Tag: YHWH

A Baseball Analogy

A Perfect Game ~ For to this you have been called, because Messiah also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. (1 Peter 2:21)

Let me give you a sports analogy. In baseball a pitcher starts by stepping on the mound with a dream of throwing a perfect game. Every pitcher wants to be the one to do it. It has been done only 24 times in MLB history. They did it, they completed a perfect game, these pitchers are examples to the rest of the league. Of course they had help from their team, but still, it rests on the pitcher for the most part. Just because it has been accomplished, doesn’t mean it is no longer a stat. As well, a pitcher who starts on Monday, fails to throw a perfect game doesn’t give up. On Thursday, the next time he steps on the mound the dream is the same, “Today is the day!” It remains the hight of pitching, greater than a no-hitter, which has only been done 326 times in MLB history and that is a dream of a pitcher as well. Think about it this way each team has 162 regular season games. There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball . . . needless to say, there are a lot of games played each season. Still there have only been 24 perfect games thrown and only 326 no-hitters. It is quite the feat.

Yahoshua, completed a perfect life. He didn’t end the way, He merely showed us how. Elijah was taken in a fiery chariot, Enoch walked with Elohim, Melchizedek was a high priest before there was an Israel. i am not saying these men were perfect but they were as close to it as one could be, perhaps they pitched no-hitters. Here is my point, Yahoshua, didn’t come so that man could live without order. He came to defeat sin and death by paying the ultimate price. Shouldn’t we as a sign of gratitude, live as He lived, with the help of the Holy Spirit? Not flippantly, ignoring His Feast Days, His Sabbath’s, His Commandments. Yet, that is exactly what the Church is doing. They have separated themselves from the nation of Israel when in actuality we are grafted in. They have adopted holidays, which many debate have pagan influences. i work for a person who claims to be pagan. They talk about their pagan origins and they express how funny it is to see “christians” celebrate their holidays. Whether or not it is wholly true it is partially true and that alone should get the Churches attention. It doesn’t.

Folks will say that it isn’t possible to keep the commandments. They will quote passages of Scripture to make their point. Such as Acts 15:10 ~ “Now then, why do you test Elohim by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?” What many fail to realize or connect to this verse is Acts 15:23 ~ “For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.” When the Jerusalem Council met and were discussing the inclusion of gentile believers they weren’t saying, since they can’t keep the Law no one should have to, nor did they believe that the Law was done away with, as Paul demonstrates time and time again. No, what they were doing was not heaping on them generations of mans traditions added to the simplicity of walking with Elohim. The Torah is not burdensome as Yahoshua clearly demonstrated while He walked among humanity. The council wasn’t saying, ‘we failed to throw a perfect game so let’s get rid of that stat so the rookies don’t have an unnecessary burden put on them.’ No indeed.

This adoption by the church has given license to the same to forget the “Feasts of YHWH” as He declares them. “These are the feasts of YHWH, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons.” (Leviticus 23:4) They aren’t Jewish feasts, Hebraic feasts, Israeli feasts, they ARE YHWH’s Feasts, Holy Convocations, Forever. i don’t know what your definition of forever is but my forever hasn’t even come close to an end. It seems we have used Messiah as an excuse to forget the ways of the Father. Yahoshua is the fulfillment of the law, many claim, but the term is better translated ‘fulness’ and it leads us to a better understanding away from the influences of man. He came to set the record straight, pitch the perfect game, show humanity a more perfect way; The Way. We may never achieve that level of perfection but it should be our goal every time we step on the mound.

If you fail to throw a perfect game on Monday, dust yourself off. And on Tuesday with the same resolve, with prayer, begin your day with the intention of throwing a perfect game. “Today is the day!” Do not grow weary, do not give up, for the Holy Spirit is at work writing the Torah on your heart. Hebrews quotes Jeremiah, who quotes Elohim, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares YHWH: I will put My laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.” To what covenant are the gentiles grafted into? There is only one covenant, and by the grace of Elohim, He writes it on our hearts and on our minds. Paul tells us, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Messiah Yahoshua has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of Elohim in Messiah Yahoshua. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, Elohim will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” (Philippians 3:12-15)

This is the Way of the Rabbi ~

Feel free to email questions to questions@thewayoftherabbi.com or drop a comment below.

You are loved
cj

Labor Day Special

“. . . holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Messiah I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” Philippians 2:16

There are a few head scratching things about a Labor Day Special. The very idea of it is to draw in business, increasing sales; “come in today for ‘Unbelievable Labor Day Specials!’” However, who is it that is going to help you? A Laborer. What is Labor Day anyway? According to the History Channel, and i take extreme liberty in paraphrasing, (read more about Labor Day here) it is a day to celebrate the laborer. Yet we have decided the best way to celebrate is to have sales that require laborers to labor on Labor Day. We have a lot of weird things in our culture like this, “Black Friday” the day after Thanksgiving just to name another. Mostly people buying things for the sake of a sale. We are a consumer driven society, we want things and we will go out of our way to buy them on sale.

Lately, i have been noticing a few more empty shelves. In some instances i am noticing lots of shelves filled with the same product, seemingly because there is an abundance of one and a lack of another. So to keep the appearance of looking stocked, they just put out what they have. Have you been hearing any rumblings of an impending food shortage? According to Business Insider, “Zoom out and it’s clear: A food crisis is unfolding around the world, with prices shooting up everywhere.”

One of the things i enjoy is watching prepper channels on YouTube. Most of them have cool, innovative, solutions for general crisis and natural disasters that would make life easier during a difficult time. However, if you are a student of history one thing you should know is that in times of war and in times of famine, food becomes incredibly valuable. In Germany in the lead up to extreme Jewish persecution the government came and confiscated food. During the occupation of Eastern Europe food rationing was a big part of how they controlled the citizenry. Of course one would say, that wouldn’t happen here, and to a degree one would be right. However, food is a powerful tool. When a population is hungry and they are told a certain group is hoarding food, it sorta creates a different dynamic. In a crisis certain things are enacted, water rationing, rolling blackouts, so if one hopes to be a survivalist, you will need to understand each facet with all the moving parts. Think you are safe because you own your own land or grow your own food . . . Just look at this article by The Western Journal.

Here is my point, i certainly do not want to discourage anyone from preparing for disaster or crisis, especially given the times in which we live. However, do so quietly. No fan-far. Fly under the radar the best you can. But now for this advice, and this advice is free, yet, it may just be the most valuable piece of advice i can give. It comes from Revelation 3:16-22.

“SO, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘Rich I am, and I am made rich, and need none at all,’ and do not know that you are wretched, and pitiable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, so that you become rich; and white garments, so that you become dressed, so that the shame of your nakedness might not be shown; and anoint your eyes with ointment, so that you see. As many as I love, I reprove and discipline. So be ardent and repent. See, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I shall come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I shall give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”

You are loved,

cj

What’s in a name

This post is open for debate, more so than most. Mainly, because it is something i am still working through and i find when i write things out it helps me to see more clearly the thought. Also, i would welcome any of your thoughts on the matter. The question is, what is in a name? If you travel to a foreign country, and the hotel clerk asks you what your name is you tell them your name, as you know it. For instance, my name is cj which doesn’t necessarily work for this example so i will use my full name, christopher. If i travel to let’s say, Spain, and i go to a hotel and the clerk asks my name, i am going to say, “christopher.” In Spanish my name is translated, Cristobal, but i don’t say, Cristobal, i say christopher because that is my name. Moreover, when the paperwork is printed and i am given a receipt, the name on that paper will say, christopher, not Cristobal.

So with this example in hand, why do we use the Greek terms, God and Jesus, for YHWH and Yahshua. It is undisputedly clear that YHWH revealed Himself through the nation of Israel and the Hebrew language. In fact, we are introduced to YHWH in a more personal way in Yahshua, and yet still we render His name in Greek as well. If we don’t translate our name when we travel, why do we do it with names that we are commanded not to take in vain?

Exodus 20:7 says: “You do not bring the Name of YHWH your Elohim to naught, for YHWH does not leave the one unpunished who brings His Name to naught.”

Here it is in the NKJ: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who take His name in vain.”

The Greek term for the lord is Ba’al. Why have we associated it with our Adonai? Adonai, translated from Hebrew to Greek is Lord but the Greek root is Ba’al. Let me just share a bit of what Wikipedia has to say about this: “Baal, or Baʽal, was a title and honorific meaning “owner”, “lord” in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods. Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities but inscriptions have shown that the name Ba’al was particularly associated with the storm and fertility god Hadad and his local manifestations. The Hebrew Bible includes the use of the term in reference to various Levantine deities, often with application towards Hadad, who was decried as a false god. That use was taken over into Christianity and Islam, sometimes under the form Beelzebub in demonology.”

Knowing that we are to hold the name of our El which is commonly translated God in reverence, why are we so accustomed to the Greek forms? What does the Word of El Shaddai have to say on the matter?

“And in all that I have said to you take heed. And make no mention of the name of other mighty ones, let it not be heard from your mouth.” Exodus 23:13

“So as not to go in among these nations, these who remain among you. And make no mention of the name of their mighty ones, nor swear by, nor serve them nor bow down to them. But cling to YHWH your Elohim, as you have done this day.” Joshua 23:7-8

“The sorrows of those who run after another one are increased; I would not pour out their drink offerings of blood, Nor take up their names on my lips.” Psalms 16:4

i am not sure what i think of all this . . . However, for as much as i can, i am going to use the Hebrew names, as this is how YHWH introduced Himself to us and hasn’t, anywhere i can find, changed it. Let me know what you think!

You are loved,

cj