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!”

You are loved,

cj 

Podcast Episode: He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

Podcast Episode: He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

Pip: There is a genre of writing that takes an ancient promise, traces it through three thousand years of Scripture, and lands it in your inbox on a Tuesday. cj writes that genre, and writes it well.

Mara: This episode follows one sustained meditation — on trust, obedience, and what Psalm 118 actually asks of the people who lean on it. Let’s start with that promise and what comes attached to it.

He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118

Pip: The phrase “He will never fail you or abandon you” gets repeated in Christian circles often enough to lose its edges. This post is interested in restoring those edges — asking what the promise actually includes, and what it assumes about the one receiving it.

Mara: Psalm 118 opens the argument, and the post quotes it at length. Here is the spine of it: “From my being hemmed in I called on Yah; He answered and gave me more room. With Adonai on my side, I fear nothing — what can human beings do to me?”

Pip: That image of being hemmed in and then given room is doing real work. It is not a promise that the pressure disappears — it is a promise that the space expands. The stakes are different from what the comfort-poster version implies.

Mara: The post traces that promise backward through Deuteronomy, where Moses charges Joshua before the crossing: “Adonai — it is He who will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you, so don’t be afraid or downhearted.” But the post is careful to note what immediately follows in Joshua’s own commissioning.

Pip: Right — and here is where the post sharpens. The promise in Joshua comes bundled with an instruction: follow the Torah, do not turn from it left or right, keep it on your lips and meditate on it day and night. The assurance and the obedience are not separable.

Mara: That is the post’s central move. It defines righteousness directly from Scripture as obedience to the instruction of Elohim, and argues that the new covenant does not dissolve that obligation — it internalizes it. Matthew 5 is quoted: “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to bring to fullness.”

Pip: The name change from Hoshea to Yahoshua — Salvation to Yah is Salvation — gets its own moment here, and it earns it. The argument is that redemption is encoded in the name before the story is told.

Mara: The post closes with Hebrews 13, which loops the Psalm back to the present: “God Himself has said, ‘I will never fail you or abandon you.’ Therefore, we say with confidence, ‘Adonai is my helper; I will not be afraid.'” The promise is ancient, the application is immediate, and the obedience is the condition that holds it together.

Pip: Trust and obey — the post ends with exactly those words. Not as a cliché, but as a conclusion the whole reading earns.

Mara: What stays with me is that the promise and the instruction travel together — you cannot lift one out without the other flattening.

Pip: Ancient text, Tuesday morning, same hemmed-in feeling, same offered room. More of that next time.

Read the whole post here: He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

He will never fail you or abandon you. He, is God, and His promises are true.

Give thanks to Adonai, for He is good, for His grace endures forever.
Now let Israel say, “His grace endures forever.”
Now let the house of Aaron say, “His grace endures forever.”
Now let those who fear Adonai say, “His grace endures forever.”

From my being hemmed in I called on Yah; He answered and gave me more room.
With Adonai on my side, I fear nothing – what can human beings do to me?
With Adonai on my side as my help, I will look with triumph at those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in Adonai than to trust in human beings;
better to take refuge in Adonai than to put one’s trust in princes.

The nations all surrounded me; in the name of Adonai I cut them down.
They surrounded me on every side in the name of Adonai I cut them down.
They surrounded me like bees but were extinguished [as quickly] as fire in thorns;
in the name of Adonai I cut them down.

You pushed me hard to make me fall, but Adonai helped me.
Yah is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.
Psalm 118:1-14

As the world steps more and more into uncertainty let me remind us; those of us who call on the name of Yahoshua Messiah (Jesus), who seek the Father by way of His Son; we CAN rest in His promise that He will never fail us or abandon us. Psalm 118 is a great reminder of this and it begins by reminding us that we need to GIVE THANKS to Adonai, for HE IS GOOD, for HIS GRACE ENDURES FOREVER.

This understanding goes back, way – way back. We see it present through out Genesis and throughout the succession of leadership. Moses said to Joshua, “Be strong, be bold, for you are going with this people into the land Adonai promised to their ancestors He would give them. You will be the one causing them to inherit it. But Adonai – it is He who will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you, so don’t be afraid or downhearted.” Deuteronomy 31:7-8

This is the message many Christians love to repeat, and it is true. However, each time this promise is given there is a reminder, just as Elohim tells Joshua; “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will neither fail you nor abandon you. Be strong, be bold; for you will cause this people to inherit the land I swore to their fathers I would give them. Only be strong and very bold in taking care TO FOLLOW ALL THE TORAH (Instruction) which Moses My servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or the left; then you will succeed wherever you go. Yes, keep this book of the Instruction (Torah) on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed. Haven’t I ordered you, ‘Be strong, be bold?’ So don’t be afraid or downhearted, because Adonai your Elohim is with you wherever you go.” So He tells you and i.

Psalm 118 continues:
The sound of rejoicing and victory
is heard in the tents of the righteous:
“Adonai’s right hand struck powerfully!
Adonai’s right hand is raised in triumph!
Adonai’s right hand struck powerfully!”

I will not die; no, I will live and proclaim the great deeds of Yah!
Yah disciplined me severely, but did not hand me over to death.

Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter them and thank Yah.
This is the gate of Adonai; the righteous can enter it.
I am thanking You because You answered me; You became my Salvation.

The very rock that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone!
This has come from Adonai, and in our eyes it is amazing.
This is the day Adonai has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad.
Psalm 118:15-24

A few things to point out here as this Psalm is so rich in content. Joshua son of Nun, was originally named Hoshea, that was his birth name. Names have meaning and significance throughout Scripture and cultures for that matter. Hoshea, means ‘Salvation’. When Hoshea’s name was changed it was changed to Yahoshua, meaning, YAH is Salvation. This is significant in that it is the story of redemption told in a single name. Man cannot save themselves, we need a savior. Yah is our salvation. This name of course would come back into play, as Yahoshua son of Nun led the Israelites into the promised land so Yahoshua the Son of Elohim, leads His people into the Kingdom.

Righteous or righteousness as defined by Scripture means; one who is obedient to the instruction of Elohim. Another way to say it, ‘those things commanded by Elohim to be obeyed by man’. This didn’t change under the new covenant as the new covenant is simply the ‘old’ covenant written on our hearts. It is written there by the Holy Spirit, through the finishing work of Yahoshua, Yah’s Salvation, the Word made flesh as John writes in his gospel recording.

Yahoshua does not diminish the responsibility for obedience. He made several references to the ongoing need to walk according to the commands of Elohim. Matthew records Messiah saying: “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah (Instructions of Elohim) or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to bring to fullness. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a dot or a stroke will pass from the Torah – not until everything that must happen has happened. So whoever disobeys the least of these commandments and teaches others to do will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)

Yahoshua Messiah also said:

“But why do you call Me ‘Adonai, Adonai,’ and not do the things which I say?” Luke 6:46

“If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.  I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever.  That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17

Remember that Yahoshua is the WORD made flesh, He is the Torah, He is the written instruction and He is commanding us to obey. Not without help, He is providing the Holy Spirit who not only writes the instruction on our hearts but also enables us to live obedient lives IF we listen, for He doesn’t force obedience, He encourages it. Even more of His own He demands it.

Some say it is too hard to keep the commands of Elohim. Yet, we read in His word that His Word is not too cumbersome. Who is telling the truth, man or God? There is only one right answer, “Let God be true, even if every man is a liar.” Psalm 118 concludes:

Please, Adonai! Save us! Please, Adonai! Rescue us!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai. We bless you from the house of Adonai.

Adonai is God, and He gives us light. Join the pilgrim festival with branches all the way to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I thank You. You are my God; I exalt You.
Give thanks to Adonai; for He is good, for His grace endures forever.
Psalm 118:25-29

The writer of Hebrews records this in the thirteenth chapter beginning with verse five; “Keep your lives from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God Himself has said, ‘I will never fail you or abandon you.’ Therefore, we say with confidence, ‘Adonai is my HELPER; I will NOT be afraid – what can a human being do to me?'”

By God’s grace He has made away for salvation through His Son Yahoshua. Yah is Salvation, for all those who call upon the Name of Adonai Yahoshua Messiah. The very Word made flesh, who like the finger of Elohim, wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, so too He writes the Commandments of God on our hearts. Who then shall we fear? We trust only in the God of Heaven, by faith in Messiah Yahoshua, guided by the Holy Spirit – the promised HELPER.

Trust and Obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Yahoshua, than to trust and obey.

You are loved,
cj

Podcast Episode: The Transformative Power of Music: Healing Through Frequency

Podcast Episode: The Transformative Power of Music: Healing Through Frequency

Pip: There is a particular kind of rabbit hole that starts with live music on a street corner and ends at the fall of Lucifer — and somehow the journey makes complete sense.

Mara: That is exactly the territory cj maps out in this episode’s post, moving from the healing properties of musical frequency through scripture, ancient cosmology, and the question of what we let shape us from the inside out.

Pip: Let’s start with the music itself — and what it actually does to a person.

The Transformative Power of Music: Healing Through Frequency

Mara: The central tension here is deceptively simple: music is powerful, and that power cuts both ways — it heals, it seduces, it shapes the listener whether they intend it or not.

Pip: The post anchors that claim in a quote from composer Jacob Collier, framed around a teaching session in Australia: “As a teacher, as a performer, as a parent, you are only as powerful as you make other people feel.”

Mara: And the post immediately connects that to the golden rule — loving your neighbor as yourself. The upshot is that music is not just aesthetic; it is relational, and its power is measured in what it does to the person receiving it.

Pip: Which is where frequency enters the conversation — and it gets specific. Researchers at MIT and the National Institute of Health have published on how particular frequencies influence the mind and body, and the post points readers there without overclaiming what it can explain on its own.

Mara: The scriptural grounding runs deep. First Samuel 16 describes David playing the harp before King Saul: “And whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would pick up his harp and play. Then Saul would find relief and feel better, and the spirit of distress would depart from him.” That is a clinical description wrapped in ancient language.

Pip: Three thousand years before the NIH study, someone noticed that sound moved a man’s inner state — and wrote it down.

Mara: The post also interrogates the popular image of angels singing at the nativity. Luke 2:13 uses the Greek word legō — meaning to say or speak — not to sing. The post raises this not to diminish music but to sharpen the focus on frequency and spoken word as equally potent carriers.

Pip: Then comes the Lucifer thread — Ezekiel 28 describes timbrels and pipes prepared in him on the day of his creation, which is where the theory of heaven’s fallen choir director originates. It’s speculative, the post says so plainly, but the implication lands: if music could draw a third of the angels into rebellion, it deserves more than casual listening habits.

Mara: The post closes personally — soft jazz at work as “serenity music in the midst of chaos,” and a prayer drawn from Psalm 40: that Adonai would put a new song in the mouth, one not borrowed from the world’s playlist.

Pip: What stays with me is the image of Jacob Collier conducting an audience that didn’t know they were about to become an orchestra — no script, just presence and gesture.

Mara: That is the post’s real argument: frequency shapes us whether we consent or not, so the question worth asking is whose song we are actually carrying.

Pip: And for that we have to make sure that we are filtering the frequencies we allow ourselves to hear.

Mara: Precisely, this post has so much to offer its worth reading in its entirety at thewayoftherabbi.com until next time.

The Transformative Power of Music: Healing Through Frequency

The Transformative Power of Music: Healing Through Frequency

Most people who know me, know that I love music. Once, I was out to dinner and the conversation was on music. I was asked, “What about you?” I responded, “I just like live music.” To clarify, it is music of all sorts. It could be a guy on the corner playing a one string guitar, I would stop and listen. If someone is doing what they love and making music to entertain others, I appreciate it. I appreciate them and I show it by stopping and listening and if they are asking I give them money.

I recently stumbled upon a young composer named Jacob Collier . . . a brilliant musical mind, almost too brilliant, really. I was watching one of his teaching sessions from Australia and this quote from him hit me. So, I thought I would pass it on here with a note. He said, “As a teacher, as a performer, as a parent, you are only as powerful as you make other people feel.” It reminded me of the golden rule. “Do unto others what you would have them do to you.” Or “Love your neighbor as yourself.” These principles are what make a person successful. Life is about relationships, be relational, be intentional, love always, forgive often.

I don’t know about power or making people feel powerful, but forgiven, loved, hopeful, encouraged. These are right and good. Music, is a powerful influencer. Frequencies, are known to heal and harm. Now I don’t know enough about it to tell you anything specific or matter-a-fact. But, different frequencies have been used scientifically to influence the mind and body. Researchers at MIT and the National Institute of Health have articles on the subject if the idea intrigues you beyond what I have to say here.

As well, people have been influenced by the music they listen to throughout time. Young David, would play the harp before King Saul when he was being tormented and it would sooth his spirit. 1 Samuel 16:22-23 – “Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, ‘Let David remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.’ And whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would pick up his harp and play. Then Saul would find relief and feel better, and the spirit of distress would depart from him.”

Some believe that music is a form of spell casting, or that it can be used in such away. Jacob Collier, mentioned above said that when he was a kid he would watch his mother conduct the orchestra and that it looked like she was casting a spell. He was referring to her hand gestures and the way her body moved as she conducted. He described it as ‘mesmerizing’. Music is a powerful tool.

It is often depicted as a choir of angels appearing to the shepherds in the field to tell them that Yahoshua (Jesus) was born. The actual reference in Luke 2:13-14 says: “And suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!‘” The word ‘lego’ being translated here as ‘saying‘ according to Strongs G3004 means exactly that, ‘say, speak, call, tell’. It is the same word legō that is used in Revelation 4:8 which tells of the angels around the Throne of God. “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is Adonai Elohim Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

There are plenty of musicians who incorporate the spoken word into musical rhythms. So I don’t say this to detract from the idea of music but perhaps to more focus on the frequency than how the words of a melody are presented. One thing that fascinated me about Jacob Collier is his ability to create melody with the voices of people who had no idea he was going to do such a thing. At a jazz festival, he got the audience involved with just their voices, no knowledge before hand, no script, he just simply gave them the example. He gave out different parts to sections of the audience and then by simply gesturing to them he created a melodic sound so captivating the people were left in awe. That is the power of music, melody, and frequency.

It is said that Satan, aka Lucifer, was the choir director or orchestra conductor in heaven before his fall. Whether or not this true there isn’t definitive proof. However, in Ezekiel 28 there is perhaps a hint. A hint great enough to create the theory. Ezekiel is directed by Elohim to write a lament for the king of Tyre. Ezekiel 28:11-15 says:

“Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what Yahweh Elohim says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold, the workmanship of your timbrels and of your pipes were prepared in you in the day that you were created, prepared on the day of your creation. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for I had ordained you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways—until wickedness was found in you.”

Timbrels: Translated from a Hebrew word (toph) typically meaning a hand drum, tambourine, or percussive instrument.
Pipes: Translated from a less clear Hebrew word (neqeb) that some scholars and historic translations interpret as flutes, wind instruments, or hollow cavities meant for sound.

Understanding now both the beauty Lucifer is described with and the potential ability to conduct music, one can see how great the potential for pride there was. Look at the music industry today, the pride, and the superficial emphasis on beauty. There are very few ‘ugly’ frontmen in the music industry. Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I am not saying they don’t exist but they are far and few between. Forest Frank, not too long ago ruffled a few feathers when he refused to attend an award show and receive an award for his music. Essentially saying, he didn’t want the credit for his music but rather that the glory should go to God alone. Needless to say that was not a popular opinion amongst his peers.

Music is powerful, it is seducing in its appeal, it draws the heart and the mind. If the theory of Satan/Lucifer is true and he was the director/conductor of music we can certainly see how it was possible to draw a third of the angels with him. A third is not a small number. If someone is polling at 33% they are considered a threat in politics. There had to be some sort of influence being wielded about to garner 33% allegiance from his fellow angels. Strong enough to cause them to join his rebellion. Imagine that if you will and then consider what influence music has over you.

As I stated in the beginning, I love music. I enjoy listening to live music. I will go out of my way to support musicians. Especially, if I know them and if their music lightens my mood. I often play soft jazz in the background at work. I call it my serenity music in the midst of chaos. I certainly notice when it isn’t playing and there is a higher level of stress in the work place. So perhaps I am simply writing to myself, to caution myself to the power of music, to its influential powers, and hypnotic potential. As they say, ‘garbage in, garbage out.’

So, I am constantly asking Adonai to fill me with His melody. To place His song in my heart and mind and lips. As the Psalmist says 48:1-5:

I waited patiently for Adonai;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in Adonai.

4 How blessed is the man who has made Adonai his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
5 Many, O Adonai my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.

May our hearts cry, be that Adonai Elohim fill us with His song, His music, His lyric, His melody, His frequency, that we would not be influenced by the worlds music but by His alone. May we seek to love our neighbors, to do for others what we would have them do for us. To seek first the Kingdom of Elohim and His righteousness. To live out the example set out for us in Messiah. Above all, to love Elohim with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Singing unto Him all the praise and honor due His Name.

You are loved,
cj

Podcast Episode: Walking the Ancient Paths: Preparing Your Lamp for His Coming

Podcast Episode: Walking the Ancient Paths: Preparing Your Lamp for His Coming

Pip: There is a question older than the internet, older than organized religion’s gift shops, and it turns out it is still the most urgent one on the table: do you have enough oil in your lamp?

Mara: cj’s recent writing at The Way of the Rabbi circles that question from several angles — preparation, ancient paths, and what it means to actually walk them rather than just nod in their direction.

Pip: Let’s start with the lamp, the oil, and why the shortage everyone should be worried about has nothing to do with gas prices.

Walking the Ancient Paths: Preparing Your Lamp for His Coming

Mara: The post opens with a striking juxtaposition — rising gas prices and oil blockades in the news, set against a much older question about readiness. The tension it’s driving at is this: how do you prepare for an end that every generation has thought was imminent, and every generation of skeptics has mocked?

Pip: And the skeptics get their own scripture here. Peter anticipated them directly, writing in 2 Peter 3:3-4: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'”

Mara: So the scoffing itself is part of the pattern. The post holds that in tension with Ecclesiastes — nothing new under the sun — while still insisting this moment carries genuine weight.

Pip: The oil, it turns out, is not subject to OPEC. The post is clear: this oil is available in abundance, but the obstacle is not scarcity — it is the gap between what people say and what they actually do.

Mara: That gap gets its own passage. Yahoshua draws from Isaiah 29:13 to say it plainly: “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”

Pip: The post names that disconnect as the central problem — a church that has drifted from the actual practice: the Sabbaths, the Feasts of YHWH, the Commandments, walking as Messiah walked, not merely affirming it on Sunday.

Mara: Jeremiah’s crossroads passage is where the post lands its sharpest point. YHWH says stand at the crossroads, ask for the ancient paths, walk in them. And the response recorded is blunt: “But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!'”

Pip: What keeps that from being purely accusatory is the framing around obedience. The post is careful — walking the ancient paths is not earning salvation. It is responding.

Mara: That distinction matters. The post frames it as love, not ledger-keeping: “Yes, and Amen, to Your Ways, by Your grace, You have made a way for us.”

Pip: And it closes with the parable of the ten virgins — five with oil, five without, and a door that shuts. The post’s final word is not condemnation; it is urgency.

Mara: The watchmen have sounded. The question the post leaves open is whether anyone is listening.

Pip: Oil, ancient paths, a door that closes — these are not abstract metaphors. They are a call to close the gap between what we profess and how we actually walk.

Mara: That gap is the territory worth sitting with. More from The Way of the Rabbi next time.

Read the full post here: Walking the Ancient Paths: Preparing Your Lamp for His Coming

Walking the Ancient Paths: Preparing Your Lamp for His Coming

Walking the Ancient Paths: Preparing Your Lamp for His Coming

Do you have enough oil in your lamp? Gas prices are on the rise because the supply is down. War has caused a blockade resulting in shortages in available oil. The world is in turmoil and has been in a tumultuous state for some time. Does this mean we are near the end, is the world at a tipping point? Surely it has been like this before. History reveals wars and famines and great natural calamity. What makes this time different? Try having this conversation with a non-believer or a general skeptic and you will find them saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?”

Peter writes this very thing. In 2 Peter 3:3-4 he writes; “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.‘” Are we living in the time of scoffers? Haven’t scoffers always been around?

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says it best; “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Does this mean that time is just one giant loop with no end? John who writes Revelation tells us there is coming a time of great struggle and calamity, the likes of which have never been seen before. A world wide catastrophic sequence of events. How does one prepare for such a time? Do you have enough oil to see you through the darkest time in history?

Luckily, the oil being talked about here isn’t found in the ground, it isn’t suffering from shortages, nor effected by blockades. War will not defeat it nor skeptics denials hinder it. The oil is available in abundance for everyone but few seek the source. Many claim to seek the source but they don’t want the commitment so they say it with their mouths but their hearts are far from. Yahoshua said, “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” (Matthew 15:8-9)

The passage Yahoshua is drawing from is Isaiah 29:13 – “And YHWH said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, while their hearts are far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment taught by men.” Where is the disconnect? Why the contempt for the Way of Yahoshua, who we are told to imitate. This would include keeping the Sabbaths as He did, the Feasts of YHWH as He did, the Commandments and Statutes of the Father . . . as He did.

Jeremiah prophesied of a time such as this when he recorded the words of YHWH. “This is what YHWH says, “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Still even after YHWH says this He tells us the response of the people. “But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’” How is it that the modern church has lost its discernment for the ways of Elohim? How have they fallen so far into their own traditions of men? Why do they cry out every Sunday, “We will not walk in it!?

YHWH continues speaking through Jeremiah, “I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.’” Currently as I write this we are in the midst of the Fall Feasts, Yom Teruah has passed and Yom Kippur is a few days away. The Trumpets called us to attention, reflection and repentance, the atonement for our sins IS conditional upon our repentance and acceptance of the promise of forgiveness and new life in Messiah. IF we live as He lived. Not in our own strength or perfection or righteousness but through the power of the Holy Spirit who causes us to walk out the Covenant with Elohim the Father. Yet still as YHWH spoke through Jeremiah, “But they answered, ‘We will not listen!’

We who follow the ancient paths are not earning our salvation by keeping the Commands of Elohim. We are not earning but responding in love to the Creator of all things, “Yes, and Amen, to Your Ways, by Your grace, You have made away for us. Help us to walk the ancient paths that we might honor You, Adonai our King.”

It is time to wake up, it is time to hear the trumpets call, to go and buy oil for your lamps. For the groom is approaching and it is time for the bride to make herself ready. Do not ignore the call and find yourself unprepared.

“But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him. ’Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. ’But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. ’And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Adonai, Adonai, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:6-13

You are loved,
cj