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Sermons Series 3:101, 7 July 2007
Repentance
Seeking the Kingdom and Its Righteousness
Main Themes:
Minor Themes:
Preface: Public Apology
I stand before you today as one whom Yahweh has cut down and made low because of sin. I am preaching today on repentance but I have also come before you to continue repenting myself. This sermon, that follows this statement, like other recent ones I have given, is mostly for me but I hope will benefit some of you too.
For a little over a week and a half now Yahweh has convicted me of the gross sin of pride. This pride opened the doors to spiritual deception in my life. This deception led me to make some bad choices which resulted in various calamities overtaking me which could have been avoided if I had repented and not blame-shifted. Because I refused to repent but rather transferred blame, I became blinded to my sin and simply compounded matters. A failure to repent always leads to spiritual blindness and I became nearly totally blind to my unacceptable behaviour. My blindness led also to my failing to make myself accountable and responsible for many of my actions. I needlessly hurt a number of people whom I love very dearly both inside and outside my family, and damaged many precious relationships as a minister, brother, husband and father. I wish to apologise to them publicly for what I have done to them and to ask for their forgiveness.
Nearly two weeks ago Yahweh took me to the end of myself and to the very edge of hell so that I would be desperate enough to make things right with Him and with those I have hurt. I bitterly regret I did not act sooner. I cannot begin to describe to you what that felt like. I know I never want to go through it again, nor would I want anyone else to, so I am sharing my experience as a testimony to others, and particularly to ministers who fall into prideful ways and are tempted to cover themselves up. Ironically I have fulfilled a hymn I wrote many years ago whose lyrics run thus:
Pride ruined me, it crowned me with deceit;
Then Yah'shua came unto me, and washed my feet.
Come Yah'shua, Lord, into my lonely heart,
And fill it with your love forever more.
My soul cried, 'Save me dear Lord, else I shall die;
I have not place to go than Thee.
He said to me, 'My blood will make you free,
Take up your cross at once and follow Me.
O happy day, when Yah'shua showed me the way;
I'll love Him all my days, and praise His name!
A few days ago was my 53rd birthday. It would be untruthful to say that it was been a happy one. It wasn't. The fact of the matter is I have been in deep mourning and had days of great emotional turmoil. Some days ago I literally came to what I have been preaching about, the 'end of myself' as the Third Wave plucked me off my feet and threw me into a place inside where I had absolutely no control. I woke up one morning and felt I was literally bathing in death. Everything was lifeless, the air heavy and congested, so that I could barely breathe. But this was not just physical - this death was coming from inside - from inside my heart. My whole soul was suffocating. It was the most awful thing I have ever experienced, far worse than pain - it was the feeling of being utterly and totally crushed to the point that there was no place to turn except to Yahweh, or to die. The alternative to Yahweh was just too horrible, a condition no one in their right mind would ever wish to live in. It had been building up for over two months when I made a fateful decision in my life - the worst decision in my life in recent years. Feeling overwhelmed with the responsibilities and difficulties of life, the pain and physical exhaustion that had marked my life up to this point, I literally gave up and 'bailed out'. I turned my heart off and sank into a pain-free numbness that took little or no account of the feelings or needs of those around me.
The result was devastating for my family. One minute there was a loving - though imperfect and struggling - husband and father, and the next there wasn't. I was 'gone' - in a totally different world or reality. The pain of separation felt by my nearest and dearest crushed their hearts and gave them such pain that I was both the person they loved with all their hearts as well as the one who was passively draining the life-force out of them. I became the vortex of a demonic force that simply sucked all the energy out of those around me. The more they begged that totally unknown person to come out of himself and return to them, the more I withdrew into this dark place of artificial comfort and security without responsibilities where I didn't have to worry about the consequences of my actions. Here was I, an active parent, husband and minister, suddenly totally inert inside and determined to cling onto the spiritual respite I thought I had at last found. Like a cowardly officer deserting the battle field, I fled inside. Oh, I was able to function relatively normally on the outside - the daily outward functions continued - but the main impulse in me was simply to get away from people and be alone.
I can't begin to explain what this felt like other than to say that all natural reason vanished and the only thinking processes that remained were self-justification, self-protection, and every and any type of excuse not to do what I should have been doing as a man in a position of responsibility and leadership. And though it was explained very plainly by several people, including some pastors from other denominations (in Canada, the USA, UK and Sweden - both Evangelical and Messianic) who were ministering to me and who had told me what I had to do, I could not understand them. It was like they spoke a different language to me. Their counsel made no sense. It was like they and I lived in two totally different realities: I knew and yet I didn't know. It was like all substantial communication broke down so that before they had even begun speaking I was hearing something else which I learned was the work of a dark principality called Leviathan - a harsh and crtical spirit - a fault-finding and condemning spirit. The total personality change was such as one sees in some people when they go onto antidepressant drugs. People were crying out: 'Who is this? Where is the husband/brother/friend I know and love?' It might as well have been a scene from 'Invasion of the Body-Snatchers' because something definitely snatched me away when I gave it permission to. And I never dreamed in a thousand years that I would find myself in such a position. And like Job, I kept "uttering what I did not understand".
Then, as I said, I awoke one morning three days ago in the land of death. I am sure that if I had died at that moment I would have gone to hell. It certainly felt that way and I wouldn't have wanted to take the chance. My desire was to run anywhere to find refuge or security, just as Jonah had done when Yahweh called him out east to Nineveh. He headed in the opposite direction, west, to Tarshish. I wanted to run out of the house but I had no idea where to go. Indeed I knew there was nowhere to go. It was like trying to run away from yourself. The feeling was not unlike that of drowning, or losing the last dregs of your life-force. And I knew that if I remained like that for much longer - and I knew I had a matter of minutes to get out of this or perish - I would either physically die or go insane. I wanted to cry out in desperation, but there was no cry, like the man in the famous painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch called, The Scream. It was, as I jotted down in my diary, as though I had lost the entire map to the Road of Life.
And then I realised what it was I had done to my loved ones who had endured my near total withdrawal. They had expressed feelings of total suffocation, exhaustion, extreme pain because the love they had for me was just being swallowed down into this pit of total non-communication. I knew, for the first time, the deathliness that they were experiencing. I began to understand, be appalled, and to begin my repentance and climb out of the pit of hell. I had opened my Bible in my silent cry for help and my eyes had fallen on this passage:
"So repent - change your mind and purpose, turn around and return [to Yahweh], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing - of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air - may come from the presence of Yahweh; and that He may send [to you] the Messiah, who before was designated and appointed for your salvation (Yah'shua)" (Acts 3:19-20, AmpV).
I came out of that hell - or at least took the first concrete step out of it - by making a lifesaving choice: I decided that it was better to be in agony of soul than to be numb in that inky-black suffocating deathness where there are few or no feelings at all, and so I asked Yah'shua to breathe life into my heart again with that understanding. Any kind of pain was better than that! The moment I made that choice, life entered my heart, and I felt this deep, deep grinding pain, like some badger gnawing on my bones. I knew at that point that the channel to heaven was open again and that I could pray and be heard. Being in agony of soul was better than death.
This was, however, only the beginning. During the next few days I just broke down with remorse for all the pain I had unnecessarily caused others over the years but especially over the last few months. Each day I come to my Father in Heaven to get further cleansed out, binding my heart and will to His, realising for the first time in my life just how blessed it is to repent - fully - with all one's heart. Repentance began to feel positive and sweet! There have been times of refreshing and renewal as He continues to take me deeper. There are new discoveries every day. Sin left unrepented of for many years spreads like a network of interlocking weeds throughout the whole of your being. Coming out of that jungle is both a challenge and a delight. It isn't something that can be done passively. As anyone knows who has hacked their way through a tropical rain forest, you have to cut and slash and sweat until you are through. And not just in yourself - but through the hurt and fear of those you have wronged. Repentance requires a lot of work, a lot of fighting, and resolute will mingled with much humility and swallowing of pride. Restitution takes time. Damaged relationships are not repaired in day just as Paul the persecutor needed time to demonstrate that he was now Paul the apostle. Right now I am working through the morass and treading new ground.
It is not my purpose to go into details today because I will be approaching - or have already approached - each person concerned privately. We are to repent publicly what concerns the public and privately what concerns individuals. I will have a lot more to say about these matters in sermons to come just as the last few sermons were preludes to this. I have learned a great deal and I continue to learn. I will be confessing more as I learn more and trying to make everything right with my Father in Heaven and with any who I may have hurt.
Finally, I do wish to make it clear that this apology is not directed toward the two knaves who have repeatedly and systematically attempted to defame, discomfit, ruin and destroy this ministry, my family and friends by every means at their disposal, with their undisguised malice in their propagation of lies, deceptions and half-truths, for they continue to deserve the contempt of all decent people who love the truth. They have hurt a lot of people. Neither is this statement a repudiation of the theology I have taught in recent times which I completely stand by and believe to be biblically accurate (such changes that have been made are to be found in the sermons of the last year), though refinements and corrections will continue to be made and though there will be, and already have been, major changes in emphasis that reflect the changes taking place in my own heart by the grace of Yahweh. The sermon that follows is illustrative of these changes.
Sermon
The ministry of John the Baptist was characterised by one theme throughout his life: repentance. And when Yah'shua embarked on His mission this was exactly the same theme that He pursued as well. They both prophetically declared:
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" (Matt.3:2, NIV, cp. 4:17)
Both the forerunner and the One for whom the highway had been prepared preached the same message of repentance and of the immanence of the Kingdom or Reign of Yahweh. In evaluating our own spiritual life we need to return to beginnings or roots to see whether we are both heeding - and how we are responding to - this simple message, and indeed we need to see if we have truly understood what these two concepts are.
What is repentance? To repent means to 'turn' or 'return' and specifically it means to turn from sin to Yahweh. It is to turn to our Heavenly Father with all our heart and soul and might and strength (2 Ki.17:13; 23:25; 2 Chr.6:26; 7:14; 15:4; 30:6; Neh.1:9; Ps.78:34; Is.19:22; 55:7; Jer.3:12,14,22; 18:8; Ezek.18:21; 33:11,14; Dan.9:13; Hos.14:1-2; Joel 2:13; Jon.3:10; Zech.1:3-4; Mal.3:7). The effect of repentance is to change one's mind - it is the radical transformation of thought, attitude, outlook and direction that leads to service to Yahweh. Anything that just leads to self-life is not repentance. The effect of this repentance always results in a change in the sinner's relation to other people and to Yahweh Himself. Repentance is synonymous with revolution because it results in a change of personality caused by the regeneration of the Ruach haQodesh. It is accompanied by grief and sorrow precisely because it brings with it the awareness of how personal sin damages relationships and hurts others (2 Cor.7:10). Repentance always leads to concrete actions so when we read of John the Baptist's ministry and his own call to the people of Israel to repent, what do we find happening? What practical advice does he give? And how does this practical advice change the way we relate to other people?
"The people asked [John], 'What are we to do, then?'" (Lk.2:20, GNB).
If you are convicted in your soul by the proclamation and call of John the Baptist and of the Messiah Yah'shua that you must "repent", what, then, should you ask Yahweh next? 'Father, what must I now do'. And I guarantee that if you do this with real conviction in your soul, that Yahweh will tell you immediately - every day, and whenever you pray - He'll give you concrete instructions as to what He wants you to do if your heart is truly open. Remember, that John and Yah'shua were talking to believers, and whilst the call to repent is sent out to unbelievers too, this message is primarily directed towards Yahweh's own people who declare that they believe and follow Him. That means, every single one of us who names the Name of Yah'shua, Yahushua, Yeshua or Jesus, is being called, every day, to repent because the Kingdom of Yahweh is near - it's close, nearby, immanent, and gets closer the fuller our repentance, until we're ready to enter it fully. And though I don't want to talk too much about the Kingdom just yet, it is important to first of all mention two things about it so that we understand its critical importance in relationship to repentance. First, Yah'shua says:
"But seek first [Yahweh's] kingdom and [Yahweh's] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt.6:33-34, NIV).
What are "all these things"? Primarily the practical necessities of life like home, clothes, food and drink which of course were a matter of life and death in those days, and therefore uppermost in people's minds, because the kind of wealth and government support we take for granted today simply did not exist back then. When we are seeking the Kingdom and its righteousness, all of these things will be automatically provided by our loving Father in Heaven. You will have all your basic needs met. You will be secure. Notice, please, that it is not any old 'righteousness' that is being spoken of here but "its righteousness", meaning, the righteousness of - belonging to - the Kingdom. In other words, we need to have a basic understanding of what the Kingdom is and what righteousness or right-ruling is. To repent we must not simply be turning away from that which offends Yahweh but also turning towards that which pleases Him. Turning away leaves a vacuum - you must always fill it with something else, and Yahweh always has something specific in mind. If you don't, Satan will fill it with something else. Thus laziness is to be replaced by industry, theft with generosity of giving, rebellion with submission, and so on. This 'righteousness' is not, moreover, what you feel. It is not being kind. It is not being good. It is not anything which you personally consider to be of value that originates from your own self. Neither the Kingdom, nor sin, nor repentance, nor anything that is of Yahweh derives from any part of yourself (1 Jn.4:19). Bear that in mind as we move on to the next point in which I, secondly, invite you to consider in these words of Yah'shua:
"My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Judeans. But now My kingdom is from another place" (John 18:36, NIV).
To understand the meaning of these words we must further understand where the location of this 'kingdom' or 'reign' is. Yah'shua explains:
"...behold, the kingdom of Elohim is within you (in your hearts) and among you (surrounding you)" (Lk.17:21, AmpV).
What this means, simply, is that the Kingdom or Reign of Yahweh begins with an inward yearning - a desire for Yahweh's rulership in our lives. It begins in our hearts. The Kingdom must always begin in our hearts and as such, then, is invisible, just as the feeling of love is invisible. But though it is invisible, it is potent and alive. It is utterly and totally real! Tell someone who is in love that it is not real to them even if others can't see it!
The Kingdom begins within and that inward desire for Yahweh's rulership in our lives leads to entry into His Kingdom. You enter it in your heart. And in that sense the Kingdom is not "of this world", as Yah'shua told Pilate (Jn.18:36). It belongs entirely to another dimension - the dimension of the Ruach or Spirit. However - and this is critically important - the Kingdom doesn't end there. Yahweh did not just create the heavens but He created the earth too, because what was created in the invisible was made to manifest in the visible too. This Kingdom - this Reign - is supposed to manifest outwardly and if it does not it will die. Consider Paul's definition of godliness in this early messianic hymn:
"Elohim was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Ruach, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory" (1 Tim.3:16, NKJV).
Here, then, is the life principle: it begins in heaven, in the invisible realm, it manifests in the flesh in the outer material world where it is seen by malakim or angels, it is preached amongst unbelievers, it is believed on in the outer physical world by unbelievers, and then it is received up into glory back into the invisible.
The Kingdom begins in the heart, manifests outwardly in the world, and then returns to the Great Heart. That is why the Amplified Version of the Bible correctly has Yah'shua saying that the Kingdom of Elohim is within the heart and among people - it is among you - among us - in our relationships with others - with other people in whose hearts the Kingdom has been entered - and when these people, who are relating to Yahweh in their hearts, start relating to each other as the Body of Messiah - then there is creative activity in the outer world, and the Kingdom is built outwardly in such a way as to bring glory to the Father. The Kingdom is neither supposed to stop in the heart nor in believers having loving relationships with one another: it is supposed to manifest in a third stage in the building of a holy society called Messianic Israel - a society which comes under the complete government of Yahweh through both inward life and inspiration and the Rule of TORAH. Only then is the Kingdom fully manifested. Only then is it made complete. Only then does it bring glory to Yahweh-Elohim. Only then can it return to source - the heart - for judgement and glorification.
When the people came to John the Baptist, pricked in their hearts to repent, what happened? They asked John what they should do because inward conviction always leads to outward action and change. It's really not that complicated at all. First of all John said:
"Whoever has two shirts must give one to the man who has none, and whoever has food must share it [with the man who has none]" (Lk.3:11, GNB).
This is what is called practical religion. A change in heart results in action. However, be careful, because if your outward action is not preceded by a heart-change, it becomes worthless as far as your relationship to Yahweh is concerned. Paul warned:
"If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Cor.13:3, NIV).
Beware of that false piety which gives to the poor and needy in order to gain approval from people. Does Yahweh use such self-centred people to meet the needs of the poor? Most certainly. For sure, it is better that such people feed the poor than the poor do not get their needs met. There are lots of people who are engaged in charitable works not because they love the needy and suffering but to get social approval. Yahweh uses them to bless others but they don't get any credit in heaven. Their reward is their social approval. It doesn't last long - it gives them a short, temporary ego-boost - but it's what they choose. They have their reward (Mt.6:2).
Which leads to another question and another type of false humility: is it wrong to be seeking 'gain'? And the answer most definitely is: No, it is not wrong to get gain. The important thing is from what source you are seeking gain. If you are seeking the approval of men and women, that's your 'gain', in a way, but it doesn't last or satisfy long. Your deeds of charity will soon be forgotten by people. But - if you are seeking 'gain' from Yahweh, then definitely we should be seeking it! Paul says so. He is saying there is nothing wrong in getting gain provided we get it from the only acceptable source, namely Yahweh, who delights to reward us! Don't get sucked up into the false piety which says. 'I am not seeking reward of any kind' because it isn't true. We all need rewarding and we all seek it. If we didn't, why would Yahweh even bother rewarding us:
"[Yahweh] rewards those who earnestly seek Him" (Heb.11:6, NIV).
Well, I don't know about you, but I want to be rewarded by my Heavenly Father because I know that whatever reward I get from Him will always be because my heart has been right, and that that, more than anything else, pleases Him. I want to delight in His rewards just as I want my own children to delight in the rewards I give them because they have been good. I take pleasure in rewarding then just as Yahweh takes pleasure in rewarding us when we seek for His Kingdom and its righteousness.
Kingdom love is both of the heart and intensely practical on the outside. John the Baptist's first instructions are an illustration of what the love of Elohim does for our hearts - it makes us care for our neighbour. If I have things to spare - if I have surplus - I am to give my surplus to those who, for whatever reason, do not have the basic necessities of life or are unable to get them. John is not talking about indulging the carnal lusts of the poor or the greedy - he isn't saying, 'Give that poor man your car' leaving you with no transport for your family. Give of your surplus. Don't hoard. Give a starving man of your surplus food. And give as the Ruach directs you.
John had counsel specific to different kinds of people. To tax collectors he said: "Don't collect more than is legal" (v.13, GNB) and to some soldiers: "Don't take money from anyone by force or by false charges; be content with your pay" (v.14, GNB). Pretty straight forward, isn't it? When people do these things, the Kingdom is manifesting itself outwardly in the relationships people are having with one another. They're both fixing their broken vertical relationship with Yahweh by doing what's right - by turning or returning to Yahweh and living His Torah - and they're fixing their horizontal relationships with people by righting wrongs they have done to them. When these two things happen, the inner and outer combine into one echad union of holiness - the soul that repents becomes set-apart or holy, he becomes right with Yahweh because he is seeking the righteousness of the Kingdom. This is Kingdom righteousness. This is doing things Yahweh's way, not man's. This is about the restoration of relationships above and below. As you do the righteousness of the Kingdom so you enter it outwardly, just as you entered it inwards by trusting in - clinging and adhering to - Yah'shua with your very life. Paul said to the Colossians:
"[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us INTO the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have our redemption though His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins" (Col.1:13, AmpV).
It is the power of love which reveals itself in loving, Torah-obedient actions towards others, that transfers us into Yahweh's Kingdom and out of the kingdom of this dark world. This experience of, and interaction with, love, that leads us to do what is right and so partake of the Kingdom's righteousness, is accompanied by two inevitable outcomes if we have done this right: redemption through the blood of Messiah and forgiveness of sins. The repentance is not complete until the offences we have committed are blotted out in the Father's eyes. True repentance always leads to forgiveness if not from men then without exception from Yahweh-Elohim.
John only gives three examples here of 'things to do' but the moral, ethical and spiritual content is universally applicable. What have you done to sever relationships with Yahweh and with your fellow brethren and sisters in the covenant of Messianic Israel? Have you take steps to restore them? If not, remember the urgent call: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near".
The story of the Prodigal Son (Lk.15:11ff) is a graphic example of what not to do but which everyone always does one way or another and at least once in their lifetime. How far we descend into the world and into crass immorality is our choice. The farther down we go, the longer climb up we have. And the longer the climb, the greater the suffering. Remember, though, that suffering from what is wrong is not the same as suffering for what is right. Suffering for what is wrong brings you no benefit, gives you no credit and leads to no blessedness because it brings no glory to Yahweh. And He for certain cannot - and will not - reward it. It is one thing to suffer as a Christian for Yah'shua but quite another to suffer for the folly of sin. Suffering for Yah'shua brings "patient endurance" (2 Cor.1:6), suffering for Yah'shua puts you in a state of blessedness and grace (1 Pet.3:14), but suffering for your own folly brings you no gain other than to have the flesh crucified and pride cut down if you finally repent. Peter said:
"If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler" (1 Peter 4:15, NIV).
So, please, I beg you, do not choose the futile path of suffering for personal sin. I have been down that road myself. It isn't worth it. Chastisement may be 'good' in the ultimate sense as it may save you from hell, but it is hardly conducive to joy. It does not yield happy fruits. We should welcome correction so that we can, if needs be, suffer for the right reasons, and be blessed, and have our joy made full, but we should not allow ourselves to be lured into folly and sin, thinking it will be 'easier' for us. It absolutely will not be. It is an old heresy that says the more you wilfully sin, the more grace you will be given. Sin cannot be indulged with impunity. You reap what you sow (2 Cor.9:6).
Now the apostle Paul understood the problem fully well. He realised that in man there was a sensible and a stupid part, a wise and a foolish part, an alert and a senseless part - and that this stupid, foolish and senseless part had to be brought under the rod of discipline. So let's take a look at the contradiction - the dilemma - of our human condition, and see how Paul dealt with it. Every single one of us has to go through this struggle so don't get the idea that you're a 'special case' and don't need to contend with these things, because that would be a major delusion. This is the reality of the human condition for believers, not just unbelievers. He writes:
"We know that the law (Torah) is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law (Torah) is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law (torah) at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in Elohim's law (Torah); but I see another law (torah) at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law (Torah) of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law (torah) of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to Elohim - through Yah'shua the Messiah our Master! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law (Torah), but in the sinful nature a slave to the law (torah) of sin" (Rom.7:14-25, NIV).
Those of you familiar with the Mormons will know that their founder totally rewrote and mutilated this passage in his so-called 'Inspired Version' of the Bible to mean the opposite of what it says. The carnal nature does not want to admit that it is the problem because it knows that if it does that it must die. The 8th chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans gives us the solution. For one, he says:
"Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Ruach have their minds set on what the Ruach desires" (Rom.8:5, NIV).
So what does the sinful nature desire? What does our spiritual, born-again and redeemed nature desire? What happens if we do not resolve this contradiction - this dichotomy? We have to make a choice - for Yah'shua or the world - for the Kingdom of Yahweh and its righteousness or the kingdom of this world and its dark prince (Jn.12:31). John the apostle tells us:
"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through Elohim" (John 3:19-21, NIV).
Do not suppose that just because you are not a murderer or a thief that you are not "evil". Don't get all self-righteous - don't get puffed up in your pride and think that you are 'better' or a 'cut above' others.
A few days ago I had a dream in which I received a visit from someone I once knew who has abandoned his Christianity and become a New Ager. He regarded himself as a kind and generous man, and so it appeared on the surface. Indeed, whenever he visited us, he was always bringing expensive gifts, but there was an unspoken price tag on them. Accepting them meant that he could impose himself upon our hospitality whenever he wished and behave more or less as he wished. He wished to control us. His 'kindness' was manipulative and controlling. His gifts were not 'free' in the way the gifts of Yahweh's righteousness always are. His love was conditional. In the dream he came to my door with a trailer loaded with gifts for me of some considerable value. He asked if he could get water and other provisions for his family and I of course agreed at once, as I would to any traveller. And then I saw him cock his head with that unmistakable aura of haughtiness and contempt which marks those whose 'love' is counterfeit - whose 'love' is not of the Kingdom but of the world, and I was disgusted. There was an arrogance about him in the dream which made me see starkly how so much of the world's 'kindness', 'concern' and 'generosity' is in fact of the self-serving variety and not at all concerned about the welfare of others. Indeed, it is what one might call the 'kindness of evil' which is little more than a lure and a bait. This man left my life nearly 20 years ago but served as a reminder to me of the counterfeit love that men and demons offer that is not of the Kingdom and its righteousness.
The sinful, unrepentant man - whose heart has not received the genuine Kingdom - does not submit to the Torah in the outer, physical dimension. It is not a part of his practical living or lifestyle. Paul says:
"The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Ruach is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to Elohim- It does not submit to Elohim's law (Torah), nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please Elohim" (Rom.8:6-8, NIV).
The sinful mind is hostile to Yahweh and His Torah. It can't submit. Everything in it screams against submission and its rational mind begins the ritual of excuse-making. Given the chance, the sinful man will abandon the commandments that especially distinguish him from the world - the Sabbath, the kashrut laws, wearing of tzitzits, the seven annual festivals, headscarves, and all those things which the world considers to be 'strange' or 'religious'. The sinful man wants to 'blend in' and not be seen because he wants to be accepted and loved by the world. He will abandon all the external signs and fool himself into believing that all he needs to be is 'kind to others'. Christianity cannot be mixed with the world. Ours is a radical religion - you're either in or out, and if you're only halfway 'in' you're still 'out' and need to repent. Yah'shua said:
"The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:25-26, NIV).
Please note that Yah'shua is not saying we should be 'anti-life' - He's saying that we should hate life "in this world". If you're living for the world system in any form, you're dead! And don't kid yourself into believing that you're still loving and serving Yahweh, Yah'shua or the cause of truth if you if you are attracted, desire or embrace - to whatever degree - the world system. Don't deceive yourself! I have heard all the excuses: 'Oh, you need to be like them to reach them and understand them!' Wake up! That's such a lie. You don't reach a murderer with the Gospel by adopting his lifestyle. When you do that, you abandon the Gospel and become a murderer! Yet you'd be surprised how many people fall for that old demonic trick which basically says: 'Follow your heart, be kind, and shelve the Torah because this is a 'better' or 'superior' way.' Oh yes, that attitude of 'being all things to all men' (misquoting Paul, incidentally) is just a form of conceit and arrogance that sets the human heart above Yahweh's laws. It is the vanity of 'my truth is higher than Scripture's'.
So, please, stand back, and ask yourself this question: what do those in the world think of you? How do they treat you? Do they treat you the way Yah'shua says they will if you are truly following Him? Indeed, do you agree with Yah'shua when He says:
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" (John 15:18-20, NIV).
Let's not beat around the bush here, OK? Let's not try to deceive ourselves into believing it is possible to be friends with both Yahweh and the world system. If the world is embracing and accepting you it is because you have forsaken Yah'shua. If you are a true believer, then the world will only love you if it repents and embraces Yah'shua. If doesn't matter what label you wear - many say they are Christians when they are not. When our Christianity is placed under the microscope, and the light of truth is shone on it, what do we see? Do we find that we are disciples, with the Kingdom within us and around us, or is Yah'shua a Convenience Store with the world around us? What is it we are attracted to, and what is attracted by us? Yah'shua said that He chose us out of the world. What is a characteristic of those who are attracted by the world? Desertion! Paul sorrowed over one of the believers, a missionary companion of his:
"Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone" (2 Tim.4:10, NIV).
John warned:
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of Elohim lives forever" (1 John 2:15-17, NIV).
It is hard seeing loved ones in the world. It is hard when family chooses the world before Elohim. But we have to choose Yahweh or the world. It is hard not being understood. It is hard being vilified, persecuted and hated, especially by your own family, something that Yah'shua said would happen (Mk.13:12-13). One of the biggest tests is where loyalty is concerned. Try to imagine, for one moment, the people's reaction when the following incident took place:
"Then Yah'shua' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call Him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, 'Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.' 'Who are my mother and my brothers?' He asked. Then He looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does Yahweh's will is my brother and sister and mother'" (Mark 3:31-35, NIV).
You know something funny? I have heard people nod in agreement hearing this but when you quote the Torah source of this statement people suddenly get horrified and shake their heads vigorously declaring that Yahweh is not at all like this in 'real' life - that He couldn't possibly be. No doubt you are wondering what passage in Torah I am hinting at. But before I do I want you to stand ready to submit to Yahweh's revelation even if your heart opposes it. This will teach you how easy it is to misinterpret the New Testament when you strip its Old Testament base and content away. So here it is:
"And of Levi [Yahweh] said, Your Thummim and Your Urim [by which the priest sought Elohim's will for the nation] are for your pious ones [Aaron for the tribe]., whom You tried and proved at Massah, with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah (Num.20:1-13); [Aaron], who said of his father and mother, I do not regard them, not did he acknowledge his brothers, or openly recognise his own children . For the priests observed Your word and kept Your covenant [as to their limitations]. [The priests] shall teach Jacob Your ordinances, and Israel Your Law (Torah)..." (Dt.33:8-10a, AmpV).
Torah also required the Cohen Gadol or High Priest to act impartially when one of his immediate family died as if the departed were no kin to him (Lev.21:10-12). Now can you better understand Yah'shua's words to the crowd in apparently disowning his mother and brothers? Most people, in hearing this, react emotionally without thinking spiritually and assume that this is something 'terrible' and the reason they do this is because they still have the Two Great Commandments back to front to some extent: they still love their neighbour as themselves more than they love Yahweh. Their love is shown to be defective, human and impure. In fact, they reveal graphically the sinful human condition in all of us which puts man - and especially our nearest kin - before Yahweh. Oh yes, we do deceive ourselves in our pretended piety. We think we love Yahweh with all our might, mind and strength only to discover that blood remains thicker than water. Not that kinship is unimportant. Families are very important indeed but there are heavenly priorities. Yah'shua's priority was as Cohen Gadol - His first duty was as High Priest. His calling was first to preach and then to die on a Roman gibbet - his mother and unbelieving brothers took third place. Yah'shua's reaction to the "dead bury[ing] the dead" (Mt.8:22) was the right response of Israel's High Priest and to those who followed Him. When you follow Yah'shua, you are in the personal service of the Cohen Gadol of Israel. He was simply obeying His Father's Torah which reads:
"The high priest (Cohen Gadol), the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes. He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother, nor leave the sanctuary of his Elohim or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his Elohim. I am Yahweh. The woman he marries must be a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, so he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am Yahweh, who makes him holy" (Lev.21:10-15, NIV).
I repeat: you cannot understand Yah'shua without the Torah. If you try to interpret Him through the lenses of your own culture and experience, and worse, your own heart, you will invent your own private 'Yah'shua' or 'Jesus' who has little or no connection to reality. Now like it or not, we too are a Royal Priesthood under the High Priest Yah'shua. We are consecrated to His service, under His rule, under His authority, under His discipline. If you don't like it, you don't like either the High Priest or Yahweh. Brutal truths but essential for your redemption, essential for true love, essential for freedom, and essential for repentance. That is why covenants are so important! They are holy. They are in Yahweh's sanctuary which is why he cannot break His Word and why no word uttered by Him can return to Him empty.
Yah'shua says that our worst enemies will be from our own blood - from our own families:
"You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of Me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life" (Luke 21:16-19, NIV).
How many missionaries or ministers tell you that this is the price a true disciple may be called to pay? I say this not to sow discord between families because I love families - I say it because it is a fact of life. Look at Biblical history. Look at all history. Joseph and 10 of his 11 brothers - Jacob and Esau - Isaac and Ishmael. Yah'shua Himself said that a prophet is not received in his home town. That is why a male Priest of Yahweh must be above family loyalties. That is why a wife leaves home and family and joins her husband's home. That is why a man must become his own husband and father and not keep leaning on his parents. He must stand on his own as a man. Growing up is tough but without it there is only bondage.
We follow a Cohen Gadol who stood alone at Gethsemane. No one could support Him, not even His Heavenly Father. This was His final graduation - His total conquest of the flesh. And you - and me - brethren and sisters, we have to do this too. No, not atone as a Messiah, but become true men and women, leaving the nest once and for all, to become the men and women that Yahweh created us to be. Satan wants to keep you bound to your swaddling clothes, as unsaved family members often do. They want to keep you bound to them because they are jealous and resentful of your dedication to Yah'shua. They want your soul.
Three days ago it was American Independence Day. Maybe some of you know the movie Independence Day too and remember the President's speech just before an attack was launched against alien invaders that would either make or break the human race. It was a hard-hitting and stirring speech, if somewhat humanistic. Well, Yahweh wants you to make such a commitment to Him - to declare your independence from childhood and slavery to the world system and to enforced infancy by sycophantic, controlling and manipulating individuals. He wants you to stand free and rebuild your relationship with Him, your family and your friends from the position not of a slave but of a free man in Yah'shua, and to rebuild your loyalties on that foundation of truth. I'm doing that. My whole life is being turned upside down this year. I am changing uniforms.
So you wonder to yourself as a Christian: Why, O why, does the world have such a problem understanding us? Why is it that when we love them they feel hatred? John says:
"The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know [Yah'shua]" (1 John 3:1, NIV).
People fear and hate what they do not know or understand. People fear and hate anything that threatens the false comfort of the flesh. People fear and hate anything that would make them accountable or responsible for their lives because they would rather blame-shift. But like it or not, we are accountable because we are not accidents of nature but the deliberate, wilful products of a loving Heavenly Father who has placed us here in this world for a purpose. We are not the by product of a worm who emerged from some slime millions of years. We weren't made by rocks and bolts of lightening in some primitive soup. We didn't just purposelessly 'happen'.
When we get down to the nitty-gritty of life, repentance is choosing Yahweh and rebellion is not. We repent by changing our minds and hearts - by changing direction. And if we have gone off the path as Demas did, then to repent means getting back onto it fast and returning to the Kingdom of Yahweh which we deserted because of the allure of the world or because the going was tough. Yah'shua never promised that it would be easy, but that it would be worth it. It wasn't easy for Yah'shua who had to make many critical choices in His life, beginning with the three temptations in the Judean wilderness and ending with the final temptation to abandon His mission to Golgotha.
Brethren and sisters, we too have choices to make that will affect our short- and long-term destiny. I guarantee we will make wrong choices along the way - I have, many of them, and suffered for them, and caused others to suffer because of them. When we make these wrong choices and depart out of the way, we can either repent and return, or harden our hearts and dessert. Yah'shua pleads to us:
"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" (Heb.4:7, NIV).
If you are a believer - if you have been born-again and know the voice of the Master, please consider carefully, don't make rash and impulsive decisions no matter what difficulties you may be going through. Continue to trust Him through thick and thin. You do have all the evidence you need for faith. As David said:
"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen what I did" (Ps.95:7-9, NIV).
I don't know what experiences Demas had had. He had been the companion of Paul and must have witnessed many mighty acts of Yahweh. He deserted Paul during his second imprisonment. Did he fear to suffer along with him? Was it cowardice that made him desert or just personal self-interest that caused him to flee to Thessalonica? Or did he just hanker after the worldly lifestyle - his old life? We don't know what happened to this man. Some have argued that Demas is a pet form of Demetrius who is mentioned later by John:
"Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone - and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true" (3 John 12, NIV)
It would be nice to think that he was restored. But whether he was or not, we do know that Yahweh does restore those who repent and come home to Him. Paul the murderer and persecutor was restored. David the adulterer and murderer was restored. Peter the coward and Messiah-denyer was restored. Jacob the trickster and thief was restored. They all repented and Yahweh forgave them and made them into great men whom all believers "speak well of" today. But before they could be restored, they had to permanently abandon the allure of the world and choose one way or another. They really had to make a fundamental life choice that would alter everything they knew and had previously stood for.
Some did not, of course, repent and were destroyed. Israel's first king, Saul, did not repent and was killed. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, became the biggest fool ever by choosing to love the world and its pagan gods in order to appease members of his family. He died in a state of sin - his brilliance did not save him. He became too full of himself - too conceited, too proud, too self-sufficient, like the boastful King Nebuchadnezzar whom Yahweh had to cut down to size. And consider, Nebuchadnezzar repented, Solomon did not! Paul knew how vulnerable we are to pride when he proclaimed:
"May I never boast except in the cross of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal.6:13-14, NIV).
Please, I beg you, do not be seduced by the world. It always starts with seemingly innocuous things. Satan starts little and builds up your apostasy to a climax. If he can get you to compromise in one thing, he'll get you to compromise in more and more. His aim is to destroy you, your children, your families, and eternity with Yahweh. Never forget that.
The other day I was watching a movie with my family about an ambitious scholar married to a beautiful wife who wanted to become the head of an Oxford college. It would have been his crowning achievement and he coveted this position tremendously. The outgoing head knew this and seized his opportunity to blackmailing his wife telling her that he had the power to choose the husband as the new head and would ensure that he would get the job if she slept with him. In her misguided loyalty to him she agreed because she knew how important this position was to her husband. Having defiled this man's wife, the outgoing head then told her that he had no intention of giving her husband the position and was only out to get revenge because her husband had once seduced his late wife, something he had never confessed to her. She was devastated and the result was a tragedy. When the husband found that she had turned herself into a whore so that he could fulfil his covetousness, he went crazy, they had a quarrel, and she was killed when she tripped and fell down the stairs. All of this happened because he loved his career more than his wife, forcing her to love his worldly ambition more than her virtue.
Don't compromise in a single commandment - every mitzvah was given by Yahweh for your happiness. Instead of repenting for his failure and confessing his earlier act of adultery, instead of breaking down with remorse for the greater love that she had for him, however misguided in its application, he accused her of being a whore and a tragic accident resulted. The insanity of the situation was that he was totally in love with her and had forsaken his earlier life of philandering, and she was totally in love with him too. But pride ruined everything. Everything. Such things do not need to happen if we live in a state of daily repentance. Repentance offends pride but it is nourishment and life for the soul - it makes our relationship with Yahweh and with each other burst into life. The apostle Peter admonished:
"So repent - change your mind and purpose, turn around and return [to Yahweh], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing - of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air - may come from the presence of Yahweh; and that He may send [to you] the Messiah, who before was designated and appointed for your salvation (Yah'shua)" (Acts 3:19-20, AmpV).
May this time as we count the days to the autumnal festivals be times of refreshing and revival as Yahweh blows new life into us as we repent. Let us be saved anew in Yah'shua our Cohen Gadol and truly follow Him not in our imaginations and conceit but for real. This is no game. The lives and happiness of many depend on us seeking the Kingdom and its righteousness, in becoming true men and women in proper relationship to each other and to our Father and Heaven. Let's go for it and deliver the enemy a shattering defeat is my prayer this Sabbath Day in Yah'shua's Name. Amen.
Author: Lev-Tsiyon
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
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This page was first created on 7 July 2007
Last updated on 7 July 2007
Copyright ©2007 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved
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