What's In a Name?- the Story of Sarah-Grace

The Holy Spirit has often ministered to me in the way of the meanings of names. I grew up hating my own name at times (there were no barettes, pencils, or coffee mugs with the name 'Vesteen' on them). So when I became an adult and started walking with the Lord, I wanted to find out the meaning of my name. I had read in the Bible many places where the meaning of a name was very important and revealed part of the plan of God. In Hebrew, every name, even every letter has special significance and is vital to the unfolding of this cosmic drama we are living out.





I knew I was named after my 2 grandmothers. My first name came from my father's mother. Her name was Ruby Vesteen. My middle name came from my mother's mother. My father's mother passed away when my father was 17 years old, so I couldn't ask her what my name meant. (My mother got my name from her headstone- romantic, eh?) So with the help of my dad, we asked every living close relative of his mother if they knew where the name came from or what it meant. No one knew. My maiden name was Williams. And I knew it meant "defender" or "strength".





So I decided to go straight to the Lord and ask Him one day. It was when I was single and I remember I was sweeping my kitchen floor. I came to Him with an earnest heart. I asked Him to reveal the meaning of my name. I felt the Lord speak to my heart, in that wonderful still-small voice which those who belong to Him are familiar with. In response to my question, He said, "You are an investor of strength". In this moment, I had the understanding that I had been invested into (by His goodness) and that I in turn would invest what had been invested in me into others. I took it that I had my answer.





Two years later, I happened to be working for an industrial construction company as a receptionist and office assistant. Part of my job was to file away papers, including those involving taxes and investments. Then one day, I saw it there on the page: at the bottom of a form from one of the companies we invested in. It had a line above it for someone to sign. It said "vestee". I thought to myself, Add one letter, and you have my name. I ran to my controller (with whom I had a positive working relationship) and I urgently asked him to tell me what this word meant. He confirmed what the Lord had spoken to me years ago. I often wondered what I was doing at that job (I usually worked in special education), if it were not to merely find the answer, in the natural realm, to my question. A true confirmation.





Ask. And you shall receive.





When I was pregnant with our son, we found out he was a boy and my husband jokingly said we should name him Guido Sarducci. (a nod to all the SNL fans). But seriously, he suggested the name Benjamin, which in Hebrew means "son of my right hand". I liked it. I have a story in one of my first blogs about how I had forgiven a former student of mine who caused me physical injury, and how I had forgotten his name was Ben. So I was not offended by that name at all. (see post from, IDK, a long time ago). I had 2 alternates for a middle name and I emailed them to my husband at work, knowing which one he would choose. Our son's middle name is Aviel. In Hebrew it means "God is my father". I am glad for my son's name. I believe it has prophetic significance to his life. I believe God chooses names. And inspires parents toward their children's names. If they are open and listening. And sometimes even when they are not.






Another Baby??





As I have written in previous posts, my son had a very rough beginning in life. Bonding was inhibited in the beginning because he was in the hospital. This was further complicated because he had colic once we got him home. I don't care how much of a saint you are (and I love my son to pieces), it is very difficult to bond with and form warm attcahment to a baby who spends 25-50% of his time crying and screaming. It is very difficult. But I was determined. So I breastfed. For a long time. And I wore him in a sling as often as my back didn't give out. I was terribly sleep deprived and slightly traumatized for over a year and a half. My son did not sleep through the night until he was a little older than a year and a half. I sent away for a copy of "The Fussy Baby" and the author signed it! Without me ever writing him or telling our story. I was so encouraged.





I always had the feeling that I didn't want my son to be an only child. I wanted him to have a sibling. But I couldn't forsee going through the difficulties we had gone through so willingly so soon. I didn't neccessarily want another baby. Another child, maybe, and so I toyed with the idea of adoption. You see, I thought it was possible that all babies could have the same temperament combined with the rough start my son had (he was premie and this can be the case with subsequent pregnancies). What did I know? He was my first child. So this made us not be in a hurry to seriously discuss having another one.





It was in the fall of 2008 I started to feel these nudgings. Some of it was rationale. You know: your husband isn't getting any younger. What will a child in grade school's friends and teachers think of a dad who was already collecting social security? And more importantly, I want my husband to be around to see his children (all of them) grow up, have their bar mitzvahs, go to college, get married.....





With the same earnestness I asked the Lord the meaning of my name, I (secretly) approached Him with this same concern. I knew if it was the Lord's will for us to have another child, He would certainly provide for us and be there with us. I knew this by faith in His Word and knowing His character. So I prayed one night. I asked Him, despite what I or man thought, what His will for us was. Did He have another child for us? THAT NIGHT, I went to sleep and I had a dream. I saw my son. Running around the coffee table, playing. Then I saw her. The back of her head....the most goldeness curls I have ever seen. Brassy, almost. Goldilocks! She was sitting next to me and I knew she was mine.





I woke up and thanked the Lord for His answer and asked Him to move upon the heart of my husband, who had no idea I was praying about more children.





In October, I watched, along with the rest of America, the campaign speeches of the presidential candidates. It was during Sarah Palin's speech, when the camera panned to a member of the audience holding a sign with her name, that the Lord spoke to me. He told me I would have a daughter and her name is Sarah. I dismissed the voice. I thought it may have been my own wishful thinking or maybe just a fleshly thought. Besides, although I agree with much of her foundational beliefs and platform, I wasn't particularly a fan of Sarah Palin. I was just tuning in to watch her speech since the media was making such a stink about her. I didn't know much about her. And so I shelved it. I mean, I don't have anything personal against the name Sarah. In fact, I have had friends with that name. I know of Sarah in the Bible. I knew in Hebrew the word means "princess". But I wasn't particularly fond of that name for my child if I should have one. And besides, I wasn't even pregnant yet. I hadn't even talked to Danny about it!!


Once I had received answer to my prayer, I prayed about timing. One evening, I heard His voice again. "It is time".


It is TIME?!- I thought. Uh, ok. Then something funny happened. Without going into too much detail so as to be crude or inapropriate, I will just say 3 days after He spoke that, the birth control method we had been using suddenly became ineffective and obsolete.


One night, on the way home from a rare date at the movies, my husband and I had the serious discussion of more children. We had just seen the movie "Defiance" about the 2 Jewish brothers who saved a campful of survivors during WWII and lived in the forest. At the end of the true story, there was a blurb about how both brothers lived, moved to the USA, and started a trucking company. Because of them, 5,000 lives were saved (the survivors plus their descendants). This was very moving and I saw it as a wonderful transition to talk about our legacy. My husband agreed. And so it was officially decided. We would begin trying immediately.


Once we found out I was pregnant (it took about 2 months. Getting rid of synthetic hormones was a factor), I began praying about a name. Since this child was ordained to be here by the Lord, I wanted the name He had chosen for the child. Again, a person's name is key to their destiny here on earth. That is how much God loves each and every one of us.


I had forgotten (or had chosen to forget) the Lord speaking to me about the name Sarah. I began looking at baby names sites and books and the meanings of names I liked. I had one in mind. And for a middle name, I couldn't get the name Grace out of my mind.



The Lord was not in agreement with my choice (of first name. My husband wasn't crazy about it either). And the Lord gave me a gentle, yet firm reminder one night in a dream. It was a time when the subject was not on my mind. I had a dream that I had made a phone call. To get through, it required me to use a password. I had forgotten my password, and so a recording asked me one of those safety-net questions. It asked me what I was to name my child when it was born (how a machine knew this over the phone is beyond me, but it was a dream after all). And then, without the slightest hesitation, as if someone else were speaking through me, I blurted out, "Sarah". End of dream. But I woke up very shaken up with the fear of Almighty God. He meant business about this and I had better listen. After all, if the Creator of the universe, who knows us each so intimately that every one of our hairs on our heads is counted (Matthew 10:30; Luke 12:7) says a person's name is such and such...who am I to argue with Him?


I like the way the scriptures talk about this intimate knowledge God has of us:




Psalm 139: 13-16

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, {And} skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained {for me,} When as yet there was not one of them.

So I meditated on the name Sarah. And Grace. I told my husband about what I had felt the Lord saying to me. He liked the name (a good sign!) and he said let's keep praying and talking about it.

It was about during this time that a friend of mine sent me a link to a Hebrew names website and I saw the name Sarah written in Hebrew. Next to it, it said "princess". But then it offered another meaning for the name. It said "(female) minister". I liked that. Female minister of grace. God's grace, which is unmerited favor. Undeserved. But given freely. Would my daughter be a minister of His grace? I really liked that.

Meanwhile, friends and family were excited to hear our good news. I battled slight morning sickness (nothing like with my first pregnancy where I was nauseous all day and all night the entire pregnancy). And I remained fairly active and busy, especially during the second trimester, teaching a messianic dance worship group.

I also asked the Lord to confirm His choice for the name to me in the natural. He had done it with my own name after all.

Then, one day, after church service was over, I was manning the cd ministry table which my husband and I oversee. I was talking with a precious intercessor in our church and another friend. They asked me if I knew if the baby was going to be a girl or a boy. I told them that I knew from the Lord it was going to be a girl and what her name was. Then, the precious intercessor looked at me and said, "You know, that happened to a relative of mine. She prayed and the Lord told her the baby's name was Sarah Grace". Friend, I just about fainted on the floor!! It felt like lightening shot through my body! That was the exact name the Lord gave me and I had been praying about! Not just one of the names, not just Sarah, but both names. What are the odds? Leaving the parking lot that day, I told Danny what had happened and he was pretty blown away.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you", says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

As time went on and we kept saying the name, we would always say both names. Sarah-Grace. It occured to me one day, why not hyphenate the name? A friend of mine hyphenated her daughter's name and it is beautiful. And unique. So I asked my friend what she thought. (after asking my husband, of course, who liked it as well). She liked it. I considered it a mini-homage to her friendship and the fact that she is a blessing in our lives.

During the latter half of my pregnancy, the doctor kept sending me back to get sonograms because the placenta was low-lying and they were concerned about placenta previa. And wouldn't you know it, every time I went in there, to the same technician, he would try to also determine the sex of the baby and she would always be crossing her legs making it difficult to know for sure. So I really had to trust the Lord! I mean, what if I got into the hospital, gave birth, and it was a boy?! I had heard of people being surprised before! And after that wonderful pink baby shower my friends gave me! Oh my. I was really stepping out on this one.

Then, on December 24, 2009, at 10pm, my water broke as we were settling in for the night. We went to the hospital while my mom spent the night with my son who was already in bed. I told them I had a scheduled C-section on Dec 29th. They checked me and said I was going into surgery that night.

On December 24, 2009, at 3:26am, Sarah-Grace Blackman was born. A healthy 7 lbs 4.8 oz and 21 inches long. She is a blessing to our lives and a true minister of God's wonderful grace!

Shalom.

**

Love and Repentance in the Time of Swine Flu

The title of my post today is really tongue-in-cheek. Many have heard of the novel and subsequent movie entitled "Love in the Time of Cholera". Well, this is my take off on that title. I have not read the book I allude to...but it sounds to me like a cesspool of contradictions. Love. And pestilence. A blessing. (albeit a blessing by the world's standard to possibly include adultery, which is not a blessing at all). Set against the backdrop of catastrophe.

This is the theme of today's entry. We are living in unique times. The times we are entering (and to some degree have been IN), are unlike any the world has ever seen. Sure there have been times of sickness and pandemics. There have been famines, earthquakes, all of the symptoms of the last days enumerated by Yeshua in His end-times discourse. But for those chickens who have been sitting idly in the boiling pot, enjoying the nice sauna-like atmosphere...you are about to be in for a rude awakening. For these are not times of prosperity. They are not times of victory. Nor are they times of desired "change". Oh, they are times of change alright, but not change for the better. Sometimes God wanted His people to feel the brunt of His judgement- a truly sobering experience. To be on the receiving end of His chastisement. A holy rebuke from the Holy One of Israel. He wanted them to sit there in their consequence and think about their rebellious ways which had led Him to turn His face from them for awhile. It is a cosmically tragic event for the Lord of Glory to turn His face against a nation. Just look at Egypt. My friends, I am sad to say that this nation is about to receive the brunt of the Lord turning His face against us for really the first time in our nation's history. I am not an alarmist. I look at the scriptures. And I look at how the decisions we have made and are making which God promised would bring judgement. And I speak up. That is all.

For the purposes of today's post, I have specifically pointed out the recent pandemic in order to give the reader something to anchor to. Something you are familiar with.

We have seen the unleashing of what will evolve into a major pandemic of sickness this year with the Swine Flu (I was recently corrected at a family function by a relative who happens to be a nurse for a major local hospital...' H1N1' she said. Oops. I stand corrected before the establishment. Now, before you think I have just written her off as drinking the Kool-Aid, I do not believe she knowingly would condescend to me or subscribe to an indoctrination which refusing to do so would endanger her job). The ensuing vaccine farce has only made things more comical. VACCINE!!! GET YOUR VACCINE HERE!! (said like a beer peddler at a Yankees game). Uh, no thank you. Not after I have read the ingredients in said vaccines and have seen the FDA cow down to the WHO (World Health Organization) and pass the vaccine without any clinical trials on the demographics of people for which they desired to treat. Not after the widely available info I have come across regarding vaccines in general and especially not after seeing their ingredients list.

I put my faith in God and His Torah. Period. Not the medical establishment. Not Big Pharma. If my God says swine is unclean and Big Pharma says it helps inocculate me against disease.....I think I will side with the Almighty. If God says do not cause your son or daughter to pass through the fire (an ancient form of child sacrifice not unlike our abortions today), then I will not willingly inject myself nor my son or daughter with a shot which contains aborted fetal tissues.

WAKE UP CHRISTIAN!! Learn to think again for yourself. Jesus told us to be watchful. This does not mean looking for the next ear-tickling prophet to come to town for a worhsip and prophecy conference to give you a word so you can be slain in the Spirit. Read your Bible. God allowed it to be written in your language so you could do so. That very same Bible tells us that the lawless one who is coming will have power to "overcome the saints". Are you standing bravely for the Lord, for righteousness where you are right now? If the anti-messiah practices lawlessness (Hebrew-Torahlessness- without God's teaching), are you practicing Torah-fullness? Are you full of God's teaching? Mindful of His ways? Able to detect when leaders and the influences in our society are not mindful of His ways? King David was constantly meditating on the law of the Lord. And God said David was a man after His own heart.

I know this approach for some people is very direct and can seem a little tearse. But the time for niceties has long past. The time for dire warnings is upon us. After all, most American Christians think that we just started a New Year and "Boy brother....is God gonna do something awesome this year!" No, a new year is not upon us. God's calendar is set by His moedim (His Feasts Leviticus 23) and His signs in the heavens- the clock-setters according to His scripture. And the Almighty's calendar is the only one that matters. It is the timeclock He has always gone by and it is the one He will use to mark events to look for in the last days. The new year will begin at Passover according to the Biblical Hebrew calendar according to the aviv barley harvest in Israel. Now, attmittedly, I am no expert on this subject. I am learning much of it for the first time. But I WANT to learn it. I want to make the switch. I want to be on Yehovah's agenda. Not the world's. And I have already made leaps in the general direction of repentance. A change of mind and heart to what is true. To what is right. I pray I continue to repent in the face of opposition.

In the midst of all of this, I have just this last week given birth to my second child, a girl. (Thus the 'love' portion of my title). She is adorable. She overtook me with surprise at how much I love her. I bonded with my first child, my son, while he was in the womb. Which was good because he spent the first 2 weeks of his life, the most critical for bonding, in a hospital isolette. Isolette- even the word conotates lonliness. Now I am doing all my bonding with my baby girl while she is here, in the flesh. She is a bright spot in my life. A reminder that LIFE is the most precious thing in this world. And LOVE is the most appropriate response to that life.

Love. And repentance. In the time of Swine Flu.

Many would ask...well, if you have such a bleak view of the future, what would make you decide to have a child for goodness' sake?! Well, this same God, the One True God, whom I have been telling you His ways are different than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts....convinced me. You see, to Him, life is so precious and valuable, it is worth a little tribulation. It is worth going through trials and temptations. And persecution. It is worth having the fear of the unknown and bringing a new person with you along for the ride. It is worth creating another human being who has an eternal soul. And besides....God is the author of life. It is up to Him anyway.

We forget the majesty and awesomeness of the Creator in a culture steeped with blasphemy, idolatry, and the taking of innocent life for personal gain. We have kicked Him out of our schools, marketplaces, and churches.

I am mindful of His sovereignty now, during a time I had not forseen, even a little more than a year ago. You see, after my son, I was not particularly planning on having any more children. At least not for a long time. I'll go into all the factors of our decision in a later post. The point is, even despite the (very well-justified) reasons I had for not wanting to have another baby right now, The Creator thought having another child would be the most fitting thing to do. And I will spend the next several years, as many as God blesses me with, finding out why.

So...you can keep your Shacks and your vampires and your Avatars. And even your transcendetal prayer and Christian yoga. I am not interested in the many ways the devil tries to get us followers of the Messiah Yeshua of Nazareth back onto the wide path that leads to destruction. I am more interested in this season of my life with preparing myself to be faithful in the grave times ahead. Not to panic. And to be prepared...taking care of my family. Integrity is not something you wake up one morning and decide to have. It is a discipline you exercise day in and day out. It is a lifestyle you make one decision at a time in the present moment. To listen and obey. Or not to listen and not obey. I am working on flexing those muscles now so I can be spiritually buffed when the critical time comes and all of my creature comforts are taken away and even my freedom and human dignity are on the line.

Those who heed and do the same- we need to encourage eachother and prod one another on in this critical time. Find someone on the narrow path which leads to life (someone who has gone through the Narrow Gate which is Yeshua HaMaschiach) and bless and encourage their faith. There is no other period in time as exciting as the one we are living in. And you never know when you will be seeding for your own encouragement which will return unto you in a most critical point in your future. During this time of love, repentance, and swine flu.

Shalom. (Peace).

**

Awaiting the Blessed Arrival

We are scheduled to have our C-section on Tues. I sit here, uncomfortably swollen and fat, waiting for the birth of our baby. It's only 6 more days and with God's grace I think I can handle that.

A friend of mine laughed when I threw a Hanukkah party a few days ago. I was sore and tired, but it was worth it. My last hurrah with only 1 child. I cannot wait for my son to meet his new sibling. He walks around the house carrying a baby blanket with a "baby" in it and offers for me to hold it. Today, he was talking to the imaginary baby in the already-installed car seat. I'd say he's ready.

I will go into all the detail of our decision to have this baby in a later post. It is quite the interesting story no matter what your religious beliefs or worldview is!

Doc says heartbeat is good and my blood pressure is normal. I am already planning the stages I will go through to get off the 50 plus pounds I have gained with this pregnancy (I only gained 20 with my son). The doctor doesn't know, nor does he care that at the time of conception, I was in great shape, working out twice-three times a week, and taught a dance class until the middle of my second trimester.

Other than swollen ankles, hands, back and hip pain at night like you could never imagine (making it almost impossible to get out of bed for say, the many nighttime trips to the restroom), I am extremely blissful and anxious to hold the little one in my arms. A gift from God. So I try to focus on that. I keep telling myself, Don't be a weany...women have been doing this for centuries and the pioneer women had it the worst with all that was expected of them (hello...farming and washing clothes the snail way all day) and nery an indoor restroom for them to relieve themselves before the emergency floodgate opened! So there.

My husband is now off work, first for the holiday this week, then for paternity leave starting next week. We are hopeful he will get 1 week at the tail end to work from home to help with the transition.

Having my son 2 1/2 years ago was very difficult. He was premature, and we lived in a town away from family and not too many friends, and my husband had to go back to work shortly after. My son was VERY high needs and colicky. I was exhausted. I remember one day not having slept for 24 hours. I actually started to hallucinate. I consulted with a breastfeeding consultant or 2 (a life saver) and went to a semi-weekly new moms support group. Those foggy days of mommy amnesia seem so long ago. And yet, I know, to a certain extent, they are right around the corner.

Only this time, my husband will be home longer. Grandma lives closer, and I have wonderful friends I can call on if I need help, to like say, take a 45 minute nap.

And I am praying the temperament of this child will be milder than my son's. Not that I don't love my son to pieces, I am just glad that God gave me my son first. So I could focus on his needs and not have to divide my attention between 2 children, the youngest being the most needy, without a support system. I consider this His grace.

And I know His grace will be there for me with this child as well. He will not give us more than we can handle. We may not always have a choice in our circumstances, but we always have a choice in our outlook and our attitude. And those of us who believe and follow the Messiah Yeshua, we have the greatest gift of all.

We have His constant presence and abiding peace.

**

Some Thoughts on Hanukkah

An old college professor of mine used to make us take the first 10 minutes of class doing a freewriting exercise. We could not proofread or edit this entry into our notebooks. Whatever came to our minds, even if it didn't make much sense, we had to write it down. Looking back, I can see the value of this exercise and I think I will write today's entry in that style. So bear with me. 8 and a half months pregnant with serious mommy memory lapse and a freewriting exercise on my thoughts about Hanukkah. Whew! Such a desired attempt must be due to the wonderful afterglow of our Hanuukah party last night. Even so, its message urges me onward...

Hanukkah. Hanukkah. If I am not careful enough, I will get that 8 minute Adam Sandler song stuck in my head!

Hanukkah is special to me. It was one of the key holidays I started to celebrate in my paradigm shift from gentile Chirstianity to the Hebrew root of my faith (the other was Passover). Hanukkah has very special significance to me for another reason.

The Maccabees revolted against a tyrannical culture and religion which sought to impose persecution of the children of Israel because of their belief in the One True God. Through Antiochus IV Epiphanes, (evil Syrian ruler and the shady character in Israel's history who has foreshadowed the ultimate lawless one, the coming anti-messiah of the end times; see Daniel chapter 8), the spread of the Greek/Hellenistic culture and polytheistic religion was unstoppable. He went so far as to set up an altar to Zeus in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem (the place, where my good friend so succinctly put it, was where the very presence of God dwelt). This insult, to the Jewish people of the time, combined with the fact they were forbidden by God to bow down to any idol, was the last straw. Many of the people had succumbed to this directive, to bow down to Zeus in the temple of the Almighty. After all, the Hellenistic culture, complete with its language, arts, literature, and humanistic/philosophical ways of thinking had been introduced to the Israelites prior to this command. They were used to it. Assimilated. Like a chicken slowly boiling in water doesn't realize his demise.

Bow down.

Many did. But one family (led by their partiarch Mattathias) in particular, refused. Not only did they refuse, but legend has it that Mattathias followed the command of the Lord his God by striking dead the first Israelite to approach the altar of Zeus in order to bow, AS WELL AS THE PRESIDING HIGH PRIEST, the priesthood of which was already corrupted by the Syrian rulers.

Consequently, Mattathias' sons, who later came to be known as the Maccabees, retreated to the hills and returned a small army which defeated the much larger Syrian army. Thus, Israel as a nation and the people of God, was freed from her opressors. Freed, yet once again, as they had been from Pharaoh, to worship their God in the way He had prescribed. Thus the Temple was cleansed and restored. This was the miracle. This rededication of the temple is what the Jews (including Jesus as recorded in John 10:22-23) commemorated every year during the winter.

As my husband pointed out, the majority of Israelites had not repented. Mattathias and his sons did. A small remnant. They stood in the gap between obedience and lawlessness for the sake of their fellow man. True intercessors. And saved a nation. It all started by their refusal to break the Lord's command to not have any other idol in His presence. Who knows?- the nation of Israel was saved through them, paving the way for Messiah to come to Israel. Many other stories from scripture reflect the same theme. Idols were purged, high places destroyed, Israel blessed. Obedience.....blessing and affirmation. Promise fulfilled.

What of this concept today? When we Americans think of idols, we tend to think of small statues from faraway lands from long ago. We don't think these concepts apply to our way of life today. Here. Oh, there are some I know in the Body of Messiah who know the evil associated with idols coming from other religions and such. And many have even removed them from their lives once discerned in order to please God and to regain His favor.

However, what about the familial and cultural idols in our lives? There are many. And they are more vast than one would initially think. The idols I got rid of during my discovery of Hanukkah and the true meaning of Hanukkah were simple. I battled a food and sweet addiction. This is an ongoing struggle in my life, but I had made some headway. And I, like many other red blooded Americans, celebrated Christmas. Complete with all of the traditions which are steeped in pagan idolatry and have nothing to do with the Savior. This started to change when I started understanding, from a Hebrew perspective, how God feels about it. For more info, please see the previous post.

As I went through this salmon-swimming-upstream-transition in my life, I felt much lonliness and opposition, and even sometimes boredom. Sometimes critical looks and blank stares. I am grateful the Lord gave me a very good friend to go through this process of repentance with. And another friend, whom I consider one of my biggest cheerleaders and closest friend, like a sister, who supported my transformation, although she did not always agree or understand. He has since increased the good company I am in. I am blessed beyond words.

When I read (or sing) about the Maccabees each year during this season, I cannot help but identify with their single solitary audacity to do what they felt in their consciences was right, despite all of the opposition, criticism, and ousting they faced. Can you imagine the attitudes they would have encountered?- "Why are you rocking the boat? Don't we have good lives? Hasn't the economy been good since the Syrians took over? THINK OF YOUR FAMILY! YOU WILL BE ALIENATING THE ONES YOU LOVE!!" "YOU'RE CREATING DIVISION!" (And I am sure, even some misapplication of the 'Love your neighbor' command trying to out-trump the more significant command to "Love the Lord your God" replete with the how's- have no other gods before Him). And then there are what I imagine were the taunts to abandon their God; "What has HE done for us lately? He abandoned us when we needed Him the most". "Those religious zealots who still emphasize the Lord's cammandments have gotten ahold of you". "Those have been done away with. After all, so has the sacrifices in the Temple. Don't you see? Our God does not want us, man!" Or even those attitudes which were steeped in religious deception, such as, "It doesn't offend God nowadays because...(insert twisted religious or apostate reason.) Ouch.

Yet I have also been recipient of these kinds of attitudes. Both from family members as well as well-meaning brothers and sisters in the Body of Messiah. And still, I have this fire burning in the marrow of my bones that will not go away. It started out as indignation. But now it is pure holy fire. Holy jealousy for my God and His ways. Now I simply am uncapable of going back. Of putting on the blinders again. After all, even if we deny, as Peter denied Yeshua while in his weakest state, how can we no longer NOT know? If my Lord, who gave me His all, loves me unconditionally more than any other human being ever will or can, hates or loves a thing, will I not hate it or love it too? Or at least start to WANT to love it or hate it? May my resolve be strengthened rather than diminished with time and with onslaught of opposition.

This has been the case in my life with many things...not just Christmas or for that matter, not just lying or gossip or adultery. It has been repentance and deliverance. And repentance and deliverance. And yet more repentance and more deliverance. Of course victory follows deliverance. We love that part, right? Victory!! But we often want to skip the repentance part. And so we don't gain true lasting victory. Such is the flesh. It is at enmity with God. 24/7. It is the crux of the choice we have to make. It's what makes choosing so difficult. Our only hope is to get into agreement with God's Word (ALL OF IT. IT, LIKE HE, CHANGES NOT.) And that takes listening to the Spirit of God, which ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS says the same thing as His Torah, His teaching. I am glad that in such a struggle and the tossing of the waves, at least SOMETHING stays constant!

Those Macabees knew something about this. And I can't help but to think that even before they gained the victory over the Temple, that they had some victory (preceded by the necessary cleansing) of THEIR OWN TEMPLES. Through repentance. Through simply going back to God's commands. Through stubborn audacity and the refusal to bow down, first to public and popular opinion, and familial and neighborly opposition (today there would be an opinion poll on what the average citizen thinks of the progressive actions of the newly instituted Syrian Administration) as well as to the sword when it came down to making a final choice. They must have forseen the cost of taking the stand which they took. They had a choice.

In the movie The Family Man, ironically centered around the events of one type of "Christmas Miracle" not that much unlike It's A Wonderful Life, the character played by Tea Leoni tells her disgusted with-his-alternate-reality-life husband, Nicholas Cage, that she too, often wonders what life would have been like had she(or he) made different choices. But her tagline is this......"I choose US".

Even despite the "worse" part of "for better or for worse"...I choose US.

Can we be able to say that to our Redeemer and Savior who lives forever? After all, we are in a covenant relationship with Him, which is not unlike a marriage. Can we look to Him, who has sacrificed everything for our sakes, and say..."I choose US" ?? In everything? In every circumstance? After all, it is He that even gives us the ability to do so.

This Hanukkah, I pray that I have the fortitude and chutzpah, and especially His grace and enablement...like the Maccabees did, to say...

"I choose US".


**

BACK TO THE ROOT- BEWARE OF THE LEAVEN

Oftentimes in scripture, leaven is used symbolically to mean sin. We see this in the First Covenant, when God instituted the Feast of Unleavened Bread at the Passover. Additionally, Yeshua used leaven in many of His parables to symbolize sin.




Let us take a look at Matthew 16:6 in which Jesus says:




Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.



We know that the Pharisees and Sadducees of the day were largely influential in the way that people worshipped God. The issue Jesus often had with them is that they often held up their man-made traditions as equal to the Torah, equal to scripture when in fact, many times, their teachings contradicted scripture. This put God's people in a precarious position at best. The people suffered in their relationship with God because they were having the Torah interpreted for them in a way that was twisting what God had said and taking them away from His original intent and desire for them. By Jesus coming as "the Word made flesh" (John 1:14), a large part of his ministry was to correctly interpret the Torah (God's Word) and by exemplifying this by not only upholding the Torah, but also be being the living Torah, the narrow Gate, AND the Narrow Path, the Way for us all.





BEWARE THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES





Yeshua warned us to "beware the leaven of the pharisees". Many modern preachers teach that this means beware of the sin of religious pride. I would agree with this and I would also say that the warning goes much deeper than this. The Pharisees were responsible for taking people away from Torah under the pretense that they were bringing people into the ways of God. How did they do this? By holding their man-made traditions above scripture.





Jesus said in Mark 7:8, (NASB), "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men".




And the next verse, Mark 7:9 says, "You are experts at setting aside the commandments of God in order to keep your tradition.".




Notice that Jesus said COMMANDMENT of GOD. He upheld the commandments God gave also in Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." We have talked before that He upheld God's Torah, in the same way that a lawyer advocates for one in a court of law. He fulfilled in the way that means "to fill to the full". He did not say anything about doing what one thinks is right. He mentioned nothing about feelings. He was holding in the highest esteem, God's teaching, His Torah (torah in Hebrew means teaching).




In Mark chapter 7, Yeshua was addressing the accusation heralded by the pharisees against His disciples regarding one of the ceremonial traditions of handwashing before meals. He called this the "tradition of the elders". The pharisees were clinging to this tradition over observing with their hearts the things which God had commanded. The pharisees often clung to the traditions at the price of breaking God's commandments. They upheld finer points of the Torah and neglected the major things (such as love, justice, mercy), see also Matthew 23:23. Much of Jesus' ministry was to help prioritize God's Ways and to bring the people back to the correct interpretation of Torah.



In the previous verse in Mark, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:3 which says:




Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned {by rote,}"(NASB).








TRADITION LEARNED BY ROTE





Don't we do this today in the church? Many of our traditions consist of a way our spiritual forefathers did things and we follow suit without question. We do things by rote. We do not ask ourselves, "What does God think about this?" After all, wouldn't we want to please God with our lips as well as our actions, even if it meant letting go of some traditions that contradict what is revealed in His will? Pleasing God with our actions is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. God could care less if we give Him praise from our lips if our hearts are corrupted with the love of the things of this world and its ways. Indeed to "work out" our own salvation with fear and trembling must consist of unplugging from the world system, often referred to in the scriptures as Babylon. When we do this, it is pleasing to God. For James 1:27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of {our} God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, {and} to keep oneself unstained by the world." (NASB).




I started to think of the traditions in the church world today in terms of things we automatically assume Christians do. We should diligently search out these matters and hold them up to the true light: the whole counsel of the Word of God, of which the foundation is the Torah, God's teachings, His commadments.




I have already addressed in previous posts the problem with seeing legalism in every comment made about God's Commandments. I hope you will go back and read about it. Of course when I mention the commandments of God and His Torah, I am not pushing a legalistic observance of a set of rules by which we observe by rote (that would negate my point), but rather I am talking about the pure unadulterated Word of God which Jesus Himself came to rightly interpret, turning many back to God. Let us see the Torah through the lens of what it really is: what it was meant to be by the Giver. As I have said previously, The Lawgiver and His intent is good and holy and just, therefore the Law (Torah) He gave is good, and holy, and just. I am not talking about man's twisted perverted legalistic interpretation of it. It is precisely from this burdensome yoke I am trying to free those in the Body of Messiah!!








THOU SHALT NOT HAVE.....

Of course, we know the rest of this commandment to read, "any other gods before me. I am the Lord your God". Notice the beginning of this commandment is not a commandment for doing (or not doing) at all, but the basis of which is relationship. "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery". This is the whole basis for the commandments! Relationship with the Most High God. And this, the history of what God had done for the children of Israel, is the whole basis for this covenant He is entering into with them. Sound familiar? Jesus deserves for us to keep His Word, to keep His commandments, based upon #1: Who He is. and #2 What He has done for us. Interestingly enough, notice that the very resting place of God in the tabernacle and subsequently in the Temple in Jerusalem corresponds to the first and second commandment. Over the ark of the covenant, the place where God's glory dwelt in the tabernacle, stood the two cherubim. What was in the midst of them? An image? No. Nothing. God Himself dwelt there. He was their God. No one else was there. Therefore the Israelites were commanded to make "no graven image". They were to partake in the worship of no idols. He was to be their all in all.

If there was any sin which God gravely chastised the children of Israel for, it was for the sin of idolatry. After all, both captivities happened as God's response to this particular sin, even after He warned them. This tells me this is a grave offense to God indeed.

This very important commandment of God to worship no idols was given preeminance by God in the way He ordered the comandments. You would think that would be pretty important to Him, no? Then, my friend, please tell me why idolatry is taught and encouraged in most churches today?- along with other forms of lawlessness. Christians are expected to partake in man-made traditions and holidays which have nothing to do with God and in fact, could be argued that He is against, even disgusted with. More on this later. Right now I want to deal with two "sacred cows" in the church: Christmas and Easter. Namely, the first, Christmas, since the holiday shopping season is upon us and every commercial and radio station is beckoning us to join in the merriment. But what does our Lord think of it? His Word tells us exactly what He thinks of it, regardless of WHO you do it in the name of:

THE LEAVEN OF THE BABYLONIANS

In Genesis chapter 11, we see the men of the earth rebelling against the specific instructions God gave Adam and Eve to "fill the earth and subdue it". In chapter 11, they settled in the plain of Shinar. They said "Come let us build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth". Notice their intent was diametrically opposed to what God wanted. Therein was the seed of rebellion manifest corporately. We see the fruit of this seed today in every false relogious system and ungodly political system in the world. This tower they built became known as the Tower of Babel and the city became known as Babylon. Babylon became the prototype for the city of satan which was to be the counterfeit of the city of God, which is Jerusalem (and more specifically, the New Jerusalem).

It is here, in Babylon, that every conceivable evil was thought up and practiced. And it was here that God allowed the chastisement of his people, Israel, in the form of the Babylonian captivity. The Israelites engaged in idolatry which God expressly forbade, therefore, He allowed them to become captives in a land not their own, the land that was the capital of idolatry. The contrast, to the Israelite captives, must have been very stark indeed!

When Jesus came to Israel, it was after the Israelites retruned from their captivity in Babylon. Indeed, many of the teachings of His day came straight from Babylonian thinking (after all, one major part of the Talmud is called the Babylonian Talmud). Not only that, but the Israelites changed their calendar to reflect names of the Babylonian gods (i.e. the month of Tammuz). Therefore, I cannot help but to think that much of what Jesus was trying to flesh out in his teaching against the "leaven of the pharisees" was indeed, leaven that came straight out of Babylon. Tradition...in this case....idolatry....learned. By rote.


The Babylonians were known for their many gods they worshipped and for holding the "mysteries" of the universe. They prided themselves on knowledge of every kind, including astronomy, mathematics, and the Chaldean language. The Babylonian mystery religious system gave birth to many beliefs, myths, and false religious practices. The founder of the city, Nimrod,
and specifically his wife Semiramis, gave birth to one of the "mysteries" that is still practiced today, yes, in our Western culture. Allegedly, Semiramis wife of Nimrod, had a miraculous conception and the product of which was Tammuz. This was the counterfeit fulfillment fo the promise given to the seed of the woman, through whom the Messiah would come. According to the account, Tammuz was killed by a wild animal and was resurrected, again, a counterfeit to God's real Messiah. In a culture where stargazing was held in high esteem, this Tammuz became known as the sun god. The mystery perpetuated itself in later civilizations, as Babylon was taken over by several subsequent peoples. The seed of rebellion remained. Sun god worship was spread over the face of the earth, at the same time knowledge of the One True God of the children of Israel was also spread. The true seed and the counterfeit. The wheat and the tares. In Roman culture, they celebrated the feast of Saturnalias, on the same day as the winter solstice, ironically the very day of the birthday of the Babylonian sun god Tammuz...yep...December 25th. The names had been changed to protect the guilty.

Most Bible scholars agree that although we do not have the exact date of Jesus' birth, they do know when He was NOT born. He was not born on December 25th (which corresponds to the Hebrew month of Kislev). For one thing, the shepherds would not be out in the fields of Israel tending the sheep there in the middle of winter. Many think Jesus was actually born during the Feast fo Tabernacles. I could go into the vast array fo evidence for this, however, for brevity's sake, lets just say that in John chapter 1 verse 14 where is says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us" (clarification mine), would make a whole lot more sense during this feast of the Lord, rather than a pagan festival.

From history, we DO know that December 25th is the recognized birthday of the sun god.

Subsequent cultures have taken up the custom of celebrating the birthday of the sun god. Some of the customs to commemorate his birth are: cutting down a tree (an evergreen symbolizes the eternal nature of this sun god) and adorning it with silver and gold, feasting, drinking, and the giving of gifts. And a fertility custom known by description to us as kissing (a vestige of the orgy) under a leafy bough.

It is a well known custom of pagan idolaters to commemorate the day of the birth of their gods. We know that these gods are not gods at all, but demons, for the Bible says so. (Deuteronomy 32:17).

But what does God think of this revelry? Specifically, how does He treat the veneration of the sun god Tammuz in His Word? Ezekiel 8:14 tells us that there were women weeping for Tammuz in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The next verse shows what this "man of fire" thought of the practice. He used the word "disgusting". Let's look at verse 16b:

"...there, at the entrance to the temple of Adonai, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of Adonai and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east". (Stern's Complete Jewish Bible).

Again in verse 17, He calls such practices "disgusting" and says such practices fill the land with violence.

Moreover, the description of cutting down a tree and adorning it with silver and gold as an idolatrous practice is explicitly addressed in Jeremiah chapter 10. Let's take a glance at it.

"Don't learn the way of the Goyim, don't be frightened by astrological signs, even if the Goyim are afraid of them; for the customs of the peoples are nothing. They cut down a tree in the forest; a craftsman works it with his axe; they deck it with silver and gold. They fix it with hammer and nails, so that it won't move." (CJB). [Note: goyim means gentiles, the surrounding nations].

Sound familiar?

In Jeremiah 16:19, it says, "The nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, saying, 'Our ancestors inherited nothing but lies, futile idols, completely useless'". (CJB).

Well, you may say, that was the Old Testament and we serve a God of grace and mercy now. He doesn't mind if we celebrate Jesus' birthday on the same day as the pagans do their thing. After all, we are doing it in the Name of the Lord and for His glory (the take-over arguement).

Then I would say to you: please remember how the Israelites treated the worship of the golden calf after coming out of Egypt; after all, they declared a Feast unto the Lord while they worshipped the golden calf. God was not pleased. I believe He went lightly on them, considering they had just left the land where they learned idolatrous ways and were just getting re-aquainted with this Lord who delivered them. However, the longer they knew Him and saw of His great mercy and awesome power, the more they were held accountable. It is the same with us today. To whom much is given, much is required.

Also, God commanded the Israelites to destroy the high places of idolatry in the land of Israel...AND TO NOT WORSHIP HIM ON THOSE HIGH PLACES. (Lev. 26:30; Num 33:52; Deu. 12:2, Jer. 10).

Additionally, we have strong indication from the New Testament that Jesus Himself warns His followers to "come out of" Babylon in Revelation 18:4 which reads:

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her (Babylon), my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; (clarification mine). (CJB).

Notice that God will pronounce judgement on this world system called Babylon. Those that "partake of her sins" will undoubtedly be recipients of that judgement. It's a sowing and reaping effect. For the wages of sin is death. Sin brings its own reward.

Just what are the sins of Babylon? Revelation dscribes this world religious system as a woman of adultery, wherby the kings of the earth have committed fornication. Committed fornication against whom? Against God. We also have the rich description of Babylon in the Book of Daniel; their customs, mindsets, their practices. The seed of which was organized rebellion against God. King Belshazzar offered up the holy vessels from the Temple in Jerusalem to his gods during a drunken orgy. How did God respond? He took the kingdom from him that night and the king lost his life. The king had prostituted the things of the one true God to the gods of Babylon. Moreover, the description of Babylon the harlot in Revelation 17:5 says:

and on her forehead a name {was} written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (NASB)

Notice that what was written above her head was a mystery. Ironic, since the Babylonian mystery religions are always beckoning man to come and taste and see, to know some sort of secret, in effect, drawing them away from the Lord of Glory. Every lie and counterfeit comes out of Babylon where it became institutionalized. Every ungodly lie and ideology which the devil makes look good: paganism, humanism, every kind of ism. These ideologies, which, by the way, have made their inroads to every aspect of our society: politics, public school system, and pop culture. Remember that in the last days, men will call good evil and evil good. We live in a Babylonian system indeed!

BABY STEPS OUT OF BABYLON

It is here that I would like to share some of my own personal testimony and exhortations to the reader to begin to make his or her own way out of the customs, practices and thinking of Babylon. For that is what I consider the modern Christmas traditions which continue (officially) in the church today. I like how the Messianic movement treats it corporately. They say we do not tell families what and what not to practice in their own homes. However, as a community of believers, we do not corporately acknowledge the customs associated with the celebration of Christmas. I think the institutionalized church would do well to adopt this same principle.





And so from a personal standpoint, I also do not believe in going around pointing the finger at believers who celebrate Christmas calling them "idolaters". I don't think Yeshua would be caught doing that. However, that does not mean He would not be speaking out in general and encouraging His followers to repent from their own ways and turn to God regarding the matter. If my conclusions are correct, as a son of Israel and the Living Torah, the Living Word of God, Yeshua would recognize the practices modern Christians today celebrate under the guise of "Christmas" as pagan. Therefore, I won't be silently afraid to address the issue, either.





Since about 9 or 10 years ago, I have not celebrated Christmas. I have been invited to many a Christmas party and heard many church Christmas programs announced. However, I have to decline such offers because of the nature of the customs. I want to please my Lord and want to be found faithful to Him on the Day He comes for me. Regardless of what the surrounding culture, if that even has to include the surrounding church culture, does.




My journey has not always been so strident. I grew up loving Christmas as my favorite holiday, with the tree, the lights, the food, and oh, especially all the baking. Like you, probably, I was surrounded with music and family and warm family memories of traditions of opening gifts around the tree and leaving out cookies for "Santa". However, once I started walking with the Lord and seeking to make Him the Master of my life, I started having a slight and ever so faint uncomfortableness with the traditions of Christmas. I remember one year in particular being sour over a game my family played where you open a gift from a common pot of wrapped gifts and the person who opens one after you, if they are disatisfied with thier gift, can make you trade yours for theirs. I found the game so miserly and mean. It was in this sour state that I began to stew and take a really hard look at all the "fruit" of the Christmas season: the debt, the greed, the drunken revelry. I knew from the words of Jesus that if you have a rotten tree, you have rotten fruit. Such practices, as it says in Ezekiel 8, fill the land with violence and provoke (the Lord). I started to ask myself "Is this what I want to be a part of every year?" I found the prospect depressing.





Oh, I tried for awhile to "put Christ back in Christmas" after all, He was the "reason for the season"....right? But I soon found out the truth from scripture about how my wonderful Jesus felt about it. And I could no longer pretend and could no longer stomach the massive singing Christmas tree in our church's sanctuary every December.





It was around the same time that God started bringing me back to the Hebrew root of my faith. He started showing me the Holy Days He had ordained and what a blessing they were to observe. Even the man-made extra biblical feasts which fall under the "Jewish" heading, inasmuch as they did not contradict the Word of God, became a joy to celebrate. Hanukkah, or the Feast of Dedication, which Jesus Himself celebrated (John 10:22) became a welcome substitution; and more recently, a more authentic version of the celebration, involving a 7-branched menorah like the one in the Temple which was re-dedicated, rather than the Hannukah-Bush ridden western- Christmas-makeover version.





Do I still struggle with the pull of the marketplace around Dec 25th? You betcha. Do I still long to do those customs which I grew up with as a child sometimes, like bake cookies and want to hear Christmas music? Sure (I love the praise songs about Jesus, such as 'O Night Divine' at any time of the year. It is unfortunate that they are usually coiled up with songs about pagan fertility rites and sun god worship on the radio and tv). You see, the enemy of our souls is crafty and cunning. He makes these customs indelible in our minds as children so we form warm attachments to them and want to perpetuate them throughout our generations. He did the same thing to the children of Israel. The difference is now, I can recognize them and submit them to the Lord, taking every thought captive to the obedience of the Messiah.





Looking back, I think that God is pleased with my journey. It has taken years and baby steps to come out of Babylon. However, with each step, the Lord gives me from His Word and confirmation through the Holy Spirit that I am on the right track. First, the action changed, then my beliefs came more into sync with His Word and will for my life. I have been living TORAH!! How freeing! As I have been on this road of teshuvah (repentance), the fruit stemming from the intimacy with Him has increased ten fold in my life. And most importantly, I believe, like Ruth, who left her Moabite pagan religion for the people of Israel and their God, ('your people will be my people and your God will be my God'), I have an eternal blessing that will never and can never be taken away from me.





May the Lord Yeshua HaMaschiach bless your obedience and your journey into holiness and conformity to His image in a similarly abundant way!! Isn't He worth it?!





**

Back to the Root- Cleansing of Anti-semitism and Error

In this installment of the series "Back to the Root", I'd like to delve more into the consequences for the modern western church of being severed from the root of our faith, which is the root of Israel, the Word of God. Just seeing that the consequences are so far-reaching and so detrimental to the health of the Body can stir a hunger for righteousness. It is then that I would like to take a look at what being re-connected to that root might look like. This is inspiring for a number of reasons mainly of which is a purification process the Lord might choose to take us through.


REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY


As I have touched on in previous posts, one of the ways we can see how the church has been disconnected from her Hebrew roots is through an error in doctrine known as replacement theology. Replacement theology is built upon the notion that the church has replaced Israel as God's chosen people and therefore have superceded Israel in the promises God has made to His people including the promise of land. It can be as blatant as outright anti-semitism and persecution of the Jews, and can be as subtle as minimizing Israel's importance or significance in any number of ways.

During the reign of Constantine (306 A.D.), there was a growing segment of the population, the Christians, whom Constantine saw as a catalyst for solidifying his power and homogenizing the Empire. According to reports, Constantine had a "conversion" experience during which he saw an illumined vision of a cross. There is much dispute about whether or not Constantine became a convert to Christianity or not. The fact of the matter is that he said he did, although those who look with discernment at this experience may come to a different conclusion. (I happen to believe the latter). It worked to Constantine's favor politcally. Nonethless, he became very influential in church affairs and doctrine. Around that same time, the followers of the Messiah were increasingly gentile (non-Jewish) in their background. The number of Jews who followed The Way (of Yeshua, as it was called), was diminishing. Adding to that fact that Jews who were followers were also being burdened with a heavy tax and pressured to look more and more gentile in their identity and style of worhsip, and we can see how the Jewish influence in the Body at that time was in danger of becoming extinct. In effect, such Jewish traditions (which most were biblical traditions and in fact, mandates of the Word of God, such as the celebrations of the Feasts in Leviticus 23) were becoming less observed and instead, a slew of pagan celebrations were taking their place by the time the Roman Catholic church was well established.

Constantine, an obvious anti-semite, replaced the Sabbath of the seventh day (Saturday) with the day which was named for honoring the sun god, Sunday officially. He also replaced the Passover with his more preferrable "holy day" of Easter, named after his fertility goddess Ishtar, or Ashteroth. The name of this goddess has changed throughout the centuries and across cultures, but historians generally agree that it is one and the same goddess, the one, in fact, the Lord told the Israelites to demolish her strongholds in the Land of Israel and to destroy her poles (the Ashterah poles, of which we get our verions today of the striper pole, believe it or not). These are things, mind you, that Constantine had no authority from the Word of God to do.


Constantine's reasons for doing away with the Passover of our Lord in place of the fertility goddess' holiday, complete with the dipping of eggs in blood and conducting "sunrise services" is documented in the Nicean Council's report which is available on the internet. He did it to distance himself and his subjects from the practices of "those detestable Jews" (his words, not mine).

Other early church fathers followed suit in their prejudices against the Jews and they officialized them in the form of church doctrine. Among them were Justin Martyr, John Chrysostom, Turtullian, and Martin Luther. Most of these men preached of deicide (the killing of God) and charged the Jews with the murder of the Lord. They taught that the Jews should suffer, amongst other things, wandering the earth, for the crucifixion of Jesus. Martin Luther was the most explicit of them all, for when he tried to convert the Jews and was unsuccessful, he ordered that people "set Jewish synagogues on fire for the honor of God". It was indeed, Adolph Hiltler who got many of his ideas for persectuting Jews from the writings of Martin Luther.

As the church progressed into pagan and political oppression, these sentiments were perpetuated in the writings. We have to remember that only nobility and clergy were educated at the time and the masses were at the mercy of anit-semitic men who were bound and determined to rid the church of any Jewish influence. "Legalism" and Judaism became synonomous in the minds of the church fathers, and both were thrown out equally. Thus the gentile church suffered for not being instructed in the ways of God through the Old Testament which was the foundation for Judaism and in actuality, is the foundation for Christianity. Consequently, a pagan culture filled the void, including the worship of other gods, pagan church practices and the like. Oppression and deception ensued, followed by many superstitious beliefs. And little teaching came out of scripture to condemn these detestable practices. The church was then plunged into her darkest hour to date....that even secular historians agree on the term to describe it....The Dark Ages.

Since those days, the church has experienced a rebirth by way of the Reformation (including the 99 Theses Martin Luther pinned to the door of the Catholic Church stating that salvation is by grace through faith alone, not by works as was taught in his day). But little, until now, had been done to cleanse the root system of the church from the effects of Replacement theology. The church remained for centuries homogenized as gentile, with some pagan practices thrown in here and there, even though there has always been a small believing remnant of Jews down through the centuries.


BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MODERN MESSIANIC MOVEMENT



During the late 1800's and early 1900's, something began to change. Gentile Christians began feeling a deep sense of love and responsibility toward the Jews that coincided with Jewish persecution in Russia and Europe with the first and second World Wars. This led to missionary activity in the metropolitan areas where Jewish people settled. Little by little, more Jewish people were coming to believe that Jesus was indeed their Jewish Messiah, and although they were severely persecuted in their own families and communities and cut off, they persisted in their faith. Many of these Jews who were now followers of Yeshua, wanted to retain their Jewish identity while following the Messiah. This culminated in a mass Jewish revival in the 1960's and 70's which ran congruently with the sexual revolution, the hippies, and the Jesus Movement. Jews flocked to Bible studies on campuses at major universities such as UC Berkeley and Columbia University. Messianic synagogues began popping up all over America. These Jews knew they were Jewish and they wanted to stay that way. As Jew and gentile began worshipping together and following the leading of the Holy Spirit to restore some of their cultural moorings such as the Israeli Davidic dance and Torah services, a cross-pollination of sorts began. Gentiles ALSO began flocking to the Messianic Congregations to learn more about their Jewish Messiah. Another movement was in the works, one of restoration of the gentiles to the Hebrew roots of their faith. This stream of the movement can be called the Olive Branch, or Olive Tree Movement. Churches began organizing prayer groups to pray for Israel and allowing Messianic congregations to meet in their church buildings.

Although the movement started small and increased in size as it snowballed through the late decades of the 20th century, it is an ever- increasing vaiable part of the Body of Messiah today. Because of this movement, which was founded upon prayer and evangelism to the Jew, millions of Jewish people worldwide have come to faith in the Messiah and many gentiles in the Body are coming to an ever-increasing maturity as they re-discover the Word of God as seen through Hebrew lenses.

Much of this information is documented in a biographical book by Yohanna Chernoff entitled "Born a Jew, Die a Jew". It is about her late husband, Martin Chernoff, a pioneer in the messianic movement. It is a fascinating true adventure which at one time oh, about 9 years ago, transformed this blogger's life. I highly recommend it. It sits on my living room bookshelf next to my Bible and it does not get out of my sight for long.



RESTORING THE ROOT (REALLY)



As the messianic movement has done much to bring awareness to the Jewishness of the gospel and our Savior and to draw attention to the importance of the Old Testament as the foundation for our faith, much is still needed in the way of restoring the whole Body of Messiah to the whole Word of God. It is this writer's opinion that this is indeed part of the last day's plan to purify the church of pagan and wordly influences, and to bring restoration to the people of Israel. ("...for all Israel shall be saved..." Romans 11:26). When the church is restored to her root, the commonwealth of Israel, which comes from God and is good, then she can be reviatalized and rise to be the glorious Bride "without spot or wrinkle" (Ephesians 5:27).

This is imperative for the Bride to make herself ready for the Bridegroom's coming, who is Messiah, our Lord. It is also imperative in order to cleanse the church of deception in these last days and to protect her from the coming world system which is demonic in nature and whose leader, the anti-messiah, will persecute unrelentingly.

So it is of paramount importance that these errors in our theological belief systems (those such as replacement theology) be rooted out of our churches and Bible studies. I have listened to many great teachers in the Body of Messiah, many of whom I love and respect and could only aspire to their lives of godliness and dedication to our Lord, who, knowingly, or unknowingly, perpetuate streams of these kinds of errors in their teachings. They make statements such as "we are under grace, not under the Law". As I have explained in previous articles, this comes from a misunderstanding. The operative word LAW, in the Hebrew is torah, it means teaching. And so I would ask, "are you saying we are not under God's teaching?" Even though this misunderstanding exists, it is unfortunately being perpetuated. This is why we all in the Body of Messiah need one another. We individually and collectively have blind spots which only another person or segment in the Body can see and relieve us of. No one has the whole of truth. No one is perfected (yet) in grace. This is why we must not only humbly accept when another part of the Body restores us to the truth, but also be willing to look at those things in our blind spots, such as pride and idolatry, (more on that later) that have kept us out of the entirety of God's blessings and abundance.

Join me next time when we will delve even deeper into the very important subject of the Hebrew Root and specifically, purging out the influences which keep us from the full radiance that is Christ-likeness. It is a journey for me as well, one in which I would love if you take with me. The cost might be high, but the rewards are extraordinary!!

Shalom (peace)

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Back to the Root Part 3a

In this series I have been covering just a few topics of interest for those who are seeking the Hebrew root of their faith in Christ. The subject is so widespread and so deep that I am unable to cover everything.

One thing I would like to say is that I am not the authority on this issue. The scriptures are. I encourage the reader to show himself or herself approved and to search these out for him or herself, the same way that the Bereans searched the scriptures daily to see if those things which Paul the apostle taught them were true. I am learning in my journey that viewing history from a biblical worldview, rather than a secular one, is very helpful in seeing some of these issues come to light.

I have highlighted the importance of understanding that to know our Messiah, our Savior is a Hebrew from the tribe of Judah is of utmost importance to understanding the context of scripture. We know Him better when we truly understand who He is...how He thinks...what is important to Him. I cannot stress enough the fact that to understand Israel and God's plan through their Jewish Messiah is key to understanding what is expected of those of us who have been "grafted in" to the root of faith, that is, the root of Israel. (Romans 11).

In many ways, the modern American Christian church has been severed from the vine, or is in danger of being so. This comes, as we see in the text from a "boasting against the branches". (anti-semitism and the subsequent replacement theology which pervades the church today: the idea that God has transferred His plan, His promises to the gentile church and away from Israel is error.) While it is true that once we are born again we become part of that mystical reality of being the Body of Messiah and at the same time spiritual descendants of Abraham, we do not replace or become more important or significant than the physical seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. In fact, when we do boast against those branches, the natural olive branches put there by God, we endanger ourselves (both collectively and individually) of being cut off ourselves.

What is the evidence of this "being cut off"?

Well, for starters, it becomes evident that we no longer receive of the nourishing sap of the root. This is not just a "nice accessory" to our faith, a blessing if you have it, a loss if you do not. It is IMPERATIVE for us to have the nourishing sap that comes from the root of Israel, which is the Word of God. If we are cut off and do not have it, what are the indications?

Seen an unhealthy church lately? One where sin abounds (but grace does not much more abound), full of dead men practicing dead or legalistic religion? Seen many preachers fall into grave moral failure lately? I have. It happens very frequently. Seen churchgoers (or been one?) who walk out of the church injured, hurt, or deceived, or all of the above, because people (usually in church leadership) murder them with their words, causing them spiritual and emotional damage that can only take a miracle to heal? I sure have.

What are all of these symptoms of? They are symptoms of a powerless, anemic form of faith, a "form of godliness" which denies the power thereof. (2 Timothy 3:5). And it stems from replacing God's model with a pagan one.

Have you ever felt like the God of the Bible, even though you may know Him and trust Him as your Savior, seems to change personalities when you cross over from Malachai to Matthew? That He seems somehow disjointed or contradictory? The One who is full of grace and mercy is painted as a wrathful, vengeful God in the Old Testament? My friend, as with myself, if you have felt this way, you have succumbed to replacement theology and the entrapments of seeing God from a pagan, Hellenized viewpoint which is not in the least supported in scripture.

I want to let you in on a little secret from my personal testimony. (Even though some may criticize me and say I am a legalist and trying to put people 'back unde the Law'). I have never been more FREE in my entire life: free of of the bondage of condemnation, free from fear, free from the fear of criticism from man, free from the bondage of moral and emotional sin. (wrong thoughts about myself which plague the mind). And I can tell you all this happened once I started knowing God for who He really is and walking by faith in that knowledge. Once I started seeing Him as One God (not God of the Old Testament and God of the New, after all, that distinction was not put there by Christ, the separation of the nature and character of God and subsequently the separation of OT. and N.T. was put there by man's tradition, not by God), I was no longer confused. I was free from a religious spirit which plagues the Western gentile church to this day. My life became so much more meaningful and purposeful (and I have never taken a Rick Warren class). My life became more supernaturally evident; my witness became stronger. My life became more orderly. My actions and attitudes toward my family members and loved ones became more pure. My fruit became sweeter. And my intimacy with God became deeper.

So if you are hungering and thirsting for the Living Water that is Messiah, read on; but with a word of caution....some of the facts and viewpoints I share in this blog may come to a head-on collision with what you have been taught by man and the institutions of man. Are you willing to concede? Are you willing to lay down your beloved man-made notions and traditions which contradict the Word of God? These things are "high imaginations" which scripture says need to be cast down. I endeavor to do that daily. But it has come at a cost. Oh, it has cost me things which will not matter in light of eternity: things like money, status, prestige, the good opinion of man, the luxury of being understood and respected by my peers, lauded in the church world, invited to speak at or teach at conferences or classes (which was a small part of my past). But I have gained so much more and I know I would rather have that crown of righteousness waiting for me in Heaven than all that this Babylonian world system has to offer.






Becoming A Talmid, a Disciple

Jesus said, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). The word disciple in the Hebrew is talmid (talmidim is the plural form). The concept of talmid in the Hebrew mind is wrapped up in the relationship of a rabbi and his followers, those who follow the rabbi as a lifestyle. Talmidim seek to not only learn everything the rabbi knows about God and living life as a tzaddik, a righteous person, but they also seek to become what the rabbi is. It is more than being a student, which the Greek word from which we get the word disciple conjures. The idea is that the followers of the rabbi stick so close to their beloved teacher that even the dust from the rabbi's feet gets on them. This is a desired place to be learning, studying, following. The talmid learns as he does, as in fact his rabbi does, rather than merely learning by what the rabbi says.

The Modern American church, to a large extent, is built upon the Greek model of learning by hearing, rather than learning by doing. It is the model the universities are built upon. The teacher stands at the front of the class, emphasizing the space between themselves and the students as one of separation and therefore one of status. The students learn by listening and asking questions. This was not the way Jesus conducted ministry with His disciples. Jesus said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them." (Mark 10:42). He told His disciples not to conduct themselves this way. He taught His disciples to follow His example of seeing, perceiving, and doing. Jesus taught them that He does what He sees the Father doing. He taught them the way He Himself would have learned as a child growing up in the Israelite culture. What did Jesus see the Father doing? Doing His Word! Doing Torah. (teaching).

Becoming a talmid, a follower of Christ entails more than just listening to an occasional sermon. Think about it. If Yeshua required His talmidim to leave their ordinary lives and follow Him, which included turning from their own ways of doing things and instead turning back to Torah, wouldn't He require the same of us today? Indeed He does. For in this idea of "believing" in the Hebrew connotation of the word is the concept of doing, not merely mental or emotional ascent or a creed one ascribes to. In the Hebrew concept, emphasis is placed on deed. In the Greek, it is placed on creed. And creed is powerless if you don't have the actions to back it up.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you and your household, and you shall be saved" (Acts 16:31).

In the New Testament time period, to believe in Yeshua meant to first know Him for who He is. To recognize Him. Then it required a response. Such a response was given by Jesus' disciples. In fact, they followed Him so closely that they followed Him to his death. Most of the disciples died horribly torturous deaths in order to keep following their Messiah. Is any less expected of us today? Now, we may or may not be called upon to die in a like manner, however, I think the arguement can be made for the fact that to become a talmid, a disciple, is to give up your life and closely follow the Rabbi.




So what of the church system that our modern day Christianity is based upon? Many people are following a leader and many leaders are leading the sheep astray so that "both fall into a ditch" (of sin, lawlessness, which is Torahlessness). This system is not based upon the Hebrew model, but the Greek. Once the Greek, or gentile influence became more predominant after the first century, the moorings of Greek pilosophy infiltrated the church, even down to the separation of clergy and laity. This divide has been responsible for much of the complacency and apathy we witness in the church today. I know of many pastors who wish their congregants would be more active in ministry with them. My question, then, is how is the model upon which the church is built contributing to the perpetuation of this separation and lack of involvement? Aren't even our seminaries geared toward keeping people in the pews and the man of God behind the Bible doing the seeking? If so, if we perpetuate this model in the American Christian church, emphasizing its form and denying the power that could be tapped into, are we fulfilling the true potential of being Talmidim? I don't think so.




I am so glad our Rabbi, our Lord is not this way with us. No, He requires us to be His talmidim.
He wants us where He is: out with the poor and the broken, ministering to the lost and the sick. Doing Torah. (For an explanation of a non-legalized version of Torah, which Jesus advocated, see the previous parts of this series.).


It is true Jesus ministered in the Temple of His day. However, most of His effective work was done out in the villages, amongst the people, going house to house. In fact, He told His talmidim to go to the villages and stay with those who would take them in. That is where they were to do their work: getting to know the people, working alongside them for the Kingdom of God. Don't we see a semblance of this today? Whilst church houses are full of people not doing much or walking in much power, we see home groups and house fellowships where many are coming to know the Lord and maturing quickly because of a neighbor, friend or relative. Most documented miracles oversees happen in the house church movement. Many in the Western church are unaware that this is even going on. And what's more concenring is they don't even know what they are missing out on.




Am I saying scratch the whole institutionalized church? No. I am not saying that at all. I am not qualified to say that. I am not an apostle in the five-fold sense of the word. And if that were to happen, perhaps it would take a move of God. (Mind you, I am not saying it WON'T happen in the future). What I AM saying, is, let's return to that model outlined for us in the gospels-that model so well loved and so well tested by the Hebrews. First on a personal level and then see what happens. Let's become true talmidim and follow our Rabbi Yeshua and allow Him to lead and guide our lives and ministries. I think we will find a deeper maturity in the Body and perhaps become that Bride "without spot or wrinkle". Let us not give up meeting with one another in homes through cell groups, home-based Bible studies, and prayer groups. Let us not forsake the "assembling of ourselves together" in lieu of merely gathering in a building. Let us become a true community and family of faith, mingling our lives together, counting on one another and involving ourselves in eachother's celebrations of joy, eachother's hurts, fears, failures and triumphs, encouraging one another on toward love and good works. (Hebrews 10:24). Once we start doing so, the gospel will spread like wildfire, like the organic "weed" it was meant to be and then little will be able to stop it.








Join me next time as we discuss "Beware of the leaven of the pharisees and the leaven of the Babylonians". Is the church guilty of harboring leaven (sin) which comes from the pagan world? What are the roots of some of our most beloved traditions? The answer may surprise you.....

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