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Author: Lev-Tsiyon

Shabbat Shalom in Yah'shua's name and welcome to this morning's Sabbath assembly, our last before Pesach or Passover. On Yom Shanee (Tuesday) evening we gather for our Passover Seder and on Yom Revee (Wednesday) evening we shall begin a 24 hour Sabbath in obedience to the commandment to come before Yahweh and start Chag haMatzah, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so beginning the spring festivals of our Father in Heaven. I'll be speaking to you again on the Yom Chamashee (Thursday) morning.

Today's Scripture is taken from the Book of Exodus:

".. say to Pharaoh, 'This is what Yahweh says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, 'Let my son go, so he may worship Me.' But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son'" (Ex.4:22-23, NIV).

The other day I was doing some research on the Westminster Confession which, as some of you may know, consists of the articles of faith of the Anglican, Episcopalian, Presbyterian and some other Protestant denominations. My interest was in worship and the Christian credal statement that the purpose of life is to worship Elohim. During my researching I came across a discussion group in which young people were answering the question: 'Is the only purpose in life to worship God?' Here is one of the responses. As I read it to you, I will pause between each sentence so that you can ask yourselves whether you agree with what is being said or not. Here it is:

"If that's the only reason for living, it's a pretty sad state of affairs... Without religion, man's purpose for life would be to LIVE IT! Some would say that being a Christian IS LIVING - and it is, but it's living a 'Christian' life... Very limited tunnel-vision... It's not just living life.... We should learn to live without any influence from books that claim to come from any 'God'" [1]

Every single sentence in that response is a lie. It is the doctrine of humanism, whether secular or religious. Its premise is that we should live for ourselves. It's doctrine is that life is its own end. Our purpose is only to be alive. Our only purpose is to 'live life'. My purpose today, as I prepare this flock for Pesach, is to focus our minds and hearts on the reason for our existence and to expose the lies that Satan is flooding the world with and packaging it as 'modern Christianity'. In our passage of Scripture, Yahweh declares that the nation of Israel is His firstborn son - the one who will inherit all that He has so that he can be a blessing to the nations. That is the reason he has that privilege - he's the firstborn. Yahweh's instruction to Pharaoh is to let Israel go "so he may worship Me". That is the reason Israel is to be set free, not so that he can have a wild hedonistic party in the desert (which is what he did while Moses was up the mountain) or so that they could start a duplicate nation and call it 'New Egypt'. The purpose of the exodus from Egypt was, and is, so that the firstborn son can worship Yahweh-Elohim. The purpose of the liberation from slavery was not so that Israel could do his 'own thing' or to 'live life' (whatever that means) but to worship Yahweh. Many years later, after the wandering in the desert, this is what Yahweh says to the people:

"Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that Yahweh promised on oath to your forefathers. Remember how Yahweh your Elohim led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Yahweh your Elohim disciplines you" (Deut.8:1-5, NIV).

Our life sustenance is what? An exciting career? Entertainment? A booze-up? Friends? A swinging party? A good church? No. It is none of these things. Our life sustenance is "every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh" - every word. And if you take prior pleasure in any kind of sustenance before this, then you are feeding off nonlife. Yah'shua, as you know, quoted this scripture to Satan when the enemy of His soul tempted Him in His wilderness journey of 40 days and 40 nights:

"Yah'shua answered, 'It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh''" (Matt.4:4, NIV).

Now, first and foremost, what is this 'word'? It is Scripture. And specifically, it is Torah. That is all Yah'shua ever quoted - the Old Testament - which He acknowledged as His "daily bread" (Mt.6:11) and taught us that it should be ours too. And not just our 'favourite' passages of Scripture, but note the qualifier - "every" word that comes from our Heavenly Father is our spiritual nourishment. Both Yahweh and Yah'shua are very absolute in this, what some would call 'radical' and doubtless use some negative words too. Every word is food. This principle is so heavily underlined that Yah'shua even calls Himself "the Word", because He is the living incarnation of the Word of Yahweh:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim" (John 1:1, NIV).

This prologue of John's Gospel has been the subject of numerous books of theology. It is indeed profound. And it makes a direct link between Yahweh, Yah'shua, Scripture, spiritual bread and necessary nourishment of the soul. Of course, the Word of Yahweh also includes what He personally tells you by His Ruach - all this is His Word to you, and is life and nourishment. And it is more important than anything else. And whilst the Westminster Confession, like so many Protestant creeds and articles, limits the Word to the Bible, it does at least underscore something that is vitally important: the necessity of daily feeding on every word that Yahweh has spoken in Scripture. These words, moreover, by our reactions to them - positive or negative - are confirmations that we are on the right track or are wandering off from the Way. The moment we react to His Word negatively, we are putting our own judgements ahead of Yahweh and claiming, like the serpent, that we have the same kind of discernment as Yahweh in knowing the difference between good and evil. Then we claim to be the wrong kind of elohim.

"'Let my son go, so he may worship Me," said Yahweh to Pharaoh. Pharaoh is a type of Satan, and Satan does not want you worshipping. He wants the worship for himself. And he certainly does not want you to believe that worship is the highest purpose in man. He wants you to believe that what's important is some vague concept called 'living life' which, wonderful though it sounds in words, is a clever minefield of demonically-inspired human rationalisations that ultimately is claiming to 'know better' than the Creator - rationalisations that lead, by degrees, to claims for an independent existence. It leads to such lies as: 'My life is my own. I'll do what I like with it'. The 40 years in the wilderness were designed as a major corrective to that delusion:

"Remember how Yahweh your Elohim led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands".

We about to finish our annual reading of the Torah. During this year we have been seeing repeated warnings by Yahweh not to wander from the Way. We read this scripture just recently:

"But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess" (Deut.30:17-18, NIV).

That land which we are called to possess is, spiritually-speaking Yahweh's Garden - it is His heart, His paradise, of which the Holy Land was an outer, earthly representation. You will not stay long in Yahweh's Heart if your heart turns away from the commandments and you are not obedient to Him. That also goes for believing wives who live in their believing husbands' hearts if they fail to remember the commandment given to them as well to obey their heads in all things, as to Yah'shua Himself (Eph.5:22).

Each year we commemorate the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt because Yahweh has commanded that we do so (Lev.23:4; Num.9:2-3; Dt.16:1). And the reason He has commanded us to do so is to remind us that leaving Egypt and staying away from Egypt are two different things. It is to remind us not to fall into the lie of the 'once saved, always saved' mantra by looking at the lives of our forefathers to see what they did and had to continually do. There were rebellions by men and women alike, high and low, priestly and lay. Even Moses' own sister, who was filled with the Ruach haQodesh and sang a victory dirge after the crossing of the Sea of Reeds, rebelled and sought to claim leadership privileges which Yahweh had not given her. We are to live by every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh and not go around presuming we can alter or improve it. The exodus was accompanied by great miracles to give the people sufficient evidence of who Yahweh is and what He can do. He expected them to live by faith when it came all that he subsequently did.

A lot of people think they have left Egypt when they have not. A lot of people think that all they have to do is make the decision to say the right words: "I am leaving Egypt!" But leaving Egypt, just like accepting Yah'shua the Messiah, is more than words. It must be accompanied by deeds. You have to get your bread ready for a speedy journey so there is no time to use leaven. You have to be up and alert waiting for the word to depart. You must be dressed and ready to go. You must have made sure that the blood of the lamb is on your lintel before the destroying angel passes you by. That is why the events we memorialise at Passover are also very physical things. Our feet, hands and mouths are kept busy. We clean leaven out of our houses in the same was we are supposed to busily get sin out of our lives. We eat a restricted kosher diet in the same way we deliberately starve ourselves of unlawful worldly pleasures - and, at times, when Yahweh asks it of us - lawful pleasures too, as when we are commanded to fast at Yom Kippur. We must learn obedience and disciplining - that's what discipleship consists of. Our murmuring and complaining mouths must be corrected and silenced by proper reverance for Yahweh's Name and submission to His will. And as we have seen from our Torah studies this year, this training is hard, but infinitely beneficial.

If we're serious about proclaiming Yah'shua as our Master and Deliverer - as our Lord and Saviour - then it is time that we got serious about every word that proceeds from Yahweh's mouth, just as His Son was. That means submitting to Torah. It means diving into those books of scripture that your carnal, fleshy nature loves to skip over and going back to them until you have yielded to them in the sure knowledge that they were written by Yahweh's heart and delivered by the Angel of His presence, Yah'shua in His pre-incarnate state. If you don't build your foundation on Torah, you'll end up with a false Gospel. Get the notion out of your heads that Yah'shua, Peter, John, Paul and the other apostles delivered a 'kinder' or 'more lenient' Gospel. Get the Protestant propaganda out of your heads and let Yahweh speak for Himself. Paul said:

"The reason I wrote to you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything" (2 Cor.2:9, NIV).

These were the instructions given in his first letter to the Corinthians. He was their spiritual father and they were his spiritual children, - he was their authority to whom they owed obedience - and he sent them instructions, under the inspiration of the Ruach haQodesh - which included that magnificent discourse on love in the 13th chapter - to test their obedience. Was the doctrinal content important? Absolutely. But more important was whether they would be obedient to him or not. Yahweh was putting them to the test to see if they would be "obedient in everything".

When the children of Israel left Egypt, they obeyed every word that Moses spoke to them from Yahweh. Through each of the ten plagues to that first Passover night, they did what they were told. They knew it was a matter of life and death and didn't question. And people are usually pretty obedient when their lives are threatened - when everything is on the line and they have made a final choice. But when the immediacy of the danger has passed, they start relaxing their spiritual guards and listening to the flesh again. And as they do that, so they start listening to the demonic voices within and without urging them to question the authority Yahweh has placed in the Word, in the home, in the local assembly and in the nation of Israel as a whole. He urges Korah's to rise in rebellion, sisters like Miriam to claim equal rights to Yahweh's anointed, and Zipporah's to accuse their husbands for being bloody bastards for performing Yahweh's commandments like Torah tells them (Ex.4:24-26). And once you start challenging designated authority from Yahweh, it's not long before you start challenging Yahweh Himself and building golden-calves to worship - something more temporal and visible - something outside of yourselves. These lessons can't be forgotten - which is why we are commanded to recount Torah every year. How different that is from that unbeliever I quoted who said: "We should learn to live without any influence from books that claim to come from any 'God'". That is precisely what Satan wants you to do.

My job as a husband, father and minister is to teach the Word and to do so uncompromisingly. Moreover, it is my job to ensure that everyone who voluntarily comes to the Kingdom lives by it. Thus Paul affirmed: "the Torah (law) is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good" (Rom.7:12, NIV) and is to be the measuring stick of our salvation in Yah'shua, for if we belong to Yah'shua or to our husbands and fathers, then that is what we will measure ourselves by. It is this Torah that enables us to recognise sin, to die to self, and finally get real life! (v.13), because then we are forced to take it to Yah'shua to have it dealt with. Hence Paul confessed:

"We know that the Torah (law) is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin" (Rom.7:14, NIV)

Then the rescue through Yah'shua becomes possible (vv.24-26), all thanks to Torah and our willingness to be obedient to every word from the mouth of Yahweh.

The purpose of life is not to find happiness. The purpose of life is to find Yahweh and worship Him through Yah'shua the Messiah because only then can we find happiness and true Life, and finally live that Life - and I mean Life with a capital 'L'. All other forms of life are temporary and fleeting. And yes, the children of Israel were led by, and drank from that Life, which was the Messiah Yah'shua (1 Cor.10:1-5). And Paul said that we continue to commemorate Passover and the Exodus because of this very Life. He said:

"Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: 'The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.' We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did - and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Yahweh, as some of them did - and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did - and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And Elohim is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Cor.10:6-13, NIV).

Anyone who tries to separate Torah from the B'rit Chadashah Scriptures (New Testament) is therefore teaching "another gospel" (2 Cor.11:4; Gal.1:6). It's all integral. Yah'shua led the children of Israel with His Ruach, and this historical witness is given to us to inspire and to warn still. The sins of idolatry, sexual immorality, and of testing Yahweh and His appointed heads are ever present and stand ready to strike believers down who are lured by them. Everyone is tempted. So don't do these things any more, whether in your hearts or in actual deeds of rebellion.

Finally, whoever tries to hinder you - Yahweh's spiritual firstborn, those purchased by the blood of Yah'shua - from worshipping, faces a terrible calamity. "But you (Pharaoh) refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son". Why is this penalty so severe? Yah'shua himself says:

"Yah'shua said to his disciples: 'Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves'" (Luke 17:1-3, NIV).

Anything or anyone who would seek to sever you from your relationship to Yahweh is worthy of death because in doing so, they are seeking to cut you off from the source of Life and living:

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Yahweh is eternal life in Messiah Yah'shua our Master" (Rom.6:23, NIV).

It was not so much the physical slavery that was the greatest evil that Pharaoh committed against the children of Israel but the fact that this bondage prevented them from knowing Him, observing His commandments (like keeping the Sabbath holy) and from worshipping Him. The physical bondage was also closely linked to spiritual bondage and to spiritual death. Yahweh said through the prophet Isaiah:

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth -- everyone who is called by My Name (Yahweh), whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made" (Isa.43:5-7, NIV).

For what were we created? For what purpose? For the glory of Yahweh. Which brings us to an important question: what is the glory of Yahweh? And why should we be happy about giving Him glory? Well, the Torah gives us many answers to that question. Here is a partial quote from the Torah - see if you can remember what these blessings were the result of:

"...so that you may live long in the land Yahweh your Elohim is giving you" (Ex.20:12, NIV).

What was is it that leads to this blessing? Honouring your father and mother! So what is the connection between honouring your parents and living long in the land given to you? Well, we have a clue in another scripture from Torah:

"Acknowledge and take to heart this day that Yahweh is Elohim in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep His decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Yahweh your Elohim gives you for all time" (Deut.4:39-40, NIV).

Yahweh has given the principle of headship, a principle revealed in the cosmos. What is the head of the earth? It is the sun, from which comes light and heat, without which there would be no life or living. Turn the sun off and the earth would die quickly. If you live by a river and it dries up, where would you go in search of the missing water? To the head of the river, where it is a stream, or maybe even higher where it arises from the earth as a brook. If you want to change the laws of a country, where do you go? To the local government or the central government? You go to the head, which is the central government.

You go to the head for life, because that is where life comes from. The Head of heads is Yahweh. To worship Him is to submit and prostrate yourself before Him before all others - The Hebrew shachah means to 'bow', 'crouch', 'fall down', 'humbly beseech', 'make obeisance' 'do reverence' or 'worship'. If you go to the top of a mountain above a spring and expect the water to flow up to you, you will have a long wait. But if you go farther downstream and bow down to the water, you will be able to drink it up. We bow down beneath the source to partake of the waters of life that flow from it. Who do I bow down to? I bow down to Yahweh-Elohim, my Head of heads, and He supplies me with Life. But I also bow down to the Council of Yah's elohim who have overcome, for they are glorified, because Yahweh releases blessings through them to me too. So in submitting to them I am submitting to Yahweh. I also submit to my spiritual father on earth. The same with a wife to her husband. And it is we who suffer because in our pride we refuse to bow - we deny ourselves of the living waters.

Our ultimate purpose is to worship Yahweh-Elohim, our Supreme Head, our Almighty Sovereign. That is life to me. To bow down and worship anyone or anything else in place of Him is idolatry. To prevent a child of Elohim from worshipping Yahweh is a capital crime. We must go to the Source, we must go to our Head, for that is Life, Joy and Happiness. That is our purpose, and in the fulfilment of that purpose all our needs are met. Yahweh called His firstborn son or nation, Israel, out of Egypt, to worship Him at Sinai. That is what he calls you and me to do too. He calls us out of the world. That is why those who love the world are enemies of Yahweh:

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15, NIV).

"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward Elohim? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of Elohim" (James 4:4, NIV).

Now we all know what that first generation of Israelites did in the wilderness. We all know that only three were righteous. So if Yahweh knew they would rebel and desire to go back to Egypt again, why did He go to all the trouble in arranging for their escape in the first?

Well, there are two reasons. Firstly, He knew that their children - the second generation - would respond to His call to obedience and faith, and so He saved their parents so that these children could be born. Secondly, everyone has the right to choose. In captivity, the Israelites had no power to choose. Once loosed to be free agents, they could then exercise their right of choice. Yahweh will vigorously defend that right because He is the author of it. It's the difference between slavery and true freedom.

Every single person is given the opportunity to choose light or darkness in life - everyone. There are no 'special cases', even if you never meet a Christian or read a Bible in your life. Yahweh creates the circumstances so that you can make a heart-choice for Him or not, even if you do not know His Name or His Torah, or the Name of the Redeemer. Every heart is capable of choosing right over wrong in its most basic or fundamental sense. We can choose warmth over coldness, love over hate, mercy over revenge. Every heart is capable of doing this. Paul testified:

"... when Gentiles, who do not have the Torah (law), do by nature things required by the Torah, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the Torah, since they show that the requirements of the Torah are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them" (Rom.2:14-15, NIV).

Yahweh knows every heart. He knows whether you have chosen Him or not, even if you have never had a Gospel witness in your life, or even die without one. But obviously, if you do have a Gospel witness, then more is expected of you, and more blessings will accrue to you if you choose right. We are judged according to what we know, and whether we responded to a knowledge of the truth or not.

I think that's one reason many run away from this work, and I suppose it could be argued that that is a good thing for them ... if they don't want to know more of the truth and become responsible for their choosing. Yah'shua always provides a way out for us if we don't want the truth. If you read the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, you will see how He gave her exit opportunities. He never forced her. That is how we must be also. People must be free to leave at any time - people must be free to choose. But if they have entered into covenants, then they must be careful, because there are always consequences for breach of covenant. This you have learned in our Torah studies this year.

My desire - and the desire of the leadership of this Mishpachah - is that you all be blessed this sacred year which began at sunset on 19 March as we prepare to enter into the Pesach season. Winter has passed, spring is here and a whole new year lies ahead of us. And what a tumultuous year it has been! Everything has changed. We are not only a renewed body of Messianic Israelite believers but we have a new name, a new body of leadership is being raised up, and a new website is being constructed. People whom we thought were pillars of the faith were washed away by the Third Wave and yet many more whom we thought were coming up to Tsiyon turned out not to have been. And yet others have come forward and made themselves known, have entered into the Sukkot anointing and are firmly upon the path and are walking with us to the destination mapped out by Yahweh.

It should not be supposed, however, that all of those who were washed away will not return. The Third Wave was not necessarily a 'final act'. The Third Wave, you will recall, had as its purpose to reveal and establish people where they truly were in their hearts, and remove them from the theatrical stage of pretence which made them appear to be walking with us when they were not. That time of choosing is over. It ended last Yom Kippur. And those who refused to choose Yah'shua must begin again if they are still seeking His Kingdom and Yahweh's righteousness (Mt.6:33). Many will go away and never return - their choice was permanent, something Yahweh knew before they were even born. Some may choose other, less demanding, parts of the Body of Messiah - some will remain in their play-acting, some will choose to go only so far. The latter we bless and say: may you find shalom in the path you have chosen. The former we cannot endorse - they must repent and choose reality and truth. One or two have even chosen to make themselves implacable enemies against not only us but against Yahweh and His Word too - their fate I have already spoken about. Unless thy repent their end is the Abyss. But others will not be satisfied with that and will yet seek the City of Yahweh. It is to them primarily - and those of us who will be guiding and helping them - that I wish to continue with my address today. At the same time, the new cycle of moedim is, in truth, for every one of us - including those whom the Third Wave lifted and cast into this new spiritual landscape. There remains the need for refinement and purification. There are still bits of Egypt remaining that must be abandoned for a refining walk in the desert of affliction. There is always much to be done.

Now I am not saying to those who were washed back to where they had begun that they are bound to a fixed sequence of events represented by this year's seven moedim before they can make their choice for Yah'shua. I'm not saying that you have to sit it out until next Sukkot as though entering the spirit of the festivals will automatically cause Yahweh to do your choosing for you. The festivals of Yahweh are not a magic wand. You can just as easily choose today, before the Festivals recommence, and come up to the Heart of Tsiyon - Yah'shua - as at any other time. Or you can just sit around, year after year, hoping that the special anointings at the festivals will do your choosing for you.

There are no shortcuts to Yah'shua, no magical solutions to a refusal to repent or choose. You can as easily go through the process of repentance in 7 seconds right now as go through a mini-moed cycle over one 7-day week, or work your way through another year. It's basically up to you.

Remember, that it was not necessary for Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. They only did that because of choices they made along the way. Three of that company did not require that 40 year journey: Moses, Joshua and Caleb had already chosen to meet Yahweh face-to-face at Horeb and obey Him unconditionally. They never supported any of the rebels or troublemakers, they dismissed the negative reports from the spying mission as spinelessness and faithlessness, and could have entered the Holy Land immediately after Shavu'ot. The reason they didn't was because, like all of Yahweh's leaders, past and future, they were called to remain for the sake of the weak and faithless, to help them and build them up through their righteous example and leadership. It was their sacrifice, just as Paul chose to remain with the believers rather than go to Yah'shua in heaven (Phil.1:22-26). Indeed, I would imagine that those three men could have probably marched straight from Egypt to the "land flowing with milk and honey" without a break. They were, as it were, ready-made. But they were a tiny minority. I have little doubt that of that great multitude, they were the only members of the 144,000 firstborn Council of Yah's elohim alive at that time.

Do not, moreover, suppose that just because the Third Wave brought you to a new spiritual landscape that you can rest on any laurels. The Gospel is a "walk" along a "Way" (Ac.19:9,23; 24:14,22). The moment you sit down and stop, you start drifting back to Egypt by the force of the spiritual gravity of the prince of this world. No-one who was washed to safety has any grounds for complacency. Even Moses tripped up towards the end, forgot to give credit where it was due when he performed a miracle, and was denied entry into the Holy Land. None of us is immune from a fall. None of is immune from backsliding. While we are here on earth we have to maintain the spiritual momentum every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We can't stop and say, 'No more' and expect to hold our ground, because we're under covenants. And you will recall in our recent Torah readings towards the end of Deuteronomy that whilst the blessings are phenomenal if we are true to covenant, there are also severe curses for those who treat them indifferently, as Esau did of his birthright, and punishment follows. Unto whom much is given, much is expected (Lk.12:48). We don't own ourselves and have not been given the right to take spiritual vacations. The only choice we in fact have is to yield to Yahweh or to Satan. As His servants we do not have the right to determine how the Way is to be walked.

Do not suppose either that everyone who did not repent has been washed away yet. When Yom Kippur ended last autumn, all that it did was to confirm what people had chosen. Their failure to choose was a choice against Yahweh. There are some people who have been tagging on who were not exposed until recently, and there are more than likely still one or two others who are hoping to dodge Yahweh's judgement who have chosen not to choose. The Author - Yahweh - walks onto the stage and ends the charade of the liars and deceivers when He deems fit. And finally, none of this has anything to do with 'membership' of Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon - at ground level this isn't about your faithfulness or lack of faith to an 'organisation' or a 'church' - it's about your relationship with Yah'shua from beginning to end. Some people have gone off to hide in other churches and assemblies where the searching beam of truth is not so strong, but Yah'shua will find you wherever you are:

"If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there" (Ps.139:8, NKJV).

He will equally pursue you to bless you - as He did to David in this psalm - as to bring you to account. Hiding serves only the devil's agenda, and whilst it may make you feel safe and comfortable for a while, all it's doing is confirming that you are outside the pale of the Kingdom of Love and are slipping down into the darkness. And no amount of acting or pretence will alter that reality.

Before Moses came along as the deliverer of his people, the children of Israel had pretty much adjusted themselves to slavery. They didn't like it much but neither did they feel disposed to do much about it. I am sure the majority of them viewed it as irresistible fate. They would doubtless also have noted the futility of doing anything to change their circumstances in their own strength. They simply obeyed their taskmasters knowing that not to do so would result in a crippling beating that would more than likely lead to death. What, after all, were their options? The Egyptians were no fools. They did, after all, feed their slaves, just as slave-drivers feed their slaves today.

Look at the world around you - look at all the creature-comforts. There aren't many people starving in the West. Everyone has their 'mess of pottage' (Gen.25:29-34) - their food, clothing, entertainment - everything to please their carnal minds, or at least enticing carrots that make them think they are going to get them but which lead them round in circles. These things are their fleshy 'comforts'. Most people don't care that they're slaves of the world system so long as they have their sensual bowl of soup - they're more than willing to forfeit Yahweh's blessings because they have been programmed to believe that He's a fiction anyway and that religion is just a drug designed to control and manipulate people. Both the Soviets and Nazi SS taught that and yet what freedom from slavery did they offer? Today's Western secular neo-pagan democracies are doing the same thing, but more subtly. They promise to look after you from cradle to grave provided you surrender your money, families and education to them and agree to be moulded by them into an homogenous, obedient, unquestioning mass of lukewarm porridge. If you'll agree to that, they'll provide you with all the bowls of soup you can eat. But they'll keep the main course away from you - eternal life. They'll try to prevent you worshipping Yahweh, like Pharaoh did.

This last year we have seen how the world system messed with the minds and lives of Yahweh's people. We've seen how the Greeks poisoned the minds of Judeans and how the Persians nearly exterminated them. And we saw how the Judeans sought worldly solutions, just as Jacob did before he finally yielded to Elohim and let Him do things His way. My unpleasant task - and I'll be blunt, it isn't much fun for me most of the time - is to tell you things you don't want to hear, tell you things that Yahweh wants you to do that you don't want to do, so that you can have all the things you ever wanted. Because of what I stand for - Yahweh's truth without compromise - I have been branded by every negative label you can think of and exposed to public villification. And it's not because this people are unhappy or trying to 'escape' - it's because we have has provoked the envy of the idle who want something for nothing, because they're too lazy to make their own decision for the Kingdom. They would rather carry on playing out a fantasy on a stage, craving the plaudits of their audiences, hoping that by acting they can be liked, accepted and unmolested by the world, but without the responsibility of being real and offensive to those who hate Yahweh and His ways.

People tell me that they don't know how to choose Yah'shua and be set free. I have been hearing this for the last nine months from many people. They say they are hopelessly stuck in their inner prison and don't know how to get out. But they are not being honest. Actually they do know how to get out but they simply don't want to. They're happy with their slavery so long as they're getting their daily fix of mouldy bread from their slave-masters.

One of my favourite TV series is about an habitual criminal called Fletcher played by Ronnie Barker in a BBC comedy called Porridge [2]. It's about a petty thief who has served time in prison on and off nearly all his life. He spends 5 years in jail, is set free, tries to go straight, but falls into old habits of crime within a few months. Then he finds himself in jail yet again. By the time he is in his late 40's and has had time to think over his life, he suddenly realises what a fool he has been. He sits and works it all out. He's spent one day in every week of his life in prison. He hardly knows what the outside world is like any more. He can't wait to be set free. As he comes towards the end of his 'time', his hopes rise as he thinks about being reunited with his family. Finally the day of release comes. He gets his things and is escorted outside the gate of the prison. And then suddenly, he is struck by this blind panic. He suddenly realises that now he's responsible for his life. All these years he's been regimented - told what to do: when to get up, when to wash, what to eat, what work to do, what games he's allowed to play and when, when to sleep, and so on. Everything in his life has been micro managed by the prison system. It's kept him warm, clothed and fed, even if it's been the basic minimum. And then, suddenly, there he is, without the 'comfort' of all that lack of personal responsibility. Suddenly he's out in the big wide world with enough money to maybe last him a week, with the stigma of being an ex-convict and the need to compete to get a job. Now he has to be his own man and he's terrified!

I think that leaving the world system for Yah'shua is a lot like that. Only there's one difference: Yah'shua agrees to assume responsibility for guiding you and providing everything you need that will make you happy and fulfilled provided you surrender all sovereignty to Him (Mt.6:25-34). The demonic trick, though, is to get you to believe that you were 'free' whilst in prison - 'free' while you were outside of Messiah. That's why the victims of ritual abuse often want to go back to their abusers - it's why people vote totalitarian régimes to power, and will do so here in the West eventually - because they are afraid of personal responsibility, and especially the responsibility to exercise the most precious gift Yahweh has given us - the gift of free agency. A refusal to choose freedom is to choose slavery by inactivity. The writing is on the wall for what's coming, it's all exposed on the Internet, but people just can't be bothered. It's the late 1930's all over again only the Hitler's, Mussolini's and Stalin's all belong to respectable 'democratic' parties now.

Now the Israelites had been in bondage for so long that they knew nothing else but slavery. They had grown accustomed to their shadowy existence. Oh they were miserable alright, but a sense of hopelessness had descended upon them and seized them. They had doubtless known of those who had tried to escape and the examples that had been made of them by their Egyptian lords after their recapture and likely execution. They were forced to accept their status as low caste citizens in a foreign nation.

People who live in sin - who refuse Yah'shua's liberty in deed even if they sometimes accept it in word - have no vision. They have become acclimatised to the rat-race, to the concrete jungle, to the theatre, to the meaningless of life. All they live for is their daily fix of alcohol, sex, peer approval, or some entertainment. They're conditioned like animals. An extra crust of bread seems like a heavenly banquet when you're starving and Satan will often serve that to you to make you grateful to him. You all know about the Stockholm Syndrome and how that works. Satan keeps you in bondage by shrinking your spiritual horizon, by making you believe that that's all there is, and persuading you to accept his paltry 'gifts' while he abuses you. He trains you to be satisfied with your little corner even though you may be cold, starving, naked and bleeding. He says: "That's all there is. Make the best of it. Do what I say and I might reward you with the odd mouldy piece of bread". So your occasional extra ration of bread comes to be your dessert, and you learn to be grateful for it.

My godfather and uncle were prisoners of the Imperial Japanese Army in the last world war. They used to tell me the horrors of life building the Burma railway. Catching a cockroach or a rat was considered something wonderful because it augmented their protein-poor diet and kept them going. They experienced joy when these 'treats' came their way but it was a relative and illusionary joy because they were still being beaten and starved to death.

Satan wants you to believe that the theatre stage is better than real life. He wants you to go onto that stage as an actor or actress in life never knowing whether you'll be liked or hated. You have to please to be accepted. So you live for the applause and the laughter. You become what you're not in order, as you suppose, to live and be accepted. You become an entertainer wearing a false persona. You cease to be real. You become an Egyptian serving false gods.

The Israelites were not created to be slaves. They were set-apart to be Yahweh's representatives in the world, reflecting His glory by their faithful walk in life, thereby bringing Him glory. They were not created to build palaces for pagan kings or giant pyramid-shaped mausoleum's for their royal vanity. They were called to build the Kingdom of Elohim on earth, a little bit of paradise, and to worship Him with fullness of heart. 

Why is it, then, that some people make this leap of faith into Yah'shua's arms 'relatively easily' while others may struggle and struggle and end up not doing so? Have you ever wondered about that? If you have, you have asked the wrong question. In fact, it's a lie. It is absolutely not true that it's easier for some people than others.

We all have the same human nature. We all have the same hearts constructed in the image of Yahweh-Elohim. We all have the same potential to choose. It is a myth to believe that there are two 'types' of people - those for whom it is easy to choose and those for whom it is difficult. The truth is we all have the same chances. "What about one's background?" you may argue. Let me put it this way - I work with all kinds of people from every kind of background and I cannot say that someone from one kind of background has it 'easier' than someone from another. Take a batch of well off, sheltered people and then take a batch of abuse victims and you'll find that about the same proportion choose Yah'shua from both backgrounds. And it has nothing to do with racial, cultural and religious backgrounds either. Indeed if there is any group who might have a 'disadvantage' it is the rich: "It is easier to pass a large rope through the eye of a needle than to bring the rich into the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt.19:24, HRV) which is probably why Yah'shua told the rich young ruler to sell all he had and follow Him. He refused.

Fundamentally, the heart make-up of everyone is the same and it's not as though you need a translator or interpreter to understand someone's heart like you would in trying, for example, to communicate with a dolphin or a dog. People are not as 'different' as some would want you to believe.

There's a true story from the last world war of a Japanese and an American officer stranded on a Pacific island. They came from two completely different cultures and spoke languages the other could not understand. They communicated in gestures and acts of kindness. It started off by each keeping the other a prisoner - only the guard would fall asleep and the prisoner would escape and make the other one his prisoner in an unguarded moment. This went back and forth until both realised this was futile - but who would take the first risk to end the impasse? You see, the one who had the upper hand had to take the risk of setting his prisoner free, not knowing if this gesture would be returned and he fall into the other's hands again. The American, who then had the upper hand, took the risk and released his captive. Without the use of words, the Japanese understood in his heart what was being offered. Through hand gestures and nods they made an agreement. Here they were, two mortal enemies fighting a war to the death, from totally different backgrounds, perfectly understanding one another. Here the American was surrendering his sovereignty - he was taking an enormous risk. The Japanese might not only recapture him but even kill him.

Coming to Yah'shua is like that, only Yah'shua is not a Japanese officer. Yes, Yah'shua 'speaks' a very different 'language' to ours - His is of heaven, ours is of the world, and the deal is a little different: He offers to set us free from the slavery of the world if we will accept a kind of 'imprisonment' as a bondservant. He is offering us a different kind of 'captivity'.

Now Satan, of course, is active in painting a false picture altogether. He wants you to believe that his captivity is 'freedom' and Yah'shua's is 'imprisonment'. Satan's 'freedom', however, is a rack of different types of drug in hypodermic syringes designed to give you short-term pleasure for long-term misery. He usually doesn't 'force' you either - he just presents them attractively packaged. And yes, in a way, you do 'choose' them yourself, but only after you have made the choice in following him, even if you don't know he exists. For as Yah'shua said, not choosing Him is choosing Satan, even if you think its yourself you're choosing. The Kingdom of Heaven is sign-posted - the Kingdom of Darkness is not.

The reasons people don't choose Yah'shua are many though they can basically all be put into the same filing cabinet marked 'Risk'. The irony is, there is no risk at all - Yah'shua took all the risks in becoming human, living perfectly, and paying the penalty for our sins. The only 'risk' we have to take is in letting go of Satan and his narcotics, and when you realise just what Satan is and what he's really up to, that's no risk at all - then he is seen as a terrible liability to be got rid of as fast as possible. Satan is the one who turns everything on its head and makes white seem black, and white, black.

On Yom Shanee (Monday) evening we shall gather again for a hearing of the Passover story for our children. Over the following 24 hours we will be clearing our homes of leaven whilst reminding ourselves of the importance of getting sin out of our lives. The labour involved in collecting yeast products will remind us that sin is not dealt with if we sit back and do nothing about it, or if we just let 'circumstances' - like a conflict or a disaster - bring it to the surface. The purpose of Chag haMatzah is to precisely remind us that this is not Yahweh's way - we have to be actively and diligently on the hunt for sin as an habitual task.

May Yahweh bless you as we move into the anointing of the season. May this be a truly wonderful, repentant, cleansing and blessed New Year for all as we once again proclaim liberty for the captives! (Is.61) Amen.

References

[1] http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070311121138AAPz8xe
[2] http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=7165460462549962689

Glossary of MLT Hebraic, Greek and English Terms For other terms and full details please see the Micropedia A Adon(ai) = Master, a pagan fertility god, Adonis; used by many Messianics but not MLT (a)eon(ian) = 7 dispensation- or age-long time periods, not forever (see le-olam-va-ed) Alef-Tav = Alpha-Omega, A-Z, first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet = Yah'shua Amen = truly, let it be so, written Amein by some Messianics Apocrypha = Hebraic Scriptures not a part of the Protestant canon (e.g. Baruch) Anti-Messiah = Hebraic term for the end-time Antichrist or anyone opposed to the Messiah antinomian = lawless Christian who disregards all or part of Torah/commandments Ashkenazi Jew = East European Jew descended from the Turkic-Japhethite Khazars Assembly = church, congregation, ekklesia, community, fellowship, koinonia, gathering Azazel = the Yom Kippur scapegoat B Baal, Ba'al = any other master than Yahweh, usually demonic in MLT terminology Bachor(im) = firstborn son(s) Bar/Bat Mitzvah = Son/Daughter of Commandment, covenant to obey Torah at age 12 being = soul, the whole person (spirit and body), e.g. "my whole being" Beit, bet, beth = house, e.g. Beit Yisrael (House of Israel), Beth Lechem (House of Bread) Beit haMikdash = Yahweh's Temple in Yerushalayim B'rit Chadashah = the New Covenant; B'rit Chadashah Scriptures = New Testament B'rit Milah = circumcision - abolished in the B'rit Chadashah, replaced by Mikvah C canon = authoritative Scripture (Heb. qaneh, Gk. kanôn = measuring instrument) Catechumen = a serious, covenanted investigator seeking Mikvah or Baptism in MLT Chag haMatzah = Feast of Unleavened Bread, second of the annual feasts of Yahweh Chavurat Bekorot = MLT's Priesthood Order, Holy Order and Assembly of the Firstborn Cohen = priest; Cohen Gadol = High Priest (also spelled Kohen) Council of Yah's elohim = the heavenly Assembly of the Firstborn or Chavurat Bekorot D demon = fallen malek or angel in rebellion against Yahweh (Heb. shad; see Êl-Shaddai) derech = the Way, Path or Road - Yah'shua and the Gospel are the Way Drash = moral or homiletic interpretation of Scripture - see PaRDeS E Echad = One, Union of two or more in one (as opposed to Yachid) - see Elohim Echad Godhead Doctrine = Father Yahweh, Son Yah'shua and Sevenfold Ruach (Mother) Êl, Eloah, Elah = God the Father, Yahweh Êl-Elyon = Most High God, Yahweh Êl-Shaddai = Master/Lord over all shads or demons Elohim = God, the Godhead (Father, Son & Holy Spirit), lit. 'Mighty One(s)', 'Ruler(s)' elohim = Israelite judges, rulers, angels or gods (false deities, idols, demons) emunah = faith, actively trusting, clinging or adhering to (especially Yahweh or Yah'shua) emet = truth, Yah'shua is the Emet Ephraimite = descendant of the patriarch Ephraim and head of Messsianic Israel F Feasts of Yahweh = the 7 annual Moedim (Pesach, Chag haMatzah, Yom haBikkurim, Shavu'ot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot) G Gan-Eden = Garden of Eden, Paradise and state of the purified heart in Messiah goy(im) = nation(s), Israelites or gentiles not born in or converted to the Covenant H hallelu-Yah = praise Yah(weh)! Heylel = proper name of Satan or haSatan = the Adversary, the devil Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone) Hochmah = Wisdom, title of the 7-fold Ruach haQodesh I IDL = International Date Line, false man-made time division in Pacific Ocean IDL Zone = Area between the true Divine Date Line (Lake Van/Eden) and the false one Israeli = citizen of the modern Edomite-Khazar Republic of Israel (not Biblical Israel) Israelite = citizen of biblical state of Israel or a modern follower of the Messiah J Jew = post-biblical term describing descendants of Edomite and Khazar converts to Judaism Johannine = pertaining to the Apostle Yochanan (e.g. Gospel of John) Josephite = descendant of the patriarch Joseph, the head of Messianic Israel Judahite = a person in direct descent from the patriarch Judah, forefather of the Messiah Judaism = a Talmudic-based religion rejecting Yah'shua the Messiah Judean = a citizen of the Kingdom or Province of Judah until the 2nd Century diaspora K Kadosh la Yahweh = set-apart or dedicated to Yahweh, 'Holiness to the Lord', MLT motto Karaites = Jews (from 700 AD) who reject the Talmud and accept only the Tanakh kashrut = keeping kosher, food laws of Yahweh and correspinding lifestyle Ketuvim = Writings or Hagiographa of the Tanakh Khazar = a Turkic convert to Judaism ~700 AD forming the Ashkenazi Jewish community kosher = clean foods authorised by Yahweh for human consumption L Lashon Hara = evil-speaking, gossip or slander legalism = false route to salvation through works (self-salvation) le-olam-va-ed = dispensation- or age-long, aeonian, not eternal, forever or for eternity Lev = heart, as in Lev-Tsiyon = heart of Zion Lev-Tsiyon = Heart of the Fortress [of Yahweh], Hebrew name of MLT's founder M Master = Lord, Sir, Adon(ai) - (one in authority, a ruler - a king, husband, prophet, judge) Malak(im) = Angel(s), heavenly supernatural messenger(s) manna = wafers of honey, bread from heaven (lit. 'what is this?') matzah = unleavened bread, see Chag haMatzah Menorah = 7-armed candlearbra = the 7 annual Moedim and 7-fold Ruach haQodesh Messiah = Christ; Anti-Messiah = Antichrist Messianic Community = Body of Christ, sum total of all true believers; all true fellowships Messianic Israel = all who worship Yahweh, trust in Yah'shua, obey Torah and overcome Messianic Jew = Messianic convert from Judaism still clinging to Talmudic traditions Midrash = aggadic interpretation of scripture viâ Drash, a scriptural discussion Mikvah = baptism by immersion of convert into Yah'shua or of wife into husband Mishpachah = family: nuclear, congregational, tribal or the whole of Messianic Israel MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon = family of the heart of the fortress [of Yahweh] Mishpat = right-ruling or judgement mitzvah/mitzvot = commandment(s) moed(im) = appointment(s) of Yahweh, 7 Annual Feasts, Sabbath and Rosh Chodesh N Nefilim, Nephilim = giant offspring of materialised demons and human women Nevi'im = prophetic writings of the Old Testament or Tanakh New Birth = spiritual conversion in the Ruach haRishon, being 'born again' with new heart Nidah = a woman's menstruation period during which no intercourse is permitted O Olive Branch = collection of revelations, prophecies and visions published by MLT P Paraclete = Comforter, Advocate (NEB), Counsellor, Ruach haQodesh (Gk. paraklêtos) PaRDeS = method of textual interpretation (homiletics) - see P'shat, Remez, Drash, Sod Patriarch = a father who is head of his family, clan or tribe (lit. 'father-ruler') Pentateuch = first five books of the Tanakh (Genesis-Deuteronomy), also called Torah peribolaion = headcovering worn by daughters/wives in submission to fathers/husbands Pesach = Passover, first of the annual feasts of Yahweh Peshitta = an Aramaic version of the Bible Prototrinitarianism = early, simplified MLT formulation of the Echad Godhead Doctrine Prush(im) = Pharisee(s) Pseudepigrapha = Non-canonical Hebrew writings additional to the Apocrypha P'shat = literal, contextual, philological, exoteric, outer meaning of Scripture - see PaRDeS Q Qadosh Qadoshim = Holy of Holies, most sacred set-apart room of the Beit haMikdash Qodesh, Kodesh = set-apart, holy (see Ruach haQodesh) R Rabbi = Teacher, term used by Messianic Jews and some Messianic Israelites = Pastor Refuge, the 12 Cities of = divinely protected MLT fortresses during the 7-year Tribulation Remez = hint or allegorical level of Hebraic understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS Rosh Chodesh = monthly New Moon appointment of Yahweh ruach = spirit of a person (lit.'breath') Ruach Elohim = Spirit of God (the Spirit of the collective Godhead or Elohim) Ruach haChamashee = 5th Ruach presides over Yom Teruah and Yom Chamashee Ruach haQodesh = the Sevenfold Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost (lit. 'Set-Apart Breath') Ruach haRevee = 4th Ruach presides over Shavu'ot, Yom Revee and Bar Mitzvah Ruach haRishon = 1st Ruach presides over Pesach, Yom Rishon and the New Birth Ruach haShanee = 2nd Ruach presides over Chag haMatzah and Yom Shanee Ruach haSheshi = 6th Ruach presides over Yom Kippur and Yom Sheshi Ruach haShleshi = 3rd Ruach presides over Yom haBikkurim, Yom Shleshi and Mikvah S Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone) Satan = rebel archangel Heylel, father of lies, devil, chief demon (lit.'Adversary') Sephardic Jew = West European Jew of mixed blood containing many Judahites Septuagint = Greek translation of the Tanakh, LXX Shegal haShabbat = 7th Ruach (Sabbath Queen) presides over Sukkot and Yom Shabbat Shekinah = Divine Presence and Glory of Yahweh-Elohim Set-apart = holy, sanctified, consecrated, dedicated, separated (to and by Yahweh) Shabbat-Shabbaton = High Sabbath (e.g. Yom Kippur) Shalom = heavenly peace, standard Hebraic greeting invoking Yahweh's peace Shamash(im) = servant(s), deacon(s), attendant(s) Shavu'ot = Pentecost or Weeks, fourth of the annual feasts of Yahweh Sheol = grave or pit, euphamism for Hades or hell - also see Tartarus shofar = ram's horn, blown during Yahweh's Moedim simcha = joy, keynote of Sukkot Sod = mystical, anagogic, inner or esoteric understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS Sukkot = Tabernacles or Booths, seventh of the annual feasts of Yahweh Synagogue = Greek word used by Jews and Messianics (but not MLT) for a meeting house T talmid(a) = male/female disciple or student Talmud = scriptures, teachings and commentaries belonging to non-Messianic Judaism Tanakh = acronym for Old Testament Scriptures - Torah, Nevi'im & Ketuvim Tartarus = place of imprisonment under the earth for rebellious angels and Nephilim teshuvah = repentance, remorse and contrition leading back to Torah obedience Torah = Yahweh's teachings or Law; New Covenant Torah includes Yah'shua's teachings Tribulation, the Great = the final 7 years of the present aeon when Anti-Messiah rules Trinity = Catholic Godhead formula - see Echad Godhead Doctrine and Prototrinitarianism Tsiyon = Zion, a fortress, a name of Jerusalem and a prominent hill Tzitzit/Tizitziyot = tassel(s) worn by men in remembrance of Torah U Universalism = salvation of all at the cosmic Yovel, with different rewards and punishments Y Yachid = one, single person or item, as opposed to Echad (many in one, unity) Yah'shua the Messiah = Jesus Christ (the Son) Yahudah = Judah - see Judahite Yahweh, Yah, YHWH = the true Name of our Heavenly Father, also carried by Yah'shua Yahweh-Elohim = LORD God (the Father, Yahweh as Head of the Godhead or Elohim) Yahweh haQatan = the sent Yahweh = Yah(weh)'shua, Malak of Yahweh's Presence Yam Suf = Sea of Reeds, the true Israelite Exodus water crossing, not the Red Sea Yarden = Jordan River (lit. 'meanderer') Yerushalayim = Jerusalem Yisrael = Israel (lit. 'ruling with Êl') = true believers under the New Covenant Yom Chamashee = 5th day of the week (Thursday, Friday in IDL Zone) Yom Din, Yom haDin = (the) Day of Judgement Yom haBikkurim = Feast of Firstfruits, third of the annual feasts of Yahweh Yom Revee = 4th day of the week (Wednesday, Thursday in IDL Zone) Yom Rishon = 1st day of the week (Sunday, Monday in IDL Zone) Yom Kippur = Day of Atonement, sixth of the annual feasts of Yahweh Yom Shabbat = 7th day of the week and Sabbath Rest (Saturday, Sunday in IDL Zone) Yom Shanee = 2nd day of the week (Monday, Tuesday in IDL Zone) Yom Sheshi = 6th day of the week (Friday, Saturday in IDL Zone) Yom Shleshi = 3rd day of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday in IDL Zone) Yom Teruah = Day of Trumpets, fifth of the annual feasts of Yahweh Yosef = Joseph - see Josephite Yovel = Jubilee or Year of Jubilee Z Zaqen(im) = elder(s) of an assembly or congregation, or senior members of a community Zoë Life = Greek term for spiritual life in the Messiah Commonly Used MLT Abbreviations For additional abbreviations and explanations, please see the Micropedia A Amp.V(er). = Amplified Version of the Bible Aram. = Aramaic AV = Authorised Version of the Bible - see KJV B BCAY = B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh - see NCCG BoA = Books of Abraham (e.g. 1Abr., 2Abr., etc.) C cp, cf = compare with CB(Q) = Chavurat Bekorot CEV = Contemporary English Version of the Bible ch. = chapter CJB = Complete Jewish Bible CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament CYe = Council of Yah's elohim E Eng. = English F ff. = and onwards/forwards fn = footnote G Gk. = Greek GNB = Good News Bible - see TEV H Heb. = Hebrew, Hebraic HEM = Holy Echad Marriage, eternal marriage HO = Holy Order - see Chavurat Bekorot HOC = Holy Order Collection of revelations - see OB HRV = Hebraic-Roots Version of the Bible I ibid. = ibidem (lit. 'in the same place'), referring to a book previously cited ICJC = Independent Church of Jesus Christ, earlier name of NCCF ISRV = Institute for Scripture Research Version of the Bible J JB = Jerusalem Bible JBP/Phillips = J.B.Phillips translation of the New Testament JNT = Jewish New Testament K KJV = King James Version of the Bible - see AV L LB = Living Bible lit. = literally or literature LXX = Septuagint, Greek translation of the OT M MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon Moff. = Moffatt translation of the Bible MRC = Messianic Renewed Covenant Version of the NT MS(S) = Manuscript(s) N NASB, NASV = New American Standard Bible/Version NC&C = New Covenants & Commandments - see OB NCCF = New Covenant Christian Fellowship, earlier name of NCCG NCCG = New Covenant Church of God, earlier name of MLT - see BCAY NCP = New Covenant Press, publishing arm of MLT NCW = New Covenant Witness, MLT magazine NEB = New English Bible NIV = New International Version of the Bible NKJV = New King James Version of the Bible Nor. = Norwegian NT = New Testament, B'rit Chadashah NWT = New World Translation of the Bible, unreliable Jehovah's Witness version O OB = Olive Branch - see NC&C op.cit. = opere citato (lit. in the work cited) OT = Old Testament, Tanakh P p(p). = page(s) pl. = plural - see s. PWNC = Prophetic Words of the New Covenant, revelation cataloging system - see OB Q QED = quod erat demonstrandum (lit. which was shown to be proved) R RCF = Restoration Christian Fellowship, earlier name of ICJC RhQ = Ruach haQodesh, Holy Spirit RSTNE = Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition of the Bible RSV = Revised Standard Version of the Bible RV = Revised Version of the Bible S s. = singular - see pl. S&G = Smith & Goodspeed Version of the Bible T TEV = Today's English Version of the Bible - see GNB V Vulg. = Biblia Vulgata, Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible W WEB = World English Bible Glossary Copyright ©2007 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved

Last updated on 31 March 2007

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Copyright ©2007 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved

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