Food poisoning is not a pleasant experience. In fact, sometimes it can be quite serious leading to hospitalization or death. Nobody plans for it, rather it usually occurs because of some minute unnoticed contaminate in the food that negatively affects the body. Sources could be fecal, bacterial, parasitic, or even viral. We are familiar with names that strike fear, such as e. coli, salmonella, campylobacter, toxoplasmosis, rotavirus, etc.

But, what if the contaminate is visible? Would we remove it? Or, like a turd in the punch bowl, would we just dip around it assuming we can ignore or ‘dodge’ it?

Most who desire the coming of the Messiah, whether Jews, Christians or any shade in between (Messianic Judaism/Hebrew roots/Torah pursuant/etc) seem to prefer to dodge the obvious contaminant in the punch bowl. Let’s consider some challenging things.

In a recent post, I quoted Leviticus 18:1-5, a passage which continues to reverberate in my brain,

18 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the Lord your God. 5 So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.

Leviticus 18:1-5

When we come into the land ‘where I am bringing you’ do we do what is done in Egypt? Do we do what is currently done in the Land? Or, do we do what YHVH has commanded?Either, or. No blending. No mixing. No compromising. No picking and choosing.

Yehovah clearly says, ‘You shall NOT do what is done in the land of Egypt.’

Egypt and Babylon are the same. They are related. Revelation 18 says of Babylon,

“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; 5 for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities…”

Revelation 18:4-5

This warning does not say, ‘bring with you parts of Babylon.’ It defines separation.

Isaiah 2 and Malachi 4, in very similar passages, articulate that in the latter days,

3 And many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us concerning His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the Torah will go forth from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 And He will judge between the nations,
And will render decisions for many peoples;

Isaiah 2:3-4a

As a major side note, understand, the house of Jacob has two sticks, the house of Judah (Jews) and the house of Israel (not Jews). This is consistently born out through Scripture and bears study. In shameless self promotion, read Ten Parts in the King, The Prophesied Reconciliation of God’s Two Witnesses, a book (available in paperback or kindle) that traces in great detail the two houses of Israel, their fate, God’s purpose and His ultimate plan as it affects both Judaism and Christianity.

Isaiah and Malachi both articulate that we will learn and walk in His ways and His paths. This exactly comports with Leviticus 18! We are not going to learn the torah of the rabbis, the paths of Christian commentators or the ways of Babylon. We will learn HIS ways!

Both Judaism and Christianity have inherited a mountain of Greco-Romanism in their respective interpretations of Scripture. This. Is. Poison. -The proverbial tainted punch bowl.

We will not be allowed to carry these falsehoods through the wilderness and into the Kingdom. It just isn’t going to happen.

The sooner we recognize and deal with these, the sooner we can move forward.

Harboring known falsehood under the pretense of, ‘I’ll wait for the Messiah to tell me I have to change in that area…’ is delaying the inevitable and risking incurring His increased displeasure when face to face.

So, what are some of the areas we really need to investigate and deal with? Aren’t Shabbat, festivals and food laws enough?

True, those are a good start, but there is much more. We all have blind spots. I do!

I think the first place we must go is to prayer and earnestly ask the Father to change our hearts and give us a desire to walk in all of His ways and give us a willing spirit to do so. Then, when He points things out, even the very hard things, we do not negotiate the cost or look the other way. We must write Him a blank check!

A major area, foundational to the restoration of Israel, is headship and patriarchy. Do we really understand the respective roles of male and female? Do we accept the boundaries and callings Yah has given the two genders? Do we embrace His instructions and freedoms for family and marriage, or do we run to Greco-Roman understandings justified with Scriptures torn from context? Do we really think the Messiah will override the Torah of Moses with changes that alter Yah’s original revelation for how family, tribe and nation were to function?

Do we understand that Israel is a theocratically led patriarchy???

This blog has been exploring what the Restored Israel will look like in the Restoring kol Israel series. Feminism and egalitarianism are not on the Messiah’s agenda. No doubt, He absolutely values and loves every single daughter of Israel. Make no mistake, we understand and embrace that. However, HIS way of valuing and loving the daughters of Israel is through the headship/covering of a righteous man! The lone caveat that I find in Scripture is 1 Timothy 5 for ‘older’ widows. All other women are to be covered. (For those who believe there are too few or no righteous men, you need to read Where have all the good men gone?.)

Yehovah cares not one whit what the world thinks about His agenda, His Torah, nor is He swayed by public opinion or dissension apart from maybe getting ticked off, ala Psalm 2. He is concerned with professing followers who willfully choose not to pursue His ways because they are ‘unpopular’ or ‘bad for public relations.’ Or worse, ‘offensive to our brother…’

His ways are the only way. Negotiating with His Torah to appease a brother is death. [Let this serve as a warning to those who knowingly ignore truth for the sake of peace….]

So, before I really mount the soapbox and begin preaching, we must understand that Greco-Roman ideas or adjustments to the Torah is compromise with the world and an acceptance of pagan ways that will result in discipline, judgment and possibly even separation. We must come out of Babylon, reject Egypt and not do things as the Canaanites in the Land do them.

Seek His ways, His paths, His Kingdom!

Selah.