Whose Joy is it anyway?

    As most of my readers know, I've spent a lifetime in the fiery furnace of affliction, so finding joy in YHVH GOD has been a struggle for me. He threw me in there to refine me, and I'm burnt in places I never even knew existed. On many occasions, I have confessed to Him that I could not find joy in Him or my salvation, or so I thought, and I felt guilty about that.  One day, whilst confessing that,  He gave me a truth that I never saw coming.  

    I've been just surviving since the bottom kept falling out on me several years back.  Every time I thought I got my feet on the ground, the ground turned out to be a glass bottom and it cracked again.  I've learned to live and tread lightly on this glass bottom and try to live two feet off the ground in the joy of the LORD.  To me, that's studying all the time, living in the Bible, seeking truth, and to be honest, trying to win His favor.  I've wanted something (someone) for over a decade.   GOD has denied me that joy, and for some stupid reason, I somehow equate that desire being filled with the joy of living here on this earth.  

   So, with that being said, I'm constantly at the "check engine" light point, where I'm always trying to find something that I'm doing wrong to see if that's why I've not gotten what I want.  For several years previous, I had many days where I pitched a fit with my Father for not giving me what I want, and I got the same question from Him.  "Do you want him or anyone else without Me?"  The answer is always an emphatic NO!  I'd rather have no one than that without YHVH GOD setting it up.  If He's willed me not to have this thing, then so be it.  I'd so much rather please Him then live deliriously happy in this life with a happily ever after.  And that my friends, is the "JOY OF THE LORD" being my strength.  It may not feel so happy to me, but joy isn't always happy, sometimes it's just peace.  Sometimes, it is just that peace that passes all understanding.  Then, I started to see that joy from a different point of view.  

    I've been wanting to write this blog for a long time, but I've not had the words until today, and I got the Bible lesson today.  The verses comes from Zephaniah 3:17, Habakkuk 3:17-18, and the Nehemiah 8 story.  In the story, it had been 70 plus years since GOD's people had been in captivity in a foreign nation and not able to live in the land He gave them.  Finally, they were able to gather in security in Jerusalem after the walls had been finished and have a sacred convocation, a revival service if that's how you understand it.  The TORAH, GOD's INSTRUCTIONS had been read for the first time since the days of King Josiah, and all the people wept when they heard them.  The actual words of YHVH GOD were finally read and heard by all and it caused such grief to the people because they had not heard His Words ever, for most of them, and they grieved over them and not having lived them out. Ezra addressed the crowd while they wept.  

 10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

    Ezra, the TORAH teacher, told the people not to grieve because it was a joyous day.  I've always thought he told the people to be joyful, but I'm starting to think that the joy of the LORD actually  belong to and came from YHVH GOD and His joy over His people in the fact that His people have finally heard His Words again.  I'm starting to think that the strength that came into those people that day was GOD's joy, not theirs.  He rejoice that they were grieved.  He rejoiced that they rejoiced.  He rejoiced that they finally understood what was at stake here and what He had to do to get them back to this place.  He, YHVH GOD rejoiced over His people, and that was their strength.  When I seek Him constantly, He rejoices over me.  His joy over me is the supernatural strength from above that keeps me going.  It's not my warm and happy fuzzy feelings, it is His. 

     How many people do you know that have walked away from GOD to achieve the things in this life that they wanted themselves. How many people choose themselves over Him?  I would say a great many, in fact, I'd would venture to say that more people choose man's version of happiness in this lifetime over a lifetime of walking in His ways, so when one finally does choose to walk in "misery" with Him, He rejoices over that.  Sometimes, walking in misery with Him really means feeling His pain and grief over those who choose to walk away.  Sometimes, being in such union with Him is feeling what He feels, especially when those who are His choose their own way over His.  I know I've watched most of the people I've loved in this lifetime choose to walk away and it is grievous. When I grieve with Him, His joy over me is what gives me strength to not walk away but to draw closer and closer with every breath I take.  

     So, when you or I can't find joy in living, but we can find peace in Him, and when we desire to live, breathe, and eat His Words, He rejoices over us and that becomes our strength, His Joy in us.  

   We/Mankind, Screwed It Up TWICE!

     There are two things that I learned from my husband that I do believe were and still are spot on.  One, if you are on time to something, you are late.  The second he told me was, be brief in your writing, get to the point and don't beleaguer a point, because that's where you lose them.  So, here it is, my brief history of the religion of GOD and man. 

In the beginning, YHVH GOD created the earth, the universe/heavens and man. He gave them brief instructions, one simple rule, and they screwed that up. Because they screwed that up, He had to adjust and give them more detailed INSTRUCTIONS. Those are in the first five books of the Bible, called the TORAH which means instructions. Those INSTRUCTIONS were given to one group of people YHVH GOD picked out and they were to share it with the world. They were to invite the foreigner into the INSTRUCTIONS. They screwed that up, and instead, they invited paganism or religions of other nations into the intructions and mixed it, that is called syncretism, which is an abomination to YHVH/GOD.

A couple of times, they got it right and went back to the INSTRUCTIONS/TORAH alone, but they didn't invite the foreigner into the Truth. Instead, they added to the INSTRUCTIONS/TORAH, and called it, Oral Law/Talmud/Halacha.

 

So, what happened?

 

YHVH GOD sent His son Yeshua/Jesus who gave them the Good News/Gospel and brought back the INSTRUCTIONS/TORAH to the Jews and explained them. He also defeated death, which the Law of Moses could not do. Then He said, "Now, invite the gentiles into the TRUTH/INSTRUCTIONS/TORAH and eternal life.

 

But something went terribly wrong. The Gentiles ran with the Gospel of death being defeated, but decided to exclude the INSTRUCTIONS/TORAH. The message of the GoodNews/Gospel of death being defeated by Jesus spread world wide by the Gentiles, however, they began to insert their own instructions and it became a centralized message/power. For a thousand years one group held all the power and we know that absolute power corrupts absolutely. After about 1,000 years, some didn't like all their instructions and rebelled, protested and inserted their own instructions. Now, you have several sects of catholicism, and thousands of sects of protestantism.

 

So, YHVH GOD gave His INSTRUCTIONS/TORAH to man, and basically, man screwed it up TWICE. Only YHVH with the help of His Holy Spirit can fix our mistakes.

Really, what is The Way to go?

The first five books of the Bible are called the TORAH which in Hebrew means INSTRUCTIONS. The Mosaic Law is IN the TORAH, and how many times does YHVH GOD have to say that there is ONE LAW for His people and the FOREIGNER living among them. There are not two sets of rules for the Jew and the Gentile, there is but ONE set of rules for all of us to live by. The Law fell short in that it could not obtain eternal life for us. When Jesus/Yeshua came and defeated death, that is what he did do that the Law could not do. He did not come to end the Law, he came to complete YHVH's plan. We obtain eternal life by our faith and trust in Jesus, but we are INSTRUCTED to live by the INSTRUCTIONS after that.

 

Exodus 12:49

The same teaching is to apply equally to the citizen and to the foreigner living among you.”

 

Exodus 20:10

but the seventh day is a Shabbat for Adonai your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work — not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property.

 

Leviticus 16:29

“It is to be a permanent regulation for you that on the tenth day of the seventh month you are to deny yourselves and not do any kind of work, both the citizen and the foreigner living with you.

 

Leviticus 18:26

But you are to keep my laws and rulings and not engage in any of these disgusting practices, neither the citizen nor the foreigner living with you;

 

Leviticus 24:22

You are to apply the same standard of judgment to the foreigner as to the citizen, because I am Adonai your God.”

 

Numbers 9:14

If a foreigner is staying with you and wants to observe Pesach for Adonai, he is to do it according to the regulations and rules of Pesach — you are to have the same law for the foreigner as for the citizen of the land.’”

 

Numbers 15:15

For this community there will be the same law for you as for the foreigner living with you; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations; the foreigner is to be treated the same way before Adonai as yourselves.

 

Numbers 15:16

The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.’”

 

Numbers 15:29

no matter whether he is a citizen of Isra’el or a foreigner living with them. You are to have one law for whoever it is that does something wrong by mistake.

 

Deuteronomy 5:14

but the seventh day is a Shabbat for Adonai your God. On it you are not to do any kind of work — not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your ox, your donkey or any of your other livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property — so that your male and female servants can rest just as you do.

 

Deuteronomy 31:12

Assemble the people — the men, the women, the little ones and the foreigners you have in your towns — so that they can hear, learn, fear Adonai your God and take care to obey all the words of this Torah;

   So, I ask, how many times does YHVH GOD have to tell us there there is One LAW for all peoples?  

 Is is possible to live by ALL of the Law?  No, but is it possible to STUDY all of the LAW? 

 When Is Deception Okay with GOD?

 

I used to think that deception was never appropriate, but now, I’m starting to wonder if there is ever a time where the “sin of omission” is called for.  As usual, I decided to look into the Scriptures to see if deception was ever used by one of GOD’s servants, and I found one where GOD blessed it.  When war is declared upon one of GOD’s servants, no matter how imperfect they are, if that servant is a man or woman after GOD’s own heart then that person who declared war on them also declared war on GOD.  Today's story comes from 2^nd Samuel chapter 15-18.  King David was enjoying the perks of being king and ignoring his subjects who were being treated unfairly.  His next born son, Absalon, who had already killed first born and next in line for the throne, Amnon, and he saw this as an opportunity to usurp the king and declare himself king. So, for four years, at the king’s gate, he intercepted King David’s subjects who came with a complaint seeking justice, and Absalom saw that the victim was vindicated.  In doing this, he won the favor of many people.  David’s servants likely saw what was happening and warned the King, but the King, being the passive father that he was, ignored the warnings.  It wasn’t until it was too late that King David realized that he screwed up, again. 

Here now we have King David, on the run, again with about 600 loyal men and women fleeing the city as Absalom had gone to Hebron to declare himself king.  I have learned so much about the Bible from my favorite Torah teacher (TORAH Class playlists) who explains the cultures and thought patterns of these ancient peoples, and one of the points he brought out was that back then, people went to different territories because they wanted the blessing of the  god of that territory. At that particular time in Israelite history, Hebron was the capital city of the God of the Israelites. Whenever you see a pattern or shadow in the Hebrew Scriptures, you can usually find it in the world or the Christian church today.   Many Christians go to “The LORD’s House” where they think GOD is most influential and the blessings of GOD are obviously there, to them.  Of course, man’s corrupted thought is, the bigger the church, the more GOD is blessing it.  In other words, those Mega churches must be doing something right, so we’ll go there, right?  WRONG.  Mega churches are created by men using man-made techniques and marketing tools, not the Word of GOD or by the Power of the Holy Spirit.  YHVH GOD is just as powerful alone in our hiding places as people think He is on any given Sunday at the local church no matter how big the campus. Sin is so easily hidden in a mega church, but when we are alone in our room with GOD, our sin will find us out, and it’s between GOD and us and the Holy Spirit whether we confess and turn from it. 

2 Samuel 15-18 New Living Translation

So, where do you find the sin of omission or deception used by King David and his loyal servants?  I can spoon feed you the Bible, or you can seek GOD’s truth on your own.  I will leave you the link to the story, which is four chapters long, and you can decide for yourself whether what deception King David did was blessed by GOD or not. I don’t like to just pick out one or two Scriptures and twist them to agree with me. What I’d rather do is include the whole story and let you make your own interpretations with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It is my personal opinion, that in times of war, deception is sometimes needed. 

If we need another example, we can look to the Scriptures again, but this time with a corrupt king, Ahab.  That evil king was hell bent on doing things his way even when YHVH GOD sent a good and honest prophet, Micaiah his way to warn him. So what did YHVH do?  He sent a deceiving spirit to end King Ahab's evil ways, because he refuse to repent like he did earlier and had gained three more years. When King Ahab repented  It is too bad that King Ahab did not appreciate the mercy of GOD the next time he was warned. That story I have included for you: 

 1 Kings: 19 Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ 22 The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’ 23 Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.”

So, when is deception okay? Only if it has a righteous outcome.  We humans deceive ourselves and others all the time not for a righteous outcome, but for our own benefit, which is hardly ever righteous.  Scripture is clear, that if a person digs a pit, eventually, he will fall into it.  It was when I was describing this verse to a friend who also has a relative digging herself into a pit that I saw in the metaphor of that person digging throwing dirt on the innocent. Both of us have suffered harm from relatives throwing dirt on us while digging their pits, and I know that GOD put that picture in my head.  I have tried to keep the stone from rolling over on that man’s head long enough, and it’s time to just let the ground above cave in on him.  I finally have reached the point of acceptance that you cannot save a person who doesn’t want to be saved.  You can’t help a man who doesn’t want to help himself out of the pit he dug.  If he chooses not to climb out of that pit, it’s a choice he made.  Eventually, the hole caves in and the stones fall on the one digging, and GOD will be the Savior who cleans the dirt of His loyal subjects. Sometimes, there is nothing we can do to help others, we just have to let GOD's will take its course, even if it takes decades.  

613 Ropes 613 Laws

Each Has It's Own Purpose

  As a Mayflower descendant, I'm particularly interested in the ship that brought my ancestors over here and the reason why they came.  We all know they were called Separatists.  They wanted to separate from the established institution that overtook the governing of the people. When the state marries a religious institution, religious freedom becomes bondage.  We found this out back in Constantine's day.  Anyone who has truly studied the history will know that the Roman Emperor, Constantine forced people to convert or face death.  He had forced baptisms whether the person had a heart change or not. He persecuted the Jews who refused to convert.  We also know that the Roman church did the same thing with the Crusades and the Inquisition. It was either convert or be persecuted or executed.  The Gospel was never intended to force people to convert to anything, it was freedom, and it still is freedom.  In the same way there is more freedom in the 613 Laws of Moses than the thousands of unspoken and spoken rules the church has since written and taught, because the rules of Christianity are subject to man's interpretation thereby not objective but subjective. 

    As many of my readers know, I am what some call a TORAH observer.  Many Christians will say that I have put myself back under the bondage of the Law, but that is absolutely not the case.  Let's define the terms observe and TORAH. The Hebrew word TORAH translated means INSTRUCTIONS, the Law of Moses is in the TORAH but not the whole of TORAH.  When we observe something we study it, watch it, try to learn something about it.  I have spent the last eight years or so trying to learn about the TORAH. I know that GOD's instructions are for my good, but what about His Laws, are they for my good also? 

  It is fairly common knowledge that there are allegedly 613 Laws in the Mosaic Law.  Of those 613 not everyone can obey all of them, including Jesus himself.  He could not obey the Laws concerning women.  When he left the disciples his last words were, "Go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to OBSERVE all that I have commanded."  Let's explore the purpose of Jesus coming here. Was it just to die for our sins? No, it was to teach TORAH and purpose behind it.  What he did was complete the TORAH by dying so we could obtain eternal life, because the Law was never able to grant us eternal life.  He fulfilled the TORAH he did not abolish it. (Matthew 5:17-20) In other words, what we are all called to do is to trust in Yeshua/Jesus who observed and taught the  TORAH, the instructions. We are not all called to obey 613 Laws. it is impossible, but that does not mean they are now abolished. When we set rules for our children's good and they break them, do we abolished the rules?  

   Lately, I've been studying the 613 Laws of Moses and what I've learned is that there are specific reason for each Law and each one was given for our benefit and not because YHVH GOD is some kind of tryrannical deity.  I'll use the food laws as one example, which seems to be the one most people get upset about.  YHVH God designed certain of His creation for certain purposes.  In other words, vegetation for food, and then after the flood, Noah and his descendants were given animals as food, also.  I can't begin to explain why the change came, but I'm going to assume it has something to do with the change in the earth's atmosphere and ecology after the flood.  We know that before the flood, 600-900 years of living was the norm, but after the flood the human life span dropped to around 100 or so years.  With that in mind, there was obviously something missing in plant life that animals could now produce in terms of nutrition for the human body. Clean and unclean animals did not start with Moses, by the way, even Noah knew which were clean and unclean animals.   Genesis 7: (Clean and unclean animals even in Noah's day ) 

    What does clean and unclean mean? It means their purpose on this planet were for the good of man and the good for the ecology. Clean animals were for good of the human body, whereas,  unclean means that they are good for the ecology.  Of course, there is a much more spiritual meaning with clean and unclean, but I'm just sticking to biology here in this post.  Seeing how pork is the issue here, I'll tell you that swine was considered unclean because it was never created for the purpose of human consumption, but to be environmental agents to clean the earth.  A pig will eat anything, including its own waste, whereas, cattle eats only vegetation.  It is the same with the sea creatures.  Scavengers, i.e, lobster and clams (which used to be my favorite food) along with shrimp are on the bottom of the sea to keep it clean by eating what other fish defecate. To put is simply, do you want to eat a creature that eats the waste products of what other animals or humans eliminate from their bodies? From my persepective it's the same as eating out of the garbage or the septic tank if you really want to be grossed out. 

  Another reason why pork is bad for you is the parasites that are in its system. Many are not elimated by cooking. Microscopic parasites survive the high temperatures in cooking.  I don't often quote from Joel Osteen, but his was the plainest explanation I have heard.  Joel Osteen explains pork was never food  Although I had already decided to obey YHVH about not eating what He said not to eat, I loved his explanation and it made so much sense to me. (Video quality not so great, but the words are clear as day).  

   So what do the 613 Laws of Moses have to do with the the hundreds of ropes on the Mayflower? PURPOSE. My ancestor came here as a separatist to live out freedom in worshiping YHVH GOD. He could not do that without those ropes.  I'm not a sailor by any means, I'm just a beneficiary of what those early sailors knew and did.  Each of those ropes has a purpose. In the little research I did do, I found that each rope has a name and a purpose. If one of those ropes is cut it is the difference between arriving at one's destination and sinking or adrift forever on an endless sea.  It's the same with the 613 Laws of Moses, each had a purpose. 

    Now, we know that with the Temple having been destroyed in AD 70 and the Levitical Priesthood all but abolished, many of those 613 cannot be obeyed or followed, but does that mean we should not observe the reason or purpose for them? My opinion is that if YHVH GOD wrote it, Jesus taught it, then by golly, I'm going to investigate the purpose of it.

  

   My daughter once asked me about animal sacrifice and why we do not go back to that, and I told her that we still do when we eat animal protein. She was shocked to find out that the animal sacrifices were not just for spilling the blood of the animals but they were food for the priesthood. Sacrificing the animal over the altar was the priesthood dedicating the animal's nourishment to their body in gratefulness to YHVH GOD. The difference today and back then is we do not do it over an altar to sacrifice it to YHVH, but we pray over it before we eat it. I enjoyed watching her eyes pop open when that truth hit her.  

    When the Pilgrims came here, they put off the ways of the institutional church.  They did not obsereve the church's sacraments or holy days.  In other words, they did not celebrate Christmas or Easter. They were in fact Hebrew roots Christians. I find the irony kind of crazy that my ancestor was a TORAH observer.  I grew up in institutional Christianity and now, I am a TORAH observer.  I've come full circle and I am grateful for the purpose of both the 613 and however many ropes on the Mayflower that brought him here to begin my family in this wonderf land of the free and home of the brave. 

   I did not come to this knowledge all at once because learning is progressive and so is revelation from YHVH.  I do not expect my readers to go through their freezers and toss all their pork, but I hope I have stirred in them questions, enough questions for them to go find the answers.  Answers come from Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit.  Only the Holy Spirit can spark a true revival, and from what I'm seeing these past eight years or so, is that a huge world-wide revival is happening, bringing people back to the the purpose of the TORAH, GOD's instructions.