition, which I took from Wikipedia, provides no lead-in as it relates to the responsibility or lack thereof of the receiver of God’s grace. But, I guess that’s okay. You can pretty much guess where we go from here as it relates to how grace works in the Catholic Faith. Essentially, within Catholicism there are a couple forms or doctrines of grace: sanctifying and actual grace. Sanctifying grace makes the receiver pleasing to God, which translates into the receiver effectively becoming sanctified and justified before God. Actual grace, the second form of grace, assists the receiver in leading someone else to God. These two concepts of grace were developed and derived by Thomas Aquinas who lived in the 13th century. He was a Dominican friar, a Catholic priest, a philosopher, theologian and jurist. (Wikipedia)
According to Catholicism, the way grace works is that, upon the believer adopting Catholicism, the sinner is transfored into a holy child of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This working description of grace was developed and incorporated into the Catholic Faith as a result of the Council of Trent, which was held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento and Bologna, northern Italy. Consequently, grace is viewed as being given or inputted to man. Grace, then, remains permanently with man as long as he/she does not commit a “mortal sin.” In other words, the commission of a mortal sin will result in the receiver losing God’s grace. Bear in mind, nothing has been said at all about grace resulting in the receiver’s eternal life—although I would guess that by “sharing in the so-called divine life of God” one would naturally receive or be eligible for eternal life. Nevertheless, the focus of grace is primarily on the life he or she is living at the time that he or she receives God’s love, mercy and favor.
What is a mortal sin you ask? There is actually a list of mortal sins that, if committed, will result in the adherent/believer losing God’s grace and one would presume also losing their part or share in the divine life of God. The list is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The mortal sins include, and they are not limited to: abortion, adultery, bestiality, blasphemy, contraception, cheating, missing mass, divination, divorce, drug use (assuming drug abuse), envy, euthanasia, extortion, fornication, freemasonry, hatred, homosexality, idolatry, incest, lying, masterbation, murder, perjury, polygamy, prostitution, rape, sacrilege and suicide. The good thing for the faultering Catholic who falls into one or more of these mortal sins is that he or she can enjoy the restoration of sanctifying grace through the Sacrament of Penance. (Catechism of the Catholic Church) I found this to be facinating and utterly troubling at the same time. Where is God and the application of the shed blood of Y’shua in the forgiveness of the commission of so-called mortal sins? The forgiveness of sins by the Creator of the Universe, through the shed blood of Y’shua Messiah, is non-existent according to Catholicism. The Church triumphant assumes responsibility for the forgiveness of mortal sins. How convenient. If man or an organization can forgive sin—especially so-called mortal sins—those men and that organization can quite easily control the masses, wouldn’t you agree?
What about commission of less serious sins you ask? Well, the commission of less serious sins, which the Church calls venial sins—and I tried to find a comparable list of sins that fall within the realm of venial sins, but could not—venial sins are essentially sins that do not show up on the list of mortal sins. The commission of venial sins do not necessarily sever one’s relationship with God, but the commission of venial sins does still offend and wound God’s grace. But as with mortal sins, venial sins should be treated with the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or more commonly referred to as Penance. (Reference the Catechism of the Catholic Church) Again, very interesting and troubling, all at the same time.
Unlike the Calvinistic view of grace—which is based upon the 5-points of Calvinism—and we’ll get into Calvinism in following episodes on the subject of grace—the Catholic treatment of grace seems to give full attention to man’s free will or free agency. According to Calvinism, man can certainly resist and reject God’s grace, although he or she who rejects or dismisses that grace will have a tremendous fight on their hands—it’s going to be extremely difficult for them to resist. The Calvinist on the other hand, asserts that man, if chosen of God to be one of His elect, has no say whatsoever as it relates to God extending grace to whatever man God elects. That is, man’s free will does not come at all into play as it relates to God’s effectual grace. Catholicism defines effectual grace as that which achieves the “intended effect without fail”—whatever that means. I guess it’s saying something to the effect that God who has begun a good work in the sinner or Catholic, will certainly complete that good work in that Catholic or repentent sinner. If we completely dismiss the concept of man having a free will in the process or application of grace, then effectual grace would translate in Calvinism as “Irresistable Grace,” which holds that the individual whom God choses is incapable of resisting God’s grace and upon receiving the application of God’s grace, he or she will never falter or lose God’s grace nor their salvation.
Now, Calvin didn’t just come up, out of the blue, with the concept of “Irresistible Grace.” The whole question of man’s free will in relation to grace was the focus of a number of important debates in the Catholic Church of the 5th, 16th and 17th centuries. However, it was primarily at the Council of Trent in 1547, that the Catholic position on grace began to solidify; contrary to that of Calvin’s view of grace.
The Council of Trent declared that “none of those things which precede justification—whether faith or works—merit the grace itself or justification. For, if it be a grace, it is not now by works, otherwise, as the same Apostle Paul says, grace is no more grace.” (Reference Council of Trent, Session VI) In other words, grace to the Catholic is not received through one’s faith or works—it is a free and spontaneous gift of God. However, the Council went on to propose, however, that eternal life is provided as a “reward” to those “working well unto the end…and rendered (salvation/eternal life that is) to their good works and merits.” (Council of Trent, Session VI) So despite the Church asserting that the grace of God is a free gift that can not be achieved either by the adherent’s faith or their works, eternal life is achieved through one’s efforts—works or merits. It is Jesus Christ’s virtue that is continually infused into the adherent, that affords him/her the ability to perform the good work necessary to receive eternal life.
Now that I’ve thoroughly confused you, just wait till the next episode of this series, where we’ll look at protestantism’s view or perspectives on the issue of grace. I hope that you gained some insight into this very important topic. It is imperative that we have a firm understanding of what grace is and it’s relationship to the Law/Torah.
Shalom and may you be most blessed.
Faithfully submitted with much love in Y’shua Messiah
