Tag: berean

The Impact of Influencers in Today’s 24/7 News Cycle

The Impact of Influencers in Today’s 24/7 News Cycle

When I was just a boy, I had a paper route. Everyday when I would get home from school I folded my papers and started out delivering the news. Imagine, waiting until 3 or 4 O’clock to get your news! It is hard for me to even imagine it and I delivered the paper. Today, we live in a 24/7 news cycle and instant updates. It is hard to keep up. Every morning I get an email from a news organization. It is their ‘Morning Brief’. They highlight five or six stories to bring one up to speed on the happenings around the world. Yet, even then some of the stories have changed considerably by the time I open the page. Time is moving at a extremely fast clip, it is hard to keep up, if you blink you might miss something.

This 24/7 news cycle with updates at your fingertips can lock you in and it is hard to take a breath. Yet, with news so in your face these days there are some still who are oblivious to what is going on in the world. Oh they have their phone in their hands but they are playing games and scrolling Tic Tok. Their algorithm is full of cat videos and silly dances being performed by people they don’t know but follow and like and comment as if they do. Everyone is influenced by something or someone. You have news anchors who influence your opinion based on what network you prefer. As well if you aren’t into the news you are influenced by social media influencers. There are even ‘Christian’ influencers out there influencing the mind of their followers. The question is what or whom influences you?

I only want One influencer, the Ruah ha’Qodesh, that is the Holy Spirit. His role is to influence us towards the Word of God. To meditate on it day and night. Soak in it like a sponge. So that when others are around us they too end up under the influence of the Living Water of the Word. When you take a sponge full of water from the sink it drips everywhere, that is how we should be. So saturated by the Word that wherever we go we leave a trail behind us of living water. The Holy Spirit through us influencing those around us by our word and deed. When others bring us news our filter should be the Word. When others bring us ‘entertainment’ our filter should be the Word. When others bring us the ‘Word’ our filter should be the Word.

Let us consider together 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. But his delight is in the Torah of YHWH, and on His instruction he meditates day and night. 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.” If you honestly desire to know YHWH in His fullness you must know His Word, His Torah, His Instruction. Not only to know it but to believe it and to obey it.

Psalm 1 continues . . .
“Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For YHWH guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” The wicked do not delight themselves in the Torah.

Is it only the wicked that turn their back of God’s instruction?

How would the Berean’s receive this statement?

Those in Brea were limited to the ‘Old’ Testament, we have the writings of the Apostles too. What can we find about “winds of doctrine”?

What are the implications?

This is the Way of the Rabbi,
You are loved,
cj

Every wind of doctrine . . . part 1

Have you noticed that those foods, whether from a fast food place or a box of your favorite cereal, just doesn’t taste the same anymore? Some say it is because our tastebuds have changed over time. That may be partly true. However, ingredients have changed so much i am sure that plays a larger role in why foods taste different, and not for the better in most cases. Neither are they any healthier, in fact with near certainty i can say foods have become less healthy over time. The food industry in an attempt to reduce waste, and increase profit have tweaked recipes endlessly with little regard to original taste as long as it is “close”.

i for one am not a fan of change. Let’s look at my favorite fast food restaurant as an example, Taco Bell. They had an encharito, which was beef and beans, rolled in a soft corn tortilla, smothered in red sauce and covered in cheese, onions, and black olives. It was amazing! Through the years it lost its corn tortilla and became flour, this to some was a subtle change, but to me it was huge and not for the better. Then they ditched the black olives, another cost cutting effort i am sure. Over the years they changed their sauce ever so slightly, a little at a time. Today, if you did a taste test of sauce from 1980 and today, i bet not only would you not think that they were from the same restaurant, you would definitely notice the major differences between them and how newer is definitely not better. All of this is a moot point as Taco Bell no longer offers the encharito on their menu, nor their tostada, Bell-Beefer, or the All Beef Burrito. Change is not always good regardless of the motive behind it.

When restaurants, or food companies, make changes they are counting on the consumer not noticing or if they do notice, it will be so subtle that they will accept it. And in most instances if the price is right, change will be accepted regardless or how much change takes place. The proof is in the fact that we have become fatter, and overall, more unhealthy over time and much of it can be attributed to the food industries changes in ingredients. i am no health expert, i don’t pretend to eat all healthy, i enjoy a donut and ice cream now and then, however, i do try to buy and eat foods that are healthier. i cook most of my meals, i read labels, i try to eat in moderation or in healthy proportions.

What is the original recipe of the Ecclesia (Ekklesia – the assembly of the sect of the Nazarene in and around Greece), the people of the Way? The word ἐκκλησία means, “called out ones” or “set apart ones”. Today we say church, a weaker ingredient if you ask me. If you are a Christian, regardless of your brand, wouldn’t you want to be most like the original recipe as you could? Don’t you want to read labels, check recipes, scour menus for imperfections and lesser ingredients? We are called to be Berean’s who in Acts are described as more noble because they received the Word with gladness and then searched the Scriptures to see whether what they were hearing was true. They were hearing the gospel message, and verifying it within the Torah and the Profits writings. Interesting.

The Berean’s did this because they didn’t want a counterfeit religion they wanted the original recipe. Over time things were added to the faith of YHWH. There was an oral tradition which was later written known as the Talmud full of extra laws and regulations and ordinances, that the religious leaders elevated above the Torah, above the Prophets, above the Word of YHWH. It was subtle, over time, a little here and a little there until faith in YHWH was unrecognizable. i look at the many buildings in my town serving an unhealthy version of the original and because it has been done subtly over time most don’t even know it. It’s sad because it would only take someone doing a little digging to see that what they are doing, hearing, and being taught doesn’t look anything like that of the Way. (Where are the Pastors?)

i feel like we have lost the Berean spirit. We have substituted a curious mind for a mindset that says, “tell me what to think, tell me what to believe.” Not everyone, everywhere, but definitely a majority. Ask yourself this question with all the flavors available on Sunday, who has been swept away, blown about by the winds of change? Taking Ephesians 4:14-15 for a spin around your neighborhood. “That we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, who is the heard, Messiah.” While you consider this remember these passages of Scripture as well, and on this theme do some digging.

Numbers 23:19
“Elohim is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?”

James 1:17
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Hebrews 13:8
“Yahoshua Messah is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

John 1:1, 14
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim.”
“The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw His glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

What inspired this post? Well, on my planner, yes i still use a paper binder planner, over the past several weeks i have written the following;

Yahoshua said that He is
The Way, The Truth, The Life

The Torah is described as
The Path/Way/Instruction
The Truth, what is truth? Your Word is Truth
The Life, man shall not live by bread alone BUT
By every Word of Elohim

Yahoshua is The Word made flesh

With this in mind i began reading from Wesley’s works again. It is one of the collection of books i have kept. To be honest, mainly for the binding and how cool they look on my bookshelf. However, i do enjoy the information written within them . . . Not over Scripture of course and as many will concur, i don’t agree with everything he said either. Now with that disclaimer, it did stir the Berean heart within me to really think about the idea found in Ephesians 4:14

“. . . tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine.”

i don’t know about that, but i am gonna dig around and write a part two.

You are loved,
cj

Great American Prophet

“YHWH your Elohim will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of YHWH your Elohim in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let us not hear again the voice of YHWH our Elohim, nor let us see this great fire anymore, lest we die.’ And YHWH said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which he speaks in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which YHWH has not spoken?’ — When a prophet speaks in the name of YHWH, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which YHWH has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” Deuteronomy 18:15-22

It’s election season again in America and the prophets are out in full force with their, “Thus says the Lord,” prophetic word. i am not calling out any by name but instead giving insight as to what the Word says and how to interpret or see who is a false prophet or one who speaks presumptuously, after eating his ham sandwich he purchased from the deli on the Sabbath. Deuteronomy 18:22 says, “When a prophet speaks in the name of YHWH, if that thing does NOT happen or come to pass, that is the thing which YHWH has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” There are a lot folks who are still following and promoting some of the ‘Great American Prophets’ which pretty much got every aspect of the 2020 election wrong. Yet, folks still cling to every word and are hopeful still about more ‘prophetic words’ that again have yet to come to pass.

The Word says to test: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from Elohim, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1

We are called to be like Bereans: “These were more fair-minded than the Thessalonians, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11

i don’t know for sure but it seems to me that if YHWH were going to speak to a prophet today, He would do so using His name and not a translated title. He says He is not the Elohim of confusion. He isn’t going to contradict Himself, He isn’t going to mislead His prophets, He isn’t a liar. Yahoshua came in the name of YHWH and was rejected. He warned that others would come in their own name and be received. There is power in the Name of YHWH Elohim (For more on what’s in a name click here).

What causes so many to remain loyal to modern day ‘prophets’? The word is clear about the way to recognize a false prophet. It is also clear of the warnings. For further study here are some verses you can look up on how to spot, and the warnings about listening to, false prophets.

Jeremiah 14:14
Jeremiah 29:8-9
Deuteronomy 13:1-4
2 Peter 2:1-3
2 Timothy 4:3-4
Add more in the comments:

As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way MORE AND MORE like MESSIAH, who is the head of His body, the church.” Ephesians 4:14-15

Be watchful, be like those in Berea, study to show yourself approved.

You are loved,
cj