Month: April 2020

When one has questions or is looking to defend ones stance on a particular subject in the Bible where do most turn 9 times out 10? My guess would be Paul’s letters. They seem to be the “go to” for many of us today.

Generally speaking, Christians and churches today tend to revolve most of their belief system & theology around Paul’s letters. Sometimes even by-passing what Yeshua (Jesus) and God  said about the commands and the new covenant. Who is the ultimate authority? Putting all of your stock into Paul’s letters can be very detrimental if you don’t understand Paul correctly. Especially when it comes to God’s laws. Paul is definitely hard to understand sometimes, so much so, that even Peter said,

“…just as our beloved Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other Scriptures.” 2 Peter 3:15-16

As we’ve discussed in Part 1, Yeshua (Jesus) was our living example of how to keep and teach God’s laws. We also discussed that the commandments of God are the same commandments Yeshua spoke about. There’s nothing different.

So how DID the apostles live while Yeshua was here on Earth and after his ascension? After all, every believer is now under the new covenant. Does this mean the old testament laws and temple system were done away with?

Can Paul and the apostles add or contradict God’s commands? If one thinks the answer is yes, then logically speaking the apostles would fall into the category of false teachers & prophets.

Today we are going to focus on the most common misunderstandings of Paul’s letters:

1. God’s laws of the OT were nailed to the tree
2. There were no sacrifices needed anymore as Yeshua was the once for all sacrifice
3. The old covenant was made obsolete so that means the OT laws are also negated
4. There is no need for the OT laws since we now have Christ and are under the new covenant.

If we truly understand and research scripture, we will be able to ask and answer the following questions and clear up any misunderstandings:

• Did Yeshua or the Father say His laws were done away or negated because of Yeshua and the new covenant? NO.
• Did Yeshua or the Father say to stop offering sacrifices/offerings now that Yeshua is on scene? NO.
• Does Yeshua continue to encourage the sacrifice/offerings while on Earth? YES
• Did the apostles continue to keep God’s OT laws given to Moses and endorse others to do the same? YES
• Did the apostles keep the Biblical Feasts and Sabbath? YES
• Do we see the apostles still bringing sacrifices to the temple? YES

Here are a few scriptural examples which describe how they lived and what they taught:

Regarding Sabbath:
– Acts 13:14-15, 27, 42-44; 15:21; 16:13;18:4

Regarding the God’s Feasts:
– Acts 2:1; 8:21; 20:6, 16; 27:9
– 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8; 16:8

Regarding Sacrifices aka Offerings:
– Acts 21:23-24, 26 – Nazarite vow; 24:11-12, 17-18
– 1 Corinthians 9:13; 10:18

Regarding God’s Laws/Commandments:
– Acts 22:3; 24:14
– Romans 2:13; 3:31; 7:12, 22
– 1 Corinthians 7:19, 39; 9:9; 14:21
– Ephesians 6:2
– Titus 1:3
– 1 John 2:3-4, 7; 3:24; 4:21; 5:2-3
– 2 John 1:4-6
– Hebrews 10:28
– 2 Peter 2:21
– Revelation 12:17; 14:12

Again, I can’t stress enough that NO apostle or teacher has the authority to add, take away or contradict God’s instructions. God warns his people about this on many occasions:

“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it” Deuteronomy 12:32

“Do not add to His words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” Proverbs 30:6

“if any one adds to them, God will add to him plagues described in the book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city.” Revelation 22:18-19

I don’t know about you but I take these scriptures very seriously. This is why we are to know God’s Word (like the Bereans) and stay vigilant so we know how to discern.

Let scripture interpret scripture.

So hopefully with all of the scriptures provided, we now know Yeshua, the one true Messiah, and the apostles continued the story of our creator, keeping and teaching God’s laws. We also know they did not change or do away with the laws. So, one must conclude that Paul has been misunderstood by the body and their leaders. You can’t have it both ways.

It’s also important to remember that Paul was a Pharisee (aka a teacher of God’s laws). He grew up surrounded by Pharisees and studied under one of the most influential and respected teachers of his time. He was well equipped to understand that even through Messiah the laws were not done away. He knew the true Messiah had to abide by the ultimate authority, God. He knew the penalty of sin, the law about sin was death. This is what was nailed on the tree; the penalty, death, the old man, the carnal man, the one born of flesh.

We are slowly unpacking the truth with truth but there’s still a lot to resolve regarding the new covenant, the sacrifices/offerings and how the Gentiles fit in. I am sure there are still many questions running through your mind like what is the new covenant and how is it different from the old; Were the temple services made void after Yeshua (Jesus); Are the OT laws only for the Jews to keep? We will answer those questions in the next few blogs but I hope for now you are starting to connect the dots.

This series was inspired by the following scripture:
“ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” II Timothy 3:16
“But test everything; hold fast what is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21
“They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” Acts 17:11

Ask any Christian what their purpose in life is, and most if not all, would say I want to live my life like Yeshua (Jesus) did. After all he is the ultimate example of what it means to be set apart for God. But are we really living like he did?

After years of studying of God’s Word extensively, I’ve come to realize we are very far from living the way Yeshua and the apostles did. Unbeknownst to the majority, (for approximately 1,800 years) our faith has been disconnected at the seams. We’ve segregated God’s holy Word. Many scholars, teachers, leaders, etc, have added, replaced and changed so much of God’s Word that we don’t have the whole truth anymore, therefore we don’t live it they way we should. Ironically, Yeshua and the apostles warned about this.
“Take heed that no one deceives you.” Matt 24:4
“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit…according to human tradition.. Colos 2:8 & Eph 5:6….”Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge”, for by professing it some have swerved from the faith” 1 Tim 6:20

I hate to say it but much of our American-Protestant-Christian faith today is a by-product of empty deceit, false knowledge and human tradition. It’ a recipe of truth mixed with a lot of error. We no longer cling to sound doctrine, the doctrine of God’s Word alone. As sheep, we’ve lost our critical thinking and it’s time to take it back! We’ve trusted in the things famous speakers, authors and pastors say. We’ve taken everything they’ve said as complete and accurate truth. Am I right? I know I did, my parents did, and so on and so forth.

“It is and isn’t their fault”

It’s not their fault because the system is broken. I would dare to say most pastors, leaders, authors in the church today have no biblical training and for those that do we have to wonder what’s being taught in the seminaries? Many of the programs focus mostly on how to be a pastor, how to preach, how to run a church. Theology seems to be heavily weighted towards man’s commentaries – scholars, philosopher and theologians of today and the past. These two sections alone make up over 60% of the required hours. Only 20% of the required hours are spent studying the Word and probably not much of it. Even less is required for the Hebrew/Greek languages.

It is their fault because we are called to study the Word, ALL of it. Not just sections. Scripture should be interpreted by Scripture. We can’t just blame the shepherds either; both the sheep and the shepherds need to be disciples aka, students of God’s Word. How can we know how to live our lives for God if we don’t read the instruction manual or we only read parts of it?

Where we are at today reminds me of the game we use to play as kids in which players form a line, and the first player comes up with a message and whispers it in the ear of the second person in the line. The second player repeats the message to the third player, and so on. The last person standing in line attempts to guess what the original message was. It was pretty fun to see how the original message changed drastically and we wondered where it started falling off the tracks. Majority of the time the original message was unrecognizable.

The Good News

The good news is each and everyone of us can understand the original message and its meaning. It’s not too far from us. If you truly seek, you will truly find. This is why it’s so important as believers to check everything you read or listen to against one thing, the Word of God. This definitely takes time as many of us haven’t really studied the word like we should have or we’ve never been taught how all the pieces fit together. It is been siloed and made to be two different puzzles or stories when it’s really only one.

After studying the Word inside and out, trying to find all of the themes that fit together, I’ve come to realize God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. His love, mercy, grace, spirit and commands were there in the beginning. They were there in the time of Yeshua (Jesus) and the apostles, they are here today and they will be there tomorrow.

This series is dedicated to helping you start your journey into connecting the broken pieces. To realize we’ve been deceived unknowingly for many generations about our Messiah, the apostles and more.

The Truth About Messiah

It’s time to strip away everything you’ve been taught and put on your thinking hats.

Many believers today have been taught falsely about Yeshua the Messiah. Here are the most common errors that we will discuss in this series:

• Yeshua (Jesus) took away the law, and/or
• Yeshua established his own laws different than the commands God gave to Moses at Sinai,
• As believers under the new covenant, we are no longer under the law
• The new covenant did away with God’s laws and is completely different that than the first covenant
• Gentiles don’t need to keep the laws, they were only meant for Israel
• The Holy spirit is different in the New Testament compared to the Old Testament
• The God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament

In this blog we will cover the first two bullet points. Can these mindsets or beliefs logically work with the requirements given to us in scripture about the one true Messiah? Can Yeshua be the true Messiah and forsake or change the Father’s commands? Who has the ultimate authority?

Pretend you had a Delorean, (without the 80’s gear) and you went back in time to Jerusalem, before Yeshua (Jesus) arrived on scene. What were you being taught in church every Sabbath? You were being taught about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) from the Torah, Prophets and Psalms. You learned how to love God and how to love others. You did your best to live it out. You read about the things to come, the prophecy of the end of days and that a Messiah was coming, one who would someday become King. Everyone longed for this Messiah to come and make all things right as times were tough. The oppression seems to be never ending.

(The term for Messiah in Hebrew is “Mashiach” which literally means “the anointed one,” and refers to the ancient practice of anointing kings with oil when they took the throne. The Mashiach is the one who will be anointed as king in the End of Days.)

You keep your eyes peeled for this Mashiach to arrive but wonder how you will know or discern who it will be? I am sure there were a lot of fakes out there. Where does your confidence come from? It comes by way of studying the Word of God inside and out, night and day. This allows you to be vigilant, to stay awake so no one deceives you.

So what were the biblical requirements or checklist of how to discern the true Messiah:

1. He will descend from King David and be king (Jeremiah 23:5; Zech 14:9)
2. He will be well-versed in the laws of God, and observant of the commandments (Isaiah 11:2-5, Micah 4:2)
3. He will be a charismatic leader, inspiring others to follow his example (Isaiah 42)
4. He will come lowly on a donkey. (Zech 9:9)
5. He will suffer for us. (Isaiah 53)
6. He will be a great military leader, who will win battles for Israel. (Isaiah, Ezekiel 38, 39; Zech 14)
7. He will be a great judge, who makes righteous decisions (Jeremiah 33:15)
8. He will bring about the spiritual redemption of His people by bringing us all back to Israel and restoring Jerusalem (Isaiah 11:11-12, 59:16-20; Jeremiah 23:3, 8; 30:3; 33:7-8; Hosea 3:4-5, Ezekiel 37:12, 39:25-28; Zeph 3:9).
9. He will establish a government in Israel that will be the center of all world government, both for Israel and the nations (Isaiah 2:2-4; 9:6-7,11:10; 42:1).
10. He will rebuild the Temple and re-establish its worship (Jeremiah 33:18; Zech 6:12-13; Ezekiel 40-48).
11. He will restore justice and establish His law as the law of the land (Isaiah 2:3)

This is a long list of identifiers. Someone has some big shoes to fill. Now Yeshua (Jesus) who claims to be the one true Messiah, enters the scene and how does he compare to this list?

1. He is from the line of David and will be king. (Luke 1:27,32-33; 3:23-37) √
2. He came lowly on a donkey (Matt 21:1-5) √
3. He was well versed in God’s laws and taught so: Murder, Adultery, Marriage, Divorce, Oaths, Justice, Fasting, Stealing, False Witness, Honor Father & Mother (Matt 5-7, 19:18, Mark 10:19; ) √
4. He kept the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28; 3; 6; Luke 6:6; 13:10; John 9:14) √
5. He kept the Feasts – Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Tabernacles, Chanukah. (John 4:45; 5:1; 6:4; 7: 2-14, 37; 10:22;) √
6. He taught these commands given by God are not abolished but that he is the living example of how these commands should be lived out. (Matt 5:17) √
7. He affirmed that we should keep them and teach others to do so. (Matt 5:19; 23:2-3)√
8. He affirmed the two sections of the 10 commandments – Loving God (1st 4 of 10) and Loving Others (last 5 of 10). (Matt 22:37-40; Mark 12:29-34; Luke 10:26-27) √
9. He affirmed his words were not his own, that everything he said was from God, the Father and is consistent with what was spoken of beforehand. (John 14:10, 24) √
10. He encouraged the keeping of the offerings in God’s holy temple. (Matt 5:23-24, 8:4; Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14) √

Now there are still some requirements (6-11) that haven’t been fulfilled yet but we know it’s a two-part mission and the rest will be fulfilled as mentioned in the Gospels.

The suffering servant will return in his glory as the warrior king to fulfill the rest. Hopefully some day soon in our lifetime!

There arise some major problems if one believes the mindset that Yeshua (Jesus) “took away the law” or “established His own law different than God’s”. Or, if one believes that we are under the new covenant, and are no longer subject to God’s law. If one believes this then that would make Yeshua (Jesus) a liar and a false Messiah. He would be in direct conflict and contradiction with the ultimate authority, God the Father.

As you can see from the scriptures mentioned above:

• He never took away the laws, he lived and taught them to anyone who would listen. He even amplified some of them. (challenging one to go from milk to meat).
• He never said to keep different commandments than what the Father had already given at Mt. Sinai.
• He never said now that your under the new covenant you don’t need to keep God’s commands.
• He encouraged many to keep the sacrifices/offerings.

I honestly believe most of these errors in belief stem from the the misunderstanding of Paul & his letters as well as from the original Roman Catholic Church (the official Christian church/Constantine & Council of Nicea). We will discuss these misunderstandings of Paul in Part 2.

To ensure our understanding is correct it’s important that we refer back to our perfect example Yeshua (Jesus) and the Old Testament where the rock foundation was laid. They are continuous in nature.

For more on this subject please read my blog entitled “What Does It Mean to Be More Like Him?” https://liftingtheveil942782802.wordpress.com/2021/02/24/what-does-it-mean-to-be-more-like-him/?preview=true

God has been sending signs over the years, have you missed them?

As most of the world acknowledges this week as a holy week many don’t realize the significance or the history of what or why they celebrate the things they do.

I want to talk about the significance and history of these traditions/holidays as I believe it’s important for ALL believers in the Messiah to understand why they do what they do. We are called to be vigilant and to stay awake so we are not deceived.

As many prepare for “Good Friday” I prepare my house for Passover tonight. The meal is celebrated in the evening and the day is spent preparing for the meal. Scripture refers to it as the preparation day. After the lambs were slain in the late afternoon, they would be roasted for the Passover meal. This holy day also intertwines with the First Day of Unleavened Bread which is a high Sabbath and starts the same evening.

What is Good Friday and where did it come from? Why is it always on a Friday?

1. It’s important to remember we are on a Roman based calendar (was Julian, now Gregorian) and we use the Roman clock vs the Biblical calendar and clock. Most of the holidays celebrated by mainstream Christianity also stem from the Roman Catholic Church. While I won’t get into a lot of the details here, there are few points you should consider and look into.
   1. Jan-Dec are all Roman based and many times tied to a god. Biblical calendar starts with Nissan – 1st month which is around April every year.
   2. Clock – 12am starts a new day which is also Roman. Biblical time is evening to evening. Once it gets dark a new day starts.
2. The earliest known use of “guode friday” is found in The South English Legendary, a text from around 1290, according to the dictionary. According to the Baltimore Catechism – the standard US Catholic school text from 1885 to the 1960s, Good Friday is good because Christ “showed His great love for man, and purchased for him every blessing”. The Catholic Encyclopedia, first published in 1907, states that the term’s origins are not clear. It says some sources see its origins in the term “God’s Friday” or Gottes Freitag, while others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag. It notes that the day was called Long Friday by the Anglo-Saxons and is referred to as such in modern Danish.
3. It’s always on Friday because it’s tied to Easter and Easter is always on a Sunday.
4. It’s not because Yeshua (Jesus) died on a Friday. Doesn’t work out.

Most people use Good Friday to remember what Yeshua (Jesus) did on the cross, that he was the sacrificial lamb…..the Passover lamb as described by Paul.

We should be celebrating Passover instead of Good Friday. After all, it was set in stone by God. It sounds like Good Friday was made by man.

Two days after Good Friday, you have Easter morning. Meanwhile, we celebrate the Biblical holidays of First Fruits and Unleavened Bread. In scripture it is also known as Passover week.

Why Easter instead of First Fruits?

Easter Sunday is where most celebrate Yeshua’s resurrection but should it really be called Easter Sunday? Before we get to Easter and the origins let’s touch on what many call “Resurrection Sunday”. Now if you look at scripture Yeshua (Jesus) rose on the first day of the week sometime before dawn. The first day of the week is Sunday. Resurrection Sunday. Many don’t realize this same Sunday is the appointed time of First Fruits mentioned in the Torah (the first 5 books of OT). Check out Leviticus 23 and Numbers for reference.

How does First Fruits haven anything to do with Yeshua or his resurrection? In one word, EVERYTHING. First fruits is to be celebrated after Passover, after the weekly Sabbath (7th day) which would make it the 1st day of the week, Sunday. I won’t get into the parallels of this holiday in this post, but it goes so much deeper. So what is Yeshua the First Fruit of? Resurrection. This is mentioned several times in the NT: 1 Corinthians 15:20, Revelation 14:4. First fruits is also about a new creation – Romans 11:16, James 1:18, Romans 8:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:13.

So from a biblical perspective Resurrection Sunday is really First Fruits. As you can see from scripture, this is what the apostles celebrated and taught others.

What happened to the Feast of Unleavened Bread? It doesn’t seem to be celebrated by mainstream Christianity.

Another Biblical Feast tied to Passover every year is the Feast of Unleavened Bread (ULB) which lasts for 7 days. Many believers are not aware of this feast and its significance to Yeshua and to us as believers. Feast of Unleavened Bread is also explained in Leviticus 23. As you will see in the Torah, ULB ALWAYS falls after the Passover meal. It is important to understand the timing since our bibles haven’t been interpreted correctly.

What does leaven represent anyway? Leaven is what causes dough to rise and puff up. If you’ve never made bread, try it! You will see after some time, the dough expands. If left unchecked it gets out of control! In many scriptures we see people, kings, etc. who exalted themselves over God. They became puffed up and arrogant. Out of control. Yeshua and the prophets talk about what happened and what will happen to those who exalt themselves over God.

Paul explains it the best when he says “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven, leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore, celebrate the feast not with old leaven – the leaven of malice and evil but with the Unleavened bread of – sincerity and truth.

As part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread we are commanded to remove the Old leaven from our homes for a week. The cleaning out of our physical home is meant to teach us something spiritual about our hearts. Paul reiterates the importance as to why we do this….to cleanse out our pride, our malice, our sin.

Now to the big one “Easter”

Why do we as believers insist on celebrating Easter vs Passover? This has been a question on my mind for a long time. I believe its the herd mentality. The ecumenical mindset which believes if it’s universal it must be right. This is the wide path, not the narrow one.

1. Easter and Passover are on different schedules… Easter is tied to the spring equinox/Roman catholic calendar. Passover is tied to the biblical calendar.
2. What is the spring equinox about? Fertility and the fertility gods. Just google search it (there are many). Easter’s origins are pagan to the very core and should of never have been paired to Christ in any way. Biggest mistake made.
3. Bunnies and eggs are all tied to fertility gods and the eggs represent a gruesome ritual.
4. Where, who, how, why did Easter become the holiday instead of Passover, First Fruits and Unleavened Bread?
   1. It wasn’t the apostles as we see they did keep the feasts and they taught the churches to do the same (mentioned above).
   2. It was after the apostles died…325 CE. The “Christian Church” (aka Roman Catholic Church) changed everything. Research Council of Nicaea & Constantine. They would also change Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday and add another pagan holiday to the mix…. Christmas.
   3. What does the serpent do? He changes, manipulates, covers up. Daniel spoke about the times (calendar, clock), seasons (holidays), and laws (God’s divine law) being changed….Hmmmm. Have the wheels started turning yet? I hope so.
      1. “The Pope has the power to change times, to abrogate laws and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ. The Pope has the authority and often exercised it, to dispense with the command of Christ”                                                                                                                          – Decretal de Translate Episcop (The Pope can modify divine law) Ferraris Ecclesiastical Dictionary
   4. How do you spot a counterfeit? A false teacher/doctrine? It always contradicts God’s instructions. He is the ultimate authority. His words stand above any man. This is why it is SOOO important to understand scripture. If we don’t know scripture like the back of our hand, we won’t know if, where or how to test the authenticity.

I’ve briefly touched on this subject but it is very clear to me that we’ve been lied to and because of the lies, we’ve missed out on so much more. Idol worship has assimilated into the Christian faith for thousands of years and now its so hard to strip it out. It’s the same trap Israel repeatedly fell into.

Unfortunately when you really boil down to it…..Protestants still hold onto many doctrines and traditions of the ROMAN Catholic Church (which is the first official church of Christianity)

I bring this up because majority of believers do not understand the biblical feasts and furthermore don’t really understand that these feasts revolve around Yeshua. He is fulfilling them on schedule and there is soo much meaning and significance to them. Not only that but the fall feast have yet to be fulfilled and I don’t want anyone to miss out!! It’s definitely a treasure that has been hidden for way too long.

So why is tonight significant this year – 2020?

After all of the research and testing against scripture this Passover is very special on so many levels. Wednesday night is the Passover meal and the start of ULB. We eat of the lamb that was slain for our redemption. We bless the unleavened bread and drink of the vine in remembrance of ALL that God has done for us, from Egypt to Yeshua.

2000 years ago, Yeshua died on the cross in the afternoon. He was quickly moved to the tomb before the evening of Passover/ULB. He was in the belly of tomb for 3 days AND 3 nights. This year matches the 3 days and 3 nights. He rose before daylight hit the ground on Sunday. (Many believe he rose at twilight after sabbath)

Another few significant moments this year – A Supermoon, the biggest one of the year falls on Passover, not Easter, not Good Friday. There is also a virus that is affecting most of the world. Everything seems to be at a standstill. The Israelites were told to place the blood over the door, stay inside for a while until the plague of death passed over. It’s interesting that we will be doing the same this year (minus the blood -just a red table cloth). And don’t forget the blood moons that fell on Passover and Feast of Tabernacles 2 years in a row back in 2014 & 2015!

All this to say, many will miss these significant and meaningful signs because they are tied to the Roman based calendar vs the Biblical calendar. They will miss the significance of how this Passover lines up with the time of Yeshua as they are tied to the Roman calendar, clock and holidays.

I hope this post has started you thinking about why you do what you do. Whatever we “do” or cling too, we are binding it or loosing it. We are putting a stamp of approval on it. Think about that.

I pray this will start you on your journey to seeking it out for yourself. Strip away the biases of what you’ve grown up with. Look at it historically and biblically (no commentaries). Then and only then you will start to see things in a new light.

Don’t miss out anymore! It’s time to get back on the biblical calendar and holidays.

I pray that you will lift the veil!!