Tag: Ekklesia

Avoiding Deception: The Call to Biblical Truth

Avoiding Deception: The Call to Biblical Truth

Confused? So am i. In Matthew 24:4 Yahoshua warns, “See that no one leads you astray.” In other words, do not be deceived. We are told throughout Scripture to be weary of those who profess to know truth but speak falsehoods. They lie and they scheme to lead others away from the truth. That in the last days wolves will creep into the Ekklesia and deceive many, even the elect if possible.

This morning a popular pastor and teacher warned of this saying. “We are going to pray together against deception. We hope that people will choose to read their Bibles instead of getting their theology from TikTok. A lot of people who build their theology on TikTok are going to be very disappointed someday.” He went on to say that we need to take on the whole counsel of Scripture. That if your church doesn’t teach the whole Bible, flee from that church! He said, “Let us pray that you, me, and anyone else out there being deceived would comeback to Biblical truth. Stop listening to people, that includes me, start judging everything by the Bible.” He also said that this is the age of the gentile. That yes Jews can be saved, by coming into the fullness of Messiah.

All of this sounds great! Until, you begin to recognize that the modern church or Westernized Church has this belief. The modern church says: “Become like the gentile to be saved!” When Elohim calls the gentile to be like Israel.” The pastor went on to say that he would be speaking at a particular church “this Sunday.” Whose Sabbath is this Sunday’s? If we are taking the whole counsel of Elohim it isn’t YHWH’s or Yahoshua’s. This is the greatest deception facing the church today! The Sabbath is the sign of the covenant. It is the wedding ring! This is what separates us outwardly. Not that teaching can’t happen on Sunday. Certainly it can as we see Paul teaching on the 1st day of the week. The concern becomes the blatant disregard for the 7th Day Sabbath. Especially when warning about deception and false teaching.

The pastor used Romans 11:11 to make his point. It states: “So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.” Which is really ironic since it calls us to live like the Hebrews. We should be living to make the natural branches jealous, stirring a desire to return to Elohim within them. “But 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, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if Elohim did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.” Romans 11:17-21.

This is where the whole counsel of Elohim becomes more than just word play. Where taking in the fullness of a passage is far more important than taking one verse out of context. Then twisting it to fit what makes you comfortable. Exactly as Peter warns. “And count the patience of Adonai as salvation. Just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him. So as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand. Which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand. Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people [Torahless people]. Thereby, losing your own stability. But Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Adonai and Savior Yahoshua Messiah. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:15-17.

Most of what he said was actually good advice. Put on the full armor of Elohim. Don’t believe everything you hear even from your pastor. Test the teaching against Scripture. Does it line up with what Elohim has already said? Remember, He is the same and His Word endures forever. Now after saying all of this he says here are the devils tactics.

First, he will get you to doubt what you have believed. True. Yet the Holy Spirit will also correct us if we are wrong. Philippians 3:15 gives us insight. “Let those of us who are mature think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, Elohim will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” Sounds a lot like being challenged on our beliefs to me. So what we need is discernment. To know the voice of Elohim. So what is the test that we are listening to the True Voice of Elohim? “Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

How do we know that we are entering in through the narrow way? This same idea is presented time and time again. Paul says it this way, “Imitate me as I also imitate Messiah.” Yahoshua says, “If you love Me, YOU WILL keep My commandments.” Later in the same chapter He says, “If anyone loves Me, HE WILL keep My word. For this My Father will love him. We will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever DOES NOT love Me DOES NOT KEEP My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” John 14:15 & 23-24. Yahoshua is the Word made Flesh, that Word is Torah! Elohim’s Words to His chosen people of which we get to be apart by way of Yahoshua. As Romans 11 says again, “grafted in” to the branch, Israel.

Second, the pastor goes on to warn of Satan’s attacks. To which i have no quarrels. He will attack us and he knows the Word of Elohim well. He is a master craftsman of manipulation who twists scripture better than anyone or anything could ever hope to do. So it is important to know how did Yahoshua confront Satan in the wilderness. While He was being tempted at the start of His ministry. He confronted him with the very Word of Elohim. “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by EVERY WORD of Elohim.” Do you know His Word personally, or only know of it through man? Do you read it and meditate on it so that it becomes written on your heart and mind? Want to know what voice you are listening to? Study the word!

Hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah, again i say SHEMA!

“Thus says YHWH! ‘Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon My salvation will come. My righteousness will be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast. Who KEEPS THE SABBATH, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.’ Let not the foreigner who has JOINED himself to YHWH say, ‘YHWH will surely separate me from His people.'” Later, he writes: –– “And the foreigners who join themselves to YHWH, to minister to Him, to love the name of YHWH, and to be His servants, everyone who KEEPS THE SABBATH and does not profane it, and holds fast My covenant–– these I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.” Isaiah 56:1-3 & 6-7.

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of YHWH honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in YHWH, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of YHWH has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13-14.

The devil loves it when we ignore the word of Elohim for our traditions and our religions. He loves it when we call on a hollow name because we don’t know the one who has it. He loves our speeches of adornment with no actionable practices. He loves that we have fallen for the lies and the twisting and the deceptions. He loves the unlearned teachers or the overly prideful ones. He loves the lazy pew warmers who lap up the same soured milk Sunday after Sunday.

“Depart from me, you who practice Torahlessness, for I never knew you.” Psalm 6:8 & Matthew 7:23

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices Torahlessness; sin is Torahlessness.” 1 John 3:4

“Hot indignation has take hold of me because of the wicked, who forsake your Torah.” Psalm 119:53

“Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning. I remember Your Name in the night, O YHWH. I keep Your Torah. This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept Your precepts.” Psalm 119:54-56

“I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” John 14:6-7 Interestingly, the Torah is also known as ‘The Way, The Path, Instruction.’ It is known as Truth, ‘Your Word is Truth.’ It is known as the Life, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone. But, by every Word of Elohim.’ His Word is a light to our path, this journey of life, it is the Way of the Rabbi. If you don’t want to be lead astray than you must know the Truth through the Truth. You must know the Word by knowing the Word. You must start now because time is drawing short and the return of our Messiah is approaching.

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

Are You the Temple? Embracing Your Spiritual Identity

Are You the Temple? Embracing Your Spiritual Identity

“Don’t you know that you are Elohim’s temple and that Elohim’s Spirit lives in you? So if anyone destroys Elohim’s temple, Elohim will destroy him. For Elohim’s temple is holy, and you yourselves are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

“Or don’t you know that your body is a temple for the Ruach HaKodesh who lives inside you, whom you received from Elohim? The fact is, you don’t belong to yourselves; for you were bought at a price. So use your bodies to glorify Elohim.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Have you ever stopped to think what it means to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit? The very Spirit of Elohim, His presence, dwelling within. First we need to understand that in the first passage above the term translated as ‘you’ is plural. We do not have an equivalent word in English so it is simply translated ‘you’. However, in both Hebrew and Greek there are terms for a plural form without adding adjectives. Translators should have rendered the passage, “you people”. A short grammar lesson here. In order to keep ‘YOU’ as the noun they remove ‘people’ since with it ‘you’ becomes an adjective. Now, when Paul writes, “your body,” later he indeed means the individual. So they weren’t entirely wrong but we need to understand the difference. The Holy Spirit, (Ruach HaKodesh), dwells within the Ekklesia. He also dwells within the individual believer. Each one comes with deeper understanding of how we should worship.

To be identified as the Temple we must understand what Paul is trying to express. He didn’t just say, the Spirit dwells in you. But rather specifying that the Ekklesia as well as the individual are representations of the Temple of Elohim. What is a Temple, or more specifically, the Temple of Elohim? The Temple had very specific construction. It was an earthly representation of the Heavenly structure. A mirror image made with human hands. It also came with a set of rules. A very specific set of rules. All intended to keep the holiness of the Temple intact. For the very presence of Elohim in all His splendor and Holiness dwelt there. Today, it remains the same. Until the New Jerusalem and the Heavenly Temple are established in the millennium, we are the Temple.

So, if we are the Temple, both corporately and individually, what set of rules should we follow? Let’s begin to explore this by taking a look inside the Holy space. “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!” Revelation 4:8. Contrast that with a glimpse of the earthly Holy place. “And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of Yahweh, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Elohim filled the house of Yahweh.” 1 Kings 8:10-11. Does this begin to open your eyes to the significance of what it means to be the Temple of Elohim?

With this picture, think about your corporate gathering. Does it look like Elohim’s presence is welcome there? Are the folks anticipating the HOLY presence of Elohim? Or does it look like a concert hall where everyone is looking to be entertained? “You know I just didn’t get anything out of worship today.” In the Temple there was an order, a structure, a purpose for everything. From the show bread, to the Menorah, to the Ark and the Altar, each had their place and function. The Priests had specific responsibilities within the Temple and had to be cleansed before participating. For too long now we have had a lackadaisical approach to corporate worship. As Priests it is our responsibility to change that perspective and approach. “But you are a chosen people! A royal priesthood! A holy nation! Elohim’s special possession! That you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

Now, as an individual. What are you thinking about? What are you reading, listening to or watching? Who or what are you inviting into your personal space? What are you eating and drinking? Are these things edifying the Temple of Elohim or would you be embarrassed if Yahoshua was standing next to you? Well, if Scripture is true not only is He standing next to you, He dwells within you. If you are feeling distant from Elohim, wondering why He seems afar off. You might need to evaluate how you are treating the Temple of Elohim. If you think the Temple idea was just an illustration and isn’t important. Or that it was only a Jewish thing. Let me leave you with Ephesians 2:19-22.

“So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with Elohim’s people and members of Elohim’s family. You have been built on the foundation of the emissaries and the prophets, with the cornerstone being Yahoshua the Messiah Himself. In union with Him the whole building is held together, and it is growing into a holy temple in union with Adonai. Yes, in union with Him, you yourselves are being built together into a spiritual dwelling-place for Elohim!”

For more understanding on the Temple read 1 Kings 8. It’s time we get back to a sense of awe and wonder for the Day of Adonai is quickly approaching! You don’t want to be left outside of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The good news is if you have breath in your lungs you have time. Begin to get your Temple in order, become the light, share the bread, make disciples, serve your Ekklesia.

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