A word about homosexual decadence

Here's part of why America is going down the tubes! I have nothing against homosexuals as human beings created by YHWH. But, I am truly incensed by the homosexuals’ insistence on shoving their perversion into the world's collective face.

It's bad enough that heterosexual decadence, for almost a century now, has been part of our lives, thanks to the movie industry. What God created to be the most loving form of intimacy between husbands and wives has been exploited, perverted and abused and turned into something filthy and vile - something that belongs in the underworld where demons reside.

And today, the same America that has readily accepted and glorified heterosexual decadence without batting an eye, has allowed itself to be brainwashed into believing that homosexual perversion is completely normal and should be proudly paraded around like some prize race horse that has just won a Triple Crown.

SHAME ON AMERICA!. Shame on this “gay” Democrat! No matter what “the world” thinks, YHWH calls this kind of behavior an ABOMINATION!

Leviticus 18: 22 - You are not to go to bed with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Romans 1: 22 Claiming to be wise, they have become fools! 23 In fact, they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for mere images, like a mortal human being, or like birds, animals or reptiles! 24 This is why God has given them up to the vileness of their hearts' lusts, to the shameful misuse of each other's bodies. 25 They have exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, by worshiping and serving created things, rather than the Creator - praised be he for ever. Amen.

26 This is why God has given them up to degrading passions; so that their women exchange natural sexual relations for unnatural; 27 and likewise the men, giving up natural relations with the opposite sex, burn with passion for one another, men committing shameful acts with other men and receiving in their own persons the penalty appropriate to their perversion.

28 In other words, since they have not considered God worth knowing, God has given them up to worthless ways of thinking; so that they do improper things. 29 They are filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and vice; stuffed with jealousy, murder, quarreling, dishonesty and ill-will; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God; they are insolent, arrogant and boastful; they plan evil schemes; they disobey their parents; 31 they are brainless, faithless, heartless and ruthless.

32 They know well enough God's righteous decree that people who do such things deserve to die; yet not only do they keep doing them, but they applaud others who do the same. (CJB)

A mini-lesson on “clean” and “unclean” meats

I recently saw someone making the comment that Gentiles can eat whatever they want because God had Noah include both “clean” and “unclean” animals on the ark. This train of thought is not correct, and Scripture, when read in context, reveals why.

You see, first of all, when we accept YHWH as our God and His Son as our Messiah, we are actually no longer considered “Gentiles.” We are “Hebrew” (which, in Hebrew means, “to cross over” – which is what Abraham did back in Genesis 12 when he accepted YHWH as his God and thus “crossed over” both spiritually and physically into the Land God told him to move to).

This means, we ALL must obey His Torah - Divine Instruction in Righteousness, without which we would have no blueprint for moral, holy living. (See Numbers 15:13-16, where He says four times in a row that ALL who accept Him must do exactly as His people do...)

Secondly, YHWH is very clear about the types of meat He considers “clean” and “unclean.” (See Leviticus 11 to discover what separates "clean" and "unclean" meats.). He made both clean and unclean animals, sea life and birds for a purpose; but He also made it clear that His people are NOT to eat anything "unclean."

The purpose of "unclean" animals is to be the "garbage disposals" of the world. Crabs, lobsters and other shellfish are designed to clean up the waters of the world. Crows and hawks and other carnivorous birds eat whatever they want, including roadkill, which helps to rid the land of any dead and decaying wildlife.

YHWH doesn't want us eating those types of things, in part, because, by eating them, we ingest whatever they have eaten which, in turn, makes US unclean...

Everything ADONAI ever commanded is for our own good, and therefore, those who belong to Him MUST obey His dietary laws. If they don’t, then whom are they worshiping?

Let’s discuss Matthew 2:23 in context

Matthew 2:23 tells us Messiah would be called “Nazarene” and the prophet Isaiah gave us a hint about this. Isaiah 11:1 says: “But a branch will emerge from the trunk of Yishai, a shoot will grow from his roots.”

Aramaic scholar and author Andrew Gabriel Roth of the website One Faith One People Ministries explains that the word netzer is Hebrew for “young shoot” or “sprout” and it does refer to the Messiah because Isaiah 11, verses 2 through 4 go on to reveal the “spiritual branches” of the Menorah as attributes of Messiah! Even in the Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a, recognizes Isaiah 11:1 as a prophecy of the Messiah and renders the word netzer as a branch – netzer being the key to this whole mystery.

Without going into a deep word study, other prophets reveal Messiah, as the “Branch” but use the Hebrew term tzemach, thus eliminating the obvious wordplay by Matthew. The prophet Daniel uses the word netzer, but not in the context of Messianic prophecy. Still, netzer is the basis for the name Nazareth, which at that time was a very small village in the Land of Israel.

Here is what Roth says concerning this issue:

Y’shua (as opposed to "Jesus") means "Yahweh is salvation". It is the shortened form of YEHOSHUA (Joshua in English, again, not "Jesus"). Moshe told the nation that THE PROPHET would come after him that the people must listen to, so is it any coincidence that THE PROPHET has the SAME NAME as Moshe's successor? In Zechariah 6:1-12 we are told (actually starting in chapter 3, and then into 6) that the high priest and his colleagues are "symbols of things to come" and of the high priest, "here is the man WHOSE NAME IS THE BRANCH", not that he IS the branch, but his NAME is the branch.

Well, it so happens that Messiah is from "Branch City", NETZER-ET (Nazareth), and Messiah is called the RIGHTEOUS BRANCH (see Isaiah 11:1-2 and Jeremiah 23:5-6). So the name of the branch and the name of the Messiah are ONE AND THE SAME, and the name of the high priest? YEHOSHUA! Fast forward 500 years later and the Hebrew dialect changed to shorten the name to Y'shua.

This is an integral part of Messianic prophecy. In Exodus 23:20-22 YHWH warns the Israelites of a messenger who will lead them. He gives a proviso for this messenger: He will NOT forgive your sin. Now why say this? Has any “messenger” EVER been able to forgive sin? No, but as Y'shua said, "Which is easier to say? That your sins are forgiven or to the paralyzed, "Arise and walk, take up your pallet and go home? BUT SO YOU WILL KNOW THE SON OF MAN HAS THE AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE SINS, I say, Arise and walk." (See Daniel 7:1-14). In Hebrew the word for MESSENGER--malakh--can also be pointed to mean MELECH (king). This is a remez (a hint).

So, understanding all that, also understand that since only YHWH can forgive sin, Y'shua must be God to do so also, and it is this role conducting YHWH's Ruach that Messiah filtered through his human voice to proclaim YHWH's kingdom on earth. (In other words, the Son of Man/Messiah, is given authority on earth to forgive sin by His Father in a way no angel, prophet or other messenger was. Such is apparent from Daniel chapter 7 and the two thrones. Y'shua comes in the Name and therefore in the power of his Father but his authority is NOT independent from his Father.)

This messenger/king then COULD forgive sin (or why warn that he won't?), and the reason he can is that, UNLIKE the ANGELS who have only the TITLE of ELOHIM within their own names (such as Gabri-EL, Rapha-EL and Micha-EL), Y’shua HAS THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES within HIS Name - Exodus 23:20-22 says clearly 'FOR MY NAME IS IN HIM". Yahweh has ONE NAME and there is ONE NAME under heaven by which men are saved, as seen in Acts 4:12.

Messiah Y’shua comes in the NAME, and therefore POWER, of his Father YHWH. As the Word of YHWH, He was with the Father in the beginning (John 1:1, 17:5 and Revelation 19:13). The Father gives life to the Son (John 10) and the Son then has the power to lay that life down freely and pick it up again, thus allowing the rest of us access to eternal life.

Y'shua came to bring glory to his Father YHWH, to show the proper interpretation (fulfillment, if you will) of the Torah and to bring Pharisee and tax collector alike back to the WRITTEN CODE of Moshe and away from Oral Law, making statements such as: "You have heard that it was SAID, but I SAY TO YOU....If you believed Moshe, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me, but if you do not believe Moshe, how will you believe what I say?--Did not Moshe give you the Torah? Yet not ONE MAN AMONG YOU KEEPS THE TORAH!")

It’s quite understandable that Judaism would reject the Torah-less “Jesus” described by most of Christianity; but it’s incomprehensible to think that ANYONE would reject the Torah-observant “Y’shua” who came proclaim the Kingdom of YHWH and to do everything his Father commanded! (Luke 4:43, 8:1; Acts 24:14)  Consider Exodus 23 verses 20 – 23 where YHWH talks about a special messenger who has HIS Name residing within his own. This can only be referring to Y’shua because Y’shua is the ONLY Heavenly Being who has YHWH’s Name within His own name! All the angels/messengers only have His Title (ELOHIM) within their names: Micha-EL, Rapha-El, Gabri-El….)

John 17: 11. Henceforth, I will not be in the world, and these are in the world. And I am coming to Your presence. Kadosh Father, keep them by your Name, that which you have given to me, that they may be one as We are. 12. I was with them while I was in the world. I have kept them in your Name; those whom you have given to me, I have kept. And not a man of them is lost except for the son of perdition, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. 13. And now I come to Your presence, and these things I speak in the world that my joy may be full in them. 14. I have given to them Your Word and the world hates them because they are not of the world as I am not of the world. world. (AENT)

Footnote: Y’shua keeps them in YHWH’s name so when we call upon YHWH in Y’shua’s name, we are calling on YHWH for Salvation. As the Name of YHWH is in Mashiyach, so are we to have the name of Mashiyach in us, which means that as followers of Y’shua we are to walk according to his righteousness, observe Torah and walk in the anointing of the Ruach haKodesh as Mashiyach demonstrated to us.

A mini-teaching on John 3:16 and related passages:

John 3:16 For Elohim so loved the world that He gave His only brought-forth Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but possess everlasting life. (ISR)

And what is “everlasting life?”

John 17:3 And this is everlasting life, that they should know You, the only true Elohim, and יהושע Messiah whom You have sent. (ISR)

And how can we know him?

1 John 2:6 He that says I am in him, is bound to walk according to his halacha. 7. My beloved, I write no new commandment to you, but the old Commandment which you had from the beginning; and the old Commandment is the Word which you have heard. (AENT)

… In other words, someone who claims to be continuing in union with Y’shua ought to conduct his life the way he did – by walking in Torah!

1 John 2:4. He who says I know Him and does not keep His Commandments (poqadona) is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word (miltha) in him, verily is the love of Elohim perfected; hereby we know that we are in Him. (AENT)

Let’s tie the verses above together using a footnote from the Aramaic English New Testament:

“Elohim is light” (1 John 1:5). Therefore, it can be argued that at Creation when YHWH said, “Let there be light” ( Genesis 1:3), that He in effect brought a part of Himself out to accomplish the creative act. The “Word” does this same feat, Psalm 33:6; John 1:1; a few lines earlier we read the “Word of Life.”

We have also seen before the direct linguistic relationship between the Hebrew and Aramaic roots for “Light” and “Torah” such as: “Your word (davar) is a lamp to my feet, a light (aur) to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) “For the commandment is a lamp. The teaching is a light (aur), and the way to life is the rebuke that disciplines.” (Proverbs 6:23) What makes this citation in Proverbs most profound is the word mitzvah (commandment), since tradition commonly calls the revelation at Sinai the Ten Commandments when in fact the Tanakh uses davarim (words)!

Keep this in mind while considering 1 John 2:4. Aramaic could not make a more forceful point. The fact is, poqadona and miltha are exceedingly close matches for their Hebrew counterparts mitzvah in Proverbs, and davar in Psalms. However, it is in this next passage that the full measure of John’s brilliance is shown:

1 John 2:7 My beloved, I do not write a new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard from the beginning. (AENT)

The Commandment is the Word, which comes from the beginning! We must now realize that to translate this as “his Commandments” is wrong, but “His Commandments” is correct. “His Commandments” is the WORD which came from the very beginning of time. Many fail to understand this truth: It is impossible for Torah to have passed away during the lifetime of the Shlichim if John himself writes about the Word they have heard from the beginning. What else could this WORD be, except the living Torah!

John is a native Aramaic speaker and follower of Y’shua who knows that the WORD (or the Torah of YHWH) comes from the “Light”; he states that Elohim is Light and that we abide in that Light when we do His Mitzvot/Poqadona/Commandments.

Furthermore, the interchanging of “Word” and “Commandment” simply does not happen in any other language except Hebrew and Aramaic, the “word that you have heard” is the Shema!

After all God did for them, they complained….

Our ELOHIM truly is patient, isn't He? My goodness, in this week's Torah portion - after all YHWH had done for His people - we saw the beginning of some whining by the Hebrews and the "mixed crowd" who had ultimately followed Moshe out of Egypt!

These people who had personally witnessed the Ten Plagues, and the parting the sea, etc., and who had all been receiving supernatural sustenance in the form of manna, were now lamenting that they missed the meat and goodies they used to enjoy in Egypt ... never mind that they had just been liberated from 400 years of slavery!

How very human! Aren't we all guilty of this? We pray for YHWH to "do" something for us; and then, when He does it, we become dissatisfied and want more or "better".....We humans are often a thankless, bottomless pit of needs and wants!

Anyway, note, in the following passage how "the mixed crowd" - the Gentiles - not only participated in the whining, but they actually instigated it and caused YHWH's people to incur His wrath.

Numbers 11: 1 But the people began complaining about their hardships to ADONAI. When ADONAI heard it, his anger flared up, so that fire from ADONAI broke out against them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried to Moshe, Moshe prayed to ADONAI, and the fire abated. 3 That place was called Tav'erah [burning] because ADONAI's fire broke out against them.

4 Next, the mixed crowd that was with them grew greedy for an easier life; while the people of Isra'el, for their part, also renewed their weeping and said, "If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt - it cost us nothing! -and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic! 6 But now we're withering away, we have nothing to look at but this man." (CJB)

So, yes, YHWH was VERY angry! Not only were they whining about their hardships and lack of meat, but they were also guilty of committing gossip against Moshe in the midst of their grumbling. And so, no one can blame Him for saying this:

Numbers 11: 18 "Tell the people, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat; because you cried in the ears of ADONAI, "If only we had meat to eat! We had the good life in Egypt!" All right, ADONAI is going to give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You won't eat it just one day, or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month! -until it comes out of your nose and you hate it! -because you have rejected ADONAI, who is here with you, and distressed him with your crying and asking, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'" (CJB)

Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to time travel back to those days and personally SEE what YHWH's people endured, and to personally see the pillars of cloud and fire, etc.?

Parashah 36: B'ha'alotkha (When you set up) Numbers 8:1 through 12:16

Shabbat shalom, mishpocah!  A synopsis of this week’s Torah portion - Parashah 36: B'ha'alotkha (When you set up) Numbers 8:1 through 12:16 - can be found on our website on our Weekly Torah Studies page.

This week's parsha begins with God commanding Aaron the High Priest (Moses' brother) to light the Menorah every day in the Tabernacle. The Menorah's seven branches are bedecked with decorative cups, knobs and flowers – all fashioned from a single, solid piece of gold.

But then the Torah adds an interesting detail: "When you light the Menorah, be sure that the [six] outer lamps face the center" (Numbers 8:2). What do the six outer lamps represent, and why must they all face the seventh center stem?  To find out, please click on the link above!

Just two commandments?

Many folks seem to be under the erroneous impression that they don't have to bother keeping the Ten Commandments anymore (let alone the original "613"); but, rather, just TWO. And they will proudly cite a passage out of Matthew 22 as "proof":

Matthew 22: 36. "Teacher, which Commandment in Torah is the greatest?" 37. And Y'shua said to him, that "You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind." 38. This is the first and the greatest Commandment. 39. And the second is like it. That "You should love your neighbor as yourself." 40. On these two commandments hang Torah and the prophets. (AENT)

We would ask those who insist they only need to keep two commandments to please re-read verse 40 with the help of the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit). Does verse 40 imply that all of God's original instructions have magically been done away with, or can be ignored, just because Jesus died? NO! The Torah and the Prophets HANG/ARE DEPENDENT ON those two commands!
There's more to it than just "loving God and loving your neighbor!" If you LOVE God, then stop trying to figure out ways to ignore His commands!

YHWH (Yahweh) gave us many rules/commands/"laws" that can be found scattered throughout the Torah, the first five Books of the Bible, which contains His Divine Instructions in Righteousness. We must understand, however, that the "numbering" of the original commandments was done by man, not by YHWH (Yahweh) Himself, which means there is no reason to worry about trying to keep "all 613 commands."

Not to mention that most of those "613" commands were directed at the cohens (priests) of the day; some were only for men; some only for women, and some were only for a certain time frame.
But some were meant to last FOREVER - and those are the ones that believers must pay attention to. For instance, please consider the Seventh Day Sabbath which is a SIGN between YHWH and His people:

Exodus 31:16 The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is A SIGN between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.'"
Ezekiel 20:11 I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. 12 I gave them my shabbats as A SIGN between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy.

People – Shabbat is one of the loving things we do for ADONAI that sets us apart from the rest of the world! He commanded His people to keep it! If you’re not keeping YHWH’s Shabbat, then WHO are you worshiping?

So, yes, while YHWH eventually recorded the TEN commandments in stone, (which encompass all commandments), we must remember, these ten are only part of the larger picture taken from YHWH's Torah which He said would stand forever – and forever hasn’t ended yet.