Hebrew.

Short update.  Seeing as how I have a vision of going to Israel at some point, and that vision has been getting stronger and stronger every time I see pictures of Israel, I have decided to learn Hebrew.  I figure it will not only help in my biblical studies but will also help when I go. 


I will probably post as I progress, but as I am starting out, are there any suggestions on programs or online sites that anyone could suggest to aid in my new learning adventure?

Thanks,

Tim.

Blindness

I have been neglecting my blog.  Ahhh well.

Quick update of what has been plaguing me lately.  Intolerance.  My own.


I have been having a hard time lately remembering what it was like before my eyes were open to the Torah.  As clear as it is from Jesus' own words that the law has not been done away with, I have had to force myself to understand the position that Sunday Christians, especially those that were born and raised in the indoctrination of the church, are in.  I am constantly having to bite my tongue and extend grace and mercy to those who are still blind to what the scripture says in regards to the Torah and who we are.

It baffles me at times that Christians will take pauls words out of their historical context and base doctrine on them that is contrary to the words of our Messiah. ("I did not come to do away with the law", "Not one jot or tittle shall pass away", "If you love me you will keep my commandments" (Multiple times), etc...) 

It baffles me that the Church can not see that the feasts of the lord and the Torah of the old testament are for today.  They were for the Old Testament Israelites and they are spoken about in Revelation, but for some reason they are not for us today. I don't get it.  We, as Christians, are grafted into Israel.  The Torah is for Israel. A+B=C The Torah is for us Christians.  Not for salvation, but for obedience. 

The biblical definition of sin is found in 1 John 3:4 "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." 

Lawless = To break the law.  In this context, to break the law of YHVH.

It is not for brownie points that we do these things. It is because we want to please our Holy Father.  We have nothing to offer except obedience, and that is what he has asked of us.  "You shall love YHVH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."  How do we love the father?  Not by celebrating Pagan holidays like Christmas and Easter.  (Yes they are pagan, just like the Sunday Sabbath.  Ask the Roman Catholic Church.)  We love the father by following the many scriptures (1 John 2:3, 1 John 5:3, John 14:15(Jesus), and 2 John 1:6). " And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it."

All of these examples aside, I would ask that any Christian set aside their indoctrination and have the ENTIRE scripture speak for itself.  2 Tim 3:16 "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;" This passage is written to New Testament believers, but the surprising thing is that the word scripture is talking ONLY about the Old Testament.  There was no new testament when this was written.  So it should be obvious that Old Testament is profitable. 

I would also ask any Messianic or Hebrew Roots follower to remember where most of us came from.  We were blind.  We were mislead.  No amount of forsaking fellowship and judging others on our parts will ever teach the grace, compassion, and mercy that YHVH wants us to shine.  Most of us were blind, and it is through that blindness that we have come to understand the love and mercy that God has for us.  

Please read your Bible and see what it has to say about your walk.  Are we walking with love, mercy, and compassion?  Are we warning our brothers that are walking contrary to the word of God or are we just angry, bitter, and judgmental about those who have been mislead and are believing lies?

Creative Spirit.

I don't know if all men have something in them that makes them desire to create something, but I know I do. 

As a computer geek, I have a job that pits me against a computer in a strategic battle of mind against machine.  Although most of my job is tedious and repetitive, there is the occasional request to recover a screenplay someone has been working on for 2 years, someones digital family tree (pictures and all), or 5 years worth of business receipts.  These types of failures require me to get strategic and use my mind.  I like it.

I am beginning to realize though, that God has put in me, and I believe in some small way all men, the desire to CREATE.  He created the sun, the moon, and the earth.  Each and every one of us was fearfully, and wonderfully made by His hand.  He creates, and I believe that by nature, we all get satisfaction out of creating/making something.  We are after all, created in His image, and we are to be transformed into the image of our Messiah. 

I am pondering this because I am in the process of building a set of bunk beds to try and raise some extra money.  I have cut and routered all my boards and I am beginning to see a pile of lumber transforming into something completely different. A couple holes drilled, bolts and screws added, and I will have something that someone will want, and that will serve a purpose. I am creating something better out of something that was rough, ugly and non-functional. 

As my A.D.D. brain is writing this, it has apparantly gone on to a different thought process, as God leads it.  As will probably happen in many of my posts, my ending is not in support of my beginning, it is a rabbit trail in a different direction then I had intended.

I see this creation now as an allegory to how our lives should be.  We are awesomely created by a loving God, but we grow up under fallible man, with a sinful nature.  We are imperfect, ugly, and barely functional, but with Gods help we can, and should, be transformed into the perfect nature of our Messiah.

Background and thoughts.

I have determined that this blog will be about my spiritual growth and walk.  So the most logical start is to lay down the framework of where I am spiritually and where I have come from church-wise.  

I grew up without any spiritual guidance.  There was no talk about God when I was growing up.  I started seeking the lord when I was 15 and gave my life to God when I was 16.  I bounced from baptist to methodist, from catholic to pentecostal.  I went to Catechism, which I am actually glad for.  

When I was 18 or 19 every other Saturday I would meet with 7 or 8 friends, all of whom smoked (or chain-smoked).  I would stay the night at one house or another and the next morning would reek of cigarette smoke.  My coat was stained and dirty, my shoes were coming apart and it was a Michigan winter.  I would occasionally walk to a church the next morning, typically being welcomed in but shunned at the same time.  I happened upon one church that not only welcomed me in, but genuinely cared about me.  The first time I stepped foot in that church I knew that the parishioners had something different.  They were seeking after God, and were exhibiting the fruit of the spirit.  

I believe it was the first time that I went to the church, that as I was leaving a nice couple came up and said they could give me a better pair of shoes.  They let me in their car, which I am now embarrassed that I actually got in, given my smelly, griminess.  They drove me downtown on a Sunday to the closed shoes store. They unlocked the door and told me to pick out a pair of boots.  I thanked them and tried a couple of boots on and found a pair I liked.  I saw the price and tried to find a cheaper pair but they insisted I take them.  I looked around and realized that there weren't any $20 pair of boots.  I wasn't going to find anything cheaper and I felt bad, but they insisted I take them.  

This was an example to me of the love of God.  This is something that is being found less and less in any religion, denomination, or group.  

Brief summation of the next few years:  I moved away from Michigan, joined the military, and faded away from God. I moved back to Michigan. I claimed my Christianity, and collected Bibles, although I never read them, and got to the point where I could almost deny God's existence. 

My wife stumbled across a book that God spoke through and brought her, and I (by proxy) back to church. The most logical decision was to go back to the church that had shown me the love that I still remembered.  We went to that Assembly of God church and became one of the regulars.  The church was filled with Love and other fruits of the spirit.  Everything was great for a year, maybe a year and a half.  Until the Lakeland Revivals, and IHOP (Internation House of Prayer).  As these "revivals" were taking place we started to hear from some friends about the Torah and how it wasn't done away with.  God's food laws were still in effect and that there were actually "rules" or "guidelines" for the KINGDOM of God.  

My wife and I, being of strong opinions got into heated discussions about these topics until we decided to not talk about our friends "legalism".  I was against the law of Moses, while my wife seemed to lean in the opposite direction.  We didn't talk about the subject for over a month, we just prayed about it.  In that month I realized that the law had not been done away with. It was not our salvation, but the fruits of our acceptance of salvation.  

We still went to our church that was gradually slipping into a "feel good", "do what you want" philosophy.  They weren't so Pentecostal that they barked liked dogs, or fell on the floor and twitched, but they didn't "disagree" with those practices either.  After privately rebuking the pastor (which he publicly admitted that he was wrong) we thought things were going to get better.  After a second rebuke to a teacher about going into a trance-like state, we knew that it was only going to go downhill.  We stopped attending shortly after and let the word speak for itself on what was acceptable and what was not acceptable.

Here we are now, moved halfway across the country seeking the middle line between being Torah observant (or pursuant) and bearing the fruit of the spirit.  We have looked to messianic teachers for wisdom, and we have found many good teachers out there.  Torah is for us, we are Israel, we have been grafted in by the blood of Messiah.  The problem I have is that from my vantage point there seems to be an inability to both walk in Torah and have the fruit of the spirit. Devision caused by saying the name wrong, or when God's Calendar begins.  There are probably some that will never read my blog because I have written God and Jesus instead of YHVH, YHWH, Y'shua, Yahshua, or any other spelling you can think of.  

We as a people, need to follow after God with out entire lives, and come beside our brethern, who like ourselves have been told lies.  To many Messianics will gladly walk alongside our "brother Judah" but will dismiss our Christian brothers because they don't hold the sabbath and because they eat pork.  Our Christian brothers, who are actually seeking after God, have at least taken the first step in salvation.  They have accepted the sacrifice for their sins and are seeking after the fruit of the spirit.

We need to walk in Torah, yes, but we eventually need to move on to the weightier matters and begin to allow God's Love to shine through us.  We need to have love and patience and compassion.  

We eventually need to realize that focusing on only the Torah is like tilling the ground over and over.  Eventually we need to plant the Torah in our hearts, and let the fruit grow.