Podcast Episode: Loving God in Truth: Faith, Obedience, and the Whole Word

Podcast Episode: Loving God in Truth: Faith, Obedience, and the Whole Word

Pip: There is a site called The Way of the Rabbi, which is either a very old GPS app or a very serious invitation to reconsider everything you thought you knew about obedience.

Mara: It is definitely the second one. cj has been writing about what it looks like to take the whole of Scripture seriously — Torah, faith, obedience, and what loving God actually requires in practice. Let’s start with that question directly.

Loving God in Truth: Faith, Obedience, and the Whole Word

Pip: The central tension here is a familiar one — is God’s instruction a burden we’ve been released from, or a delight we’ve been invited into? The post takes a clear position, and it’s not the one you’ll hear in most Sunday sermons.

Mara: The setup is Psalm 1:2, and the argument turns on a translation point: “But his delight is in the instruction of YHWH, and on His Torah he meditates day and night.” Torah and instruction are treated as interchangeable — not as legal code, but as the principles we are meant to aspire toward.

Pip: So the upshot is that if you spend your energy arguing the instructions are impossible or done away with, you never get to the place where they become a delight. The posture forecloses the experience.

Mara: Right, and the post names a specific argument it’s pushing back against — the claim that because Yahoshua fulfilled the law, we don’t have to. It calls this a real argument made by serious students of the Word, but says it uses Paul to supersede the rest of Scripture rather than read him within it.

Pip: Which is a pointed critique. The post also makes a striking move connecting lawlessness to the spirit of antichrist — not lawless in a civil sense, but in the sense of rejecting God’s Torah entirely.

Mara: The Ecclesiastes quotation lands the conclusion plainly: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” That is the post’s floor, and everything else builds toward it.

Pip: And faith itself gets redefined. The Hebrew word Emunah is described not as intellectual assent but as “a steadiness, as in a steady walk of obedience” — which reframes the whole salvation-by-faith-alone conversation.

Mara: Matthew 5:19 carries the weight of the practical call: whoever does the commandments and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom. The burden the Pharisees imposed, the post clarifies, was man’s tradition layered over Torah — not Torah itself.

Pip: So loving God and loving neighbor aren’t two separate tracks — they’re both grounded in the same instruction. That connection between love and obedience is where this lands.

Mara: And what it means for how we read the whole of Scripture — not as history, but as living instruction — is exactly the kind of question worth sitting with longer than one episode.

Pip: Delight in the instruction, or argue your way out of it — the post suggests only one of those paths actually changes you.

Mara: That’s the thread worth pulling. More from The Way of the Rabbi next time.

Read the whole post here: Loving God in Truth: Faith, Obedience, and the Whole Word

Loving God in Truth: Faith, Obedience, and the Whole Word

Loving God in Truth: Faith, Obedience, and the Whole Word

“YHWH will fulfill His purpose for me. O YHWH, Your loving devotion endures forever – do not abandon the works of Your hands.” Psalm 138:8

Since waking up to the whole of God’s Word, walking in obedience has been freeing not burdensome. Resting, truly resting in Messiah and honoring the Sabbath day has released stress. The passages of God’s Instruction being called a delight are true.

So many call God’s instruction or as it is poorly translated, law, a burden and unlivable. “No-one can do all the law”, they will say, “That is why Jesus had to die. He fulfilled the law so we don’t have to.” This is a real argument, made by folks who make studying the Word their life’s mission, so they say. They will use Paul as their source and use his words to supersede the rest of Scripture.

Psalm 1:2 says: “But his delight is in the instruction of YHWH, and on His Torah he meditates day and night.” Torah and instruction are interchangeable. These are the principles in which we are to aspire to. The key, if we want to come even remotely close wisdom, is to delight in Gods instruction; to meditate on it. If we spend all our time saying they are burdensome, unachievable, impossible or done away with, they will never be a delight.

When we cast off the Tanakh (Old Testament) we marginalize God’s Word and read it as history. History we are doomed to repeat if we do not delight in it. If we don’t read it as instructions on honoring and loving our Heavenly Father, it isn’t going to change us in away that is honoring to YHWH. We might as well be masquerading as angels of light if we say we love God but do not walk according to His instruction.

When we spend the majority of our time trying to justify our sinfulness, we become lawless. The actual identifying mark of the AntiChrist, is lawless. Not lawless as in he will not adhere to the law of the land, no he will be without God’s instruction. Without God’s Torah, he will not delight in it, but rather, he will call it burdensome, useless, done away. How is aligning with the spirit of antichrist in balance with loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. How can we honestly love our neighbor if we despise God’s instruction?

I heard it said once, “Life is too complex for formulas, we need ALL the wisdom books together to get the bigger picture.” The wisdom books referenced are Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. Together, the heart beat of God is revealed, His desire for His people. It begins with reverent fear, “the fear of Adonai IS the beginning of wisdom.”

The sin in the garden of Eden was disobedience. The same sin many seem to think is now suddenly okay. It is not. Yet, the devil whispers in the ear, “the law is fulfilled.” Somehow, this nullifies obedience in the heart of the disobedient. But is that really what God said?

We are given a promise in Philippians 1:6 – “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to its completion until the day of Yahoshua Messiah.” The day of Yahoshua, is the day He comes to rule and reign as King of kings and Master of masters. And He will rule by the instruction of the Father, for Yahoshua’s delight is in obedience. That is what He said, that is what He demonstrated, that is what He calls us to imitate.

Ecclesiastes ends on this note: “The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by One Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The END OF THE MATTER; all has been heard. FEAR GOD and KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, for this is the whole duty of man.”

Yahoshua said, “Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven, but whoever DOES THEM AND TEACHES THEM will be called great in the Kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:19

Those who would subvert the word of God and water it down for the weak willed will point to verse 20. They will say see, Yahoshua said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.” What they fail to recognize is the fact that the scribes and Pharisees had elevated man’s tradition over the Word of God. They put undo hardship and burden of the people. This was the burden, mans tradition.

Righteousness is the word dikaiosynē which means: integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting. It is walking in the obedience of God’s instruction: the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God. Which is found throughout scripture and can be simplified in two commands.

“You shall love Adonai your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the Shema. It isn’t new but it does require obedience. You cannot say that you love your spouse and then turn around and commit adultery. That is what we do when we say we love God but then walk in disobedience to His Word.

The second is like it Yahoshua continued, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” How can one love their neighbor without God’s instruction? He teaches us in His word how to love one another. And it begins by being obedient to His Instructions.

The whole of scripture, the instruction of God and the writings of the prophets rest on these two. These do not supersede them, they are the foundation upon which Torah is understood. Yahoshua being the manifestation of the Word. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” He did not come to abolish Himself, to make Himself obsolete, by no means, He came that we might have life and that abundantly. He brought wholeness to God’s instruction, a path, a light, a way. He came to reveal the Fathers Word by giving it breath and body.

He revealed the cost of walking in true obedience and the delight. That honoring God, living by His instructions, walking by Faith, as Yahoshua, and in Yahoshua. This is what brings the resurrection unto everlasting life in the Kingdom to come.

“Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” He is not going to abandon the works of His hands, the Words of His mouth, or the Instruction He has set forth for His people. The question then is will you join together with His people by placing yourself under His Instruction? This is true righteousness, and only the righteous will enter. One who walks in obedience is not boasting in his achievements or working for his salvation. On the contrary, he is acknowledging the Greatness of God by walking in His instruction, the way He designed us to walk.

The “reformed” church will say: ‘Salvation comes by faith alone in Christ alone.’ But they fail to define faith. Faith in Hebrew, which would have been the faith Yahoshua was teaching means something totally different than it does in the greek. You can read this post here for more on that – Understanding Faith: Beyond Belief and Action – here is an excerpt of that post:

**When we read about faith in the Tanakh, (Old Testament) we see it as active obedience. Hebrews 11 gives us a quick account of the pillars of Faith. The writer makes it a point to say, by Faith, “By Faith, Noah . . . in reverent fear constructed”, “By Faith, Abraham, obeyed . . .”. The word Faith in Hebrew is אֱמוּנָה – Emunah. It means a steadiness, as in a steady walk of obedience. A steadfastness, faithfulness in keeping the ordinances of God.**

How can we say that we love God, if we don’t do as He instructed? How can we say we honor Him, if we don’t keep His Commandments? How can we say that we commune with God, if we don’t meet Him on His Holy Days, His Sabbath, His Feast Days, His appointed times? How can we say we are close to God, when we focus more on mans traditions and sayings, than we do on the WORD of GOD?

Something to think about . . .

You are loved, cj

Podcast Episode: Is Christianity Too Narrow? Understanding the True Narrow Way

Podcast Episode: Is Christianity Too Narrow? Understanding the True Narrow Way

Pip: There is a site called The Way of the Rabbi, and it starts its week by asking whether Christianity is too narrow — which is either a very brave question or a very well-aimed one, depending on where you're standing.

Mara: cj takes that question seriously and works through what the narrow way actually means — tracing it from the Torah through the Gospels all the way to Revelation.

Pip: Let's start with the question itself and what the answer turns out to be.

Is Christianity Too Narrow? What the Narrow Way Really Means

Mara: The post opens with a simple search-engine prompt — what are the most searched questions about faith — and lands on one that connects directly to an earlier piece on the remnant: is Christianity too narrow?

Pip: The answer the post builds toward is both yes and no, which is not a dodge — it is actually the sharper claim. The path is narrower than most churches are preaching, and also narrower in its thinking than it should be.

Mara: The spine of the argument is Luke 13, where someone asks Yahoshua directly whether only a few will be saved. His answer: "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able."

Pip: That is not a reassuring passage if you assumed proximity was the same as entry — eating and drinking with someone, hearing them teach in your streets.

Mara: Right, and that is exactly the point the post develops. Familiarity with Jesus is not the same as obedience to the commandments. The post draws a line from that Luke passage through Revelation 12:17, where the dragon makes war on those "who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Yahoshua." Two markers, not one.

Pip: So the narrow way has two lanes, if you will — Torah observance and faith in Messiah — and the common western reading tends to collapse it into just the second.

Mara: The post traces that through the Torah itself, the Tanakh, the Psalms. Psalm 119:142 is cited: "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Torah is truth." The argument is that Yahoshua is the living Torah — the Way, the Truth, and the Life — not a replacement for the instruction but its fullness in human form.

Pip: Which reframes the narrowness entirely. It is not exclusivity for its own sake. It is the precision of a complete instruction being mostly ignored.

Mara: The post closes with Acts 2:42-47 — the early community devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer — as a picture of what active, lived belief actually produces. The question it ends on is direct: will you seek the narrow road, or the wide path full of lawlessness?

Pip: Heavy question. The kind that deserves more than a search result.

Mara: That tension between instruction and endurance is exactly where the next episode picks up.

Pip: The narrowness turns out to be the whole point — not a bug in the design but the shape of the thing itself.

Mara: More on where that road leads next time.

Is Christianity Too Narrow? Understanding the True Narrow Way

Is Christianity Too Narrow? Understanding the True Narrow Way

I was having a difficult time getting motivated this morning to write. Normally, by now, I have a topic that I have been researching. Perhaps even a main verse or some topical lines written to drive the post. Yet, today I sat starring at a blank page. So I asked Google: “what topics on faith and religion are the most searched?” One of the topics caught my eye, especially after my recent post on the remnant.

The question: “Is Christianity too narrow?” After writing on the remnant I thought to myself, “what else could I write in response to this question?” Well, here is my response to that . . .

Let’s start with Yahoshua’s (Jesus’) own words. First from Matthew and then from Luke.

Matthew 7 – 13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Luke 13 – 22 Then Yahoshua (Jesus) traveled throughout the towns and villages, teaching as He made His way toward Jerusalem. 23 “Adonai,” someone asked Him, “will only a few people be saved?”

Yahoshua answered, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Adonai, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

26 Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

27 And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you who practice lawlessness.’

28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30 And indeed, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”

Many, if not most western Christians will relate this to simply knowing Christ. They will point out that the religious leaders of the day rejected Yahoshua (Jesus). Therefore, Yahoshua was simply drawing a line in the sand. Much like Joshua son-of-Nun when he gave the Israelites an ultimatum. “Choose this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house we will serve Adonai YHWH.” See Joshua 24:14-28 for full context.

Joshua ultimately points out that following YHWH is difficult given the surrounding nations and their cultures. They will be enticed to follow after other gods and to worship them. And they did. It is subtle at first, you don’t know that you are compromising, usually, until it is too late. You have already dug a pit for yourself. Climbing out isn’t easy and most don’t even try. They have gotten use to where they are and comfortable with the lifestyle they have chosen. Changing requires too much sacrifice so it is easier to excuse sin than to repent of it.

The Torah, is comprised of the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In those books are the instructions given to the people of God on how to Honor and Worship YHWH. The message is the same throughout the Tanakh. The Tanakh is what we call today the Old Testament, which also includes the Torah, the Instruction of God. In the Tanakh, specifically passages in the Psalms, we read that the Torah is a Light, it is the Path, it is The Way to follow YHWH.

It is also referred to as the Truth. For example Psalm 119:142 says: “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Torah is truth.” Yahoshua makes this point when faced with death. In His prayer recorded in John 17:17 He says: “Sanctify them by Your Truth, Your Word is Truth.” He is praying for those who believe and will believe in YHWH through Yahoshua. The Word here is simply the Tanakh, and perhaps more specifically but not entirely, the Torah.

It was and is known as the Life. Moses, in closing out Gods instruction says, in Deuteronomy 32:46-47 “it is no empty word for you, but it is your life, and by this Word you shall live long in the land.” Yahoshua, is known as the real bread from heaven, in contrast to the bread from heaven that fed the Israelites in the desert. Yahoshua is the bread of passover which is broken for us. He is our life and through Him alone we have eternal life. However, we are still called to be the banner of the Kingdom, to live as Ambassadors. As such we wear the lifestyle of the Kingdom and honor its laws, wherever we live.

This is precisely why Yahoshua said the way is narrow and few find it. It is the Revelation cry! “Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Yahoshua.” Revelation 12:17. Here the dragon is the devil himself and the woman the people of God. Her offspring are those who are those naturally born in who believe in the whole of the testimony of Elohim and those grafted in. They are marked by two truths, they obey the commandments of God and they hold fast to their faith in Messiah.

It is such an important point that John is instructed to record this idea multiple times. In Revelation 14:12 he writes: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Yahoshua.” We are living now at the doorstep of tribulation. Whether, it comes today or five years from now, the times are only going to reflect the birth pains of His coming. The signs increasing like labor pains upon the earth.

This already narrow road is about to get rocky as well. Man’s ability to endure is going to be challenged. Only those who hold fast to the commandments of God and their faith in Messiah Yahoshua will make it through. This is what is revealed in the parables of the ten virgins, or the one about the man who makes into the wedding but isn’t wearing the right clothes. The parable of building your house on the rock instead of the sand. The parable of the sower, the parable of mustard seed, the parable of the weeds, the parable of the hidden treasure, peal of great value, the list goes on.

There is one ending statement on His teaching of the Kingdom, Yahoshua makes that most read right over. In Matthew 13:51-52 He says: “‘Have you understood all these things?’ They said to Him, ‘Yes.’ And He said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.'”

It is an understanding that it is the whole of God’s word that truth is found. The new does not disregard the old and the old does not disavow the new. They are in fact one. Yahoshua, the revelation of the Word to humanity in the flesh is the living Torah. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the manifestation of the instruction of the Father. The fullness of God present among men. And men rejected Him then and they are rejecting Him still today. Because they are not seeing Him as the fullness of Torah and the example of how to walk it out practically.

So, to answer the question, ‘Is Christianity too narrow?’ The answer is No and also Yes. It is more narrow than it is being portrayed today. For many reject the commands of God and hope in a ‘belief’ not lived out. Yet, it is also too narrow in its thinking towards the whole of Gods Word. Keeping to the new while discarding the old, to their own shame.

Yahoshua prayed to the Father that He would sanctify us by His Truth, and His Word is Truth. He calls us to live as He lived, and He honored the Sabbath, the Feast Days, the Commandments of God. Paul writes that we should imitate him as he also imitates Messiah. The way is narrow, but it is not hidden, it is in plan view but most choose to ignore it for wide is the path and lawlessness abounds. What is lawlessness? Living outside of Gods instruction, living outside of Torah.

The lie is in the idea that we are unable to live out the Torah. That no one outside of Yahoshua ever has or ever will. But that is like saying, it is impossible to hit a bullseye twice in the same place so therefore one never tries. No, rather the sportsmen, and competitiveness in humanity, drives us to attempt things that are difficult. Impossible even. No baseball pitcher or fan alike, has ever said, “since a perfect game has already been thrown, no one should ever try to duplicate that!”

By no means is that true. And I have already pointed out that we are called to imitate our Messiah. The charge given by both our Messiah Himself, as well as, Paul whom many say discards Torah altogether. Which couldn’t be further from the truth. Is the narrow way difficult, yes it is. Yahoshua told us it would be. However, He also said, “Take My yoke upon you for My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Can both be true? Absolutely. For the promise is that through the Holy Spirit we are empowered to walk as He walked.

It requires that we deny ourselves and live for Elohim. To love Elohim with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. How does one love another in such away? To live pleasingly, obediently, reverently. To also love our neighbor as ourselves. Imagine a world in which we lived by these principles.

The instruction give to us in His word is perfect and if lived out it would change the world. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (they taught from the Tanakh) and fellowhship, to the breaking of bread and prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed (active belief) were together and had all things in common. . . praising God and having favor with all the people. And Adonai added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)

So what will you do? Will you seek to live for the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit? Will you seek the narrow road and walk on it? Or will you choose the wide path which is full of lawlessness, without instruction, outside of Torah? What will you choose?

You are loved, cj

Podcast Episode: Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns, and the Christian Call to Be Set Apart

Podcast Episode: Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns, and the Christian Call to Be Set Apart

Pip: There is a moment every October when a carved pumpkin sitting on a pastor’s doorstep becomes a theological crisis — and cj found that moment.

Mara: This episode follows one post from The Way of the Rabbi, walking through the history of the Jack-O-Lantern, what an African missionary saw in it, and what the call to be set apart actually demands of a believer.

Pip: Let’s start with the gourd.

Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns, and the Christian Call to Be Set Apart

Mara: The post opens with a story: an African missionary visiting American homes in October, seeing Halloween decorations at house after house, saying nothing — until he saw a carved pumpkin on the host pastor’s own doorstep.

Pip: That’s the frame. A man who recognized something that the pastor had stopped seeing — or maybe never looked at closely enough.

Mara: The missionary’s words, quoted directly in the post: “I cannot believe that Christians in America, would light the gourd.”

Pip: And the pastor’s response was essentially: relax, it’s just a cultural tradition. Which is exactly the kind of answer that sounds reasonable until you ask what the tradition actually is.

Mara: The post traces two separate histories. The first is the Jack-O-Lantern itself — rooted in Irish folklore about Stingy Jack, a trickster who tricked the Devil, was refused entry to both heaven and hell, and was condemned to roam the earth with a burning coal inside a hollowed turnip. Irish immigrants brought the custom to America in the 1840s and switched to pumpkins because they were easier to carve.

Pip: So the symbol is literally a man wandering in darkness, shut out of both destinations. That’s the decoration.

Mara: The second history is the one the missionary carried with him. The post explains that in parts of West Africa — likely the Congo region — lit gourds placed at a compound’s entrance served as a visible receipt: proof that a household had paid tribute to a witchdoctor and was under that practitioner’s protection.

Pip: Which means the missionary wasn’t reacting to a quaint autumn custom. He was looking at something he had seen used as a mark of occult allegiance, now sitting on a Christian pastor’s front step.

Mara: The post anchors all of this in Psalm 1 — “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers” — and in the Matthew 7 warning: “I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Pip: The argument isn’t that every person carving a pumpkin is making a conscious spiritual declaration. It’s that appearances carry weight, that compromise accumulates, and that loving your neighbor poorly includes modeling a life that blurs those lines.

Mara: The post puts it plainly: living in compromise does not show compassion to the lost. The call is to return to the feasts of God and turn from the traditions of man — including the ones that feel harmless because they have always been there.

Pip: The missionary’s grief was the signal. The question the post leaves open is whether the western church has the ears to hear it.

Mara: What stays with me is the image of the lit gourd — the same object, two continents, two completely different frames of reference.

Pip: Context is everything. And sometimes it takes someone from the outside to hand it back to you.

Mara: More from The Way of the Rabbi next time.

Read the entire post here: Podcast Episode: Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns, and the Christian Call to Be Set Apart

Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns, and the Christian Call to Be Set Apart

Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns, and the Christian Call to Be Set Apart

In one of my letter conversations that I had with two Mormon Missionaries I mentioned the story of the gourd. It was inspired by a telling of a personal antidote from a speaker at a conference that I attended. The speaker was an African missionary, and he told a story of his first trip to America. It was in October and the celebration of Halloween was in full swing. Coincidentally, it was also October this time around when I had the honor of hearing him speak.

On his missionary journey here to the Americas he was speaking at various churches and conferences. Informing the western church of what was happening in the African church. On his first trip ever to America, specifically the United States, he was traveling with the host pastor of the conference. They went to visit a few of the folks who were unable to get to church for various reasons.

At several of the stops there was Halloween decor on the outside of the home, including carved pumpkins, otherwise known as Jack-O-Lanterns. The missionary didn’t say anything, keeping quiet about the pumpkins and Halloween decor. It was when they arrived at the pastors house and the missionary saw pumpkins on pastor’s doorstep that the missionary finally succumbed to his emotions.

His countenance shown in his face, that of a man of sorrow. The pastor asked him what was the matter? To which the missionary said, “I cannot believe that Christians in America, would light the gourd. The pastor brushed it off as though the missionary just didn’t understand American culture and that this tradition was simply harmless fun.

I didn’t have full context when I heard this story. In fact had you asked me of my opinion on Halloween before walking in to hear the missionary I probably would have sounded like the host pastor. But something struck me hearing the missionary recount the story. That year I told my family we weren’t going to carve the pumpkins that we had already purchased. We didn’t and I haven’t since.

As I studied more on the subject I discovered the source of the missionaries grief. And I understood the severity of appearances. Psalm 1 is as good of place as any (there are plenty to turn to) to capture the essence of what the missionary and now I feel.

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the Instruction of Yahweh, and on His law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does. 4 Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For Yahweh guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

The ties of the gourd to witchcraft, witchdoctors, and secret society are numerous. Here’s just a snapshot. These examples come from the History Channel, and the Encyclopedia Brittanica websites.

Concerning the missionary and his grief over the lighted gourd I found this information particularly enlightening. While a “lighted gourd tax” is not a continent-wide anthropological term, the missionary was likely describing a localized practice from regions and countries of West Africa (e.g., Nigeria, Cameroon) or the Congo Basin. If my memory serves me here it is my recollection that he was indeed from the Congo; but I am not exactly sure.

  • The Spiritual “Tax” (Tribute): In many historical contexts, certain powerful secret societies (like the Ekpe or Leopard Societies in West Africa) or corrupt spiritual practitioners operated as shadow governments, this included witchdoctors who were considered spiritual leaders.
  • The Tribute: They demanded regular tributes of food, livestock, or goods from villages. If a village or household refused to pay, they were threatened with curses, illnesses, or physical raids by the society’s masked enforcers.
  • The Gourd as a Receipt: Dried gourds (calabashes) were widely used as containers for sacred medicine, charms, or shrines. These were specifically used in witchcraft, occult practices, and by witchdoctors. When a family or village paid their required tribute, the witchdoctor would often leave a designated charm or marked item at the entrance of the compound.
  • A traditional oil lamp: Hollowed-out gourds were frequently used as primitive lanterns or oil lamps. Placing a lit gourd lamp outside a dwelling served as a visible, night-time receipt showing the compound was under the “protection” of the witchdoctor and should not be harassed.

Now knowing this information wouldn’t change much of a western christian’s mind. Especially one who enjoys the spirit of Halloween. The argument could be made that this is a cultural expression separate from western culture all together. But do most ‘christians’ know the origins of the pumpkin, also known as a Jack-O-Lantern? Again, the following examples are taken from the History Channel and the Encyclopedia Brittanica websites.

Halloween’s Jack-O-Lantern

  • The tradition of the jack-o’-lantern comes from an Irish folktale about a mischievous man named “Stingy Jack” and ancient Celtic harvest customs.
  • Trickster’s Fate: According to Irish folklore, Stingy Jack tricked the Devil multiple times. When Jack died, God refused him entry into heaven, and the Devil—keeping his promise not to claim Jack’s soul—turned him away from hell as well.
  • The Wandering Ember: The Devil sent Jack into the dark night with only a burning coal for light. Jack placed the coal inside a hollowed-out turnip and has been condemned to roam the Earth ever since, becoming known as “Jack of the Lantern”
  • Samhain Festival: The custom is tied to the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, when people believed the boundary between the living and the dead is blurred.
  • Moving to America: During the 1840s Great Potato Famine, Irish and Scottish immigrants brought the tradition to North America.
  • Why Pumpkins: Immigrants discovered that American pumpkins were much larger, softer, and easier to carve than turnips. The carved pumpkin quickly evolved into a staple decoration of modern Halloween. Even taking on the name Jack-O-Lantern.

With all the other aspects of Halloween, the idea that westernized christianity is ok it baffles me. Although, I also see its allure since for most of my life I also celebrated it. However, once the veil was removed from my eyes there was no way I could justify my compromising belief. My hypocritical belief to be more specific. Since then my love for Yahoshua has only grown with a desire to live for Him.

As Yahoshua said, “The greatest commandment is this: To love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” To share any part of that with anything remotely evil, pagan, or of the occult, is unthinkable. Still, Yahoshua didn’t stop there He continued, “And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And all the Torah and Prophets hang on these two.”

How can I say that I love God and participate in a man made tradition. Even more, one that is so intertwined with evil it can’t separated which leads to compromise. Moreover, how can I say I love my neighbor while causing they to stumble. Living in a place of compromise does not show compassion to the lost. No, if anything it sets up a lifestyle of compromise that makes it easier to turn to worldly tradition than to God’s Instruction.

Part of living in Covenant with Elohim is abstaining from evil, shunning it really. God does not play around. Is He patient? Yes! Is He forgiving? Absolutely! Is He unchanging? You better believe it! Hebrews 13:8 tells us, “Yahoshua Messiah, is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Yahoshua, is the Word made flesh, He is the Living Torah, the Manifestation of God’s Instruction. And Yahoshua says:

21Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Adonai, Adonai,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Adonai, Adonai, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

That word lawlessness, is to say, ‘without Torah. So to be clear, Yahoshua says, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who are without Torah.” Which brings us back to Psalm 1.

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the Instruction of Yahweh, and on His law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does. 4 Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For Yahweh guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

It is time to come back to the Feasts of God and turn from the traditions of man, including all of mans pagan rooted holidays.

Keep Reading: Samhain, Halloween and the Church: Testing Tradition by Scripture

You are loved, cj

Podcast Episode: The Remnant, the Narrow Way, and the New Covenant in Messiah

Podcast Episode: The Remnant, the Narrow Way, and the New Covenant in Messiah

Pip: There is a road, apparently, and it is narrow — and according to cj’s recent writing at The Way of the Rabbi, most of us are on the other one.

Mara: The posts this episode cover a lot of ground: what a remnant actually is, what the New Covenant asks of the people in it, and what faithful obedience looks like across both Testaments. Let’s start with the remnant itself, and what it costs to be counted in it.

The Remnant, the Narrow Way, and the New Covenant

Pip: The post opens with a deceptively simple question: what does a remnant look like? And the answer the text gives is uncomfortable — eight people. Out of the whole of humanity, eight. That is the frame the rest of the argument builds on.

Mara: The post draws the line between Noah’s favor and his family’s salvation directly. Setting up the theological stakes, it quotes Paul’s letter to the Romans: “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”

Pip: So grace is doing the choosing — but the post is quick to say that does not let us off the hook. Yahweh says “I have kept for Myself,” but the post insists our decisions are still in the equation. The remnant is small because obedience is chosen, not automatic.

Mara: And the post works through what disobedience costs, concretely. Lot’s wife was told to flee and turned back. Ham made it onto the ark and was later cursed. The post reads those as object lessons — surviving the judgment does not guarantee faithfulness inside it.

Pip: The wide road is well-traveled for a reason. It requires nothing.

Mara: The post then turns to Romans 11 on the olive tree — the broken branches and the grafted-in wild shoots — and quotes it at length. “Do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.” The kindness of God, the post argues, is covenantal. You continue in it, or you are cut off.

Mara: What that means practically is that the New Covenant is not new in content — it is the same covenant, now written on hearts, with the Holy Spirit as the guide on the narrow road. Gentile believers are not joining a new thing; they are being grafted into Israel.

Pip: The post closes by pointing to a companion piece on faith — Understanding Faith: Beyond Belief and Action — for readers who want to follow the thread on what active faith actually looks like. The invitation at the end is direct: choose the remnant, choose the narrow way, choose the covenant.

Mara: And the weight of that choice, the post says, extends beyond the individual — “perhaps by implication, the eternity of your family depends on it.”

Pip: Which brings us back to Noah, and why the post opened there at all.

Pip: Eight people. One ark. The math of a remnant has never been comfortable reading.

Mara: But the post is less interested in the numbers than in the question underneath them — what does it mean to walk in the kindness of God, and to keep walking? That question does not close here.

Read the post in its entirety here: The Remnant, the Narrow Way, and the New Covenant in Messiah

The Remnant, the Narrow Way, and the New Covenant in Messiah

The Remnant, the Narrow Way, and the New Covenant in Messiah

“On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark” (Genesis 7:13)

What does a remnant look like? To answer that we first need to know what the word remnant means. According to Dictionary.com it is: a remaining, usually small part, quantity, number, or the like . . . a surviving trace or vestige, as of a former era. In the narrative of Noah and the Ark a remnant was eight people. Along with pairs of animals of every kind, seven pairs of clean and one pair of unclean. A remnant is very small.

What did Noah have that the other people did not? Was it Noah alone that secured his family? The narrative indicates that it was Noah and that because of Noah his family was also saved. So then was the remnant one?

“So Yahweh said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ BUT Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh.” Genesis 6:7-8

Yahoshua said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37). To be fair in this reference He was speaking primarily of preparedness. However, one cannot help but wonder if also there isn’t a deeper meaning being revealed between the lines. Yahoshua, is our Ark of Salvation. It is through Him that we find Favor in the eyes of the Father. Not of our own works but simply through the work of the Messiah. Much like Noah’s family. It was Noah who found favor in the eye’s of Yahweh, and it was Noah’s family that chose to listen. They chose obedience in following their father.

For a hundred years Noah and his family built the Ark and the people scoffed. Had they listened, would they have been counted in the remnant? Had they chosen to fear Yahweh and turn from their wickedness, would they have been counted worthy of the remnant? I only ask the question, I do not have an answer given the absolute corruption of the time. Much like Sodom and Gomorrah, was Lot righteous or was it because of Abraham that Lot and his family were spared? And in that, it wasn’t all of Lot’s family for his son’s-in-law scoffed at him and he fled with only his wife and two daughters. Lot’s wife didn’t even make it because she turned back.

Yahoshua, is revealed not only as the Anointed One, but as the Son of Elohim. His obedience even to death on a tree. Paul writes to the Philippians, “And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a tree.” Of which I remind you, was not deserved, but rather He exchanged His life, His righteousness, His favor for our life, our sins, our condemnation.

Even still, it seems that only a remnant will be saved, because only a remnant chooses obedience. But some will quote Pauls letter to the Romans. They will point out it isn’t by works but by grace. Let’s look at the passage so many like to point to . . .

“I ask, then, has God rejected His people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3“Adonai, they have killed Your prophets, they have demolished Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” (Romans 11:1-6)

Yahweh says, “I have kept for Myself . . .” He is the author and finisher of faith, but does that remove us and our decisions from the equation? Absolutely NOT! We are still faced with a choice to follow or not to follow. We are still faced with the fork in the road, in one direction there is a wide easy road with many a traveler on it. And in the other direction, a narrow path, with only a few travelers. You see there is still a choice, obedience or not, walking in the spirit or walking in the flesh.

The choice Lot’s wife made to disobey the instruction of fleeing Sodom, she turned back and was turned to a pillar of salt. She chose disobedience. Even Noah’s son who made it on the Ark was later cursed. He wasn’t honoring, he wasn’t obedient. He chose dishonor and suffered for it not only Ham but his descendants. “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” (Genesis 9:25)

The remnant which is small is based on obedience to the instructions of Elohim. As Paul writes to the Romans of broken branches and grafted in branches it is those who choose to walk in the kindness of Elohim; which is to say, to walk in covenant. Everything is by covenant, hence the term New Covenant. Which is only new in the sense that it is now written on our hearts and on our minds. And we are given a helper, the Holy Spirit, to help us walk it out. To guid us on the narrow road.

“17But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 

21For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. 22Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.” (Romans 11:17-23)

What then does it mean to walk in His kindness? To not be proud, but fear? How often is it written, “the Fear of Adonai is the beginning of wisdom”? Job which is believed by some to predate all of scripture, meaning that it was written even before Moses records Elohim’s Torah. His instruction to His people, of which, as we just read, we are grafted into as gentile believers, or re-grafted in as natural branches by faith. Faith being active, for more on that read this post here: Understanding Faith: Beyond Belief and Action. (Note: Some Rabbinic traditions attribute Job to Moses.)

Regardless of when it was written or who wrote it, it is an ancient writing. A writing in which the author attributes Job to saying, “Behold, the fear of Adonai, that is wisdom and to turn away from evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28) Turning from evil is a choice, fearing Elohim, is also a choice and it is required.

It is required of the remnant of Israel and it is required of those who would choose to be grafted into Israel. There is only one covenant and it is made with Israel, for Israel, and the only way to become a part of it is to join with Israel. The New Covenant remnant. It is no longer a nation, as we define a nation today it is a people of God that choose Yahweh’s instruction, fear, reverence, and the turning from the wickedness of this present age.

There is a second exodus spoken of in Scripture when Elohim will gather His people, both the natural branches that walk in His kindness by Faith, and those foreigners, gentile believers. Who by Faith choose to honor the Father by living in the fruit of the Spirit and not the acts of the flesh.

Will you choose the remnant? Will you choose the narrow way? Will you choose to enter the new covenant? These are the questions only you can answer, choose wisely, as eternity, your eternity and perhaps by implication, the eternity of your family depends on it.

You are loved,

cj

Podcast Episode: Samhain, Halloween and the Church: Testing Tradition by Scripture

Podcast Episode: Samhain, Halloween and the Church: Testing Tradition by Scripture

Pip: Every October, the church faces the same annual identity crisis: candy corn, carved pumpkins, and a theological question nobody quite wants to answer out loud. cj, writing for The Way of the Rabbi, decided to answer it anyway.

Mara: This episode follows that argument — where Halloween’s roots lead when you trace them through Scripture, and what the Bible actually says about borrowing from pagan tradition.

Pip: Let’s start with Samhain, All Saints Day, and the case for testing everything against the text.

Samhain, Halloween and the Church: Testing Tradition by Scripture

Mara: The central tension here is straightforward: when the church adopts a cultural practice to reach people, is it being missional — or is it assimilating into something Scripture explicitly warns against?

Pip: The post opens with the Berean standard as its benchmark, and then drops this from Acts 17:11: “Now the people here in Berea were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they early welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh every day to see if the things Paul was saying were true.”

Mara: The upshot is that no tradition — not even one sanctioned by a church council — gets a pass from that test. The post is asking readers to apply that same standard to Halloween itself.

Pip: And when you do apply it, the historical record gets uncomfortable fast. All Saints Day was originally a May festival, moved by papal decree to October 31st specifically to overlay the Celtic observance of Samhain — the night pagans believed the veil between the living and dead grew thin.

Mara: The post is direct about what Scripture says in response. Deuteronomy 12:30 reads: “be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, ‘How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.'”

Pip: So the argument isn’t “Halloween is spooky, therefore bad.” It’s that the mechanism — coopting a pagan observance to make it Christian — has no scriptural warrant, and the text runs the other direction entirely.

Mara: Paul’s instruction to the Thessalonians reinforces it: “Abstain from every form of evil.” The post also points out that Scripture already provides harvest celebrations — the biblical feasts — so the need to borrow from outside isn’t obvious to begin with.

Pip: There’s a prayer request quoted in the post that stops the argument cold — someone writing that they want to leave Halloween behind and finding it genuinely hard to do. That’s not a theological abstraction.

Mara: Right. The post draws a parallel to 2 Chronicles 30, where Hezekiah called Israel back to Passover and the people laughed the couriers out of town. The suggestion is that the dynamic inside the modern church isn’t entirely different.

Pip: Tradition is a powerful current, and ridicule is apparently a timeless crowd management tool.

Mara: The post closes by redirecting toward the biblical feasts — Passover, First Fruits, Pentecost — as the framework already given for marking death, resurrection, and the Spirit. The argument is that the replacement was already there.

Mara: The thread running through all of this is a single question: who gets to define the terms of worship — inherited tradition, or the text itself?

Pip: Apparently that question gets asked every October, and every October most people are busy buying candy. Next time, we’ll see what else is on the table.

Read the post in its entirety here: Samhain, Halloween and the Church: Testing Tradition by Scripture

Samhain, Halloween and the Church: Testing Tradition by Scripture

Samhain, Halloween and the Church: Testing Tradition by Scripture

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, since you know that we will be judged more severely.” James 3:1

There are so many ‘teachers’ out there today it is hard to believe that this verse even exists. Then again, perhaps that’s why the verse is there in the first place, to warn us. Who are you listening to? Who are you allowing to influence your understanding of Scripture? According to James that circle should be very, very, small. In my writing to you it isn’t my goal to teach you but to encourage you, to encourage you to search the Scriptures daily to see whether or not what you are being taught is true. To be Berean, and to meditate on the Word, in order to absorb it into every fiber of your being.

Acts 17:11 “Now the people here in Berea were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they early welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh (Scriptures) every day to see if the things Paul was saying were true.”

Psalm 1:1-3 “How blessed are those who reject the advice of the wicked, don’t stand on the way of sinners or sit where scoffers sit! Their delight is in Adonai’s Instruction; on His Torah they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams – they bear their fruit in season, their leaves never wither, everything they do succeeds.”

We are on the doorstep of a once prominent Catholic/Christian holiday called All Saints Day. It was established to celebrate and acknowledge saints and martyrs. Originally, it was a festival decreed by the Pope back in 609AD but in the month of May. Later through various Papal decrees it was moved to the Celtic day of Samhain October 31-November 1st in order to Christianize a pagan holiday. Samhain, in pagan tradition and belief is the time of year the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest and therefore marks the crossing of souls into the afterlife. 

Sounds like a good idea right? Honoring saints and martyrs of Christendom, while attempting to convert pagans by co-opting their holiday. But tradition and reason aside what does the Bible say, you know, Scripture, the Torah, the Tanakh, and what have the writers of the new Testament have to say? The answer may surprise many because many ‘Teachers’ teach that you can redeem pagan things and practices. 

Unfortunately, there is no evidence of this found in Scripture. Actually, the opposite is true. Those who follow Yahweh are called to separate themselves from the worldly culture or  pagan practices and influences that surround them. Lest they fall into the temptation of practicing such things. John in his writing of Revelation says, “Come out of her my people.” Speaking of Mystery Babylon, but why? He explains; “She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.” What happens if we ignore the warning? “so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.” Revelation 18 goes into greater detail, detail you should understand.

We are called to avoid evil. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, “Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:22)

Deuteronomy 12:30 – “be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.” This is in reference to assimilating into or allowing pagan influences into the practice of Worshiping Yahweh. 

Deuteronomy 18:9 – “When you enter the land the Adonai your Elohim is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations.” 

I am not sure how much clearer things can be spelled out. God is not honored by His people when they practice any culture other than the one He gave them. Does this mean we cannot have or celebrate culture? Absolutely not! However, it does call us to question motive and tradition. We are called to be separate from not unmistakably conformed to worldly practices and traditions. 

What about harvest festivals? Well, traditionally in Scripture there already are Feasts, in which we are called, to a celebration of the harvest. In fact there are Feasts within Scripture to honor the death and resurrection of our Messiah Yahoshua. It is not Easter, but Passover. The ultimate martyr and victor over sin and death. His resurrection was on First Fruits, which is celebrated and marked by a priest waving a sheaf of the first barley harvest. Pentecost, the day we remember the giving of the Holy Spirit, also lines up with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Why does the church try so hard to manipulate God’s instruction for its own traditions? We cannot make things clean or unclean of ourselves of which God Himself has already declared to be true. If you are planning or perhaps already have started your celebration of Halloween or All-Saints-Day, it is my desire that you look into Scripture for your answer. Not the tradition of man, even that of the Pope. Be careful, be diligent, be purposeful, in your walk with Elohim. You cannot be a follower of Yahoshua (Jesus) and not obey His instruction. Yahoshua, is the Word made flesh. 

When coming out of mans tradition and an assimilation into pagan culture one can find it challenging. Especially, when the church you attend is throwing a harvest festival with non-scary costumes of Hollywood, and folklore demigods. A prayer request I came across on a prayer platform read: “I want to stop with the horror and Halloween stuff and I’m having a very hard time doing so. My 12-year-old niece is the same. It’s my fault.” This request grabbed my heart. For so long I was part of that culture of compromise and now that my eyes have been open I see the snare set by the enemy so many willingly walk into and then find it hard to get out.

When stepping out of pagan culture whether you are there intentionally or not is difficult at best. In 2 Chronicles 30 there is a history lesson to be learned. Hezekiah, the King of Judah, was a man who sought God and His ways. He realized that they should have been celebrating the Passover and so he sent out a decree to the tribes of Israel saying:

“O people of Israel, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to Yahweh Elohim of their fathers, so that He made them a desolation, as you see. 8 Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh and come to His sanctuary, which He has consecrated forever, and serve Yahweh your God, that His fierce anger may turn away from you. 9 For if you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away His face from you, if you return to Him.” 

But the people for the most part were stuck in their ways. The response to King Hezekiah’s decree was one of doubt and ridicule, in fact it says that most of the people laughed. 2 Chronicles 30:10 says: “So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.” The church is the same today. Pastors will teach compromise in the spirit of outreach. But that is never prescribed as an avenue of outreach. But what is, is unity, one heart, one mind and the people desired what was being blessed. Besides the ‘Pastor’ of the church will ridicule you, even laugh at you for wanting to honor God the way He instructed us through His Word. The way Yahoshua taught. Not mans traditions but the Fathers instructions. 

There is so much more I could write and perhaps I will write on this but unfortunately most have already stopped reading at this point. Our attention spans have grown short and few desire to read. Rather choosing to be entertained by two minute videos on TicToc that mainly rot one’s brain. 

Wake up Church! Time is ticking away, you are not promised tomorrow so live for Messiah today!  “Come out of her My People!”

Keep reading: Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns, and the Christian Call to Be Set Apart

You are loved,

cj