221 How important is our return to YHVH?

How important is our return to YHVH?

When our Father YHVH brought the ancient nation of Israel out of Egypt, He was fully aware that they were Abraham’s offspring through Isaac and Jacob and since they became a nation, He wanted to ensure that they received the promises He made to them through Abraham. But He also wanted them to become a model nation of kings and priests to Him, to show the nations of the world, how obedience to Him and His Torah teachings will be beneficial to all, as witnessed in Exodus 19: 5 & 6, as follows: “‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; (6) and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

Even after wandering around in the wilderness for forty years, YHVH told the surviving children of the nation of Israel that He brought out of Egypt in Deuteronomy 4: 1, 6 – 8, saying: “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, in order that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which YHVH, the Elohim of your fathers, is giving you. (6) So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ (7) For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is YHVH our Elohim whenever we call on Him? (8) Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” The Israelites were to be a light to the other nations around them, to show them Elohim’s way and how it produces abundant blessings and benefits. Whilst living in Egypt the Israelites were subjected to a foreign culture and people who worshipped a number of pagan gods. The Egyptians believed every creature and occurrence of nature to be holy and worthy of worship. It was for this reason that Elohim delivered the Israelites by causing the animals, insects and occurrences of nature that the Egyptians worshipped as gods, to become a series of plagues to force them to set His people free. A short time after Elohim miraculously delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt; He gave them a constitution describing in detail how He wanted them to serve and obey Him in exchange for Him providing and protecting them like a husband would His wife. After a forty eight day journey from Egypt the Israelites arrived at the bottom of Mount Sinai, where Elohim instructed Moses to consecrate the people for two days; telling them to wash their clothes and to be ready on the third day when He gave them His commandments (Exodus 20), statutes and judgments (Exodus 21 – 23). Elohim told Israel about clean and unclean food (Leviticus 11); His Feast Days (Leviticus 23); directions regarding the priesthood; their clothing; the tabernacle and offerings (Exodus 25 – 31); the seventh year land Sabbath as well as the year of the Jubilee, during which property lost during the previous 49 years because of debt, should be returned to its original owners.

Elohim told Moses to come up to Him on Mount Sinai and gave him the two tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments. However, when Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people convinced Aaron to mingle Egyptian worship with the instructions they received from Elohim and after making a golden calf Aaron also made a proclamation in Exodus 32: 5, saying: “Tomorrow shall be a feast to YHVH.” We read further from Exodus 32: 6, ‘So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” According to the footnote against the words rose up to play in ‘The MacArthur Study Bible’ the Hebrew word for play allows for the inclusion of drunken and immoral activities so common to fertility cults in their revelry. This celebration blended Elohim’s instructions with religious practices of the Egyptians. The Israelites became so accustomed to the religious practices and traditions of the Egyptians whilst living there, that syncretism[1] had robbed them of all ethical alertness and moral discernment. Those of us who come from Christianity are fully aware how syncretism has robbed millions of their followers from the blessings to be had by obeying Elohim’s Torah teachings. We also realize that every time anybody changes the times during which YHVH specified in His word disaster follows, as was also the case with King Jeroboam when YHVH separated the house of Israel from the house of Judah, after King Solomon’s reign. In fact Rav Shaul warns fellow Nazarene Israelite believers in 1 Corinthians 10: 6 & 7, as follows: ‘Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved. (7) And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” We also see from verses 7 & 8 of Exodus 32, that Elohim was not pleased with the Israelites at that time, in this way: ‘Then YHVH spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. (8) They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”’ Those of us from the lost sheep of Israel whom YHVH is calling to return to Him and Brother Judah at this time, should be extremely thankful that YHVH called us, whose forefathers rejected His will and way, to again join His chosen people from the house of Judah, to become the bride of Messiah to help Him establish the kingdom of Elohim over Israel, the world and eventually the entire universe. You and I as heirs of Abraham through Messiah should be so thankful that YHVH true to His word has not destroyed us, as He also promised through the prophet Malachi in Malachi 3: 6, saying: “For I, YHVH, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”

YHVH our Elohim shows from His Word that He expects more from those who claim to follow Him, as Yahshua told His disciples in the second part of Luke 12: 48, saying: “And from everyone who has been given much shall much be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” Being a spirit being, YHVH expects us to worship Him in spirit and in truth as Yahshua told the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4: 21 - 24, as follows: ‘Yahshua said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. (22) You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (23) But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. (24) Elohim is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” There was no reason for the Israelites to disobey Elohim’s instructions introduced at Mount Sinai. We see from verse 10 of Exodus 32 that their actions angered Elohim, and He was ready to destroy them. However because of Moses’s pleadings with Elohim in verses 11 – 13 of Exodus 32, He did not harm them, as is confirmed in verse 14, in this way: ‘So YHVH changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.’ We see from verses 25 - 28 of Exodus 32, that Israel’s experimentation in blending Elohim’s instructions with pagan customs and beliefs was disastrous, as follows: ‘Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control— for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies— (26) then Moses stood at the gate of the camp, and said, ‘Whoever is for YHVH, come to me!” and all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. (27) And he said to them, “Thus says YHVH, the Elohim of Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’” (28) So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.’ The people acted defiantly against Elohim’s instructions and Moses described their action as a great sin as in verse 30, saying to them: “You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to YHVH, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” Elohim’s teachings regarding defiant behavior is clearly stated in Numbers 15: 30 & 31, in this way: ‘(But) the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming YHVH; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. (31) Because he has despised the word of YHVH and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be on him.’ This same standard applies to us the modern day followers of the way of Elohim, as witnessed by Rav Shaul in Romans 15: 4, as follows: ‘For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Rav Shaul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 10: 11, ‘Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.’

We see further that the generation of Israelites who convinced Aaron to build the golden calf, never learnt to trust and obey Elohim, because later when they were preparing to enter the Promised Land, they became afraid of the inhabitants of the land and refused to enter. Consequently Elohim told them in Numbers 14: 30 - 32, saying: ‘Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. (31) Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. (32) But as for you, your corpses shall fall in this wilderness.’ Elohim’s teachings (Torah) included a clear warning against incorporating pagan customs into the way they (and us their modern day descendants) should worship Him, as is recorded for us in Deuteronomy 12: 29 – 31, as follows: “When YHVH your Elohim cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, (30) beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ (31) You shall not behave thus toward YHVH your Elohim, for every abominable act which YHVH hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.” Unfortunately the Israelites failed to pay attention to Elohim’s warning and time and again they allowed their fascination with the religious practices of the nations around them, to get the better of them. YHVH gave Israel a number of warnings through His prophets. The first warning came through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 10: 1 – 2, in this way: ‘Hear the word which YHVH speaks to you, O house of Israel. (2) Thus says YHVH, “Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them.’ Here Elohim is warning specifically the house of Israel against following pagan practices of worshipping heavenly bodies (such as the sun on December 25) and putting up Xmas trees in their homes. But despite this warning, we are all aware that this very thing is being done by many modern day descendants of Israel today.

A number of years later Elohim again expressed His disdain for His people in Ezekiel 22: 26 saying through the prophet Ezekiel, “Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My Sabbaths and I am profaned among them.” We all know that this is talking about our ancient forefathers, the house of Israel, but in reality it is also talking about Christian ministers who teach their followers that Yahshua fulfilled the law for them and they need to obey it any longer. In addition, by twisting the Scriptures to suit their teachings, they teach their followers that He declared all food clean for them and they may eat whatever they like. Continuing in Ezekiel 23: 37 – 39, Ezekiel wrote about the house of Israel, saying: “For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols and even caused their sons, whom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to them as food. (38) Again, they have done this to Me: they have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and have profaned My Sabbaths (weekly and annual Sabbaths). (39) For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and lo thus they did within My house.” Is this not what some modern day Israelites do today? They have abortions done (after which the unborn fetus is burnt) so that they have enough money to buy a new car, the latest TV or whatever they desire. Then to top it all they go to church services, acting as if they have done nothing wrong. Christianity wrongly assumes that the so-called ‘Old Testament’ instruction condemning the mixing of paganism with the way they worship G-d, were annulled by the apostles after Yahshua’s death[2]. However, this is totally untrue. To prove the continuity of Elohim’s teachings of Torah in the Renewed Covenant, we need to consider the people of Corinth. However, to be able to understand what happened at Corinth, it is necessary to backtrack a bit to show that Rav Shaul was essentially the Apostle trained by Messiah personally to teach the Gentiles to turn from being under the control of Satan to following Elohim, as witnessed in Acts 26: 12 – 18 (KJV), where Rav Shaul tells King Agrippa how he came to believe and work for Yahshua, as follows: “Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, (13) at midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. (14) And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. (15) And I said, who art Thou, Master?” And he said, I am Yahshua whom thou persecutest. (16) But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; (17) delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles (‘who are called by My name’ as per Acts 15: 17), unto whom now I send thee, (18) to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto Elohim, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” The inheritance spoken about here is to live in the Promised Land eternally as spiritual children of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob. Having established Rav Shaul’s mission, let’s consider the people of Corinth in order to show how Rav Shaul continued preaching Elohim’s truth. Corinth of that time was where the most intrusive examples of paganism were incorporated into Nazarene Judaism. Corinth sat on an important trade route, south of the narrow strip of land connected to Greece. Its inhabitants became rich by transporting goods across the four-mile peninsula, which saved traders in Greece having to pay for a 200 mile trip on sea. Rav Shaul established a thriving congregation in Corinth, representing a cross section of worldly minded members of the lost ten tribes who came to Corinth to partake in the available business adventures, gambling, legalized prostitution and amusements available in this first century coastal city. Rav Shaul was writing to this group consisting the lost sheep of Israel who became like real Gentile believers and were already entrenched in idol worship, as witnessed in 1 Corinthians 12: 2, in this way: ‘You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the dumb idols, however you were led.’

In 2 Corinthians 6: 14 – 7: 1 Rav Shaul discussed the subject of whether other religious customs and practices could be tolerated among Elohim’s people, saying: ‘Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? (15) Or what harmony has Messiah with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? (16) Or what agreement has the temple of Elohim with idols? For we are the temple of the living Elohim; just as Elohim said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR ELOHIM, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. (17) Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says YHVH. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; and I will welcome you. (18) And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says YHVH Almighty. (1) Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of Elohim.’ Instead of allowing new believers to retain some of their pagan practices, or renaming some of the pagan customs as Nazarene, Rav Shaul instructed them to immediately stop practicing all their previous forms of worship. Rav Shaul also condemned sexual immorality so common with pagan fertility rites, as we read from verses 13 & 16 – 20 of 1 Corinthians 6, in this way: ‘Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food; but Elohim will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for YHVH; and YHVH is for the body. (16) Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, “THE TWO WILL BECOME ONE FLESH.” (17) But the one who joins himself to YHVH is one spirit with Him. (18) Flee immorality, Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. (19) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Set-apart Spirit who is in you, whom you have from Elohim, and that you are not your own? (20) For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify Elohim in your body.’

Once YHVH our Elohim calls us out of the churches of the world, we need to start studying Torah immediately in order to determine which commandments we have broken or neglected in the past, then repent by starting to obey them from the heart. As part of our immersion ceremony the elder or Torah teacher immersing new believers should read and explain the instructions that Rav Shaul wrote in this regard in Roman 6: 1 – 8, saying: ‘What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? (2) May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (3) Or do you not know that all of us who have been immersed into Messiah Yahshua have been immersed into His death? (4) Therefore we have been buried with Him through immersion into death, in order that as Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, (6) knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; (7) for he who has died is freed from sin. (8) Now if we have died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him.’ Rav Shaul made it clear in Ephesians 4: 22 – 24 that new believers should not retain any of their past religious practices and traditions, in this way: ‘That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, (23) and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (24) and put on the new self, which in the likeness of Elohim has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.’ A second witness comes from Colossians 3: 9 & 10, as follows: ‘Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, (10) and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.’ It is important for those of us coming from Christianity to remember that unlike the Feast Days ordained by Elohim, which our Jewish Brothers have been keeping from the time that YHVH gave it to them through Moses, the Christian feasts including the calendar that they are using, have never been ordained by Elohim.

YHVH our Elohim is strongly opposed to altering the Feast Days that He gave His people through Moses, as is recorded in Deuteronomy 12: 32, as follows: ‘Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.’ A renewed Covenant witness comes from Revelation 22: 18 & 19, in this way: ‘I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, Elohim shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; (19) and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, Elohim shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the set-apart city, which are written in this book.’ How and by what authority did people who say they believe in the Messiah, change the days they observe? The first human conceived changes made to the Feast Days that Elohim ordained in The Scriptures, was to worship on Sunday, in place of the seventh day Sabbath specified in Torah. The consolidated-Webster Comprehensive Encyclopedic Dictionary states under Sunday, the first day of the week. In ancient times it was the day on which the sun was worshipped. In the early days of the church Christians began to observe the first day of the week in honor of the Resurrection in addition to keeping the seventh-day Sabbath of the Decalogue. Gradually the seventh-day Sabbath was abandoned and the first day adopted, though without any Biblical authority, as the Christian rest day. The first Sunday law was that of Constantine the Great A. D. 321. Notice it was done without any Scriptural authority.

Elohim’s annual Feast Days were similarly replaced with pagan holidays. It started when the kingdom of Israel was divided after King Solomon’s death; King Jeroboam who ruled the northern ten tribes known as the house of Israel, instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the Feast of Tabernacles kept by Judah from the fifteenth of the seventh Month (Tishri), as recorded in 1 Kings 12: 28 - 33, as follows: ‘So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” (29) And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. (30) Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. (31) And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. (32) And Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. (33) Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the month eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense.” Jeroboam was the first king of the house of Israel who corrupted the pattern in the nation’s religious life and this eventually caused the house of Israel to be taken captive by the Assyrian Empire. Most of us who come from Christianity followed their traditions which were all contrary to Elohim’s instructions, without ever questioning the same. During Messiah’s time, the Pharisees found themselves in a similar situation, resulting in Him admonishing them in Mark 7: 6 – 8, saying: “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. (7) BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’ (8) Neglecting the commandment of Elohim, you hold the tradition of men.” We need to understand that only the days and times consecrated by YHVH are set-apart (or holy). It does not matter what our traditions have been or what explanations we use to justify them, it is evident from the Scriptures that we must follow YHVH our Creator’s teachings regarding His Set-apart Days and forms of worship.

Rav Shaul similarly warned believers about the traditions of men in Colossians 2: 8, saying: ‘See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Messiah.’ One of the final messages contained in the Scriptures in Revelation 18: 4 & 5 warns people who are currently caught up in a worldwide religious system, established in opposition to Elohim, as follows: ‘And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues; (5) for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and Elohim has remembered her iniquities.”’ This is specifically talking about Esau or more specifically the Roman Catholic Church and her protesting daughters, who took the house of Israel captive as soon as they were scattered into mainly the western world by YHVH the Elohim of Israel. The prophet Daniel prophesied about this empire that ruled the world during Messiah’s time and are still ruling it religiously at this time. This was and still is the fourth beast or kingdom on the earth, who will be ruled by one who speak out against the most high in Daniel 7: 23 – 25, as follows: “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. (24) And for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise: and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. (25) And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.” At this time we may choose between the feast days instituted by men or the Feast Days of Elohim, but it is important to realize that our choices will affect our relationship with Elohim and ultimately our destiny. Babylon is the epitome of apostasy and includes all individuals, regimes and empires which have sought to replace and destroy the people of the covenant. The Roman Catholic Church and daughters will drink the cup of wrath to its dregs as we read from Revelation 14: 9 & 10, in this way: ‘And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, (10) he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of Elohim, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”’ There are more warnings in the Scriptures for true believers to flee Babylon and avoid sharing in her punishment. These warnings are given to those who call themselves the people of G-d and yet are in danger of perishing with Babylon. They are clearly unaware that they are living within Babylon; they are deceived and must flee false teachings from those who pose as ministers of the true gospel.

To conclude we read the warning given in Isaiah 48: 12 – 18, as follows: ‘Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last. (13) Surely My hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand together. (14) Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? YHVH loves him; he shall carry out His good pleasure on Babylon, and His arm shall be against the Chaldeans. (15) I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him, I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful. (16) Come near to Me, listen to this: from the first I have not spoken in secret, from the time it took place, I was there. And now YHVH Elohim has sent Me, and His Spirit.” (17) Thus says YHVH, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am YHVH your Elohim, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. (18) If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (19) Your descendants would have been like the sand, and your offspring like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence. (20) Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “YHVH has redeemed His servant Jacob.”’ The Elohim of Abraham is a covenant keeping deity and what He promised to Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, He will bring to fruition. This is decreed in His Word and those who want to be numbered under the covenant should do no less than Abraham, of whom it is said in Romans 4: 3: “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED ELOHIM, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Let us who have become wise through the study of Torah, choose righteousness through obedience, as our protective shield and identity and this way we will be set-apart from the world as witnessed in John 15: 19, in this way: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Think about it!

[1] Syncretism is defined as the blending of religious beliefs, customs and practices.

[2] A footnote in ‘The MacArthur Study Bible’ against Acts 20: 7 reads: The writings of the early church fathers confirm that the church continued to meet on Sunday after the close of the NT period. Scripture does not require Christians to observe the Saturday Sabbath. The Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Ex 31: 16, 17; Ne 9: 14; Ezekiel 20: 12), whereas Christians are under the New Covenant (2 Co 3; Heb 8). Have these so-called believers in Messiah never read Yahshua’s words in Matthew 5: 17 – 20 and in John 5: 46 & 47, where He said: “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words.”