Discussing what happens to the "lukewarm"....

Have you ever noticed what happens (albeit, gradually) to those who are “lukewarm” toward YHWH/Y’shua/Torah, or who graze their way through “religions”; constantly desiring to chat about God and the Bible but never really making any effort to get to KNOW our ELOHIM? I’ve encountered many like that, and it seems they ultimately end up becoming bitter and hateful in their aimless wanderings.

These people never seem to “settle” anywhere in their belief because they view themselves as being “open-minded” and ready to explore “something else” in their perpetual desire to find “Truth.” What’s more, they ALWAYS blame their pastors or their denomination or their upbringing where they were forced to “go to church.” They NEVER point the finger back at themselves or THEIR OWN failure to get into Scripture and research YHWH’s Truth for themselves!

I’ve discerned also that these types tend to be excruciatingly argumentative about what YOU believe, constantly trying to “one-up” you on your knowledge. They will give you “biblical concussions” consisting of endless Scripture twisting designed to force you to relent and agree that THEIR viewpoint is obviously the “right one.” And this actually works on the gullible!

But this is not just how “the lukewarm” operate; it’s also how Jewish anti-missionary rabbis and their converts operate; it’s how many Christian pastors operate; and it’s how the smart alecks in the Christian world and in the Hebrew Roots and Messianic “movements” operate in their desire to win you over to God’s Truth as THEY see it. And this is exactly how satan wins, in the end…because that is his goal: to deceive and confuse and take as many as possible to hell with him! (Remember, he even tried to entice Y’shua! But notice that Y’shua didn’t fight or argue with him; He simply quoted Torah and Psalms in response to all of satan’s nonsense! See What Yeshua did when tempted.)

So, what do we learn from all this? To get into Scripture for ourselves, and allow the Ruach haKodesh/Holy Spirit to teach us! Yes, by all means, read and/or watch videos of the various teachers and preachers “out there” – but do NOT blindly follow ANYONE! If they’re ON the mark, FINE! But if their teachings do not line up with Scripture, RUN! Don’t sit there and pretend you are always able to “chew the meat and spit out the bones” as so many like to insist. (Most don’t have the skills or the proper Bible knowledge to do that, and that is how they end up following some kook down Loony-Tune Lane….)

Ephesians 6: 13. Therefore put on the whole armor of Elohim that you may be able to meet the evil (one); and, being in all respects prepared, may stand firm. 14. Stand up therefore, and gird your loins with truth; and put on the breastplate of righteousness; 15. And defend your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace. 16. And now take to you the confidence of faith by which you will have power to quench all the fiery darts of the evil (one). 17. And put on the helmet of salvation; and take hold of the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of Elohim. (AENT)

In view of the above, it's no surprise that we have so many “religions” and “denominations” and “cults” today. The enemy is very busy … because he KNOWS how The Book ends! He’s already managed to deceive billions:

2 Timothy 3: 1. But know this: That in the latter days hard times will come: 2. and men will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money, boasters, proud, revilers, unyielding towards their own people, deniers of grace, wicked, 3. unloving, addicted to irreconcilable malicious gossips, ferocious, haters of the good, 4. treacherous, rash, inflated, attached to pleasure more than to the love of Elohim, 5. having a form of respect for Elohim but wide from the power of Elohim. Them who are such, repel from you. 6. For of them are they who creep into this and that house and captivate the women who are plunged in sins and led away by divers lusts, 7. who are always learning, and can never come to the knowledge of the truth. (AENT)

So, what can we do? STAY STRONG! KNOW what the Bible says and don’t ever let some loud-mouthed rubber-necked know-it-all lead you astray:

1 Peter 3:14. But if it should occur that you suffer on account of righteousness, happy are you. And be not terrified by those who would terrify you, nor be in uproar: 15. but sanctify Master YHWH the Mashiyach, in your hearts. And be you ready for a vindication before everyone who demands of you an account of the hope of your faith, 16. in meekness and respect, as having a good conscience; so that they who speak against you as bad men may be ashamed for having maligned your good conduct in the Mashiyach. 17. For it is profitable to you that you suffer evil while you do good deeds, if this should be the pleasure of Elohim; and not, while you do evil deeds.

18. For the Mashiyach also once died for our sins, the righteous for sinners; that he might bring you to Elohim. And he died in body but lived in spirit. 19. And he preached to those souls which were detained in Sheol (Hades) 20. which were formerly disobedient in the days of Noah when the long suffering of Elohim commanded an ark to be made, in hope of their repentance; and eight souls only entered into it and were kept alive in the waters.* 21. And you also, by a like figure, are made alive by immersion (not when you wash your bodies from filth, but when you confess Elohim with a pure conscience) and by the resurrection of Y’shua the Mashiyach 22. who is taken up to heaven and is on the right hand of Elohim and Messengers and authorities, and powers are subject to him. (AENT)

* “Alive in the waters” points to the waters of the Mikveh, the complete immersion (baptism) into living waters after a soul has repented of their sin and agreed to walk in the newness of life (the Kingdom) as offered through Mashiyach. It is also worth noting that the words “in hope of their repentance” do not appear in the Greek traditions.

NOTE:  I wrote the above because  I happed upon some posts of a former Facebook friend who I helped lead to Torah several years ago. Two or three years later, she decided just being a Torah observant believer in Y’shua wasn’t enough, and so she decided to pursue the REAL Truth by “rejecting Jesus” altogether and following the rabid anti-Christian, anti-Messianic rhetoric spewed by people like Rabbis Tovia Singer and Michael Skobac and others.

In the end, she was consumed with so much hatred and loathing for her pastors, parents, husband, and all preachers or rabbis who, in her eyes, had ever “led her astray” that she decided to pursue her own “truth”….And her own truth caused her to sound like a raving lunatic, casting suspicion on everyone and anything - especially doctors, government leaders, scientists, church or synagogue leaders, the Internet, etc., all the while making crazy assertions like "the earth is really flat” and that NASA and “the government” and everyone else in the entire world are liars out to deceive people….

This woman is a perfect example of what happens to people who reject YHWH and HIS Truth! It is clear He has allowed her to fall so far away from Him, that her posts sound as if they came from the mind of a total lunatic, spewing vitriol at anyone who attempts to guide her back from the brink of insanity. There is nothing left to do for people like her, because they have chosen their path.

Hebrews 6: 4. But they who have once descended to immersion and have tasted the gift from heaven and have received the Ruach haKodesh 5. and have tasted the good Word of Elohim and the power of the world to come, 6. cannot again sin and a second time be renewed to repentance; or a second time execute him on a stake and insult the Son of Elohim. 7. For the earth that drinks the rain which comes often upon it and produces the herb that is of use to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from Elohim. 8. But if it should put forth thorns and briers, it would be discarded and be approaching closely to a curse, and its end would be a conflagration. (AENT)

Hebrews 10: 26 For if we deliberately continue to sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but only the terrifying prospect of Judgment, or raging fire that will consume the enemies.

(By the way, the above Scripture is not referring to those unclean bondages that dwell in our flesh but to the CONSCIOUS choices believers make. It refers not to our unintentional sins but to those we pursue knowingly and willingly!)

2 Peter 2: 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for a person is slave to whatever has defeated him. 20 Indeed, if they have once escaped the pollutions of the world through knowing our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah, and then have again become entangled and defeated by them, their latter condition has become worse than their former. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the Way of righteousness than, fully knowing, to turn from the holy command delivered to them.

The thing is, we ALL must choose whom we will serve – because when it comes to the Kingdom, there is NO “gray area”:

Joshua 24:15 ...As for me and my household, we will serve YHWH! (CJB)