Category: Contend for the Faith

Pressing in to a deeper understanding of what it looks like to walk with Yahoshua (Jesus) daily.

Contend for the Faith

“See that no one leads you astray.” Matthew 24:4
“And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” Matthew 24:10
“I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” Luke 18:8
“Why do you call Me ‘Master, Master,’ and not do what I tell you?” Luke 6:46

“And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead and saying, ‘This Yahoshua, whom I proclaim to you, is the Messiah.’” Acts 17:2-3
“And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.” Acts 18:4

Everywhere we read, “Scriptures,” in the New Testament, it is referring to the Old, every, single, time. The Scriptures in the New support the Old, they do not contradict them. If what you read in the New seems to contradict or change the Old, you need to re-examine your understanding. Unfortunately, for many the Old is done away with which allows them to make the New say anything they want in order to justify their way of living. Beginning with this post i will be diving into the idea of being ready to give an answer to everyone who asks and contend for the faith of those in Messiah Yahoshua. Today i want to point out the idea of the Sabbath.

Paul, was in the synagogues every Sabbath as was his custom. There he reasoned with both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles), using the Scriptures to show that Yahoshua was the Messiah. The Apostles, understood the significance of the Sabbath. In fact you wont find a scripture in which they were not honoring or reasoning, or teaching on the Sabbath. In Exodus 20:8-11 we read:

“REMEMBER the Sabbath day, to keep it HOLY. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your Elohim. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days YHWH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath day and made it HOLY.”

This, the fourth commandment is the one emphasized the most with the second being the 2nd commandment, regarding carved images and idol worship. Can you name a denomination that uses carved images and encourages praying to statues or idols? Hint, it is also the organization that claims its authority by way of its changing of the Sabbath day from the seventh day of the week to the first (See: “The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine” Rockford, IL: Tan Books & Publishing, 1977; pg. 50 — and —Catholic Catechism, Part Three, Section Two, Chapter One, Article 3- I, II). Interestingly enough the Catholic 10 commandments removes the second commandment which commands us not to carve images or worship idols, and expands the 10th Commandment into two, “You shall not covet your neighbors spouse,” and “You shall not covet your neighbors goods.” Not to be misunderstood while giving the 10 Commandments, which is better translated, 10 Words, YHWH reminded them, “But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and KEEP My Commandments.” Daniel warns us this would happen, Daniel 7:25 says, “He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.”

Peter and the Apostles declared, “We must obey Elohim rather than men. The Elohim of our fathers raised Yahoshua, whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. Elohim exalted Him at His right hand as King and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom Elohim has given to those who OBEY HIM.” Acts 5:29-32. And Jude writes, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our Elohim into sensuality and deny our only King and Master Yahoshua Messiah.” Jude 1:3-4

There is one Sabbath Day. Can we worship Elohim on any day? Yes, of course we can! However, if we are to emulate the Messiah, as Paul says, “imitate me as I imitate Messiah,” and both Yahoshua and Paul honored and kept the Sabbath day, should we then not also keep the Sabbath day as Elohim instructs us?

“REMEMBER the Sabbath day, to keep it HOLY. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your Elohim. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days YHWH mad heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath day and made it HOLY. (Exodus 20:8-11)

REMEMBER, you are loved,
cj

Why Passover Matters More Than Easter

Why Passover Matters More Than Easter

“Now, therefore, fear YHWH, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve YHWH, And if it seems evil to you to serve YHWH,, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve YHWH,.” Joshua 24:14-15

This is my yearly appeal to you, out of love, walk away from Easter and all of its pagan roots. We know it to be true that Yahoshua (Jesus) fulfilled the Passover. John the Baptist declared on the river’s edge, “Behold, the Lamb of Elohim! Who takes away the sin of the world!” Yahoshua is the final Passover Lamb. We should be honoring that and not the combination of a pagan festival mixed in. The richness of the Feast of Elohim that tears the vale and covers us in righteousness. It cleanses us from our sin. It is all that we should be remembering this time of year. For it is the Feast at the head of the year.

In Emperor Constantine’s letter to “all those not present at the council”. Following the Council of Nicea he wrote how it would be better to separate from Jewish custom. He called out the Jews for killing Yahoshua and in many instances called for antisemitism. For instance, he wrote, “We ought not, therefore, to have anything in common with the Jews.”

He goes on to say, “They do not possess the truth in this Easter question; for, in their blindness and repugnance to all improvements, they frequently celebrate two Passovers in the same year. We could not imitate those who are openly in error. How, then, could we follow these Jews, who are most certainly blinded by error? for to celebrate the Passover twice in one year is totally inadmissible. But even if this were not so, it would still be your duty not to tarnish your soul by communications with such wicked people [the Jews]. Besides, consider well, that in such an important matter, and on a subject of such great solemnity, there ought not to be any division. Our Savior has left us only one festal day of our redemption, that is to say, of his holy passion, and he desired[to establish] only one Catholic Church.”

The question of whether or not Constantine truly converted to Christianity or not has been debated for centuries. However, we do know for a fact that rather than adhere strictly to Christian tradition and belief; for the sake of the unity of the empire, he combined the festal days of paganism and Christianity. His disdain for the Jews as represented in his letter, and his lack of judgment in establishing a new religion where we see the combination of paganism and Christianity should certainly call into question our adherence to these traditions.

“When Adonai your Elohim cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? —that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship Adonai your Elohim in that way, for every abominable thing that Adonai hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” Deuteronomy 12:29-32

i want to make a clarification here about Constantine’s reference to two Passover’s. Clearly he was unaware and sadly none of the scholars of his day enlightened him. In Numbers 9 we read of some men who were ceremonially unclean and therefore unable to bring the sacrifice of Passover. They inquired of Moses and Aaron on what to do. YHWH, told Moses to give this instruction: Numbers 9:10-11 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, if any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to YHWH,. In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. . .”

Concerning the idea that Passover or any of the Feast of Adonai are strictly Jewish, i present Leviticus 23:1-2 “Adonai spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, these are the appointed feasts of Adonai that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are MY appointed feasts.” Clearly they are HIS feasts, much like the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

Finally, let me close with this, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Messiah Yahoshua. And if you are Messiah’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:23) Passover this year begins at Sundown on Friday April 15, in line with Good Friday services, however, the tomb would not be discovered empty until Tuesday morning fulfilling the three days and three nights. Often Easter and Passover do not line up and occasionally are off by a months time. Although this year is very close in timing i will refuse to attend any church that is honoring Easter, hosting an egg hunt, or in any way mixing pagan tradition with this most Holy of Feasts, Passover.

You are loved,

cj

The End Does Not Justify the Means . . .

When terrible decisions aren’t realized until after you make them. Because in your mind you have justified the means for the end result, is it too late? Often we make decisions like this and they go unnoticed. However, there are times when they do get noticed and even the explanation sounds dumb. These decisions can have life altering effects on more than just you. i recently had the blinders taken off on just such a decision. In the process my life has been turned upside down.

The repercussions of this i will bear for a lifetime. i am sorry and sorrowful for the cause and effect that was created by it. As i have sat in the ashes of what’s left i have seen what sits above my doorway. It’s my life verse from the Bible, Micah 6:8. (NKJV)

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God”

The sign specifically says simply this, “act Justly, love mercy, walk humbly.” The decision that i made in every way was the opposite of this verse. The one that i have claimed as my own. Although, in the middle of it i was able to justify the means to myself. Because in my mind the end result would have been positive. Without going into detail, it was not just, it lacked mercy, and it became a matter of pride. “i am right, and i will prove it, come hell or high water!” Unfortunately, it appears, this realization has come too late in the eyes of men. However, it is never too late in the scope of eternity and in the eyes of the Lord.

He has shown repeatedly, in His Word, the power of forgiveness if one is willing to confess and repent. As i have confessed and admitted the decision i made was entirely wrong. It was in fact completely unjustifiable, regardless of my intention, His forgiveness has flooded my soul. i have also repented. In so doing, i am assured in Scripture that the One who matters most has forgiven me. His covenant remains unbroken. Although, i am suffering the worldly consequences of my decision. Still, i have hope in my eternal forgiveness in the Kingdom of God. Yet, as a human my mind spins endlessly and it is drawn to Micah 6:8.

His desire for us to act justly is something that is present in every moment. Influencing every decision we will ever make from this moment forward, forever. It is His desire for us to love mercy. The very act of being merciful, forgiving one another, is present in every situation. To include every error, and every circumstance of one’s life from now until forever. And finally, it is His desire for us to walk humbly with Him. To walk through life together is still His desire. Because, He lives out these very values. He is willing to act justly towards us, being merciful towards us, all while walking humbly. He is our perfect example.

Through this i am relearning to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God. After all, even though it is easy to give up on ourselves, Jesus never will!

You are loved, cj