Fellowship of the brethern honors the Father

I believe the most important thing for born again brethren to do is to have fellowship.
We are born of the same womb from heaven if we have entrusted our self to YHWH's life given by union with His Messiah Yeshua and His death and resurrection.
I have recently added to the bottom of each post buttons where anyone can share their opinions with a quick click. As always I encourage you to leave any comment you might have whether you agree, have questions, corrections, or think I am wrong.
Only when we dwell in fellowship and desire for the living truth, despite any differences, will we come to the fullness of what YHWH has for us in this life.
That being said fellowship is not you asking me for money to support you.
 I believe in giving alms, but alms are for those with no ability to support themselves.
If you are healthy then thank YHWH for this and honor your heavenly Father by trusting Him to provide you with the way to work and have provision.
I also believe in giving to ministry but such giving only comes from fellowship first.
True giving does not come from someone asking for help but from what is upon the givers heart and spirit to give.
A man looking at another man to receive or worse to try to manipulate a man to receive from him will not be helped by silver or gold. Only in the name of Yeshua can men rise up and find true provision.
I pray that I never shame a man by encouraging him to look to men but instead that I can honor all men and the Father by encouraging all faith be placed in YHWH.
Fellowship is when we share with each other those things that YHWH has or is forming in us.
I am not trying to be lifted up from among my brethren and set as some great minister for we are all ministers and when YHWH works His works through us we are all great.
All this being said I would be honored with any interaction to anything I share here.

Life and Death: are we born guilty

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun Ecclesiastes 1:9

We are often quite harsh on those who in the New Testament assumed Messiah was wrong and the traditions handed down by their fathers where correct. However do we ever stop and ensure that we are not doing the same thing.

The traditions were the conclusions of the Jewish forefathers as to how the law was to be honored and lived out. For instance the law stated to do no work on the Sabbath for it was a day of rest. The traditions of the Fathers attempted to define what work was and what was inclusive of rest.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: Exodus 20:8-10

 Yeshua is, at times, seen taking part in the traditions (John 8:6) and at other times He challenges them vehemently (Matthew 15:1-10). His opponents had so accepted the traditions that they had changed from a way to stitch the scripture together and became a form in which the scriptures where forced to fit.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican Luke 18:11

While we thank YHWH for His grace that we are not blind as those poor men we at the same time force scripture into the accepted understanding of our denominations and fellowships. We certainly dismiss any discussion of those things which have been established since Constantine; doctrines such as these are so sacred that anyone who questions them is a heretic for like the Pharisees before us we have made our fathers understanding above question even from the scripture.    

I ask you please don’t assume I am some rebel. I have great respect for the church Fathers and others who have tried to make clear the greatness of our Messiah and the redemption price paid by both our Heavenly Father and His only begotten Son.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him James 1:5

 My course, and yours, is to know Him and the power of His resurrection it is not to learn others opinions of it.

If teachers born from the same womb as Messiah missed some key understandings of scripture; leading to incorrect expectations of who Messiah was and what His ministry consisted of. These misunderstandings accepted as truth throughout the entire nation engrained in the minds of His own disciples, who had heard him and touched Him and been witness to the Shekinah coming forth from Him, that even after His death, burial, and resurrection asked “will you now restore the Kingdom to Israel?”

The power of assumed perceptions is to make one blind to the truth plainly spoken. If we see that the scholars and lawyers of the first century then we must allow for the same misunderstanding in the theologians that followed. I have said all of this so that we might seek the truth revealed in scripture with open eyes and with careful consideration of its meaning. So with these things in mind we come to the subject of original sin.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12

The perception of men that confuses the issue starts in the garden. Original sin says in its most basic explanation that we were in Adam when he sinned thereby either directly or by hereditary the sin guilt and nature passed to us. The problem is the focus on the sin as an end result and not as it truly is as a seed of death. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not a tree whose fruit brings sin it is a tree that brings death.  An apple is not a tree it is a fruit…but that seed is what brings forth the tree. When that tree is present it brings a harvest of a multitude of apples.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9

To be clear the focus on sin and righteousness, clean and unclean, holy and defiled is the result of the duel nature of good and evil. This focus blinds us to true understanding of these two trees. The tree of (which brings) life and the tree of (which brings) death go beyond action, will, and motive to the very core of being; it is not what you do but what you are.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live Deutoronomy 30:19

When Adam became a tree of death then his seed could only bring forth seed after his kind. This nature of death is deceptive in that it experiences doing both good and evil. This nature is not capable of only doing one of the two for both are its makeup. So it sets out to make the scale balance in such a way that the good is greater than the evil. Of course this whole system depends on consciences of what good and evil consist of. It is this driving force in man that has brought forth religion, culture, philosophy and social structure. It is this same nature that reads the scripture and sees actions to be taken instead of a nature that must be changed. It is not original sin that has passed to us but the dual nature of death.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: Deuteronomy 6:4-6

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, 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 Jeremiah 30:33

The tree of life is one nature; it is the life of YHWH breathed into Adam. Yeshua prayed that we might be one as He and the Father are one for YHWH is one. In the cross our old natural man is crucified in Messiah and the Holy Spirit that gave Him life makes alive even our mortal bodies.

Adam was born into the union of YHWH’s life and given a choice to remain or make his own way. This choice came with a warning that his way would bring death. Adam brought death to us all. Yet despite being born alone into a world of men who are each alone no matter the size of a crowd YHWH has still loved us and extended Himself to us that we might have life and union in Him.

We must let go of trying to do right and trust Him to make us right; which will bring us to our next subject of Cain and Able.

 

 

The beginning of redemption

I have a desire to write a book that will help believers, especially new believers, to possess fundamental understandings of the foundation which they have in Messiah.  When the need for such a project began to percolate in my soul the question of where to begin became primary.

 It seemed an obvious answer at first that I should begin at repentance from dead works and faith toward YHWH. This is the place of the divine spark when men are born again from above and where men become disciples of Messiah. However as I prayed and sought what YHWH would have me say it became obvious that it was needful to go back further.

After all when the scripture speaks of our salvation it states that Messiah was slain before the foundation of the world. This understanding of where we came from to understand where we are going is not without its difficulties. For one many a great mind has tried unsuccessfully to give a definitive explanation of man’s inception and though I love to think and study my mind is an amateur by comparison. A second hindrance is the combination of perception of me and my reader as to what is true about will, fate, and sovereignty on an all-inclusive scale.

These considerations, though they are unarguable, have been trumped. To the first YHWH has responded that it is to be no longer I who am working but Messiah in me so my life is not my own but His shared in me. To the second it has always been those with ears to hear who have heard, and it is YHWH who is the teacher not the mouth speaking. So I will begin…

YHWH uses the name ELOHIM when He speaks of being the creator. A lot of speculation has been had over the nature of this name being plural; think of Him saying we instead of I. John in His commentary beginning his gospel says “In the beginning was the word and the word was with YHWH and the word was YHWH” this statement is meant to give additional understanding to the statement of Moses which it echoes “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.”

Understanding Elohim is not as complex as theologians, historians, and YouTube would make it out to be. It is not a word left from a time before monotheism; to quote Moses “YHWH is our Elohim, YHWH is one”. Often in scripture we see parables used to convey understandings so let’s use ourselves to understand since we are made in His image.

 You are a three part being body, soul, and spirit.

•Body-that part of you consisting of matter by which you affect the physical and are affected

•Soul-that part of you we call consciousness (mind & heart) thought, will, and emotions

•spirit-that part of you called life: vitality, energy, force, presence

You however are one being.

At this point I would understand if the mind begins to drift to the various beliefs on the nature of the Godhead but I would ask that such thoughts be suspended for the time being. Our goal is to understand only at this time how redemption begins before “in the beginning”.  In the witness of the apostles we see YHWH revealed as the Father (generator), the Son (the physical body of the living word), and the Spirit (the Fathers life within the Messiah before death and bringing forth the resurrection).  When we take this understanding back to before anything existed other than YHWH we arrive at Elohim.

Let us return to the example of ourselves. If we determine to make a new work; then we will first in our mind determine its design, purpose, and limitations. With said work completed in our mind we use our energy to use our body to bring the work into physical existence. This example of course is flawed because I am finite causing me to not foresee problems, have limited energy, and limited skill.

So at the start of creation before anything except YHWH exist   

•The Father conceives His work of creation within Himself

•The Spirit (breath) begins to move so as to energize the word

•The Son (living word) forms substance as it is given substance

*It should be said that the breath and the word are not created for they have always been the Father; they are simply revealed.

Since the lamb was slain before the foundations of the earth we know that YHWH made salvation before there was transgression; not only this but He knew all who. The question has been posed many times “why did YHWH make Adam in such a way that He could fail?”

I do not pretend to have a complete answer but perhaps a starting point of consideration.

Everything that Elohim spoke into existence was a reflection of Him in some way; after all everything that He spoke had its source in Him and from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Adam was not spoken into existence but was formed of the creation and YHWH breathed into Him and he became a living soul. This means Adam was the first physical creature to be one with the Father.

If we can extract from our thinking the fable of Adam and Eve being childlike, naive, and unwitting then it becomes possible to understand that their temptation was much different than we have assumed. It has long been propagated that Adams temptation was akin to a child being deceived by the promise of candy only to find their selves taken captive by an evil taskmaster. The temptation of Messiah as a mature, capable, and adult participant is the true way to consider Adam.

Yeshua was not without the ability to choose to do things His own way; however He instead chose to trust, depend, and expect the Father to live and work through Him. YHWH choses to be who He is and as such those in His image also can chose to be who YHWH is or choose to seek after a self who is separate from the life of Him.

•temptation of body

 Adam & Eve in a lush garden saw a fruit that was edible and chose it over YHWH’s provision

Yeshua in a barren wilderness and a starvation state chose to trust in YHWH to provide for life

•temptation of the soul

Adam and Eve found the fruit appealing and chose it over what they had been taught.

Yeshua when tempted to obtain recognition of himself as Messiah chose to depend on YHWH

•temptation of the spirit

Adam and Eve chose to define and generate for themselves good and evil over knowing YHWH as their maker.

Yeshua tempted to obtain the whole earth which He came to redeem by his own actions; He chose to expect YHWH to do the work through Him.

Men tend to see that everything was perfect and man ruined it and that now YHWH is doing damage control. With this perspective they see the time of man as rocketing toward an end. Perhaps YHWH provided grace before transgression so that which He had formed and breathed into would have a certain eternity.

This redemption is given to those who repent of Adam’s self-reliance and place faith in YHWH’s salvation. Next we discuss the mistake of "original sin".

 

 

What is a proper Christian reaction to the Orlando tragedy?

The first time I remember it happening was on 911, then in the aftermath of Katrina, and now again on the heels of Orlando this so called reaction of these events being a punishment from YHWH. I expect the world to proclaim that YHWH is responsible for tragedy but for true Christians to proclaim these things is blasphemy. If you are simply religious then you are used to justifying your own hate and desires as being the will of YHWH but if you truly desire YHWHs will and life to abide within you then listen to the things I am about to show you.

First understand that death is a result of sin not a punishment for it…for the wages of sin is death. Second YHWH is no respecter of people and if you offend in one transgression of the law you have transgressed the law…for it is one word. Yeshua said I did not come to condemn men but to save men for they are already condemned.

In another place Yeshua asked those listening about a certain tower that fell and killed several people. His question was do you think these men were greater sinners than others; to which He said they were not.

People also like to point to Sodom and Gomora, but in truth YHWH came against these cities because they had given themselves over completely to sin and as such would have destroyed not only themselves but all around them. If they had listened to YHWHs messengers instead of trying to use them for their own desires they would have saved their cities just as YHWH had already told Abraham…if there are ten righteous men I will spare the city for their sakes.

YHWH is not a hypocrite: He does not do evil that good may come. YHWH does not lie and He has proclaimed that He so loved the world.  Through Paul YHWH has described love.

4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.1 Corinthians 13:4-7

The tragedy of those who were killed in Orlando is the act of a wicked man lost in a wicked world. A man who found his own wicked way and would not repent and place his faith in YHWH and His Messiah. The word wicked while associated with evil deeds is by definition twisted.

 His motive in this act was selfish whether he did this because of a personal temptation he did not morally ascent to or if he was trying to please a god of his own making. Consider Cain who was moved to murder his own brother because he desired to serve a god who would accept him on Cain’s own terms.   

YHWH hates sin because it destroys people and He loves people. Those who died left behind mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends who have suffered a horrible loss. Can anyone believe that Yeshua would be anything but comforting and encouraging to those who are left behind?

Grace of God= works of God

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. James 1: 22- 2:17

Paul has said much the same thing as James is here saying. Yeshua himself is often recorded as saying him who has ears to hear let him hear. This hearing is not about audible recognition nor is it about understanding of articulation. This hearing is about living out what has been said. To be clear it is not a call to do a thing but instead to become one who does those things as a natural flow from the life within us.

The religious challengers of Messiah where called hypocrites because they were trying to overcome the wicked life within them by acting correctly; Yeshua condemned their actions because in so doing they had made themselves their own makers. YHWH had clearly stated that He alone is our maker, that He alone would place His law in our hearts and minds; the same law which Moses witnessed was the way of life. The living word is the way the truth and the life and so only by becoming one with him in a marriage covenant and taking His name can a man be saved. All others are relegated to simply trying to act right.

For this reason Hosea said the just shall live by faith. Only YHWH’s life in us will give us life. We must repent of the dead works of our own attempts to possess life and place complete trust, dependence, and expectation in YHWY to live in us through His Messiah Yeshua. Only when we are one with Yeshua can our old man die in His cross and then our mortal bodies be given life through YHWH’s breathing His Spirit into us.

When the Father and the Son are living in us through the Spirit then we do by nature the things found in the Law as Paul has said in Romans. In parallel when we are dead in Messiah our old nature no longer dictates our actions. We must understand that what I have just described is the perfection or maturity we are being brought to. In our living we are mixed bags; at times or in certain situations we are trusting in self, or man, or religion, or even faith which is another way of saying we are not putting our complete trust in YHWH. Since YHWH has said He will share His glory with no flesh then when our faith is mixed it receives the same result as the unredeemed man’s trust in man (sin and death).

If we say we have no sin we are a liar and the Truth is not in us… but if we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us. Yeshua is faithful because He trust YHWH to be our maker He is just because we are His spouse and have been made one with Him; both His death and His life.

With this ground work laid out Paul tells the Corinthians to examine themselves whether they be in the faith. James says to understand (hear) the word (Yeshua the living word of whom Moses witnessed to us.) but not have His life living through you is a dead faith. We at times deceive ourselves that we are right because we know what we should be and do. Instead of living in the freedom from sin and death being our life we settle to live in forgiveness alone. Paul referred to such an existence as making Messiah the minister of sin.

Amidst the listing of examples in which James points out the results of living faith in us he mentions an interesting phrase; “they that shall be judged by the law of liberty”. Paul spoke on this same thing when he spoke of the judgment seat of Messiah.

YHWH stands as the judge of the quick (living) and the dead. His very presence is life, light, and righteousness to such a degree that He is a consuming fire; consuming all death, darkness, and wickedness. It is by this fact that on the day that all men stand in His presence they will be judged.

Those who have His life in them by faith in Yeshua will have every work, motive, thought, and intent of their heart judged. Those which are of temporal earthly design (stone, sticks, and clay) shall be purged by fire from the foundation of Messiah’s life in us and those things which are everlasting shall be refined and purified.

The law of liberty is the life of YHWH in us making us one with His life. Making James point simply that if Messiah is living through you then your works will be what he works through you.    

Seeing the truth

 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
 Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. JAMES 1: 13-21
 

The world comes to a great many conclusions about why we find ourselves in bad circumstances and why our reaction is often to do what we know is wrong. We steal because we are poor, we kill because we were not cared for, we commit adultery because we were not given what we needed, and so the world says it is not our fault. It says it is our parents fault, our cultures fault, our environments fault, our situations fault, and ultimately concludes it is God’s fault.

James contradicts such nonsense with the truth that sin comes from our own lust and it is this lust within us that causes us to be tempted when situations arise. James and the other authors of the general epistles give us fundamental understandings that are the most vital if we are to ever understand how to live in the new covenant which Paul was used to give to us. Paul himself calls these authors, including James, “the pillars” at Jerusalem.

How can we fully understand Paul’s cry of wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death?  If we do not first understand that James says our own lust makes temptation and when we give our self to it sin is conceived and matures into death then we will think Paul is so humble and pleasing to YHWH. We will go on to say of ourselves since we agree with Paul that we too are wretched then YHWH will also be pleased with us.

However Paul was not lifting himself up as an example of pious asceticism; but was saying we are only delivered through Yeshua YHWH’s Messiah who is our husband and master. James gives us this same basic understanding. Men are made of the earth and James is clear that no good or perfect gift has its source from the earth but instead it comes down from the Father.

All that a man can produce is deadly for though he may do good he also does evil. If I were to kill a man and then spend the rest of my days doing good for his household no amount of good would make up for my evil. If I take a glass and fill it ninety percent full of pure water and ten percent with poison it is all poison and not at all pure.

It is this that makes it necessary for our good and pure life to be only in Messiah who came down from the Father that we might be born new of His Spirit. All men have at some time been mad at themselves and others because of sin but that anger and any action it generates cannot make us or others righteous.  

The prophets of old by witnessing of Messiah have told us that man’s heart is deceitfully wicked and that there is a way that seems right to a man but ends in destruction. This leaves us with our only option to receive by faith the Fathers gift of being made one with Messiah. It is only by this that our old man is carried to his death in Yeshua’s cross and the Fathers life breathed into Messiah becomes our own life.