Becoming Torah observant is a process….

Every once in a while someone will ask how I became Torah observant. Well, the bottom line is, it was a progressive thing. that started back in 1995 when I began to read my way through the Bible as a “baby Christian.” The more I read and the more I heard my pastor's sermons on Sunday mornings, the more I realized "something didn't sound right." What I was reading, and what I was hearing in church didn't always seem to mesh.

For instance, I kept wondering why anyone would think that God has different rules for different people and why people would veer away from His Divine Instructions and come up with different “religions.” His Rules weren’t “religion!" He’s very clear that ALL who accept Him are to do exactly as HIS people do (“His people” = not just “the Jews” but all of the 12 tribes who stood before Him at the foot of Mount Sinai).

What many also seemed to overlook, was that those 12 tribes didn’t consist of just “the Jews”; they included many of the ger (foreigners) who had followed Moshe out of Egypt (Exodus 12:38) and had accepted YHWH as their ELOHIM! And to them, He basically said (four times in a row), “Obey My Divine Instructions as there is no difference between you and My ‘natural children.’” (Numbers 15:13-16)

Part of my growth in the knowledge of Scripture also came from watching “televangelists” and their antics. At first, I was mesmerized, hoping to learn and glean and grow from these "learned men" and their seminary backgrounds. But the more I read my way through the Bible, the more I realized that these guys hadn’t a clue!

Every “denomination” seemed to have its own thing going, including that “prosperity guru” Dr. Robert Schuller, of “The Hour of Power” whose sole goal was to show you that “Gawd wants to prosper you!” (Meaning, financially.) However, everything I saw in Scripture about “prosperity” had little to do with MONEY; rather, with knowledge of YHWH and His Rules!

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you

I watched several "televangelists" every Sunday morning after church … but what finally "drove me over the edge" was Kenneth Copeland's assertion that “God is 6’2 and looks just like us.” My jaw dropped as he continued with something similar to this: "If you stood Adam upside God, they look just exactly alike....If you stood Jesus and Adam side-by-side, they would look and act and sound exactly alike....The image is that they look just alike, but the likeness is that they act alike and they are alike....All of God's attributes, all of God's authority, all of God's faith, all of God's ability was invested in that man." (Kenneth Copeland, Authority of the Believer IV (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1987, audiotape #01-0304).

I’ll be honest: THAT did it! THAT is when I began to view Christian pastors in a completely different light. From then on, I prayed hard on a daily basis to be shown TRUTH. And what I was shown was that most weren’t about Him; they were all about their own "interpretations" (just like in the Messianic and Hebrew Roots "movements" today!) and the money they could rake in with their sensationalistic GARBAGE and “ear tickling” messages!

And so, I became more determined than ever to discover YHWH’s TRUTH! I literally laid face-down on the floor and begged him to show me HIS Truth….

And He did – by causing me to sell my house and all my possessions and moving to Colorado where He then caused me to end up in a Messianic Torah study that “blew my socks off.”

And then He caused me to quickly realize that, that particular "rabbi" was also off the mark in many ways – especially when he started his little tradition of “wrapping people in ancient scrolls” and telling them they were now “surrounded by the Word of God.” What BLASPHEMY!!!

That was how I began to figure out that, wherever MEN were, lies and arrogance and self-serving “teachings” were bound to follow. I had witnessed it in some Christian “denominations”; and now I was seeing it in the “Messianic and Hebrew Roots Movements,” as well. All the various teachers got SOME things "right" but ultimately, they ALWAYS ended up veering off the Path, toward their own agendas....

So, really, with all the different flavors of "religiosity" and "ear tickling" stuff mired in falsehoods, it's no wonder many decide to "reject Jesus" altogether, and flock to the counter-missionary rabbis. It's no wonder some either return to Christianity or become atheists. Only those who are discerning and who READ and STUDY Scripture and find solid, on-the-mark teachers who do their best to teach "sola scriptura," can slog their way through the "muck" as they continue to pray about, and cling to YHWH's Truth!

Anyway, although I became "fed up" with all the "noise" - unlike many, I didn’t allow “mere men” (or women) to turn me off toward YHWH/Yeshua/Torah. YHWH’s Truth IS THE ONLY TRUTH, and no matter how many ways some people attempt to twist it, His Truth remains, unscathed!

Our job as human beings is really very simple: To get ourselves RIGHT with Him and read His Word which (1) shows us how to live in this fallen world, (2) while preparing us to die ... because it is in death we will escape the chains of sin and be lifted out of the muck and mire. Life after this "blip on earth" is the REAL goal.

Scripture says so:

Ecclesiastes 12:12 In addition, my son, take heed: one can write many books - there's no end to it; and one can study so much that it wearies the flesh. 13 Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about. 14 For God will bring to judgment everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad. [Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about.]  (CJB)