Church Signs and Errant Theology

Admittedly, theology is particularly hard to boil into modern culture’s penchant for ‘sound bytes.’  Generally, they do not turn into sound theological bites.  FBC sign 1

Recently, a church very close to the fellowship I help lead had some interesting material on their sign.

Maybe I’m hypersensitive to perceived attacks on those who would follow Torah, or maybe my conversation with their pastor leads me to believe he is aiming the sign at us…

I am new in this community and when he ran into me at the post office we had normal pleasantries before he asked about where I went to church.  When I said that I lead the Messianic fellowship down the road he offered three very interesting observations. Continue reading

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King Josiah, Pattern for us?

We have recently moved, and in the process I lost a piece of paper that was taped to the wall of my close…  er, office.

A couple months ago a friend had written a short synopsis of King Josiah that I was so taken by, I copied and pasted it to the wall above my computer.  Since, I’ve wanted to study him a little further…  Being ‘down in the back,’ I found time this afternoon to just read and highlite both accounts of his life.  Here are links to each account: 2 Kings 22:1-23:27 and 2 Chronicles 34:1-35:27.  I highly recommend taking the time to consider this incredibly passionate and strong youngman!

I understood that Israel had gone astray…  even, radically so.  Judah was also well off the tracks as Ezekiel 23 eloquently portrays.  Harlots.  Both.  Detestable!!

Until I reread the recounting of the life of King Josiah from a Hebraic perspective, I did not realize how radically far gone Judah and Jerusalem were. Continue reading

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Adon Olam!! (Beautiful!!)

English/Hebrew and Transliteration.  Deep and beautiful! Continue reading

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“I am the Truth” means…

Jesus/Yeshua said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  In a previous post, we explored at least part of what He meant when He said, “I am the way.”

In this post, we will explore a bit about what He meant when He said, “I am the truth.”

“I am the truth…”  From John 14:6.

Jesus *said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Continue reading

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Ponder this….

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An amazing prophetic passage from Ruth…

A day or two ago I was enjoying again the Book of Ruth.  I’ve read it dozens of times, but saw a passage in a whole new light yesterday…

The overarching picture in the story is of Yeshua, the Kinsman-Redeemer, buying back that which is His.  Certainly, we all understand the deeper significance of Ruth saying,

“Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”

We see her desire, even staid intent, of being grafted in.  She joins herself to Israel and Israel’s Elohim/God.  In doing so, she accepts a destiny, a land, a culture, a future and of course, Almighty God.

So, what new piece really hit me the other day?  You are going to love this! Continue reading

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“I am the Way” means….

Growing up I was often pointed to Jesus/Yeshua’s statement, “I am the way, the truth and the life…”  I am not sure I ever really pondered what that means.  We are going to break this down into several posts.

“I am the way…”  From John 14:6.

Jesus *said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

So, what is the ‘way’ that would be the Father’s works? Continue reading

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Elijah AND Caleb, both Gentiles?

As many of the regular readers here know, I did a series a while back studying Elijah and his connection with the Great Tribulation as well as his possible connection with the 144,000.  The way that study started was my learning that Elijah was a Gentile grafted into Israel.  See that series for details as well as an abundance of information on Elijah.

My recent discovery, likely known to most of you, but I’ll share anyway, is that Caleb was also a Gentile grafted into Israel and again, there are some really cool prophetic connections and implications.

This will be short, but rich when the depth is pondered…

So, back to Caleb, counterpart to Joshua…  Moshe selected the men to go into Canaan and spy out the land in Numbers 13.  The relevant verses, 6-8, are:

Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. Continue reading

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“to whom belongs the adoption, and the glory and the covenants..” ??

Here’s a good question:  “To whom do the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants” belong??

I was raised in the church.  Among the many things I was taught (oversimplifying here…), was that the church had the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the Messiah.  While not necessarily stated in direct terms, the implication is that the blessings and covenants, the glory and Messiah, because of the rejection of (some of) the  Jews, were all transfered or conferred upon the church.

With that very general premise in mind, let’s take a look at what Scripture says and consider the implications… Continue reading

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A Parable on Christian Theology…

Been very busy lately and have notes on topics I desire writing about, but have had little time.  Thankfully, things should change next week and I’ll be back to regular posting…  In the meantime, here is a neat poem by Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911) that, through parable, explains how Christian Theology got so far off the track instead of simple obedience to Scripture.

Ponder this deeply.

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The Calf-Path

I.

One day, through the primeval wood,
A calf walked home, as good calves should;

II.

But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And, I infer, the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.
The trail was taken up next day, Continue reading

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Handy Study Sheet…

While studying and learning the basics of Torah, Yahweh’s loving instructions/guardrails, I found a study guide on the 119 Ministries website.  Since then, I have added to their original material, but will not transcribe that info right now.  Look for me to add my additional notes to this post in the near future.

I hope this will prove a handy study guide for any who are teaching, studying or daring to seek answers to questions that make the religious establishment squirm…  LOL!

***Update: Torah is GOOD!! (Printable handout/study sheet)

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If you would like to know what you are bringing them when you instruct all nations to be obedient to God’s Torah/law, then consider studying the following scripture:

1. The Law blesses (obey) and curses (disobey).

(Deut 11:26-27)(Ps 112:1)(Ps 119:1-2)(Ps 128:1)(Prov 8:32)(Is 56:2)(Mat 5:6)(Mat 5:10)(Luke11:28)(Jam 1:25)(1 Pe 3:14)(Rev 22:14)

2. The Law defines sin.

(Jer 44:23)(Ez 18:21)(Dan 9:11)(Ro 3:20)(Ro 7:7)(1 Jo 3:4)

3. The Law is perfect. Continue reading

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Who is 119 Ministries??

GREAT interview.  Love the heart for Yahweh that these guys exhibit!!

Pastors:  Please watch and understand…  Be willing to grapple with this message!

119 Ministries!!

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Equivocating on ‘commandments’….

One of the great travesties of our generation, maybe intentionally wrought, is the lack of training we have concerning the basic rules of logic and logical fallacies.

Today, I want to explain the logical fallacy called ‘equivocation’ and demonstrate how the pulpit is guilty and why it is critical you understand and recognize it.

First, a very short explanation of what this fallacy is and a few quick examples.  You can do a websearch for ‘equivocation, logical fallacy‘ and numerous sites will pop up with deeper information and some funny examples.  The fallacyfiles.org quotes the following on their ‘equivocation’ page:

Equivocation is the type of ambiguity which occurs when a single word or phrase is ambiguous, and this ambiguity is not grammatical but lexical. So, when a phrase equivocates, it is not due to grammar, but to the phrase as a whole having two distinct meanings.

Examples:

  1. Criminal actions are illegal, and all murder trials are criminal actions, thus all murder trials are illegal. (Here the term “criminal actions” is used with two different meanings. Example borrowed from Copi.)
  2. The sign said “fine for parking here”, Continue reading
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One of my favorite teaching sites…

From one of my favorite teaching sites, with links:

SOME RECENT TEACHING FEEDBACK

THE TEN VIRGINS
“A very important story to grasp, `cause it`s describing the situation in our churches.”


NAILED TO THE CROSS

“Another example of how much we miss when we do not know the WHOLE book! Thank you.” 


TIME: OUR CREATOR’S CALENDAR

“We LOVED IT! It answered many questions for us.. can’t wait to hear how you deal with the Lunar Sabbath vs. the 7th Day Sabbath!! :-)”


THE LOST SHEEP
“Just watched this and found it very well done. I didn’t know anything about “Hebrew roots” until early this year, though I have been a Bible-believing Christian nearly all my life. But I have been studying from the Hebrew perspective for several months now and having “the time of my life”! It’s like I can’t get enough! God bless your ministry”  Continue reading

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The Faith of Abraham. A thought.

Christendom believes that ‘to be saved’ we need the ‘faith of Abraham.’  And generally speaking, they are exactly right…  But, what is the ‘faith of Abraham?’

Most would immediately quote Romans 4:3,

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

which cites Genesis 15:6 saying,

Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

And this would be correct, but does it answer the question?  What is the faith of Abraham?  What was the outworking of ‘believed God?’ Continue reading

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