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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Yom Kippur

Leviticus 23:27 - Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto YAHWEH. 28 - And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before YAHWEH your Elohim.

Some believe that since there are special offerings given at these feasts, it must mean that they are not for today. However, just because sacrifices are given at certain times throughout the year, it does not abolish the observance of Yahweh's seven Annual Sabbaths (First and Last days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day). There are also special sacrifices given on the regular Sabbath, yet we keep the regular weekly Sabbath as commanded.
Continuing in Leviticus 23:

Leviticus 23:29 - For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. 30 - And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. 31 - Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 - It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

To "afflict the soul" means to fast

In Biblical Hebrew the expression "to afflict your souls" means "to fast" (Tzom). The Hebrew phrase 'INuI NeFeSH translated as "afflicting the soul", also appears in a number of Biblical passages, from which it is clear that this expression signifies fasting:


* "...I afflicted (KJV: "humbled") my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom." (Psalms 35,13)




* "...I wept, and afflicted (KJV: "chastened") my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach." (Psalms 69,11)




* "Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and you see not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and you take no notice?..." (Isaiah 58,3; see also vv.5.10)


"Soul" Means "appetite"

It should be pointed out that one of the meanings of the word "NeFeSH", commonly translated as "soul", is in fact "appetite". For example:



* "And put a knife to your throat, if you be a man given to appetite (NeFeSH)." (Proverbs 23,2-3)




* " For he satisfies the longing soul (NeFeSH), and fills the hungry soul (NeFeSH) with goodness." (Psalms 107,9)




* "The full soul (NeFeSH) loathes a honeycomb; but to the hungry soul (NeFeSH) every bitter thing is sweet." (Proverbs 27,7)




* "Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never satisfy their souls (NeFeSH) (KJV: "have enough")" (Isaiah 56,11)


Considering the warnings given, we would do well to obey the commandment here to fast. Some believe this is symbolic of when Yahushua will completely destroy the last enemy (death) at the end of the 1000 year reign when Satan will finally be thrown into the lake of fire. Then all sin will be atoned for and those who have chosen righteousness will forever be with Yahweh.
This day is casually mentioned in the book of Acts:

Acts 27:9 - Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them, 10 - And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.

Luke, the writer of Acts was using the "fast" as a reference point of time. Apparently, sailing was more dangerous in late autumn. On this day, we do fast. We neither eat bread nor drink water. It is a somber time of considering our ways and recognizing the atonement found in Yahushua the Messiah who is now seated at the right hand of Yahweh:
Psalms 110:1 - YAHWEH said unto my Master, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2 - YAHWEH shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 3 - Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. 4 - YAHWEH hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. 5 - YAHWEH at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. 6 - He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

Yahweh anointed the Messiah Yahushua as both king and priest. He is High Priest after the order of Melchizidek (meaning "King of Righteousness"). Melchizedek was the king that Abraham paid tithes to. Mechizedek was also the King of Salem, which most say is modern day Jerusalem.
Notice in verse 1 we see that Yahushua is seated at the right hand of Yahweh. According to the Torah, the High Priest was only permitted to enter the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement:

Leviticus 16:29 - And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: 30 - For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before YAHWEH. 31 - It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. 32 - And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: 33 - And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 34 - And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as YAHWEH commanded Moses.

This is written of in Hebrews 9:6:
Hebrews 9:6 - Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. 7 - But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance; 8 - the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 - It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience-- 10 - concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. 11 - But the Messiah came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 - Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 - For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sets apart for the purifying of the flesh, 14 - how much more shall the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to Elohim, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living Elohim?

...and later in this chapter:
Hebrews 9:24 - For the Messiah has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of YAHWEH for us; 25 - not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another-- 26 - He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 - And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 - so the Messiah was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

The final part of Yom Kippur is what is called in Hebrew, "Ne'ilah" - the closing of the gates. The Holy of Holies could only be entered this one time of year, so the end of Yom Kippur was marked by a purposeful and meaningful closing of the gates of the temple. The Holy of Holies could not be entered again until the next year.

The Jewish Encyclopedia says,

R. Johanan held that "Ne'ilah" meant the closing of the gates of the Temple, while Abba claimed that it meant the closing of the gates of heaven (Yer. Ta'an. 7c). Both the Sephardic and the Ashkenazic rituals express the latter idea in their anthems; the Ashkenazic saying: "Open for us the gate at the time of the closing of the gates," and the Sephardic still more clearly: "At the time of the closing of the heavenly gates forgive our iniquities."

Feast of Tabernacles

http://www.sukkot.com/gallery.htm

The Feast of Tabernacles

Now let's look at the feast of tabernacles, which was just after the fall harvest:

Deuteronomy 16:13 - Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: 14 - And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. 15 - Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto YAHWEH thy Elohim in the place which YAHWEH shall choose: because YAHWEH thy Elohim shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

Why is it called the feast of tabernacles?
Leviticus 23:24 - Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. 25 - Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YAHWEH. 26 - And YAHWEH spake unto Moses, saying, 27 - Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto YAHWEH.

We can see that Yahweh lists these days in succession in Leviticus 23. This is a good place to start when learning about the feasts. Continuing:
Leviticus 23:34 - Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto YAHWEH. 35 - On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 36 - Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YAHWEH: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YAHWEH: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. 37 - These are the feasts of YAHWEH, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto YAHWEH, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38 - Beside the sabbaths of YAHWEH, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto YAHWEH. 39 - Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto YAHWEH seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. 40 - And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before YAHWEH your Elohim seven days. 41 - And ye shall keep it a feast unto YAHWEH seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 - Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43 - That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am YAHWEH your Elohim. 44 - And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of YAHWEH.

This feast is also known as "Sukkot". Sukkot means "booths, tabernacles". All of Israel is commanded to dwell in booths during the 7 days of the feast. This is the first and eighth day mentioned in the above verses. The last day is also known as the "Last great day". The first and eighth days are Sabbaths and holy convocations. This is a very popular feast among brethren. At this feast, it is good to build a "Sukkah" or temporary dwelling place made with surrounding trees and branches. We usually dwell in tents or other temporary dwellings. It is especially delightful for the children. This feast will be most enjoyed if you have the chance to gather and dwell among brethren for the entire length of this feast. It is a time to remember how temporary this life really is and to consider that one day we will tabernacle with Yahweh forever:
Revelation 21:3 - And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of YAHWEH is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. YAHWEH Himself will be with them and be their Elohim. 4 - "And YAHWEH will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." 5 - Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." 6 - And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 - "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his Elohim and he shall be My son.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Works of the Law

What are "Works of the Law"? by Austin Greene
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Today at 10:20pm | Edit Note | Delete
The only thing I could add to this is that "Nomos" often translated "Law/Torah" can also mean legalism or the sacrificial system. So a correct translation in context would be "Works of Legalism", trying to be saved by keeping the Law. Which is just as bad as "Lawlessness" living by man's tradition instead of G-d's Commands.

Austin's Note:

What are "works of the law"?
All verses are taken from the ESV.

=====================================

From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus taught the Jews that they should not rely upon their physical Jewish lineage when it comes to being saved, saying:

Mat 3:9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.



And he continued, in saying:

Mat 3:10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.



Now good fruit and good works are the same thing. He was telling these pharisees to repent and show their repentance with their good works. As he also says:

Mat 3:8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.



The good works being commanded of here are in opposition to dead works, which many of the Jews of the time were guilty of. As the apostle writes to the Jews, saying:

Heb 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,...



Now, dead works are those things that can be done for reasons other than faith toward God. And faith toward God is believing that he exists and that he will reward those who seek him. Just as the apostle says in the same letter:

Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.



What kinds of things were done as dead works? Concerning these, the prophets are more than willing to help us understand, as Isaiah says:

Isa 1:11 "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says Yahweh*; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
Isa 1:12 "When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?
Isa 1:13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations-- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Isa 1:14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
Isa 1:15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.



It was not that offerings, sacrifices, and feasts were a bad thing in and of themselves. It is because they were not being done for the right reason. Yahweh exposes their hearts to them and tells them how to correct themselves, saying to them:

Isa 1:16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
Isa 1:17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.



Yahweh immediately brings before them good works that they can show to prove their faithfulness, if they desire to repent. The works that are presented before them are very difficult to not do out of faith. Once these more important, faith-proving works are shown, then the offerings will be acceptable and even very pleasing to him. Just as the psalmist says, in the light of the sin he has committed:

Psa 51:16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psa 51:18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
Psa 51:19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.



And also as Jesus instructs, in the same spirit:

Mat 5:23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Mat 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.



It was taught in great detail by Jesus, what were the most important matters in the law, as he, in response to the scribe's question says:

Mar 12:29 Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.
Mar 12:30 And you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
Mar 12:31 The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."



If the foundation of what you do lies in the things Jesus is talking about here, then your motivation is pure. The scribe, understanding that there are things on the opposite end of the law, that can easily be done for reasons outside of faith, responds by saying:

Mar 12:32 And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.
Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.



Jesus, in complete agreement with the scribe, congratulates his understanding. However, there were many more cases where Jesus had to rebuke the scribes and Pharisees for their ways. Later on, he comes at them saying:

Mat 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.



Jesus tells them them here not to neglect even the smallest matters of the law, but to do them out of a repentant heart that is truly seeking God's desire, and not to do them for other reasons, adding beforehand in this same speech:

Mat 23:5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others...



And again:

Mat 23:28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.



The reason Jesus emphasizes things such as mercy, justice, love and faith, is precisely because of the dead works which were being done in the first century. It would have been no avail to be telling the Jews as the center of his message to please God by keeping the festivals, or doing sacrifices. They were already doing these things, and the hypocrisy in them was the source of God's displeasure. Although the minor points of the law were not constantly reiterated in his message, he did in fact, teach explicit obedience to even the smallest command. As he said on the mountain:

Mat 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Mat 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.



And as Paul, in agreement, says to the assembly in Rome concerning the the law:

Rom 3:31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.



And as he says to Timothy concerning the Scriptures he was raised on (the Law and Prophets):

2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
2Ti 3:17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.



Paul was very adamant about the believers being zealous for good works. As he also says:

Tit 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.



So if Paul speaks favorably of obedience to the law, and of good works, what are the works of the law that Paul does not speak too favorably about? They are those works relating to the law that are done for reasons outside of faith toward God. This is why Paul speaks of Israel in this way:

Rom 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
Rom 9:31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.
Rom 9:32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Rom 9:33 as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."



As was stated before, many Jews of that time thought that being Jewish was enough to get them into the kingdom. And therefore, they would practice in their lives things that identified them as Jewish. These included circumcision, festivals, immersions, and many other things. Therefore many boasted in their status as a Jew. Paul himself lays his own previous life out as exemplary of this behavior as he says to the assembly in Philippi:

Php 3:4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
Php 3:5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
Php 3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness in* the law, blameless.
Php 3:7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Php 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Php 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--



And as he also says concerning this boasting and the works of the law that identify one as a Jew:

Rom 3:27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law (principle)? By a law (principle) of works? No, but by the law (principle) of faith.
Rom 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Rom 3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
Rom 3:30 since God is one--who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Rom 3:31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.



The Judaism in the first century was highly community oriented, whereas in the "churches" of our society this is not nearly the case. Anyone can walk in or out as they please without much say as to whether they are a "member" or not. But to the first century believers, you were not a member of one church and not a member of another. You were either a member of the body of Christ or you weren't, and that directly affected whether you could be included in the group. (For this reason, the Jerusalem Council is hard to understand for many today.) This sociological behavior is demonstrated in Paul's rebuking of Peter in his letter to Galatia, where he says:

Gal 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.



If you ate with someone, it meant you had accepted them. If you did not accept them, you did not eat with them, just as Paul says to the Corinthians:

1Co 5:11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler--not even to eat with such a one.



You see, the circumcision party, in their inception, was teaching that one had to basically identify themselves as a Jew before they could be saved, and thus enter the community. This included an adult circumcision, instruction and practice of the whole torah, and probably a few other things. Paul and the other apostles taught otherwise. For this reason, the Jerusalem council goes as follows:

The circumcision party comes by.

Act 15:1 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
Act 15:2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.
Act 15:3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.
Act 15:4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.



The circumcision party clarifies what they mean.

Act 15:5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses."
Act 15:6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.



Peter tells them about their justification by faith apart from works related to the law.

Act 15:7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
Act 15:8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,
Act 15:9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.



Peter tells them how obedience to the whole torah as a means of justification (and thus being included) is a burden none could bear.

Act 15:10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
Act 15:11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."
Act 15:12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.



James speaks about the prophet's teaching concerning the inclusion of the Gentiles.

Act 15:13 After they finished speaking, James replied, "Brothers, listen to me.
Act 15:14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.
Act 15:15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
Act 15:16 "'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it,
Act 15:17 that the remnant of mankind may seek Yahweh, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says Yahweh, who makes these things
Act 15:18 known from of old.'



James makes a decision to burden them with only a few things to be saved (but really more included), four things of which all relate to idolatry, and have a death sentence as pronounced by the law. He does this to ensure that they truly have repented and are "saved".

Act 15:19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
Act 15:20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.



James then goes on to say that they will eventually learn about the rest of the law in the synagogues, showing that he is by no means against the law itself.

Act 15:21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues."



The letter is sent, and the recipients rejoice knowing that they do not have to undergo the circumcision party's burden.

Act 15:22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,
Act 15:23 with the following letter: "The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.
Act 15:24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,
Act 15:25 it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Act 15:26 men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 15:27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.
Act 15:28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:
Act 15:29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell."
Act 15:30 So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.
Act 15:31 And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.



In teaching that faith was not enough, the Pharisees were in fact not operating out of faith, and thus presenting a false "good news". If a person accepted this, it was an acknowledgement that they did not believe that God's sacrifice of his son would be sufficient, and would thus be a severe lack of faith towards God. For this reason, Paul gets very angry with the Galatians who accept this, as he says to them:

Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
Gal 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
Gal 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Gal 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain?
Gal 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith--



One of the primary reasons Paul shows as to why works of the law will not work for them as a means of justification, is because the law shows them the sins they have committed as they have lived outside of faith. As he says to the assembly in Rome:

Rom 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.



And likewise he says concerning those who rely on the law and not on the faith:

Gal 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them."



Most teachers today would like us to believe that Paul was actually angry with the Galatians for keeping the laws, even out of faith, but this makes little to no sense concerning the whole picture of Galatians, and this can be easily seen in the lack of logical continuity in thought among the scholarly commentaries. Let's examine again the passage concerning Peter's hypocrisy and see Paul's response:

Gal 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
Gal 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
Gal 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
Gal 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"
Gal 2:15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
Gal 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.



Now as to the conclusion of the Christian scholars regarding Paul's accusation before Peter, it is most bizarre! They would actually have you believe that the phrase "live like a Gentile" is a positive thing! Whereas anywhere else, a similar phrase or even remote connection to such an idea would be an extremely insulting! Ideally living like a Jew was a good thing, as the Prophet says:

Zec 8:23 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"



And according to Jesus himself, an unfaithful Jew was not a Jew at all, as he says to the assembly in Smyrna:

Rev 2:9 "'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.



So the scholars would have you believe that Peter did not live like a Jew (concerning obedience to the law), whereas it is plain fact that the believers of Jerusalem were zealous for the law!

Act 21:20 And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law...



Paul was clearly insulting Peter by telling him he was living like a gentile. How? The answer is in the next verse:

Gal 2:15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;



The gentiles were the ones that were supposed to be the sinners, not the Jews. Yet Peter was sinning in playing the hypocrite. Paul was asking him how he would be able to compel Gentiles to live as the believing Jews if he himself was sinning in rejecting them. The truth is, as is easily seen, Paul's accusation against Peter is not found in "compelling the gentiles to live like the Jews (according to obedience to torah)", as he was not doing such in this context, but was in fact sinning in his hypocrisy.

If you favor one man over another, you have become a transgressor of the law and have sinned, as James says:

Jas 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Jas 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
Jas 2:11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
Jas 2:12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

And finally Paul tells Peter that he should not have disassociated from the believing Gentiles because no man will be justified by works of the law, which again, are things related to the torah, done outside of faith - most of the time to establish oneself as a Jew. But one cannot rely on works of the law, because the law shows us the sins we have committed and condemns us, and simply doing more things related to the torah is not the solution to that problem.

The faith of the Messiah is.

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The Pharisees in general were faithless from the start, and the works of the law they were promoting were nothing more than a continuation of their dead works.

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The next note will hopefully be on what it means to be "under the law".

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Peace




* Yahweh does not mean "the LORD". Adonai means LORD. Translations should translate words, or transliterate them, not carry on useless traditions.
* The greek text says "in". The ESV translators put "under" for some strange reason. If Paul wanted to say "under the law", he would have used "hupo nomon" as he always does.

Yeshua - born Sept. 11, 3 BC


Jesus Born on 11 Sept, 3 B.C. (Feast of Trumpets) NOT December 25th, Birthday of Tammuz
First, a Brief Overview of the "Feast of Trumpets and the Holy Days"
In Leviticus 23 a list of Holy Days is given that all who believe in G-d are to celebrate, Jew and Gentile alike because in the Law of G-d He said that we are to have then "Same Law for you and the Foreigner Among You" and we are "Grafted into Israel" via the Lion of Judah, in Romans 10 and 11, so when G-d says "Israel" He is talking to Christians as well. He also forbid the adoption of pagan religious practices in Deuteronomy, Exodus, and Paul repeated the same when he said "What fellowship can Christ have with baal?." Israelites (a tribe of which is Judah) and G-d Fearing Gentiles such as the foreigners who crossed the Red Sea with the Israelites and were also called Israelites after their baptism by the Red Sea crossing kept the Holy Days, just like Ruth, Rahab, and Cornelius the Centurion. A Blessing is promised on Gentiles that keep the Sabbaths (7th Day and Holy Days) in Isaiah 58 and Matthew 5:17, with the Holy Days considered one of the "least of these Commands" by many. One of these Holy Days/Moadim is the Feast of Trumpets. (Moadim in Hebrew, same word translated as "Seasons" in the Creation Story, where the stars and moon were given so that we would know when the Seasons/Holy Days begin). These Holy Days have been replaced in the Church by pagan festivals/the satanic holy days, that celebrated baal/moloch and easter/ahstoreth worship on December 25th, October 31st, February 14th, and 'Easter" Sunday and Sunday as a 'Sabbath' to baal/moloch/mithras. Just as Sunday is considered a holiday along with easter and december 25th, February 14th, etc., The 7th Day Sabbath was considered along with the Moadim/Holy Days. So when you see the word "Sabbaths" plural, it refers to the Holy Days and the weekly Sabbath, like Isaiah 58, a blessing is promised Forever on all Gentiles that keep the Sabbaths plural that G-d gave.
When you learn about the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets, you see how it would usher in the arrival of the King, the Messiah, the one who forgives debts and sets captives free.
The Feast of Trumpets occurs on September 19th this year, but in the year Jesus was born it occurred on the 11th of September, the same day as an unusual astronomical event. The "Trumpet" is actually a Shofar, or Ram's Horn. When the Shofar was blown it signaled a new month was beginning, or a Holy Day (no work, buying or selling, a time of celebration and Holy Time) was beginning, the presence of G-d was stronger amongst the people and He had made special time in the calendar just to be with them, and them with He, without the distractions of commerce and daily cares. It also signalled a call to battle. On the Sabbath and Jubilee years, it meant that when you heard the sound the 'Captives were set free, the chains broken, and the debtors forgiven", which was part of the mission of the Messiah. The Shofar also signaled the coming of a King, either the King of Israel or Judah, and the coming of the Spiritual King on the Holy Days. When Holy Time, the arrival of the King began, a Shofar was blown on one mountain top and then was heard on the next and blown by the people there, and it went all around the nation at the speed of sound, much like the scene in "Lord of the Rings" when the signal fire is lit and spreads from mountain top to mountain top, the main warriors also carry Shofars. When the Shofar was blown, the King declared debts were forgiven, family lands (inheritance and mansions) went back to thier original owners, slaves were freed, and no work was to be done on the fields for a full year so the land could be fertile and be productive/just like our Spirits, bodies, and mind need the weekly rest to be fertile ground for the Word and arrival of the King. This is what the Feast of Trumpets meant.
In the Holy Days yet to be fulfilled, Trumpets not only teaches us about the Spiritual "Return of the King" at the Holy Days, but also the 1st Physical coming, and the 2nd Coming as well. Paul speaks of the 4th Trump (a Shofar has 4 distinct notes), when you hear the 4th the Messiah will Return and raise the dead from their graves. Passover is a fulfilled Holy Day (Fulfilled in Hebrew, is to give something its full meaning), and Yeshua was the Passover Lamb so we can fully understand Passover. It was followed by the Feast of UnLeavened Bread, which Paul told the formerly pagan Corinthians to keep by not just removing the Leaven from their physical house, but also by removing any sin (anything breaking the Law of G-d, 1st John 2:3) from their hearts. And Yeshua came to remove the sin from our hearts, so He gave the "Feast of UnLeavened Bread" its proper fulfillment/meaning as well.

Maria Merola is the Original Author of This Post
On Sunday August 23rd at sundown, (on the Aviv Barley Calendar) began the forty days of fasting and repentance leading up to the “Day of Atonement” called Yom Kippur.
We are now in the month called “Elul” the 6th month on the Hebrew Calendar, as of last night Sunday August 23rd. On the Rabbinical Calendar the first of Elul began on Friday Night August 21st 2009.
In Jewish Culture, there is what is called “The Thirty Days of Elul” leading up to the “Feast of Trumpets” called Yom Teruah (Leviticus 23:24). For each of these 30 days there is a trumpet warning leading up to Yom Teruah.
We must fast and pray for our nation! There are some serious judgments getting ready to happen to our nation and we must be willing to “humble ourselves and pray” for the sins of America and for Israel that perhaps we may be forgiven on Yom Kippur and declare “the Acceptable Year of Yahuwah/Yehovah.”
Over the next 40 days leading up to Yom Kippur on the Biblical Aviv Calendar (September 30th) Rabbinic Calendar (September 28th), Yah is calling us to fast and pray for our nation!
At the beginning of each month, at the sighting of the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh/Head of the Month), a trumpet/shofar is sounded to usher in the New Month. But then on the 7th month (called Tishri), the 7th Trumpet is sounded, and this is how we know when the Day of our Redemption/Resurrection will be taking place!
In Revelation 11:8, the “Two Witnesses” are “caught up” and taken up to God as “the seventh angel” in heaven sounds the trumpet/shofar!
This can only mean one thing! The “Catching Away” of the Bride or what is commonly called “Rapture” is going to happen on the Yom Teruah or Day of Blowing. And this happens “after the 1,260 days” of the ministry of the Two Witnesses (immediately after the tribulation, Matthew 24:29-31) and you will note that this all occurs with a “great sound of a trumpet.”
Matthew 24:29-31 Immediately after the tribulation (1,260 days) of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
In 1st Corinthians 15:50-53 we are told that we are going to be “changed” by putting on incorruption “at the last trumpet” and this is none other than the “seventh trumpet” sounded in Revelation 11:8 as well as the “great sound of a trumpet” in Matthew 24:31 “immediately after the tribulation (1,260 days)!

Yeshua's Baptism Likely Happened on the 1st of Elul


Even though the scriptures are not specific about the time frame when Yeshua was baptized, I believe we can see patterns in scripture that point to the fact that he was baptized 40 days before Yom Kippur.
The month of Elul on the Hebrew Calendar has 30 days and there are 30 trumpet warnings for each day leading up to the Feast of Trumpets, called Yom Teruah. Then there are 10 more days leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
We can accurately see that Yeshua himself fulfilled these 40 days of repentance when he was led by the Ruach ha’Kodesh (Holy Spirit) into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil:
Matthew 4
1 Then was Yeshua led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Yesterday, Sunday August 23rd sundown we commemorate the day when Yeshua was baptized (mikvah) in the Jordan River by John /Yochanan) the Baptist/Immerser.
Why would the Holy Spirit lead Yeshua to fast and pray immediately following his baptism for 40 days and nights? Yeshua was celebrating the 40 days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur!
How do we know Yeshua was baptized 40 days before the Day of Atonement? On the Day of Atonement, (Yom Kippur) the priests in the temple were supposed to choose two goats. They were to cast lots over the goats to see which one would be killed and which one would be sent into the wilderness. (The full instructions are found in Leviticus 16.) When Yeshua came to John for baptism, all of his actions were meant to fulfill the requirements of the Day of Atonement. While the priests were carrying out these rituals in the temple in Jerusalem, Yeshua came to John for baptism. John was the true High Priest in the eyes of God. Caiaphas was the High Priest in the Temple, chosen by men. Yeshua was, in effect, presenting Himself as the first goat, which was to be “killed” for the cleansing of the sanctuary. His baptism was the moment of His legal death. Baptism represents death (Romans 6:4). After His baptism, Matthew 4:1 says, “Then was Yeshua led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”
He Immediately fulfilled the pattern of the second goat, which at that time was being led “by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:21). The Hebrew word translated “fit” here means seasonal, timely, or ready. In this case, we see that the “fit man” was the Holy Spirit, who always comes at the appointed time and season to do the work. And so we see that Yeshua’s baptism and the Spirit’s leading Him into the wilderness ran directly parallel to the temple activities on the Day of Atonement. This can only indicate that He was baptized 40 days before the Day of Atonement, which would have been about 30 days before his 30th birthday on the Feast of Trumpets.

Yeshua was born on September 11th in 3 B.C. on a Holy Feast called “Yom Teruah” or “Day of Trumpets.” A book entitled “The Star That Astonished the World” by Dr. Ernest L. Martin shows that the planetary alignment which occurred that year when Yeshua was born was from Revelation 12:
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered…
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
On no other day except on September 11th in 3 B.C. do we see this planetary alignment taking place. On this day and never before this date nor ever again after, has this constellation been seen. It was “Virgo” the virgin” or “Bethulah” (in Hebrew), and she had 12 stars around her head (for the twelve tribes of Israel), and the moon was under her feet. The sun was “mid- body” and so she was “clothed with the sun” and she was giving birth to “Ariel” the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This happened at no other time in history except on this date which was a holy day in which God already commanded Israel to “keep forever” and this day is called Yom Teruah, a “memorial of blowing trumpets” because God was “announcing” the arrival of his son into the world with trumpets and shouting! Eight days later, his parents circumcised Yeshua in the temple and then 2 days later was Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement. Then 5 days later was the Feast of Tabernacles called “Sukkot” where Mary/Miriam & Joseph would have done what every other Jewish family would have done which is to “dwell in a succah.” The Hebrew word for tabernacle is “succah” which means a stable or a manger. In most other years, Yeshua would’ve been born on the Feast of Tabernacles (6 months after John the Baptist’s birth) but since that year in 3 B.C. was a “leap year” and the month of Adar II was not in the calendar that year (making the year shorter), then counting 180 days from Passover in that year landed precisely on Yom Teruah or Feast of Trumpets when Yeshua was born!
We also know that scripture records that when he was baptized, he was “beginning to be about 30 years old.” He was not quite 30 years old yet, but he would be on the Feast of Trumpets within 30 days of his baptism!
In order to fulfill the Torah/Law, neither John the Baptist nor Yeshua were eligible for initiation into the ministry until they were fully 30 years old (Num. 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 39). Scripture tells us that John the Baptist was 6 months older than Yeshua since the angel Gabriel came to Mary/Miriyam in the “sixth month” of Elizabeth’s pregnancy to announce that she would conceive Yeshua. (Luke 1:24-36). John the Baptist probably began his ministry around his 30th birthday which had fallen on Passover. Six months later, Yeshua began his ministry at the age of 30 since the scriptures tell us that “he began to be about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23). His baptism therefore likely fell sometime before his 30th birthday on Yom Teruah. And then on the Feast of Tabernacles called Sukkot, he dwelled in a “sukkah” (stable or a manger), and so we know that Yeshua was born during the Feast that commemorates the temporary dwelling place of a “sukkah” and this means that our temporary bodies (dwelling place) will perish when we receive our new bodies at the resurrection on Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets!
In Leviticus 23, God established three very significant Holy Days in the autumn of the year. They all occur in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, which is called the month of Tishri. This correlates roughly with September or October of our solar pagan calendar. These Holy Days are as follows:
(1) Feast of Trumpets (Tishri 1), 1st Day of the 7th Month – His Birth
(2) Day of Atonement (Tishri 10), 10th Day of the 7th Month – His Announcement of the “acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:19-21)
(3) Feast of Tabernacles (Tishri 15-22), 15th Day of the 7th Month – He Dwelled in the Sukkah with his parents for eight days.
We can show through scripture that Yeshua fulfilled an intermediary fulfillment of the Day of Atonement “Yom Kippur” by being baptized 40 days before and then he was led by the Holy Spirit to be tested on our behalf. In other words, during the 40 days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Yeshua was being tempted for our sakes so that he could act as our intercessor to help us overcome sin. Not that he needed to overcome sin, but he stood in the gap for us!
Even in the Jewish Talmud, (the Oral Traditions of the Rabbis) are some historical facts written that positively prove that Yeshua did indeed die on the cross in 30 A.D. There are two verses out of the Talmud that can be used as a great witnessing tool to Jews. And since most uphold the Talmud to be as great as the Torah (since they teach it is the Oral Torah) this witnessing tool should be that much more effective. In Israel, before the time of Messiah, the priests were required to draw lots on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) to see whether or not Yehovah Elohim would forgive them of their sins as a nation or not. The priests would draw either a white stone (for YHVH) or a black stone (for the scapegoat) to determine what the goat would be used for. For the 200 years before 30A.D, the white and black stones came up about even with each other (50/50 chance). But for the 40 years after 30A.D, the black stone came up EVERY time! The chance of that happening is about 5.5 billion to 1.
The priests would also take a red ribbon (symbolizing sin/blood) and tie half around the horn of the scapegoat and tie half to the temple door. The scapegoat bore the sins of the nation of Israel. If Yehovah forgave them of their sins, the red ribbon on the temple door would miraculously turn white. This was done in front of a large crowd to show them they had Elohim's favor:
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says YHVH. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Since 30A.D, the ribbon stopped turning white as snow; this is even recorded in the Talmud:
Yoma 39b “Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot ['For the Lord'] did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves.”
There is only one possible explanation for this: Because Yeshua ha’Mashiach was the perfect sin sacrifice and died in 30AD!
Hebrews 9:12 “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
Only His blood can truly atone for our sins and once He paid that price, animal sacrifice was worthless.
Hebrews 10:4-6 “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.”
This was all done as a rehearsal for things to come, so Israel would recognize the true Messiah when He came.
Isaiah 1:11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith YHVH: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.”
Another thing that is recorded in the Talmud, is this historical mystery of the temple doors. The doors to the temple would swing open by themselves starting in 30A.D. Recorded in the Talmud:
Sota 6:3 “Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, ‘O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, 'Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedar.”
Lastly, the most important menorah lamp that was to remain lit at all times kept going out on its own accord. The priests went to all measures to insure it would stay lit but much to their futile efforts, the menorah kept going out. Yeshua died for our sins and just like the book of Hebrews tells us, the priesthood changed. Messiah is now our High Priest and has given us access to the Father. It is also significant that the temple was destroyed in 70A.D, exactly 40 years after Yeshua's death. Yehovah gave Israel 40 years to repent of their sins to accept Yeshua as their Messiah. And when they did not, (in spite of all the signs he gave them), their probationary period ended in 70 A.D. and their temple and city was destroyed just as Yeshua prophesied.
Yeshua fasted and prayed “a day for each year” for Israel’s rebellion! Just like Ezekiel!
Yeshua fasted for 40 days to fulfill the 40 years that Judah rejected him from 30 A.D. until 70 A.D. when he destroyed the Temple. Just like Ezekiel, he bore the iniquity for the house of Judah (Jews) a day for each year:

Ezekiel 4:
6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
Yeshua fasted one day for each year just like Ezekiel, and then Yeshua prophesied against Jerusalem that their generation would be destroyed 40 years later in the Roman Seige!
Matthew 23: 36 -38 “O Yershalyim...behold your house is left to you desolate.”
What did Yeshua do when he returned out of the wilderness? He displayed the role of the scapegoat going to the wilderness, never to return. In other words, the sins of Israel he bore himself “never to be remembered”!
But he also displayed the role of the sacrificial lamb at his baptism because John/Yochanan called him “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world…”
So Yeshua fulfilled both the sacrificial lamb and the scapegoat during the 40 days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur!
Let’s remember Yeshua’s fasting and praying for 40 days to bear the sins of Judah and Israel beginning as of last night, the month of Elul leading up to the 10th day of Tishri on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement which will begin on September 30th 2009 according to the Aviv Biblical Calendar.
Love & Shalom to you all in Yeshua ha’Mashiach!
Maria Merola

http://www.DoublePortionInheritance.com











Berean Challenge

The BEREAN CHALLENGE, Can your Church’s Teaching take a SCRIPTURAL CHALLENGE Commanded in the Bible????
Paul instructed the Church in Berea to TEST every instruction or teaching they received from Him by “Searching the Scriptures (Tanach) daily, to see if my words are true”. And to “imitate me and I imitate Christ”. What did Jesus teach, because Paul’s teachings would have to line up with Christ’s teachings to be an Apostle. What did Christ do on earth, how did he live? Because Paul would have to do the same to be considered an Apostle.
Since we should TEST EVERY INSTRUCTION by the established Scriptures that the Bereans were using, I lay down this Challenge. TEST 10 things by the established Scriptures that the Bereans used. Test what you have been TOLD that Jesus and Paul taught, test your daily diet, daily clothes, items that decorate your house every day, customs you celebrate every year. TEST THESE INSTRUCTIONS the Church and Society has given you, by the Bible that Jesus Read.
What “Scriptures” was Paul referring to, since it would be nearly a century until what we call the “New Testament” was compiled? The only thing He could be referring to is the Tanach (Hebrew for the Books Genesis through Malachi).
What did Paul tell us to use Genesis through Malachi for?
What did He think of Genesis through Numbers? A Burden, a Curse, useless for believers?
Romans 7:12Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."
If the Law is HOLY, and useful for instruction in ALL THINGS then it would teach us how to BE HOLY. He even said he DELIGHTS IN G-d’s Law. Doesn’t sound like a curse and a burden to me. Who delights in curses and burdens?
According to Paul, it would teach us all we need to know about life on this earth, including what to eat, what to celebrate, when to work, when to rest, and how to do nearly everything G-d’s Way. He also says however, that the “Carnal Mind” is opposed to G-d’s Law. The sinful mind he says, hates G-d’s Law. The lack of G-d’s Law is called “Lawlessness”, and 1st John 3:4 states “Sin is Lawlessness, in fact, anyone who breaks the Law of G-d sins”. So the carnal mind leads us to break the Law of G-d. And this is the mark of Anti-Christ in 2nd Thessalonians, the “man is sin” is the “man of Lawlessness”.
Doesn’t seem to jive with what most of us have been taught about G-d’s Holy Law in Churches does it?
Weren’t we told that keeping the Commands is the opposite of being Saved by Faith? Yes. Did that come from the Bible, from Paul’s writings? NO!!
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Which “Law” is Paul talking about?
Jesus said that not a “jot nor tittle”/accent mark, could not be removed from the Law unless the skies above your head and the ground beneath your feet ceased to be there. And we are still standing. So, what “Law” could He mean? The only thing written, that could have “jots and tittles” is the books “Genesis through Malachi”, or more specifically since He said “Law”, the Torah (First 5 Books of the Bible).
EVERY MATTER is established by 2-3 Witnesses. So I lay down this challenge, for all 10 items listed below, find 2-3 Witnesses in what Jesus said would NEVER Pass Away and Paul called “Holy, Righteous, and Good, Spiritual, and USEFUL FOR INSTRUCTION in ALL THINGS”. All Things Includes the Items listed Below. Paul praised the Bereans for doing so, could it be bad for us to do the same???
THE CHALLENGE
1. Test everything you hear in Church by Genesis through Malachi.
2. Examine every Holiday Tradition you keep by Genesis through Malachi.
3. Examine everything you eat by Genesis through Malachi. Esp Leviticus 11.
4. Examine your work schedule (to include housework and homework) by Genesis through Malachi. Esp Leviticus 23 and the every time the word Sabbath is mentioned.
5. Examine your finances by Genesis through Malachi.
6. Examine everything you wear and decorate your house with by Genesis through Malachi.
7. Examine everything you hear on television by Genesis through Malachi.
8. Examine everything your parents taught you by Genesis and Malachi.
9. Examine the Words of Jesus by Genesis and Malachi (both with a translation that would contradict Genesis through Malachi and one that would line up with Genesis through Malachi, get your concordance out for this one).
10. Examine the words of Paul and the other writers by Genesis and Malachi.

If you come back confused after studying the Words of Jesus and Paul, it is because the translation is way off and out of context.
To understand what they are really saying you need to understand 10 Basic Vocabulary Words that were common at the time, but we don’t have a clue about in the modern world. You also need to know the several possibly translations of the word “Nomos” or “Law”, which must be translated in context to line up with the rest of Scripture.

Most seeming contradictions in the Bible are due mainly to a word with 10 or so meanings being only translated as the same word “Law” over and over and over, despite the context. Even when translating the Greek word “Nomos” as “Law” would make Jesus and Paul seem to completely contradict the established Scriptures.
To see that Jesus and Paul are not calling G-d a Liar, or contradicting themselves (as the Muslims and Jewish Anti-Missionaries preach to invalidate Christianity), you need to understand the usage of the word “Nomos.”

The word “Nomos” is used often in the Bible and is usually given a blanket translation of “Law”. Since Greek was not a language used by people who worshipped G-d for the most part, or kept the Torah, they had no word specifically for the Hebrew “Torah” which means either the “First 5 Books of the Bible”, or “The Teachings of G-d on how to live a Holy Life”. They also had no word specifically for “Legalism”, or words to distinguish “G-d’s Law,” from “Man’s Law,” from “Legalism,” from “Jewish Traditions that later became the Talmud”, from “Principles” from “The Law that gives Liberty”, the “Law of Sin” or the “Law that sin equals death.”
Just like there are 30 words for “snow’ in the Inuit language and only 1 in ours. When we say “snow” that can mean 30 different ideas to an Eskimo. He would have to use the context, the situation, and the previous words of the author to know which meaning of “Snow” someone was referring to.
When the Bible says “Nomos” in Greek, that could mean about ten different concepts to a 1st Century Audience or to a modern English Speaker in the 21st Century. So we have to understand context, situation, and the author’s previous words, promises, and commands, in Genesis through Malachi.
VOCABULARY WORD 1.
“NOMOS”-with a blanket translation of Law, can mean any of the following, depending on the context: What it cannot do, is contradict Genesis through Malachi, unless G-d didn’t inspire it.
A. “Torah” G-d’s Teaching on how to live the Holy Life, or the First 4 Books of the Bible, or the Commands.
B. “Legalism” the concept, which is trying to get to heaven by your own efforts with “man’s traditions” such as the Traditions of the Pharisees, donations to churches, pilgrimages, crusades, etc or even trying to get to heaven by following G-d’s Law to be righteous instead of Christ. Legalism is NOT the keeping of G-d’s Commands, it is the reliance on them for salvation.
C. “Works of Legalism”, the acts you do in practicing legalism, once again, it is depending on keeping man’s traditions or even G-d’s Commands to get you into heaven without Christ. “Works of the Law” are not the Commands, they are the acts we do in order to EARN our salvation, whether we try to do that by using G-d’s Law or man’s tradition. Using the Torah to earn Salvation is a “perversion of the Torah”. Salvation was not the purpose of the Torah, Salvation is one of the many purposes of Christ. Jesus justifies us and His Commands/Torah Sanctifies us.
D. Roman law, or the law of a man made government.
E. Any principle, like gravity is a Law. There is the “Law of Sin equals Death”, which is the “Curse of the Law”. The natural cause and effect of sin is this. If you break the Law, you die. The “Law” of Sin=Death. The Law is not the curse, you receive the “Curse of the Law’ by breaking it. Psalm 119, G-d calls His Law a blessing. If you try to get saved by keeping it, then you fall under a curse because you have already broken it and failed. Ezekial 33 and 34. The Law that “Murder is illegal” is not a curse! It keeps us safe. However, if you murder someone you experience the “Curse of the Law”, the death penalty, because you broke that Law.
F. “The Perfect Law that gives Liberty”, the Torah, as G-d states that His Laws give us long life and freedom. Deuteronomy 30.
G. The “Law of Sin”. The Law of sin is the compulsion to keep doing it, to the sinner, sinning is like gravity. It’s a law of one’s personal nature that we can’t escape from.
Romans 7:12Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."

When one “dies” to oneself, then he is released from the “law of sin” and being a “slave to sin” so that he is under the “Perfect Law that gives Liberty” and a “Slave to Righteousness” We are either “Slaves to Sin” or “Slaves to Righteousness”. Paul said we HAVE TO CHOOSE. We are never “free” to just do our thing. That is called “LAWLESSNESS” (A-Nomia). In 2nd Corinthians Paul said that Rigtheousness and Lawlessness are incompatable. “What fellowship can Light have with Darkness? What fellowship can Christ have with Baal? What fellowship can RIGHTEOUSNESS have with LAWLESSNESS?”
See if this lines up better “Through the Torah I died to Legalism”, instead of “Through the Law I died to the Law”. Or “We are not under Legalism but Under Grace”.
Is Keeping the Law out of Obedience the Opposite of Being Saved by Faith? Not according to Paul
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

“Christ took away the Curse for BREAKING THE LAW”.


VOCABULARY WORD 2. LAWLESSNESS (A-Nomia) Hebrew Transliteration, “Torah-Lessness”.
This is another word that stems from “Nomos” but it has a very specific meaning, as the Bible defines it for us. In 1st John 3:4 we see that ‘Sin is Lawlessness, in fact, anyone who sins breaks the Law of G-d”.

The word “A-Nomia” is often given a vague translation to confuse the reader. It is translated into English as “wickedness”, “iniquity”, “unrighteousness” and many other things to avoid the definition 1st John 3:4 gives of “A-Nomia” and to confuse Paul’s words in 2nd Thessalonians. The Anti-Christ is the “Man of Sin” and a “Teacher of Lawlessness-A-Nomia”. In 2nd Corinthians Paul said “What fellowship can Righteousness have with LAWLESSNESS/A-Nomia?” Many Bible versions says “iniquity” instead of “sin” which is defined as “Lawlessness”, and they say “Unrighteousness” instead of “Lawlessness”.

VOCABULARY WORD 3.
ANTI-NOMIANS
Anti-Nomians is another word with a very specific meaning. Anti- in Greek means “Replacement or Counterfeit”. So if someone is “Anti-Christ” they can actually claim to represent Christ, be a messenger from Christ, or even be Christ. They are not just an enemy, but a counterfeit, an impostor claiming to be the original.
“Anti-Nomian” is actually a word in English, as well as Greek. It means “one who replaces the Law”, usually with their own tradition or by making their own desires the law they live by.
Paul warned against such men coming into the Church, the English mis-translation says “Beware of false prophets and UnPrincipled Men who will come into the Church in those days”. The Greek doesn’t say “Unprincipled men”, a vague phrase, it says “Anti-Nomians!” which is also a word in English and literally means “those who replace the Law”. “Beware of false prophets and men who replace the Law (with their traditions) coming into the Church in those days”.

Before you can replace something with a counterfeit, you have to “do away with” the original so nobody can compare them and spot a fake. Christ did not “do away” with the Law, He fulfilled it, which is the next part of this article.

VOCABULARY WORD 4
“TANAKOT/TALMUD”
In the time of Christ there were mainly two schools of Rabbi’s, the School of Shema, and the School of Hillel. These two schools would come to fistfights, literally, over the issue of HOW to keep the Law of G-d. This is because instead of following G-d’s instructions on how to live the Commands-as shown in the Prophets, they established their own traditions (Matthew 23). For example, G-d gave 7 very basic instructions about the Sabbath. One of them was to do no common labor. The Pharisees took that and made up 32 rules concerning the Sabbath, which they preached as being the very Commands of G-d! (Matthew 23). One school said that you couldn’t lift the weight of a dried fig on the Sabbath, another said that you could untie your horse to give it water but you couldn’t take it any more than a “Sabbath’s walk” to take it to water. The Orthodox Jews in Israel will throws rocks at cars if people drive on Sabbath, and some churches will come into your house to see if you have been watching t.v. on the Sabbath. They took G-d’s Command to keep the Sabbath, and 7 principles on how to do so, and from that made their own traditions which they preached to be the “Commands and G-d” but they are actually, as Paul said “The Commands of Men”. These teachings of the prominent Pharisees were called the “Tanakot/Oral Torah” or “Traditions of the Fathers”, but Paul called them “Jewish Myths”.
They were later written down and referred to as the “Talmud”.

VOCABULARY WORD 5.
RABBI/RABONI
Many people confuse the role of a Rabbi and a Priest. The priests were from Levi, and offered sacrifices and insured G-d was worshipped, they had a ceremonial purpose in the temple. A Rabbi’s job was to FULFILL the Torah. Fulfill means to “properly explain” how to keep a Command. The original Hebrew word was ONLY USED to mean ‘properly explaining how to keep the Torah”. Jesus was a Rabbi and in Matthew 5 He declares that He came to “Fulfill the Law”. He then starts doing just that, He explains what G-d meant when He said “Do not Murder”, “Do Not Commit Adultery”, and “Keep the Sabbath Holy”. This is the exact opposite of Abolishing the Torah, which means telling people the wrong way to keep it, as the Pharisees had done. EVERYONE agreed that G-d intended for people to keep the Torah, and that it is a Blessing. Otherwise the Pharisees would have not even questioned Jesus about being the Messiah, nor would John’s Disciples. If you said the Torah was done away with, then you would disqualify yourself from being The Messiah, the High Priest, The King of Israel, A Scribe, a Pharisee, any sort of Rabbi, and a JEW.

Jesus said “Call No MAN Rabbi” because He sent the Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit to reveal to people how to keep the Torah, the “Counselor” that reveals “all truth”. Truth being a synonym for Torah in the time of Jesus. G-d wants those who worship in ‘Spirit AND Truth” (Ruach and Torah) in Hebrew. So they wouldn’t rely on false prophets and teachers of Lawlessness, Popes, self-appointed pastors, apostles, and prophets, to instruct them. The Rabbis in the time of Jesus sometimes gained more authority in the eyes of the people than the Scriptures themselves, and the same is happening today. Put no man in the position of Rabbi, but put the teachings to the test using the Scriptures and the Spirit (Spirit and Truth) not some theologian with a piece of paper on his wall saying another man said he speaks for G-d.

VOCABULARY WORD 6.
“FULFILL”
Both schools however, agreed that the Torah was completely valid. They passionately believed this and were willing to die for it. They also met in Synagogues and accused each other of “Abolishing the Torah” all day, and the other side would respond “We,the House of Hillel, are FULFILLING the Torah, it is YOU House of Shema which are ABOLISHING THE TORAH” and they would scream at each other for hours, but that was okay on Sabbath in their tradition, just not leading a thirsty horse to a pool that was more than a “Sabbath’s walk away”.

FULFILL has a very specific Hebrew meaning, it means to PROPERLY EXPLAIN HOW TO KEEP THE COMMAND AND WHAT THE COMMAND MEANS IN ACCORDANCE WITH G-D’S ORIGINAL INTENT.

VOCABULARY WORD 7.
ABOLISH
Abolish has a very specific Hebrew meaning as well, it is a legal term, meaning to IM-PROPERLY EXLAIN HOW TO KEEP THE COMMAND AND WHAT THE COMMAND MEANS IN ACCORDANCE WITH G-D’s ORIGINAL INTENT.Jesus told the people to "repent", when speaking to a Hebrew/Aramaic speaking audience of His Disciples He would say the word "Teshuvah", or "repent" in Hebrew, which literally means "Return to the Torah".

Jesus was a Rabbi and when arguing with the Pharisees He said He came to “FULFILL” the Torah. A fitting job for the One who is the”Torah Made Flesh”, the “High Priest”, “KING OF THE UNIVERSE”, and ofcourse, a Rabbi. Oh, and HE WAS THERE WHEN IT WAS GIVEN TO MOSES. HE WAS THERE WHEN THE SABBATH WAS MADE IN GENESIS.

VOCABULARY WORD 8
BROMA
“Broma” (from Broma-it is, or “clean” in Greek)is a word referring to food which G-d said was meant for man to eat, other things people eat which G-d did not intend to eat are referred to as “Akathertos”-spelling?. In Mark 7 Jesus refers to “Broma”, saying Levitically clean food is clean to eat if you wash your hands and say the ceremonial prayer of the Pharisees beforehand or not. The Pharisees preached that if you didn’t say the “Barucha” before you eat, then no matter what you ate, it was just as unclean as a pig or a lobster or a rat. Paul later talks about the Gnostics forbidding people to eat “food G-D INTENDED to be eaten with Thanksgiving.” Not just anything they put in their mouth, Broma only. You can’t consecrate to G-d what G-d has already called an abomination (disgusting).
Which would explain Peter’s exclamation in his dream, decades later after the resurrection “surely NOT Lord, I have NEVER LET ANYTHING UNCLEAN TOUCH MY LIPS”. If Mark 7 made “all foods clean”, instead of just “Broma”, then Peter didn’t get the memo. Even then, he woke up wondering about his dream, and in Acts 11 we see that G-d showed Peter to “Call no MAN unclean that G-d has made clean” so the unclean animals represented Gentiles races the Pharisees taught were unclean.

The Essenic Gnostics (a Jewish Cult with Greek ideas) had forbidden marriage and also forbidden people from eating any meat or any good tasting food that G-d intended (in Leviticus) for people to enjoy, like honey. They also worshipped angels. Some Christians in ROME had quite eating meat altogether period because in the city all of the butchers were pagan Romans (Jews weren’t allowed in trade guilds very often, such as the Butchers guild). So if someone sacrificed a cow to baal/Mithras, they would give the meat to butcher who would give them some parts and sell the rest. If you accidentally bought some beef sacrificed to baal (eating meat sacrificed to baal is an abomination to G-d), then it was believed that you would keel over and die. Therefore Paul said to “eat with Thanksgiving whatever (Broma) is set before you without raising questions of conscience ( if someone points out that it was possibly sacrificed to an idol before the butcher got it) . Now if someone refused to eat it because of the possibility it was sacrificed to baal and they didn’t believe praying over it would keep G-d from striking them dead, then they were “weak in the faith” and shouldn’t be forced to eat it. This is why Christians started praying BEFORE THEY EAT, in Deuteronomy G-d actually Commands that we pray AFTER the meal.

VOCABULARY WORD 9
G-D FEARER
A “G-d Fearer/G-d Fearing” is a very specific Hebrew Term, much like “Fulfill” and “Abolish” that had a very specific and singular use in the First Century. Since over 1/5 of the world’s population kept the Torah, many of them non-Jews, a term was needed for Torah Observant Gentiles. The word “G-d Fearer”, mistranslated as “G-d Fearing” in the Book of Acts, refers to a Torah Observant Gentile. Rahab the Prostitute who married one of the spies and Ruth the Moabitess were both G-d Fearers and in the lineage of Christ. Cornelius the Centurion “A G-d Fearing Man” was a G-d Fearer. G-d Fearers didn’t eat pork or any unclean food. In Peter’s vision, you notice that in the end the Council of Jerusalem isn’t asking Peter what he had for dinner, they are wondering why he went into the home of Gentile! Since even G-d Fearing Gentiles were considered “Unclean” in the Talmud/teachings of the Pharisees (not G-d’s Law/Torah). Gentiles who believed in G-d believed in His promise to bless them for keeping the Sabbath (Isaiah 58) and all the other Commands (Deuteronomy 30). They also understood that the Israelites were commanded to have “ONE LAW for you and the foreigner among you”. In Romans 10 and 11, Paul rebuts the Pharisees by stating the Gentile G-d Fearers are “GRAFTED INTO ISRAEL” and therefore no longer “unclean”. Still, the Sadducees would have an uncircumcised Gentile killed for entering the Inner Court of the Temple AND the Jew that brought him in there. They tried to have Paul killed for bringing Timothy into the Inner Court, not knowing that Paul had Timothy Circumcised (and since Paul was Rabbi, he probably did it himself). Talk about male bonding!

VOCABULARY WORD 10
JUDAIZER
A Judaizer was a Jewish person who insisted that you must be circumcised in order to be saved. They based this not on the written Torah (first 5 Books of the Bible), but on the “Oral Torah” or “Talmud” which the Pharisees taught. They also believed that Gentiles must keep the Holy Days of Leviticus 23 (which G-d Commanded for all people) but also strictly Jewish Holidays, invented by man, such as Channukah, as well as wearing Kippah’s on their heads.

The Judaizers also believed that a man was not clean unless he was circumcised. If he was a G-d Fearer like Cornelius, that wasn’t good enough. They wanted adult males to not only keep the Torah and Holy Days ( as Paul instructed Gentiles), but in addition, to keep holidays the Jews made up on their own, and to keep other traditions like washing your hands with a certain prayer before you eat, and fasting on Tuesdays and Thursdays (a practice of the Pharisees). On top of this, they had to become a Jewish Proselyte. A Jewish Proselyte was a gentile who not only kept the Torah ( a G-d Fearer), but also followed the teachings of the Pharisees as if they were the Commands of G-d (Matthew 23), and got circumcised AS AN ADULT, in order to be saved. Paul speaks of them “bragging about your flesh” because it takes quite a salesmen to convince a grown man to be circumcised in the age before anesthesia. Once a Proselyte, the gentile was considered native born Jew and had full rights at the temple. If Timothy’s mother hadn’t been Jewish he would have been called a Proselyte, especially since Paul, his teacher, Rabbi Sha’ul, was the 2nd most famous Pharisee in Judaism and remained so until the day he died. Josephus, the Jewish History, was a Pharisee initiate but dropped out in his 2 year probationary period.


Source: Brian Newman, Facebook

Zeus - the Greek Jesus?

In the New Testament, or the "Greek Scriptures" as some call them, they refrained from pronouncing the name of the prophets of the Old Testament. In Luke 4:27 where the name "Eliseus" is used instead of Elisha. In the Greek, "Eliseus" means "God (Elohim) is Zeus."

KJV - 1611

Notice the "z" is there in the name but here in these modern English translations we see an "s" in the name. Translators let the "z" that clearly represent Zeus get past them back in 1611 but they rectified the "deceit" later. The same "s" that they put in Eliseus is the SAME "s" they put in JeSus replacing the "z" that is really Zeus. Zeus and salvation are synonymous to the ancient Greeks. The tie-in brothas and sistas, is that Elizeus to the Greeks mean "God/Elohim saves, because the "sha" in Elisha (the true Hebrew name of the prophet as opposed to Elizeus) means saves just as "shua" in Joshua or Yahshua means "saves." To the Greeks, salvation is of ZEUS. So the point is that Jesus is neither transliterated NOR translated from Yahshua, Yeshua, Yahoshua, or any Hebrew rendering/dialect of the name Yahshua because, Zeus saves no one!

Another interesting passage is

Hebrews 4:8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

In the liner notes of most bibles, and even in other versions, they tell you that the original name there was "Joshua" which is translated from "Yahshua." This is similar to the passage where "Easter" is substituted for "Passover."

Acts 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after EASTER to bring him forth to the people.

Easter, which is named after the Teutonic goddess of fertility "Eostre," is in no way translated from Passover. Yet another interesting passage is found in

Acts 7:45 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with JESUS into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

What does this verse mean?

Think about it.

Where you see "Jesus" in this passage, it was originally "Yahshua" because you can clearly see that Joshua the son of Nun, and the successor to Moshe (Moses) was who was being referred to here as the one that brought the tabernacle of witness into the possession of the "Gentiles." The Gentile/European scribes were so quick to substitute the name of Messiah, for their Hellenized version that they totally mistranslated this verse. The word "nations" should have also been placed in this passage instead of "Gentiles" because the land that they brought the tabernacle of witness into was of the Philistines, who were not Gentiles. The Gentiles are the sons of Japheth according to Genesis 10:5. The Philistines descended from Ham, and you can read more about that later in this book. Look in the liner notes in your Bible and you will see the corrections.

Before the 1600's, "Jesus" was pronounced closer to the way the LATIN-OS (LATINOS) pronounce it today (Hey-ZEUS). This also begs a question as to why/when they decided to change the long "u" sound as in truth, (Zeus), to the short "u" sound, as in lust, (Jesus). Does that sound like a coincidence or something that just happened?

Earlier, we saw the name "Elisha" translated to Eliseus. Now the "s" in the middle of this Greek translated word sounds exactly like the "s" in the middle of Jesus, which is a "Z" sound. Check the pronunciations in your reference books (je' zus). The "Z" was replaced with an "S". You don't think so? Then note

Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
The "Z" in Zion is clearly replaced with a "S".

Names should not be neither translated nor transliterated! When you transliterate a name from one language to another, then you're taking the letters/symbols of one language and replacing it with the letters/symbols of another language. In the second language, you end up having a word that has a very different meaning in that language. Names, especially Hebrew names have meaning. Here in America, news broadcasts always call foreign people by their original names in their own tongues. Sometimes names are contracted or shortened but it's shortened from it's own original tongue.

Psalm 68:4 Sing unto Elohim, sing praises to HIS NAME: (which name?) extol him that ride upon the heavens by his name YAH, and rejoice before him.

We see the name Yahweh (YHWH) shortened to Yah here in this passage. Even Yahshua is actually a shortened form of Yahoshua, Yahshua more than likely being the more popular rendering in the Hebrew/Aramaic time of Yahshua the Messiah. Some people argue over the fact that there are many different translations of the rendering of Yahshua. (Yahshua, Yeshua, Yahoshua) The Hebrew language is a language that has evolved according to time and region. Much of today's Hebrew has been handed down by oral tradition. Case-in-point, many of the Israelites in Yahshua's day spoke an Aramaic Hebrew, which was a bit different from the Hebrew that Moses spoke. English is also a language that evolved. Not only was a new letter added to the English language in the 16th century (J) but rarely in American cities where English is the primary language do you find someone that speaks "the King's English." Some people in England speak "the King's English" but even in England there are variant styles/dialects. Even in the original 1611 KJV, which included the Apocrypha, no letter "J" in Iesus, (Jesus), you find a harder-to-read version of the Bible for those of us not familiar with 17th century English as we saw in the earlier example. Now with these examples of an evolving language, not withstanding, let's take a look at the name Yahshua yet again. We read clearly how it was translated to Joshua in the English, but even in the Bible we can see variations of THAT name.

Numbers 13:16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called OSHEA the son of Nun YAHOSHUA.

When you look up the name Jesus in most reference books it states along with the pronunciation (je' zus), that the name is Greek for "savior". Hmmm.....Two questions. What's missing in this name? Whose salvation does the name allude to? Hmmmmm...... Another interesting point is that, as mentioned earlier, Jesus is a GREEK name, NOT English. How many people do you know that spoke only English for the first thirteen years of their life, are named Jesus? How many of that same classification of people that you know are named Joshua? Many are named Joshua because Joshua is a common English name. How many people, of the Latin persuasion, are named "Jesus" ...pronounced (Hey-Zeus)? Again, quite a few Latinos are named Jesus. All of these points are something to really consider.

When we praise Yahweh, Yah and Yahshua, we proclaim the name of the Elohim of Israel. Yah is found in many of the prophets and kings names like Isaiah, Zechariah, Jeremiah, and Elijah. Also, in the praise, Hallelujah. Now...if your English translated Bible is written entirely in English, then why in the Old Testament you see Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Zechariah, but in the New Testament, you have Jeremy, Esaias, and Zecharias? The Greeks clearly took the name of Yah out of these prophets' names. Another "coincidence?"

"God" is actually NOT a name but is a type of a being just like "man" or "angel." Somewhere along the line, the "Jewish" people thought it was superstitious to say the name of Elohim so they invented variations of the name. This is part of the reason why the El of Israel's name is not in most versions of the New Testament, which was primarily translated from the Greek. Today, you find the same group of people that addresses the Messiah as "Yeshua," also writes God as "G-d." As stated earlier, "God" is not a name, so if these people are prohibited from spelling "G-o-d," then you can understand why they don't say/print the true name of the Elohim of Israel. Yah/Yahweh would also not be spoken or written. The Greeks, in all actuality, COULD have preserved the original form of the names.

Let's take a closer look at the way the heathen changes names to reflect them. Yahweh blessed Joseph to be an interpreter of dreams. Having been taken captive in Egypt, Yah allows Joseph to interpret Pharaohs dream, and in turn, Pharaoh makes him a vice-ruler in Egypt. In this blessing, Pharaoh bestows on Joseph, the wise Israelite, a name of an Egyptian deity.

Genesis 41:41-43 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over All the land of Egypt.
And Pharaoh took off the ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
And Pharaoh called Joseph's name ZAPH'-NATH-PA-A-NE'-AH; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

This is the beginning of a vicious cycle of the heathens taking wise Israelites and replacing their names with names that reflect their heathen deities.

Daniel 1:6-7 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, are three Hebrews chosen to be raised up in the king's house. Hananiah means "Yah has shown favor." Mishael, or Michael, means "Who is like unto Elohim." Azariah means "Yah has helped." The Babylonians changed their names to reflect their deities.

Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; ("Bel's Prince") and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; ("Illuminated by the Sun") and to Mishael, of Meshach; ("Who is like Shach?") and to Azariah, of Abednego. (The Servant of Nego)

Daniel 4:8 But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, ACCORDING TO THE NAME OF MY GOD, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying, O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof.

Even the Hebrew names of Paul and Barnabas were not enough for the heathens who were compelled to call these two Hebrews by their deities.

Acts 14:11-15 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living Elohim, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

As was stated before, the Greeks COULD have wrote the Hebraic names in their translations. They didn't primarily, not because it was a matter of language, but a matter of worshipping their same deities while using the Hebrew scriptures. Hellenizing the truth! Also note that "Esther" is also a Babylonian goddess (Ishtar) that was given to the Hebrew maiden whose name was really Haddassah.

Esther 2:5-7 Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;
Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
And he brought up HADASSAH, that is, ESTHER, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.

How many witnesses do you need to understand that the Gentiles were NOT going to allow the Israelites to continue to bare the name, and give glory to YAH with their names, BUT give them names reflecting their deities?!

Not only was the name Yahshua reduced to the Greek deity Zeus by the name Jesus, but the translators also did not want people to know or use YHWH (Yahweh). Every where you read "LORD God" in the Bible, it was actually "YAHWEH Elohim" The "LORD God" is not a name. By putting the correct name in the scriptures, the scriptures come alive. Notice:

Exodus 20: 1-2, 7 And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Question! Who is "the" LORD thy God?" Who is "the" man upstairs? What is the NAME of "the" LORD thy God that we are commanded to not take his name, whatever name that is, in vain?

Exodus 20: 1-2, 7 And Elohim spake all these words, saying,
I am YAHWEH thy Elohim, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt not take the name of YAHWEH thy Elohim in vain; for YAHWEH will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Now tell me that you didn't glean a greater understanding of that passage using the Father's name instead of "the LORD God". Here's another one for you to peep.

Jeremiah 23:1-2, 27 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith YAHWEH.
Therefore thus saith YAHWEH Elohim of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith YAHWEH.
Which think to cause my people to FORGET MY NAME by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.

What was the name that the people of forgotten? YHWH (YAHWEH) is the name. Many Bibles, and other religious sources, reveal that "the LORD" that you see in Bibles were put in place of the tetragrammaton YHWH, which in ENGLISH is Yahweh, which was further mistransliterated as Jehovah. Also, many references show that "LORD" is actually translated from BA'AL. The Greeks and the Romans have historically, tried to erase all semblances of ethnic culture that was contrary to their own. The same reason the Sphinx's facial features were blown off is the same reasons why the names of most of the Hebrews that are mentioned in the New Testament were given European titles. Mary, Peter, John, and Paul . . . could you imagine a "pope" called Hezekiah? Have you ever heard of the Virgin Miriam? Yahweh asks

Jeremiah 2:11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

Think about that.

The unfortunate bottom line is... NO! The nations have NOT changed their "gods." The same Zeus (pale-faced, blue-eyed Jesus! Remember... "Raw and Uncut! {:o) that the pagans worshipped, the same Ba'al (LORD) that the Canaanites worshipped, along with the pagan rituals of sun worship, saviors birthday worship... Mithra, Zeus/Jesus, (Christmas) Fard Muhammad (Nation of Islam's Savior's Day), Fertility worship, Easter, Astarte, Ishtar (Easter eggs and bunny rabbits) ARE (WHE-E-E-WW!!!… …"deep breath"..) the same deities that these religious organizations have been deceived by Satan to practice in these last days, separating us from YAHWEH, the creator of heaven and earth.

If the name "Yahweh or Yahshua" offends you, I apologize for that. You are not the first, nor shall you be the last to be "offended by his namesake." This is a serious study that I wanted to share and quite frankly, if you can appreciate the truth that was presented thus far then, you will definitely appreciate what's coming next. In the meantime, I pray that Yah bless you with the desire to want the fruits of the Spirit so that you may see the Gospel of Yahshua. Peace StatCounter - Free Web Tracker and Counter

source: http://www.yahshuah.com/bkjy.html





Question: Where did the name Jesus come from?

The reason I write this article entitled "The Three Jesus" is to "Determine the historical Natures of these Men". There is now a universal recognition that the history and true identity of Jesus, or Yashu'a Bar Maryam along with the other two Jesus' that lived in his time namely Simon Bar-Jesus as found in Acts 13:6 and Jesus Justus as found in Colosssians 4:11 also know as Cleophas. There were 3 Jesuses in your Bible and the QURAN only deals with one.

Jesus had other names, Jesus was called Kurios (Mathew 1:20; Ephesians 4:5) which is equivalent to Adonai in Aramic (Hebrew) (Gensis 15:2). Adonai is the name of a sumerian God named Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14) who was also called Adonis, and translates as "Master or Lord," Rabb in Aramic (Hebrew).

In ashuric /syriac (Arabic) it is Rab (Koran 1:1) and Means "Sustainer". His Egyptian name was Hor, or Haru which means "High", or "Far Away". The Greeks later changed it to Horus, then it became Latinized as Horus. Jesus in Greek Iesous, was an attempted transliteration from the Ashuric/Syriac (Arabic) name Iysa into Greek.



The word Jesus is a combination of the name Jehovah and the Greek God Zeus. When the Greeks converted to Judaism, they distorted the language, and the title Yahweh or Yahuwa became Jehweh or Jehovah. You see the Aramic(Hebrew) language doesn't have the "Ja" sound (Psalm 68:4) as found in Psalms, it's really "Ya". Neither was there any "J" sound in the English language before 1565 A.D. It was the Greeks that combined these two Deities. Je- from Jehovah and - Sus from Zeus to give you Jesus. The name Zeus and Iesous, are linked by the same root.

According to Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, the greek "God" Dionysus is Etymologically Zeus or Simply Dionysus is Zeus, and if you look at the names Dionysus or Zeus and Jesus, the both end with the same suffix, Sus. The suffix Sus is from the French, Latin meaning "Swine, Hog, Sow". Dionysus, also called Bacchus is the God of wine ; Jesus' first so-called miracle was to change water into wine(John 4:46).

Jesus was also known as Bacchus. However, the final syllable of Dionysus or Zeus is identical to the ending of Jesus. This proves the reason for selecting the suffix -Sus, for the word Jesus was because of Dionysus or Zeus, who was known as the Greek savior when the bible was translated from Greek into English. Just take the "J"off the name Jesus it's Esus. Now look at the Koranic name for Jesus, Essa or Issa. It is the same.

The writer of the Koran just took the sound of the name and used it, getting it confused also with Easu found in Genesis 25:26 Jacob's brother. As you can see the origin of the name of Jesus has ancient ties of what might seem as a conspiracy and robbery of ancient GODS.

Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/361822/the_origin_of_the_name_jesus_.html?cat=9