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- MESSAGE MENU #1
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MESSAGE MENU #2
- OVERLOOKING THE SOURCE OF OUR STRENGTH AND SALVATION
- FALSE PROPHETS OR SERVANTS OF YAHWEH?
- BOOK OF MATTHEW WRITTEN IN HEBREW OR IN GREEK?
- CONCERNING BABYLON AND CURRENT EVENTS
- THE FIRSTFRUITS OF YAHWEH/YAHWSHUA
- WHAT DID YAHWSHUA MEAN WHEN HE SAID "TOUCH ME NOT"?
- WHERE WAS YAHWEH'S SHEKINAH GLORY AT THE TIME OF YAWHSHUA?
- THE WAVE-SHEAF CEREMONY
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MESSAGE MENU #3
- THE FIRST VISIBLE LUNAR CRESCENT
- TITHING CHART BASED ON WEEKLY INCOME
- HOW TO TITHE BASED ON YOUR ANNUAL SALARY
- MAP OF ANCIENT KHAZARIA
- MAP OF EPHRAYIM AND MANNASAH, ACCORDING TO THE ANGLO-SAXONS
- THE NEW COVENANT IS CONDITIONAL
- BARACK OBAMA: A PROPHET OF ISLAM
- TIMELINE CHART OF YAHSHUA'S DEATH AND RESURRECTION
- THE SACRED NAMES IN ANCIENT PALEO-HEBREW
- ZECHARYAH 12:9
- THE 24 ELDERS ARE ALREADY IN THRONES IN HEAVEN
- THE INFAMOUS "AN EYE FOR AN EYE" LAW: ABOLISHED OR IN EFFECT?
- RE LOST TEN TRIBES
"OVERLOOKING
THE SOURCE OF OUR
STRENGHT AND SALVATION"
Shalom dear brethren and called-out. and greeting to all in the name of Yahushua Ha Mashiach. Is it possible to overlook the source of our strength and our salvation? Not many people think of this as a possibility, and perhaps they should.
Jeremiyah 2:9-19: "Therefore I bring charges against you again," declares Yahweh. "And I will bring charges against your children's children. Cross over to the coasts of Kittim and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols! Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror," declares Yahweh.
"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder? Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted. Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.
"Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking Yahweh your Elohim when He led you in the way? Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Shihor? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the River ? Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you! Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake Yahweh your Elohim and have no awe of me," declares Yahweh, Yahweh Elohim!"
Beloved, the prophet Jeremiyah spoke out at a troubled time in Israel's history. His prophecies began in 627 BC, under King Josiah. Through Jeremiah, Yahweh pleaded His case against His chosen people, and warned them to repent or He would send them to Babylon; just as years beofre he had sent the Assyrian empire against some of them in the Kingdom of the North.
Sadly, since no one listened to his words, eventually indeed there happened three deportations of the people of Yahweh as they were overcome by Babylon. Jerusalem fell in 587 BC, and Israel as a nation-state ceased to exist altogether. Jeremiyah held forth as Yahweh 's spokesperson for over 40 long and tedious years... and through the reign of three different kings! More than at any other time in my life I have sensed that we who are believers living in this spiritual nation formed of called-out people from this modern day Babylon have an uncanny resemblance to the people of Yahweh at the time of Jeremiyah. We could learn from what happened in Jeremiyah's lifetime lest we repeat history in some most unfortunate ways. More than at any other time I believe Yahweh's warning then is also a word of warning for today!
Let's examine the parallels...
At a time when Israel was secure, Jeremiyah began to warn his fellow men that Yahweh was angry with His people and that if they did not repent, if they did not turn back, disaster would overtake them. People at first simply laughed at Jeremiyah, the same way they had laughed at Hosea before him, because life for them was being way too good and they arrogantly believed it always would be. This has always happened in history. For example, if someone had told us, prior to September 11 2001, that less than two dozen people could orchestrate a successful plot to attack symbols of our prestige and power, sending our economy into a tailspin, and derailing our sense of national security, we probably would have laughed too!
Even on the early hours of September 11, no one thought the towers would fall, until they did.
How could the strongest and wealthiest nation in the world be brought to a standstill? How could a few greedy, dishonest people undo so many businesses in which we put our trust? How could our portfolios fail to profit? And now, how can we be so close to war? What does Yahweh have to say about all of this?
My dear friends and brethren, we can find some answers to this question in the book of Jeremiyah. But the issue is that I don't think we want to hear the truth now any more than the people of Israel wanted to hear the truth then. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope we will not be as conceited and foolish as Yahweh's people were in Jeremiyah's time, because if we are, then you'd better believe it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better! And that just may be Yahweh's Word for us today. If we don't heed to His warnings and obey His Word, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
The Book of Jeremiyah does not flow chronologically as much as it is ebbs and flows around certain themes. In the second chapter of Jeremiyah, from which we just read, Yahweh is making a case against his people:
Imagine a court of law, my beloved sheep of Mashiach. Yahweh is initiating a lawsuit against Israel for breach of covenant. Through Jeremiyah, as through the prophets before him, Yahweh uses a variety of images and metaphors to communicate how He sees the situation. The images are not positive, but they are powerful and on target.
Jeremiah continued accusing Yahweh's people of sprawling on the ground and playing the whore under every green tree on every high hill. Yahweh says, "I planted you as a choice vine, of the purest stock. How then did you turn degenerate and become a wild vine?"
Yahweh said of His people, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me into the wilderness, in a land not sown. You were holy to Me, the first fruits of my harvest."
Friend and brethren, no other nation in this worl,d could claim a heritage like the covenant people of Yahweh! No other nation could trace their deliverance from slavery to the direct, verifiable, miraculous intervention of Yahweh. What other nation could boast that the water of their oppressors was turned to blood, and the firstborn sons of their captors were slain while death passed over their own homes?
What other nation could boast of the sea opening up so they could cross over into a new land and then closing over on their enemies?
What other people could tell of being led by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day? Who else could say that Yahweh fed them with mannah from heaven in the morning and quail in the evening, while quenching their thirst with water flowing right out of rocks?
Even their law was etched in stone by the very finger of Yahweh! What other nation could boast of military conquests as the result of marching around the walls of a great city until it fell? They were given a land flowing with milk and honey, so how had such a choice vine planted in such a fertile place become degenerate?
Before answering that question, let's look at the similarities in our own time. Our nation (the United States of America) was founded over 200 years ago as a result of people coming to a new land in search of freedom. Many of them were leaving religious oppression and seeking the freedom to worship Almighty Yahweh as they saw fit. They founded this nation on Holy Scripture principles. They were thankful to Yahweh for all they were given. Yahweh blessed them with abundance. They profited and became prolific. Our coins read "In God We Trust." Our national leaders declare His name and seek His blessing---as far as they know how... But like the nation of Israel, our nation, a choice vine, has become wild. It has continually degenerated instead of regenerated.
Dear friends and brethren, Yahweh is clear about the cause of this wildness in His indictment of Israel. He says his people have committed two evils. First, they have forsaken Him, the fountain of living water. Second, they have dug out cisterns, or vessels, for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.
The people of Israel were blessed by Yahweh, but then they began to distance themselves from the source of their blessings. Jeremiyah says they followed after worthless things and became worthless themselves! As their success grew, so did their self-confidence, which became a kind of self-reliant arrogance. They sought to profit more and more, not by staying close to Yahweh, but by following after gods of their own making and gods of their neighboring cultures. Israel was surrounded by pagan people who worshiped Ba'al!
It was thought that Ba'al was responsible for all forms of riches and abundance, and so fertility cults existed to make offerings to the baal of fruitfulness. When Jeremiyah compared Yahweh's people to a young bride who has been playing fast and loose with many lovers, he was not exaggerating. Those who worshipped Ba'al had fertility rituals in the high places. So when Jeremiyah accused Yahweh's people of sprawling on every high hill and under every green tree, he was referring to the way Israel and Judah had become sexually depraved by adopting the customs of the pagans around them.
Jeremiah also indicted Yahweh's people for seeking security through foreign alliances, when their security should have come from following Yahweh their Elohim. He said, "What do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates? Your wickedness will punish you and your apostasies will convict you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter to forsake Yahweh your Elohim; the fear of me is not in you, says Yahweh Elohim." (Jeremiah 2:18-19).
Yahweh said of His people, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me into the wilderness, in a land not sown. You were holy to Me, the first fruits of my harvest."
Friend and brethren, no other nation in this worl,d could claim a heritage like the covenant people of Yahweh! No other nation could trace their deliverance from slavery to the direct, verifiable, miraculous intervention of Yahweh. What other nation could boast that the water of their oppressors was turned to blood, and the firstborn sons of their captors were slain while death passed over their own homes?
What other nation could boast of the sea opening up so they could cross over into a new land and then closing over on their enemies?
What other people could tell of being led by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day? Who else could say that Yahweh fed them with mannah from heaven in the morning and quail in the evening, while quenching their thirst with water flowing right out of rocks?
Even their law was etched in stone by the very finger of Yahweh! What other nation could boast of military conquests as the result of marching around the walls of a great city until it fell? They were given a land flowing with milk and honey, so how had such a choice vine planted in such a fertile place become degenerate?
Before answering that question, let's look at the similarities in our own time. Our nation (the United States of America) was founded over 200 years ago as a result of people coming to a new land in search of freedom. Many of them were leaving religious oppression and seeking the freedom to worship Almighty Yahweh as they saw fit. They founded this nation on Holy Scripture principles. They were thankful to Yahweh for all they were given. Yahweh blessed them with abundance. They profited and became prolific. Our coins read "In God We Trust." Our national leaders declare His name and seek His blessing---as far as they know how... But like the nation of Israel, our nation, a choice vine, has become wild. It has continually degenerated instead of regenerated.
Dear friends and brethren, Yahweh is clear about the cause of this wildness in His indictment of Israel. He says his people have committed two evils. First, they have forsaken Him, the fountain of living water. Second, they have dug out cisterns, or vessels, for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.
The people of Israel were blessed by Yahweh, but then they began to distance themselves from the source of their blessings. Jeremiyah says they followed after worthless things and became worthless themselves! As their success grew, so did their self-confidence, which became a kind of self-reliant arrogance. They sought to profit more and more, not by staying close to Yahweh, but by following after gods of their own making and gods of their neighboring cultures. Israel was surrounded by pagan people who worshiped Ba'al!
It was thought that Ba'al was responsible for all forms of riches and abundance, and so fertility cults existed to make offerings to the baal of fruitfulness. When Jeremiyah compared Yahweh's people to a young bride who has been playing fast and loose with many lovers, he was not exaggerating. Those who worshipped Ba'al had fertility rituals in the high places. So when Jeremiyah accused Yahweh's people of sprawling on every high hill and under every green tree, he was referring to the way Israel and Judah had become sexually depraved by adopting the customs of the pagans around them.
Jeremiah also indicted Yahweh's people for seeking security through foreign alliances, when their security should have come from following Yahweh their Elohim. He said, "What do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates? Your wickedness will punish you and your apostasies will convict you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter to forsake Yahweh your Elohim; the fear of me is not in you, says Yahweh Elohim." (Jeremiah 2:18-19).
Brethren, we, individually as called-out people and collectively as an Assembly and (not to mention) as a nation, have forsaken Yahweh! We live in a nation where the Bible outsells every other book, and yet most of them collect dust rather than being read. In our assemblies, Scirptures are read but Yahushua our Mashiach is not zealously followed! We water down the importance and relevance of such things as the Ten Commandments, and we do so at our own peril. Yahweh's law has been given to us for the building of a strong and healthy kehilah or body of Mashiach. As we disregard Yahweh and Yahweh's law, we begin to tolerate the intolerable and accept the unacceptable.
Are we people who take delight in the law of Yahweh and meditate on it day and night? Or are we like those who follow the advice of the wicked, who take the path that sinners tread, who sit in the seat of scoffers (Psalms 1)?
My beloved, if we do not put our trust in Yahweh and Yahushua and obey His word, we will inevitably put our trust in something else and obey it! Jeremiyah rails against the folly of following deities of our own making. He warns against adopting gods of the culture around us, and following after anything we think could profit us, anything we think would add to our success...
If you think we are not like the people of Israel, fornicating themselves on every high hill, think again. I rarely watch TV. I really don't have time, and I find most television programming less than entertaining and not at all edifying. Recently, however, I turned on "Extra" as the host was interviewing Joe Millionaire, just a week before he chose his final contestant. The host asked Joe Millionaire---Evan is his real name---and if he thought his admission that he regularly watched pornographic movies would negatively affect his popularity. (Evan had admitted he liked one of his final contestants because she was kinky and he thought she would do anything he wanted.) Evan responded saying something like, "No, I don't think admitting I like porn will hurt my popularity, if anything it will help it. Show me any red blooded American man who doesn't watch pornographic movies and I'll show you a liar!"
In a subtle yet horrific way, Evan and our national media were normalizing this sort of wicked behavior. The subliminal message was permission giving: pornography is OK and every man in America who is a real man is into it!
As a society we have become completely desensitized to what is wrong and what is immoral. I believe Evan did, ultimately, choose his final contestant because he thought she was willing to do anything he wanted, and because he thought she would not care that he had deceived her in telling her he was a millionaire. I also understand that three months later they are no longer together... not that I could care less. But the fact that the conversation I just described could air on national television with no negative repercussions whatsoever is appalling to me.
Now Evan is saying so called "reality TV" has nothing to do with reality, it's all about entertainment and ratings. I agree, Evan. Our media engages in anything that profits, no matter how violent, how sexually explicit, or how voyeuristic. Only none of this ultimately profits anyone, it just eats away what's left of the foundations of our society by normalizing what is abnormal, teaching us to accept what is unacceptable and to tolerate what is intolerable.
We have become desensitized to what should offend us and outrage us! Just as Jeremiyah said, we are a people who have forgotten how to blush. We no longer even feel a sense of shame. We have lowered the bar to the point that we are a society out of control...and its infecting Yahushua's assemblies and "churches"! Our values have eroded so far; as a whole we have become morally depraved. Beloved, the dirty little secret of much of internet's success is the profitability from pornography. And what is our nation doing to stop it, or to limit it? Precious little, because it profits!
As a servant and pastor of the sheep of Yahushua, I can tell you that lives are being ruined, homes are being wrecked, and marriages are being lost to the epidemic levels of pornographic sexual addiction since the internet made all sorts of porn affordable, accessible and anonymous! And not just porn is contaminating! We continue to go after things that do not profit us.
Like Jeremiah's society, our society does whatever it takes to add to our success because we equate success with security, and most of Yahushua's called-out sheep are still living contaminated lives imitating gentiles in many ways! We don't always nor totally heed Yahweh's call to care for those who are less fortunate; we just keep building bigger and bigger barns for ourselves! Financial advisors in the late 90's were saying, "invest, invest, invest." And people were making a fortune. But then the bottom fell out, the economy went south, and our portfolios, which promised to profit us, didn't. Corporations in which we trusted betrayed us. As Jeremiah said, "they have dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water."
Many of us have trusted in various forms of false security material and spiritual our whole lives. We thought we were invincible to the kind of terrorism we hear about in other parts of the world — until September 11. Now we are obsessed with enhancing our sense of national security....often disregarding our spiritual secutiry. There is a new addiction, certainly an obsession, with security. Not a day goes by that we do not hear about national security, homeland security, airport secutiruy, and economic security. Our government tells us we are on an "orange alert," and I suppose there are other colors as well, and we are told to buy duct tape and bottled water. In our fear we are turning to all kinds of things which will not profit us if we are in a catastrophic chemical or biological attack. Do we really think duct tape will save us from disaster?
My dear brethren and friends, some, or many, are trusting in our ability to wage war as the source of our strength....and are falling to Satan failing to wage spiritual warfare. Some others are putting their security in our ability to build foreign alliances. To date we are counting on Great Britain, Spain, and Bulgaria to support us if we wage war against Iraq, but we don't have the support of China, Russia, France, Germany or Syria.
Remember, my dear friends, Israel tried to build foreign alliances in Jeremiyah's time, to enhance their strength, and those with whom they sought alliances ate them alive! Instead of drinking of the fountain of living water, they drank of the waters of the Nile and the waters of the Euphrates, watering down their beliefs and their moral standards as they did so!
Some who are going on peace marches seem to think that by avoiding war we will have security. In the spiritual sense it is the same. When needing to rebuke someone, Yahweh's people seem to have a "let sleeping dogs lie" attitude to avoind being persecuted or afflicted... Do you know what Jeremiyah had to say about all that? " . . . They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. They have acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed, they did not even know how to blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says Yahweh." (Jeremiah 6:13-15)
Beloved brethren and friends, Yahweh wants warriors serving Him! The Twin Towers in New York have fallen, and we're still putting our trust in broken cisterns that cannot hold water! Our monuments to our success fell, and our tributes to our prestige and power became tombs. If you are offended by Jeremiyah, then I ask you: are you offended at the state of moral decline in our country? Do you think it is having no effect on Yahweh people?
Are you equally offended and disgusted when you watch prime-time television? We, as a suppossedly "God-fearing people," have trusted in our success as the source of our strength, and our success has become a broken cistern that cannot hold water. We have trusted in that which is worthless and we are becoming worthless.
So what hope is there? There is hope in recognizing the true source of our strength, in turning to the fountain of living water. Yahushua said, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" There is hope in putting our trust in Almightly Yahweh and living in obedience to His precious Word. Then no matter what threatens us or causes us to be afraid, we have a future hope. We know someday, as it says in Revelation 7:15-20, "they will hunger and thirst no more, the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and Yahweh will wipe every tear from their eyes."
Beloved in Mashiach, there is hope in taking seriously our need to repent of the evil around us and within us . 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us: "If my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
Since we are in a troubled time in our history, I invite you to spend some time on your knees in prayer, pray for our leaders to have wisdom born of Yahweh, pray for our nation, pray for our holy people. Focus on offering our sins to Yahweh, being self-reflective and going through a spiritual purification during this season prior to Passover. If you know you have done wrong and have been passive about the wrongs in our world, if you know there are areas of your life where you are tolerating the intolerable and accepting the unacceptable, then get right with Yahweh. Beloved, do whatever it takes to make amends for the wrongs you have done. We may yet avert Yahweh's anger if we become faithful as He is faithful.
But, my beloved friends, if we continue as we have been, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. The greatest threat to our society is not foreign-based terrorist attacks but rather the spiritual terrorism of selling out to anything and everything we think will profit us. Our society is unraveling and Yahweh will only help us if we turn to Him with all our hearts. For thus says Yahweh Elohim, the Holy One of Israel, "in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." (Isaiah 30:15)
Hear now the words of Jeremiyah the prophet to the exiles after the fall, after their worst nightmare came upon them: "Thus says Yahweh, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! (Jeremiah 31:3-4) . . . "the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah and the house of Israel, it will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt . . . This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people . . . I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
Rafael