The Books Of God by Ron Cash - HTML preview
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The Books Of God
by
Ron Cash
Christianity & Judaism
Frontliner's Voyage
The New Jews
Three Ages
The Books Of God
Salvation Is Of The Jews
index
Introduction
Enoch
The Son Of Man
For My Name's Sake
The Lord's Name
The Eternal Law
Paul and The Law
Converted
The Feasts
Joshua Heschel
A Note on How Not To Worship
The Colossians
The Galatians
A Mistaken History
Fake Religion
The Christian Church
Answers From The Past
Cowboy Input
The Atonement Day
The Lake Of Fire
The New Jerusalem
Joseph
The Riddle Of The Sphinx
Heaven
UFOs
The Seed
Understanding
Summary
Deuteronomy
References
Eusebius
Appendix; book of Enoch
Forward
The Truth is simple, obvious and it hasn't changed from the beginning of the world. The test is to recognize it from the deceptions, lies, false ideas, fake images and fake history.
After forty years of studying the Bible and reading ancient writings I noticed two things. First, the Bible must be true because of proofs within the text and the natural world around me. Secondly, there is a lot missing.
It doesn't seem fair God would have a set of rules for two out of three ages of the world. It doesn't seem likely a God who created right and wrong would be double dating with Christians and Jews. If the Lord's people were Jews in the past and they will be Jews in the future, What happened to the present?
I read hundreds of books and spoke with thousands of people. Now I can see how we got here.
After graduating from A&M University in Texas, I completed 19 years of public service to include teaching, social work and government work. All the while, over forty years, I was studying and researched ancient documents. I took a few years off work and sailed the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba and the Bahamas. Then I traveled the U.S. for several years and ten other countries, including Israel. I was finally allowed to write this book. No doubt a real writer would have done a better job.
Introduction
Here is the shortest summary of history I know complete with evidence and analysis. The only thing required to understand is interest.
Written by Enoch in his time is the story from the First Age of the world. Later, Moses recounts the same facts.
It turns out Gods, demi-gods and mortal men ruled in the First Age, ending with the clash of the titans.
Then, the first beauty and the beast show up in the Second Age, ushering in many different world religions. Recorded by Manetho, the keeper of records and his contemporary Berosus about 300 B.C.. Both had access to the library of Alexandria. These are the best records we have outside the Bible.
Most importantly, it becomes obvious how and why most of the world doesn't understand the Bible, we were all born in a trap. Then, we see how a Jewish Bible came to be incorporated into so many different religions.
Finally, several mysteries are solved when we learn to understand all three books of the ages.
The entire history of the earth may be described as Three books, Three ages and Three righteous men. It takes all three books to get the big picture.
Ecc_12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Solomon
Enoch
Ancient Egyptian records reveal a very violent time in the First Age of the world. Cross referenced with the Bible and the book of Enoch it all becomes more clear.
In his Antiquities and Chronology of the Most Ancient World, John Jackson relates the understanding of the most ancient scholars by referencing their works to include;
Manetho, Africanas, Sincellus, Panadorus, Strabo, Herodotus, Philostratus, Pliny, Dio Cassius, Quintus Curtius, Siculus, Plutarch, Cenforinus, Licinius Macer, Fenestella, Solinus, Servius, and others.
Jackson discovers the book of Enoch was accepted by most of the ancient world, including the Egyptians, Jews, Arabians, Syrians and Chaldeans.
Moses wrote,
Gen_5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
The book of Enoch was a common text in those days and considered scripture. Eight copies were found in cave four at Qumran and one in cave eleven. When scripture scrolls were beginning to fall apart the Jews would not destroy them but buried them or hid them, often in a cave.
The oldest copy of Enoch is believed to be from about 300 B.C. Manetho would have had access to it in the library of Alexandria.
Jude, half brother to Our Lord wrote,
Jud_1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jude's quote comes from a section where Enoch is describing end times.
...And behold He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
Paul wrote,
Heb_11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Enoch was taken to God's house, which he describes as a place cold as ice and hot as fire, made of crystals and filled with angels, fire and a throne before a rainbow. From under the throne he said there was a river of fire flowing out.
Enoch's description of events of his time sound like the Clash of The Titans near the end. He was called a “scribe of righteousness” by the Angels and he had a very interesting view of what was happening.
Manetho says everyone agrees it was about the year 1000 when 'the gods' came down. Enoch calls them 'the children of heaven'. Moses called them the 'sons of God'. Hebrew history calls them the 'Nephilim', meaning the fallen ones.
By whatever name, they messed up the whole world in pursuit of personal pleasure. They taught forbidden things to people like, how to fight and build weapons and how to make drugs and paint their faces. Not all those things passed away with the flood, but they should have.
Enoch writes,
And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.
After their judgment came down from The Lord, the Angels were talking;
Michael said thus to Raphael: ‘I will not take their part under the eye of the Lord; for the Lord of Spirits has been angry with them because they do as if they were the Lord.
This is how the world got so twisted in the First Age and it explains why it's so wrong today. The book of Enoch is the appendix for further reading.
The ancient writers mostly agree the First Age lasted 2242 years. They said these dynasties were ruled by Gods, Demigods, Heroes and Mortal men before the flood. The heroes were mortal men possessed with the spirits of the dead. It seems even in the First Age of the world politics were declining.
They do not all agree. Jackson argues;
At a point, The Lord decided it was time to stop the trouble.
Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: ‘Go to Noah and tell him in my name “Hide thyself!” and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.’ And again the Lord said to Raphael: ‘Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire. And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons.
Here is the reason behind the Azazel goat in the annual forgiveness event called, The Atonement.
the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.’
And to Gabriel said the Lord: ‘Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy the children of fornication and the children of the Watchers from amongst men and cause them to go forth:
This started the clash of the titans.
send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle: for length of days shall they not have.
And no request that they (i.e. their fathers) make of thee shall be granted unto their fathers on their behalf; for they hope to live an eternal life, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.’
The only people now living on earth who live five hundred years may be flying around in little ships and still called the Watchers. Answers from the Ancient Days, Internet archive.
And the Lord said unto Michael: ‘Go, bind Semjaza and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: and to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever. And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations. And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind. Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth and let every evil work come to an end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear: and it shall prove a blessing; the works of righteousness and truth’ shall be planted in truth and joy for evermore.
The Bible records,
Gen 6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Gen 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Gen 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch...
Gen 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Gen 7:24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
Gen 8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
Gen 9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. Gen 9:29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
Gen 10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. Gen 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. Gen 10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Gen 10:8
At this point one would think all will be fine in the future. Trouble is, those evil spirits from the First Age are still around. They were let off till the end and allowed to make trouble in our world.
Enoch records The Lord proclaiming judgment on the rebel gods.
And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as for the spiritual ones of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling. And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling. And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offenses. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.
From the days of the slaughter and destruction and death of the giants, from the souls of whose flesh the spirits, having gone forth, shall destroy without incurring judgment -thus shall they destroy until the day of the consummation, the great judgment in which the age shall be consummated, over the Watchers and the godless, yea, shall be wholly consummated.”
Evil spirits continue to show up in history and play a big part by influencing the direction of mankind.
Not long after starting over on the dry land things started to go wrong again. About 500 years into the new earth, according to Jackson, Hermes, son of Mizraim, started celebrating people and animals and apparently, his cousins, Nimrod and Semiramis, turned it into worship with their famous parties in Babylon. Since that time, nearly five thousand years ago, there have been different religions.
The original beauty and the beast, Nimrod and Semiramis of Babylon, were the foundation of all idolatry that followed in the known world. He was very tall, quite dark and not at all good looking. She was stunningly beautiful and renowned as the filthiest woman there. He was renowned for his strength and ability to kill leopards with his hands. Towering above everyone wearing leopard skins, Nimrod became king of Babylon.
He built walls around the city to protect it from wild animals and enemies. Ovid, said it was actually Semiramis who built the towers and walls of Babylon. From The Two Babylons,
Ovid himself tells us that it was Semiramis, the first queen of that city, who was believed to have "surrounded Babylon with a wall of brick." Semiramis, then, the first deified queen of that city and tower whose top was intended to reach to heaven, must have been the prototype of the goddess who "first made towers in cities." When we look at the Ephesian Diana, we find evidence to the very same effect. In general, Diana was depicted as a virgin, and the patroness of virginity; but the Ephesian Diana was quite different. She was represented with all the attributes of the Mother of the gods (see Fig. 8), and, as the Mother of the gods, she wore a turreted crown, such as no one can contemplate without being forcibly reminded of the tower of Babel. Now this tower-bearing Diana is by an ancient scholiast expressly identified with Semiramis.*
Semiramis was famous for her orgies and appetites. It could be said She knew how to throw a party, which shows how far we have gone from God's standards.
Nimrod's names were different from one nation to another through the ages until this day. His reputation became his identity as the baby killer, and eater.
Alexander Hislop, Church of Scotland 1807-1865, The Two Babylons, writes,
As the Father of the gods, he (Nimrod) was, as we have seen, called Kronos; and every one knows that the classical story of Kronos was just this, that, 'he devoured his sons as soon as they were born."Such is the analogy between type and antitype. This legend has a further and deeper meaning; but, as applied to Nimrod, or "The Horned One," it just refers to the fact, that, as the representative of Moloch or Baal, infants were the most acceptable offerings at his altar. We have ample and melancholy evidence on this subject from the records of antiquity. "The Phenicians," says Eusebius, "every year sacrificed their beloved and only-begotten children to Kronos or Saturn, and the Rhodians also often did the same." Diodorus Siculus states that the Carthaginians, on one occasion, when besieged by the Sicilians, and sore pressed, in order to rectify, as they supposed, their error in having somewhat departed from the ancient custom of Carthage, in this respect, hastily "chose out two hundred of the noblest of their children, and publicly sacrificed them" to this god. There is reason to believe that the same practice obtained in our own land in the times of the Druids. We know that they offered human sacrifices to their bloody gods.
These and many more forbidden behaviors are behind all the pagan religions. It seems clear their purpose is to separate the people from God.
It appears there must have been more than nine kings possessed by evil spirits. Who else would have known what would be forbidden by the real God and how to separate people from Him? What other kind of creature could keep contaminating one culture after another over thousands of years?
While such things are obvious, far less than eating children is considered evil by The King of the universe. Lack of knowledge or action may be enough to get left out when the Judgment comes.
The Son Of Man
Enoch describes one who can only be the central figure of all creation under the Most High God as The Son of Man. Enoch writes,
And there I saw One who had a head of days,
And His head was white like wool, And with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, And his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels.
And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, (and) why he went with the Head of Days? And he answered and said unto me:
This is the son of Man who hath righteousness,
With whom dwelleth righteousness, And who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden, because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him,
And whose lot hath the pre-eminence before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness for ever. And this Son of Man whom thou hast seen Shall raise up the kings and the mighty from their seats, And the strong from their thrones And shall loosen the reins of the strong, And break the teeth of the sinners.
And he shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms because they do not extol and praise Him, Nor humbly acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed upon them. And he shall put down the countenance of the strong,
And shall fill them with shame. And darkness shall be their dwelling, And worms shall be their bed,
And they shall have no hope of rising from their beds, because they do not extol the name of the Lord of Spirits.
And these are they who judge the stars of heaven, And raise their hands against the Most High, And tread upon the earth and dwell upon it.
And all their deeds manifest unrighteousness,
And their power rests upon their riches, And their faith is in the gods which they have made with their hands, And they deny the name of the Lord of Spirits, And they persecute the houses of His congregations, And the faithful who hang upon the name of the Lord of Spirits.
And in those days shall have ascended the prayer of the righteous, And the blood of the righteous from the earth before the Lord of Spirits.
In those days the holy ones who dwell above in the heavens Shall unite with one voice And supplicate and pray and praise, And give thanks and bless the name of the Lord of Spirits
On behalf of the blood of the righteous which has been shed, And that the prayer of the righteous may not be in vain before the Lord of Spirits,
That judgement may be done unto them, And that they may not have to suffer for ever.
In those days I saw the Head of Days when He seated himself upon the throne of His glory,
And the books of the living were opened before Him: And all His host which is in heaven above and His counselors stood before Him, And the hearts of the holy were filled with joy; Because the number of the righteous had been offered, And the prayer of the righteous had been heard, And the blood of the righteous been required before the Lord of Spirits.
And in that place I saw the fountain of righteousness Which was inexhaustible:
And around it were many fountains of wisdom:
And all the thirsty drank of them, And were filled with wisdom, And their dwellings were with the righteous and holy and elect. And at that hour that Son of Man was named In the presence of the Lord of Spirits, And his name before the Head of Days. Yea, before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of the heaven were made, His name was named before the Lord of Spirits. He shall be a staff to the righteous whereon to stay themselves and not fall, And he shall be the light of the Gentiles, And the hope of those who are troubled of heart.
All who dwell on earth shall fall down and worship before him, And will praise and bless and celebrate with song the Lord of Spirits. And for this reason hath he been chosen and hidden before Him, before the creation of the world and for evermore. And the wisdom of the Lord of Spirits hath revealed him to the holy and righteous;
For he hath preserved the lot of the righteous,
Because they have hated and despised this world of unrighteousness, And have hated all its works and ways in the name of the Lord of Spirits:
For in his name they are saved,
(This is an interesting point in this early writing. Now we can see how being called by His name was later accomplished at Mt. Sinai.), pg 30.
And according to his good pleasure hath it been in regard to their life. In these days downcast in countenance shall the kings of the earth have become, And the strong who possess the land because of the works of their hands, For on the day of their anguish and affliction they shall not (be able to) save themselves. And I will give them over into the hands of Mine elect: As straw in the fire so shall they burn before the face of the holy: As lead in the water shall they sink before the face of the righteous, And no trace of them shall any more be found. And on the day of their affliction there shall be rest on the earth, And before them they shall fall and not rise again: And there shall be no one to take them with his hands and raise them: For they have denied the Lord of Spirits and His Anointed.
The name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed. For wisdom is poured out like water, And glory faileth not before him for evermore. For he is mighty in all the secrets of righteousness, And unrighteousness shall disappear as a shadow, And have no continuance; Because the Elect One standeth before the Lord of Spirits, And his glory is for ever and ever, And his might unto all generations.
And in him dwells the spirit of wisdom,
And the spirit which gives insight, And the spirit of understanding and of might, And the spirit of those who have fallen asleep in righteousness.
And he shall judge the secret things, And none shall be able to utter a lying word before him;
For he is the Elect One before the Lord of Spirits according to His good pleasure.
And in those days a change shall take place for the holy and elect, And the light of days shall abide upon them, And glory and honour shall turn to the holy, On the day of affliction on which evil shall have been treasured up against the sinners.
And the righteous shall be victorious in the name of the Lord of Spirits: And He will cause the others to witness (this) That they may repent
And forgo the works of their hands. They shall have no honour through the name of the Lord of Spirits, Yet through His name shall they be saved,
And the Lord of Spirits will have compassion on them, For His compassion is great. And He is righteous also in His judgement, And in the presence of His glory unrighteousness also shall not maintain itself: At His judgement the unrepentant shall perish before Him.
And from hence forth I will have no mercy on them, saith the Lord of Spirits.
And in those days shall the earth also give back that which has been entrusted to it,
And Sheol also shall give back that which it has received, And hell shall give back that which it owes. For in those days the Elect One shall arise,
And he shall choose the righteous and holy from among them: For the day has drawn nigh that they should be saved. And the Elect One shall in those days sit on My throne, And his mouth shall pour forth all the secrets of wisdom and counsel:
For the Lord of Spirits hath given (them) to him and hath glorified him. And in those days shall the mountains leap like rams, And the hills also shall skip like lambs satisfied with milk, And the faces of all the angels in heaven shall be lighted up with joy. And the earth shall rejoice, And the righteous shall dwell upon it, And the elect shall walk thereon.
It's easy to see most of the prophets and disciples read and paraphrased Enoch over the centuries and the Bible would not be the same without it. Many thousand years later, the disciple John said similar things about Our Lord.
Joh 1:1 – 1:14, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (the baptist) The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
During Abraham's day Our Lord's Father, The Most High God was here in the person of Melchizedek, who had no beginning and no end.
Heb 7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
Heb 7:2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
Heb 7:3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
Much later in history, but not far away in Israel, Our Lord came to visit in person. Born to a young couple in the country, He suffered shame all His life since most people thought He was conceived in sin, from parents who were not yet married.
Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. Psa 69:7
I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. Psa 69:8
For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. Psa 69:9
When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. Psa 69:10
I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. Psa 69:11
They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards. Psa 69:12
When the time came, He was grown and the age of the priesthood, He left home and tried to make people understand who is the real God. By then, paganism was rampant over the land.
Demonstrating how to keep the rules He put in place in the past, He made disciples and ministered to the people, healing the sick, raising the dead and giving sight to the blind.
For My Name's Sake
The Pharisees and Sadducees both claimed to be right. Pharisees cited Moses and the law as their authority. Sadducees claimed traditions and privileges that started under, Zadok, high priest during Soloman's days.
Our Lord didn't have much to say to the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection or the spirit. And, He was very critical of the Scribes and Pharisees.
Our Lord called the Gentiles 'dogs', by Jewish tradition.
Mat 15:26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
Mat 15:27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
Mat 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
The word Gentile includes everyone who is not a Jew. Later, He told Peter to not separate himself from them if they are those He has made clean. There are many more varieties of Gentiles now than in those days. Fortunately, no religion at all is required to be saved, according to Psalms; The Lord says,
Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God. Psa 50:23
But the question arises, What is the right way to worship The Lord? Clearly, Our Lord said, 'in spirit and in Truth', But that happens in the heart. What is the best way to do things on the outside, in church and in community?
There are so many choices it boggles the mind. What do we use as a standard? Many follow tradition. If it was good enough for my parents it's good enough for me.
Really? Does that really focus on the idea of getting closer to God, or closer to family and friends?
Many choose what is most convenient. But, doesn't that serve the flesh rather than the spirit?
There will always be a few in any culture who overcome this world and make the cut. Yet, the vast majority are not really sincere. They are just there for appearance or conscience sake or some other reason not even related to the kingdom. Many hover around looking for money, companionship or self esteem. Some even come for the air conditioning or the food. This is not written for those people.
The best and only safe way to conduct church and worship The Lord is to simply follow His instructions. The Bible is full of information regarding that. Among the most obvious is;
And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people. Jer 12:16
But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD. Jer 12:17
We should realize The Lord knows what works best and designed us with all this in mind. He gave those ways to king David and Moses who wrote them down for His people.
The best way to describe the feeling of following God's commandments correctly is peacefulness and invulnerability. It's like the difference between sitting in a toy bus and riding in a real one. It really works. The toy may be fun, but it won't get us anywhere.
Truth is, Our Lord did not change the rules very much in this Age. It was those religious leaders who clouded everything two thousand years ago. They were trying to keep their positions and wealth. Our Lord called them the synagogue of Satan. They traveled around confusing people saying everyone had to follow the customs in order to be saved, when that was never true. Then they killed Our Lord.
Our Lord did give us some obvious clues like; His people are called Jews, they don't answer to clergy and they don't pay tribute to the Kingdom.
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. Joh 4:22
But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. Mat_20:25
But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; Mat 20:26
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Mat 20:27
In other words, He means, no clergy.
He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Mat 17:25
Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Mat 17:26
In other words, He means, no tribute to His Kingdom. Alms deeds are something else altogether.
Our Lord focused on how to think about life and The Creator. He taught about how to treat other people and how to behave with things. It appears, to Him, church is always in session. We are always being watched and judged.
His words are more than good advice, they are commandments to the faithful of heart.
The best way we can understand how to worship Him is by looking at what He taught His disciples and what He said when He went back to Heaven.
In The Revelation, The Most High is revealing things to His Son, Our Lord. The angel of The Lord is sharing it with John;
Rev 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Here The Most High is shining a light on those who pretend to be Jews but are really not. Then He does something similar with the church at Philadelphia.
Rev 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
Rev 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
(...and hast not denied my name.)
The Lord is recognizing the church in Smyrna and Philadelphia for calling themselves Jews, therefore, not denying His Name. Using His name is important to Him. This is the second time He points that out in The Revelation.
When the Pharisees said,
...Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Joh 8:5 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Joh 8:57
He was telling them He is the same now as then, and has the same name as His Father.
In the Old Testament He mentions it many times as, 'for my names sake' and 'people who are called by My Name'.
For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Isa_48:9
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2Ch_7:14
But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. Eze_20:9
Notice He tells His disciples the same thing in the New Testament so, they are still called by His name.
Matthew_10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat_24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Luk_21:12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
Joh_15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
For my Name's sake means called by His Name. He is telling us there is no new religion, just a new bride.
Going back to the mountain, we find where being called by His name started. It was a marriage arrangement where Israel agreed to keep His commandments and become His Bride. Later, Jeremiah records The Lord saying,
Jer 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Being called by The Lord's Name has been the plan from the beginning. It will make sense when the judgment comes and The Lord excludes His Bride from condemnation. Paul sums it up in Ephesians,
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Eph 3:14
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, Eph 3:15
He said the whole family of God in heaven and earth is named after The Father in heaven. Lets look at that.
The Lord's Name
Original Hebrew had no vowels and somehow, the pronunciation got changed to, יהוה, Jehovah. However, using these vowels it should be translated, יְהוּה , Yehu, which matches the word for Jews in the Hebrew language, Yehudim. While the word - Yehudim, יְהוּדִּים means Jews, the dim, דִּים, means 'those of' therefore - 'those of God'.
In The Revelation, The Lord is scolding people who are claiming to be Jews but are not, as 'the synagogue of Satan'.
If being Jewish had anything to do with bloodline or birth, that would not make sense. One would either have the right kind of blood or not. As Paul explained, it has to be a matter of faith, not birth that makes someone a Jew. Paul writes,
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Paul understood there is only one family of heaven and earth, it is often referred to as the great congregation. That name has not changed since the beginning of time.
Before Our Lord died the people who went around trying to kill Him and His disciples were still called Jews. After He died, they were no longer married to Him and were not supposed to use His name any longer. Hence came the condition, 'those who say they are Jews but are not.', because they rejected Him. This was fulfilling a promise Our Lord made not long before that;
Mat_21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
When He died, the kingdom was taken from the old Jews who did not believe and given to the new Jews who did. As long as He was alive, they were still Jews because of the marriage, which explains why they were referred to as 'the Jews', instead of, 'the imposters' or 'the enemies'.
Reference to the Jews in the New Testament is used to separate between the 'establishment' and the disciples. It is also used to describe events exclusive to God's people. When it was written,
Joh_5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Joh_6:4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
Joh_7:2 Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.
John was referring to all God's people as Jews, which is why Our Lord was present according to the law. If that were an event concerning a different group like, the enemy Jews, Our Lord would not have attended.
In ancient times, only one nation knew all this and understood His Name should not be taken lightly or inappropriately. Taken means calling oneself by it as taking on an identity.
Exodus 20:7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain."
and later...
Proverbs 30:9 "Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain."
The first verse means we should not take on His Name if we don't intend to follow His rules. The second verse describes a man who did that by breaking the commandment and so, taking on The Name in vain and without effect, or uselessly.
Of course, that happened as an example for us and we now have grace, so it's no longer in vain unless we never intended to keep His rules anyway.
Understanding this is the only way the Bible can be fair and make sense. In the following text, The Lord is describing conditions in the last days.
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." Zech 8:23
At Pentecost we see the new wedding and Jews from every nation, not just Hebrews but the New Jews.
Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
('The house' means the courtyard of the women in the temple).
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Act 2:5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Jews = devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Clearly, Jewish is being displayed as a matter of the heart and not the bloodline.
It's difficult to get this into our heads nowadays with the world wide distraction of people saying they are Jews but really are not. Today they are more of a political faction than a religion. I have yet to speak with a rabbi who knows the Bible. None of them understand it, or they would accept Our Lord.
The Eternal Law
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that
we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Teaching man the law is the main reason for this world. Another, is the selection process to filter out those who can't control themselves or follow the rules.
For any civilization to exist, everyone must agree and keep the same rules. The longer a civilization lasts the better people have to follow the rules in order to get along together. Imagine having the same neighbors for a thousand years.
We can see examples of people who just can't get along with others everywhere today. Entire nations want to take over this world and impose their own laws. None of those people will be on the new earth.
There must be a selection process to separate the useful from the not useful people. Just putting people in heaven would not make them better.
Art simulates nature. Consider the TV show, Battlestar Galactica, about a lot of people living on ships in space looking for a home. The most obvious thing is everyone behaves like they did on earth, quite poorly. It becomes clear what happens when people don't follow the same rules. They behave the same no matter where they are. They find so many ways to destroy and die.
If we were placed on another planet, we would act the same as we do here.
Which people would you choose to live with forever? Which ones would not destroy and contaminate the new place?
Answer, the ones who observe boundaries and don't hurt other people or tear up things or try to control everything. This is why the world is a selection process.
Three Books
A book was written for each Age of the world. Each of those books contain the eternal law. The law has been the main objective from the beginning.
Enoch writes "Woe to them who pervert the words of uprightness, and transgress the eternal law, and transform themselves into what they were not, into sinners: They shall be trodden under foot upon the earth."
Enoch was writing to people in a distant generation.
In these later days, the church, instead of getting people to embrace the law and become better people, for the most part, leads people to avoid the Law. What is not obvious is, that Grace is only temporary before the Judgment. It is here so we can get on board with God's program and maybe get chosen to live in heaven forever.
We should focus on learning the law and keeping the commandments and observing His statutes, like the feasts.
Because, salvation is only for the people Our Lord chooses.
Mat 22:13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Psa 65:4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
Paul and The Law
When Paul said,
”Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have
dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
He means if you,
“Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
In other words, if you stay on the highway, you don't have to worry about the fences.
Our Lord did not win the race for us. Consider what He told the young man who asked 'what must I do to be saved?'
Mat_19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Until the Judgment, Our Lord is covering for us so we can run the race appointed to us. At that time, His chosen ones will not face the eternal Judgment as sinners, but as family; a Bride, in fact.
Paul talks about the law of righteousness and the sacrifices at the temple that Our Lord replaced. He is certainly not giving permission to ignore the living codes given by God or the covenant at Mr. Sinai or the statutes and commandments. He points out it is not permitted for women to speak in church according to the law.
1Co_14:34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
If Paul thought we were free of all the Law, he would not have said that.
Also, in Hebrew, the word law has eight different meanings. It appears some of those different meanings were translated into a single word in Greek, making the book of Romans difficult to understand. If we don't understand this point the Bible is most confusing.
A very old example of keeping the ancient law is where The Lord said if the nations do not learn the ways of His people, He would destroy them. He is referring to laws He taught from the time they left Egypt. His statement has no time limit and many of His statutes are limited by His word, 'olam-ha-ba' or 'forever.'
And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people. Jer 12:16
But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD. Jer 12:17
When he talks about the law and the prophets as a witness in the following text, he means they will never go away, like Our Lord said in Matthew 5:17.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Mat 5:17
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Rom_3:21
It is simply a misunderstanding to think Paul means we should throw out the eternal law.
Today's Religion
Nowadays, if people don't want to deal with
the real God and His commandments, they go to church, pay their money and enjoy the show. They don't have to think about God in a personal way. Instead, they think about some Santa Claus in the sky or a referee in a game. While they neither participate nor bind themselves by the rules.
Church is a place to visit and then go home. At best, it sometimes serves to teach people about the Bible. But presenters cannot explain what they don't understand. It's like the rabbis in Jerusalem who don't accept Our Lord. They don't really believe the Bible. They don't believe because they don't take it seriously. They are too distracted with things of the world and their traditions.
It's always the same with spoiled people who don't need God. In the desert, the children of Israel forgot about God because they had everything they needed. Their clothes did not get old. Food was delivered every morning, water was always handy and there was always a shade overhead. When God started killing them, they remembered Him.
Much later, they corrupted the religious system God designed for the same reason. In Jerusalem, just before Our Lord came, the top positions were being sold to the highest bidder.
Coming in person, Our Lord took religious management away from men and became the High Priest. However, He did not take away the religious system He previously created. The fact that He took on the job of the High Priest means the structure of His religion is still the same.
Fact is, since there is going to be another abomination of desolation in the temple that will be built, the same rules must still be operating. Otherwise, the Holy of Holies would not be Holy at all. So, there could be no abomination of desolation.
Any new religious system cannot be endorsed by God. Certainly, any religion that forbids God's commandments to be followed is absurd. The only people who could fall for something like that cannot be serious about God. Or, they haven't taken time to figure it all out. Maybe this is one of the measures that distinguish the sheep from the goats.
The only real religion is the one God created. No one ever gave permission for man to design another. The Lord and Peter make it clear no such thing was ever intended. Peter points out that in the latter days such things will be seen. We are there now.
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2Pe_2:1
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Mat_15:9
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Mat_5:19
One of the heresies Peter talks about is denying The Lord as High Priest. Peter was not a High Priest. The Lord did not allow any of the disciples to rule over another the same as the clergy.
But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. Mar 10:42
But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: Mar 10:43
And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Mar 10:44
But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. Mat 23:8
Converted
Here is the existing religious system we should be observing, instead of trying to invent a new one. Our Lord said;
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. Joh 4:22 KJV
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. Rom 2:29 KJV
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. Isa 1:27 KJV
Zion represents the people of God. 'Her converts' means Gentiles to Jews. Our Lord said,
Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Mat 18:3 KJV
There was nothing else to be converted into. Jews were a people called by His name, like the one Our Lord is talking about below,
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
It could hardly be more clear what The Lord thinks of Jews, since the opposite He calls, the 'synagogue of Satan.' In this part, The Lord commends the church at Philadelphia for not denying His name.
I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Rev 3:8
Paul points out the people who have praise of God
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. Rom 2:29
If God has praise for Jews, Why are people calling themselves Christians? The real religion has not changed, as Paul said;
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Rom 3:31
Many Christians think faith has replaced the law. It has not. If we are not under the law, Why do we need a savior – save us from what?
We can be part of the original religion, but we cannot change or replace what The Lord created. Paul's analogy of the olive tree shows our relationship with the original system. Notice the wild olive tree was not allowed to stay wild.
Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
The branches represent the old Jews. Since they were broken off because of unbelief, they are no longer Jews. Because, being a Jew depends on a relationship with God. But, that can change. Until the consummation actually occurs, The Lord can juggle the roster to get the best souls. If the Hebrews understand, they may be put back where they belong.
The Lord's culture does not change. Those converted into God's people are also converted to the ways of God's people.
… then shall they be built in the midst of my people. Jer 12:16
But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD. Jer 12:17
People who drift away can be brought back.
For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Mat 13:15
The people He speaks about must have been fallen Jews since their heart's were waxed gross, which means they were once not gross. But there is a chance for them to hear, understand and be converted back into Jews and He should heal them. Like Paul said, he is only a Jew who is one inwardly.
Remembering
People who can't hear or see any longer don't seem to be able to relate what is happening around them to God and His agenda. Fact is, if we accept sin, we can expect suffering. There is a clear pattern throughout the Bible between sin and suffering. The Hebrew's suffering came from not keeping the commandments. Sometimes it was for something simple as not remembering history.
When Our Lord was entering Jerusalem He stopped and spoke.
Luk 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Luk 19:42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Luk 19:43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee
round, and keep thee in on every side,
Luk 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
He was speaking about Daniel's prophecy that tells when He will arrive in Jerusalem. He expected them to remember the scriptures and be ready for Him.
This is an example how far we are from His expectations. In those days the people neglected to learn their history. Nowadays, it is barely possible to find someone interested, much less who understands.
Many things cause people to drift away from the knowledge of God; Pursuit of pleasure, Fear, Greed, Vanity and other things that will not be allowed in the new kingdom. God and His kingdom have to be the most important things to us in order to stay on track for the next world.
Yet, not without mercy is this standard of our God. He also says,
Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Psa 50:22
Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God. Psa 50:23
The Feasts
On the fesitive side, there is a wonderful level of understanding that occurs when we physically take part in the plan of God, like participating in a festival. Some scripture cannot be understood from without, it can only be understood from within.
When they were of one accord and wanted to do the will of God, the Jews considered everything they were instructed by God as a Commandment, not just the ten given at Mount Sinai. Some of these had nothing to do with the statutes for redemption but were designed as holy convocations, a perpetual covenant, a memorial or a remembrance, like the Sabbath and the feasts of The Lord. Some were social commandments that would help us stay on the right path and we need those social guidelines today.
The earth will not swallow us immediately if we choose to ignore God's ways and focus on bad things. But, we can only follow His commandments in spirit if we understand the ways of the people He trained, as scripture clearly says we must. Even after Yeshua arose and sat down in heaven, Paul and the disciples still attended the festivals and supported the keeping of the ordinances of God according to God given Jewish tradition.
Act 21:26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.
The festivals are a blessed gift to God's people. They outline His plan for the world and identify His people as separate from the Gentiles. The times and seasons described in Genesis are fixed on the heavens where God framed the festival times. The sun marks the day, the moon marks the month, and the stars always mark the sign of His coming.
Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Exo 12:14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. -- (not just till New Testament times).
The Hebrew word for seasons in Genesis, מוֹעֲדִים, mow-ah-dim, literally means appointed times or festivals. These times and seasons are festivals that are a foreshadowing and rehearsal of God's plan. Some of them foreshadowed the coming of Yeshua and some are for things still to come. They are clearly a separate issue from salvation and a major part of The Lord's ways.
Shavuot commemorates the giving of the law to the world at Mount Sinai, which is what they were observing at Pentecost. At mount Sinai, the word went out to all the people in the world and settled on those at the mountain in a visible form asking each person if they accepted it, say the rabbis.
It is also the ketuba or marriage contract between God and His people, and the event was the first half of the Jewish marriage ceremony called, kiddushin or betrothal. The second half is called, the nissuin or consummation, traditionally a year later when the groom took his bride to the heddar or bride chamber in his father's house.
Many years later when God ended His espousal with the Hebrews it was necessary to have another betrothal, hence, Pentecost. The second half of God's wedding, the consummation, will be when He returns and takes His Bride to His Father's house in heaven. As He pointed out, we will not see Him until then and we say 'blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord' and the nissuin begins.
It has always been the custom in Jewish weddings when the groom enters the room, everyone stands and says "blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." It is part of the ways of His people given by God, and in the blessedness of pure honesty, followed by Him. What He was saying is 'you will not see me until the wedding begins'.
Another example of this ancient plan is when Yeshua was standing in the courtyard of the women in the Temple during the feast of Sukkot and there were sixteen great lights burning at night, (during that event the Temple was called The Light of The World) then He stood up and said, "I am the light of the world."
Joh 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
The fashion of those lights and that event was to foreshadow who He is that all might understand Him better. It is also when they rehearsed those familiar statements every year that we associate with His birth;
Luk 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
So, it should be no surprise Our Lord was born during that feast time and no surprise the angels would speak those words to a young couple having a baby in a barn in Bethlehem.
Briefly, the Passover sacrifice process was followed explicitly in the crucifixion of Yeshua including the place of His birth, the time of day, the preparation, the inspection, and it was called the Crown Sacrifice.
The New Years Day or Judgment Day called, Rosh Hashanah, is a picture of the last days including the tribulation with the Day of Atonement 10 days later representing the final end of the world and commemorating the Atonement in the First Age.
There is a place for the whole family in the festivals of God leaving no room for fables, fairy tales and homemade holy days. Things given to Jews are to help understand God's plan and keep our feet on the right path. When we understand these things the Bible resembles a symphony written across time with unlimited scope and filled with meaning that we should be doing.
Do not be dismayed at a lot of complicated things to do and say in keeping The Lord's feasts. They are very simple. Listed beginning at Leviticus 23, there are seven of them. There is plenty of room for variation while keeping these festivals while being faithful to the statutes.
Many, many things were added by the old Jews concerning them and still exist. Forget all that. The rule from The Lord is,
Deu 12:32 All this word which I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Another festive covenant between God and His people is the Sabbath. There are wonderful blessings associated with keeping this covenant that we may be missing.
Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
We should understand The Lord keeps His promises. This is a wonderful promise and It's not an optional holy day. Before grace came people were killed for not keeping it. The Sabbath has nothing to do with forgiveness of sins and redemption. Separate from all of that and very briefly, it foreshadows the millennium when we will join God in His rest, as He rested after creation.
The Bible is written like a family history because the Kingdom is a family affair. Remember, God is somebody. He has feelings like us and can become angry and joyful.
An analogy to His commanded festivals would be our birthday parties. Is it really necessary to have a birthday party if we have the birthday spirit in our hearts? Next time your child has a birthday tell them that you don't believe in a lot of ritual business and you're going to stop having parties with friends and cake and presents. Tell them you have freed yourself from that tradition and observance on the outside and will now be observing the birthday spirit in your own way, in your heart. See how they respond.
Jewish things are as things will be in eternity. How can we not be interested in that? We will celebrate the Sabbaths, the New Moons and all the original festivals as they were defined, "a statute forever".
Only by understanding the Jewish Kingdom can we understand the future. For example, the coming Judgment Day is going to be a day of harvest, punishment and restoration. It is the Last Trump. On this day, the Bride of Yeshua, known as the Zadakim or Saints - living and dead, from the Book of Life, will be taken to His heddar in Heaven. Then we will understand everything.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
A good example of someone who understands is Rabbi Joshua Heschel. He was an immigrant from Poland who died in the US in 1972. Following is part of a book he wrote on the Sabbath. It is amazing to see his devotion and understanding. The world we live in makes us forget what is really important. Only people who have the spirit of God will be able to hold out to the end, but then comes a wonderful reward. Joshua Heschel appears to have that spirit. I think he went straight to heaven.
From, The Sabbath, by Joshua Heschel;
"'Things, when magnified, are forgeries of happiness, they are a threat to our very lives; we are more harassed than supported by the Frankensteins of possessions.'
Spiritual life begins to decay when we fail to sense the grandeur of what is eternal in time.
What we plead against is man's unconditional surrender to space, his enslavement to things. We must not forget that it is not a thing that lends significance to a moment; it is the moment that lends significance to things.
The faith of the Jew is not a way out of this world, but a way of being within and above this world; not to reject but to surpass civilization. The Sabbath is the day on which we learn the art of surpassing civilization.
The solution of mankind's most vexing problem will not be found in renouncing technical civilization, but in attaining some degree of independence of it. In regard to external gifts, to outward possessions, there is only one proper attitude, to have them and to be able to do without them.
Rome towered in her glory as the city on which "the looks of men and gods were turned." Even generations after that period, a poet could still aver, "that Heaven could show nothing fairer; that no eye could see her immensity, no heart feel her beauty, no tongue sing all her praise." The Colosseum with its overwhelming massiveness, the Pantheon with its lofty vaulting, and particularly the Forum of Trajan, a building of unparalleled magnificence and "admired even by the gods," seemed to proclaim that the Empire and eternity were one.
Ancient man was inclined to believe that monuments will last for ever. It was, therefore, fit to bestow the most precious epithet on Rome and to call it ' the Eternal City.' The state became an object of worship, a divinity; and the Emperor embodied its divinity as he embodied its sovereignty.
To Rabbi Shimeon eternity was not attained by those who bartered time for space but by those who knew how to fill their time with spirit. To him the great problem was time rather than space; the task was how to convert time into eternity rather than how to fill space with buildings, bridges and roads; and the solution of the problem lay in study and prayer rather than in geometry and engineering.
Values
We do not wage war with evil in the name of an abstract concept of duty. We do the good not because it is a value or because of expediency, but because we owe it to God. God created man, and what is good “in His eyes” is good for man.
We may explore things without God, but we cannot decide about values without Him.
We do not conceive of values as absolute essences which are laid up in heaven, to use the language of Plato. Values are not eternal ideas, existing independently of God and man. If not for the will of God, there would be no goodness; if not for the freedom of man, goodness would be out of place in history. Greek philosophy is concerned with values; Jewish thought dwells on commandments.
Ben Azzai said, “Be eager to do a minor mitsvah / commandment, and flee from transgression; for one mitsvah leads to another mitsvah, and one transgression leads to another transgression; for the reward of a mitsvah is a mitsvah, and the reward of a transgression is a transgression.”
At the end of days, evil will be conquered by the One; in historic times, evils must be conquered one by one.
This world is only “a vestibule to the world to come,” where we must prepare ourselves before we enter “the banquet hall.” Yet, in the eyes of God, the endeavor and the preparation are greater than the achievement and perfection.
"Today, God's Law is not something we impose on other grownups. It is what we impose on ourselves because we know it is what God wants." R Cash
In stressing the fundamental importance of the mitsvah, Judaism assumes that man is endowed with the ability to fulfill what God demands, at least to some degree. This may, indeed, be an article of prophetic faith: the belief in our ability to do His will.
For this commandment (mitsvah) which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off . But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it・(Deuteronomy 30:11-14).
Man’s actual failures rather than his essential inability to do the good are constantly stressed by Jewish tradition. In spite of all imperfection, the worth of good deeds remains in all eternity.
The idea with which Judaism starts is not the realness of evil or the sinfulness of man but rather the wonder of creation and the ability of man to do the will of God. There is always an opportunity to do a commandment, and precious is life because at all times and in all places we are able to do His will. This is why despair is alien to Jewish faith.
It is true that the commandment to be holy is exorbitant, and that our constant failures and transgressions fill us with contrition and grief. Yet we are never lost. We are the sons of Abraham. Despite all faults, failures, and sins, we remain parts of the Covenant. His compassion is greater than His justice. He will accept us in all our frailty and weakness. “For He knows our drive [yetser], He remembers that we are dust” (Psalms 103:14).
Judaism would reject the Kantian axiom, “I ought, therefore I can”; it would claim, instead, “Thou art commanded, therefore thou canst.”
Judaism, as we have said, claims that man has the resources to fulfill what God commands, at least to some degree. On the other hand, we are continually warned lest we rely on mans own power and the belief that man, by his power alone, is capable of redeeming the world. Good deeds alone will not redeem history; it is the obedience to God that will make us worthy of being redeemed by God.
If Judaism had relied exclusively on the human resources for the good, on man’s ability to fulfill what God demands, on man’s power to achieve redemption, why did it insist upon the promise of messianic redemption? Indeed, messianism implies that any course of living, even the supreme human efforts, must fail in redeeming the world. It implies that history for all its relevance is not sufficient to itself.
The problem of living
Neutrality is an illusion. At the end of his days man always emerges either as a priest or as a pirate.
The problem of living does not begin with the question of how to take care of the rascals or how to prevent delinquency or hideous crimes. The problem of living begins with the realization that all of us blunder in our dealings with our fellow men. The silent atrocities, the secret scandals, which no law can prevent, are the true seat of moral infection.
The problem of living begins, in fact, in relation to our own selves, in the handling of our emotional functions, in the way we deal with envy, greed, and pride. What is first at stake in the life of man is not the fact of sin, of the wrong and corrupt, but the neutral acts, the needs.
Our possessions pose no less a problem than our passions. The primary task, therefore, is not how to deal with the evil, but how to deal with the neutral, how to deal with needs.
The only safeguard against constant danger is constant vigilance, constant guidance. Such guidance, such vigilance is given to him who lives by the light of Sinai; whose weeks, days, hours, are set in the rhythm of keva and kavanah, (regular prayer and meaning it.)
Worship and living
Worship and living are not two separate realms. Unless living is a form of worship, our worship has no life. Religion is not a reservation, a tract of time reserved for solemn celebrations on festive days. The spirit withers when confined in splendid isolation. What is decisive is not the climax we reach in rare moments, but how the achievements of rare moments affect the climate of the entire life.
The goal of Jewish law is to be the grammar of living, dealing with all relations and functions of living. Its main theme is the person rather than an institution.
Religion is not made for extraordinary occasions, such as birth, marriage, and death. Religion is trying to teach us that no act is trite, every moment is an extraordinary occasion.
The highest peak of spiritual living is not necessarily reached in rare moments of ecstasy; the highest peak lies wherever we are and may be ascended in a common deed.
There can be as sublime a holiness in performing friendship, in observing dietary laws day by day, as in uttering a prayer on the Day of Atonement.
It is not by the rare act of greatness that character is determined, but by everyday actions, by a constant effort to rend our callousness. It is constancy that sanctifies. Judaism is an attempt to place all of life under the glory of ultimate significance, to relate all scattered actions to the One. Through the constant rhythm of prayers, disciplines, reminders, joys, man is taught not to forfeit his grandeur.
Idolatry
One may observe all the laws and still be practicing a disguised polytheism. For if in performing a religious act one’s intention is to please a human being whom he fears or from whom he hopes to receive benefit, then it is not God whom he worships but a human being. “Such a person is worse than an idol-worshiper … . The latter, paying homage to the stars, worships an object that does not rebel against God, whereas the former worships beings some of whom rebel against God. The former only worships one object, but there is no limit to the number of human beings whom the perverse in religion may worship.
Finally the inner attitude of the idolater is apparent to everybody; people can guard themselves from him is denial of God is public knowledge. The hypocrite痴 denial, however, is unnoticed. This makes him the worst of the universal evils.
Disguised polytheism is also the religion of him who combines with the worship of God the devotion to his own gain, as it is said, There shall be no strange god in thee (Psalms 81:10), on which our teachers remarked that it meant the strange god in the very self of man.
Good Intentions
The mind is never immune to “alien thoughts,” and there is no easy way of weeding them out. A hasidic rabbi, asked by his disciples in the last hours of his life whom they should choose as their master after his passing away, said: “If someone should give you advice on how to eradicate alien intentions, know he is not your master.”
According to one legend, the last words which the Baal Shem-good name uttered before he departed from this world were, “Lord of the World, save me from pride and ulterior motives.” According to another legend, his last words were, “Let not the foot of pride come upon me” (Psalms 36:11).
We do not know with what we must serve until we arrive there (Exodus 10:26). “All our service, all the good deeds we are doing in this world, we do not know whether they are of any value, whether they are really pure, honest, or done for the sake of heaven,―until we arrive there―in the world to come, only there shall we learn what our service was here.”, Rabbi Isaac Meir of Ger.
It is said in the Talmud: “There are some who desire [to help others] but have not the means; whilst others have the means but have not the desire”, Yet both kinds of people are holy in the eyes of God. Hullin.
Judaism insists upon the deed and hopes for the intention.
Every morning we pray:
Make sweet, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, the words of Thy Torah in our mouth … so that we study Thy Torah for its own sake.
The Self
While constantly keeping the goal in mind, we are taught that one must continue to observe the law even when one is not ready to fulfill it “for the sake of God.” For the good, even if it is not done for its own sake, will teach us eventually how to act for the sake of God. We must continue to perform the sacred deeds even though we may be compelled to bribe the self with human incentives.
Purity of motivation is the goal; constancy of action is the way. It is useless endeavor to fight the ego in the open; like a wounded hydra, it produces two heads for every one cut off. We must not indulge in self-scrutinization; we must not concentrate upon the problem of egocentricity. The way to purify the self is to avoid dwelling upon the self and to concentrate upon the task.
Deeds
Any religious or ethical teaching that places the main emphasis upon the virtues of inwardness such as faith and the purity of motivation must come to grief.
If faith were the only standard, the effort of man would be doomed to failure. Indeed, the awareness of the weakness of the heart; the unreliability of human inwardness may perhaps have been one of the reasons that compelled Judaism to take recourse to actions instead of relying upon inward devotion. Perhaps this is the deeper meaning of the Rabbis’ counsel: one should always do the good, even though it is not done for its own sake. It is the act that teaches us the meaning of the act.
The way to pure intention is paved with good deeds. The good is carried out in acts, and there is an intense fascination that comes from a good deed counteracting the pressure and ardor of the ego.
The ego is redeemed by the absorbing power and the inexorable provocativeness of a just task which we face. It is the deed that carries us away, that transports the soul, proving to us that the greatest beauty grows at the greatest distance from the self.
Deeds set upon ideal goals, deeds performed not with careless ease and routine but in exertion and submission to their ends are stronger than those from a sudden and unaccountable change of mood and behavior.
Serving sacred goals may change mean motives, such deeds are exacting. Whatever our motive may have been prior to the act, the act itself demands undivided attention.
Thus the desire for reward is not the driving force of the poet in his creative moments, and the pursuit of pleasure, profit or popularity are not the essence of a religious or moral act.
At the moment in which an artist is absorbed in playing a concerto the thought of applause, fame or remuneration is far from his mind. His complete attention, his whole being is involved in the music. Should any extraneous thought enter his mind, it would arrest his concentration and mar the purity of his playing. The reward may have been on his mind when he negotiated with his agent, but during the performance it is the music that claims his complete concentration.
Man’s situation in carrying out a religious or moral deed is similar. Left alone, the soul is subject to change. Yet there is power in the deed that purifies desires. It is the act, life itself, that educates the will. The good motive comes into being while doing the good.
If the initial motive is strong and pure, obtrusive intentions which emerge during the act may even serve to invigorate it, for the initial motive may absorb the vigor of the intruder into its own strength. Man may be replete with selfish motives but a deed and God are stronger than selfish motives. The redemptive power discharged in carrying out the good purifies the mind. The deed is wiser than the heart.
A disciple of the Rabbi Mendel of Kotsk complained to his master of his inability to worship God without becoming selfconscious and tinged with a sense of pride. Is there a way of worship in which the self does not intrude? he asked.
Have you ever encountered a wolf while walking alone in the forest?
I did, he retorted.
What was on your mind at that moment?
Fear, nothing but fear and the will to escape.
You see, in such a moment you were in fear without being conscious or proud of your fear. It is in such a way that we may worship God.
Though deeply aware of how impure and imperfect all our deeds are, the fact of our doing must be cherished as the highest privilege, as a source of joy, as that which endows life with ultimate preciousness. We believe that moments lived in fellowship with God, acts fulfilled in imitation of God’s will, never perish; the validity of the good remains regardless of all impurity.
SERVE HIM WITH JOY
Traditionally, the Jew is taught to feel delight in being able to fulfill the law, albeit imperfectly, rather than to feel anxiety because of his being unable to fulfill it perfectly. “Serve Him with joy; come before His presence with singing” (Psalms 100:2).
Israel feels a certain ease and delight in the fulfillment of the law which to a hired servant is burdensome and perplexing. For “the son who serves his father serves him with joy, saying, Even if I do not entirely succeed [in carrying out His commandments], yet, as a loving father, He will not be angry with me. In contrast, a hired servant is always afraid lest he may commit some fault, and therefore serves God in a condition of anxiety and confusion.”
When Israel feels uneasy because of their having to stand in judgment before God, the angels say unto them, hear ye not the judgment. Know ye not Him? He is your next of kin, He is your brother, and what is more, He is your father. Midrash Tebillim, 118, 10. See Schechter, Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology, p. 55f."
Jewishness gets a bad name in this world for different reasons. Its not because of some evil people using the name, evil people are everywhere using all names. Its because the world is mostly evil. Dr. M. Scott Peck said it best in his book, People Of The Lie; 'Evil will seek out the good to destroy it.' They hate it because it reveals them to themselves. Evil people hate to see themselves as they really are.
How Not To Worship
When Israel crossed the Jordan, The Lord gave them a warning about the inhabitants of the new land. He straightly forbade them not to worship Him the same way those people worshiped their gods.
Many of the conditions in those times are the same in our days. Concerning holidays, Paul writes,
1Co 10:20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
1Co 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
What Paul means about sacrifice to devils was the very popular mystery cults of the day. Every city in the roman empire was deeply involved in idol worship. Paul realized the idols represented devils from the distant past, sometimes even possessing people around him. The rituals performed often included cannibalism, blood drinking and orgies; all, of course, forbidden by God.
It's amazing these are still present in our culture. Most all our holidays are directly traceable to these mystery cults. Even the days of the week in America come from these forbidden idols. The Greek fraternities and sororities in American colleges are ignorantly practicing these ancient religions. They take oaths to the same gods, engage in orgies and other things dedicated to those ancient cults.
Nearly all our holidays come directly from ancient pagan festivals; Christmas incorporates practices from the Saturnalia, where a tree is cut and put inside the house decorated with red berries. Easter incorporates practices from Babylon and Ishtar that contain eggs as a symbol of life. Halloween is a day dedicated to evil once called all-hallows eve. All these things are forbidden by God.
Jer 10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Jer 10:3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
Jer 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
If we expect to survive the Judgment Day, we need to change our priorities and agendas now.
On the other side, the days of the week in Israel amount to; day one, day two, day three etc.., as given in Genesis.
The Colossians
Colossian scriptures have been used to condemn the Jews and their customs. Paul never said any such thing. Here is some understanding from the worldwide Church of God. They explain it was gnostic heretics (a sect of those fake Jews The Lord was talking about) that were trying to mislead the new believers.
What type of deceitful regulations did Paul combat? "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle ... according to the commandments and doctrines of men" (Colossians 2:21-22). The heretics advocated man-made regulations concerning physical things that "perish with the using" (verse 22). Why is this important? The deceivers were probably forerunners of a major religious movement, gnosticism, that flourished in the second century. They did not represent the mainstream Jewish thinking of that day, nor were they faithful to the Scriptures. They believed salvation could be obtained through constant contemplation of what is "spiritual"—to, as Paul explained, the "neglect" of the physical body (Col 2:23). It appears they believed in various orders of angels and in direct human interaction with angels.
Paul indicates they regarded all physical things, including the human body, as decadent. He explicitly states that the heresies he was countering "concern things which perish with the using [physical things] according to the commandments and doctrines of men" (Col 2:22).
Paul tells us he was countering human commandments and doctrines—not the commandments of God. The Colossian heretics had introduced various man-made prohibitions—such as "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle" (Col 2:21)—against the enjoyment of physical things. They especially objected to the pleasurable aspects of God's festivals—the eating and drinking aspects—that are commanded in the Scriptures (Deuteronomy 12:17-18).
When Paul wrote, "... Let no one judge you in food . . ." (Col 2:16), he wasn't discussing what types of foods they should or should not eat. The Greek word brosis, translated "food," refers not to the kinds of foods one should or should not eat, but to "the act of eating" (Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1985, "Food").
The point is that the deceivers disdained feasting—any type of eating and drinking for enjoyment.
The Galatians
Many people have been told the book of Galatians is arguing against Judaism and the ways of The Lord. The Galatians were worshiping idols of the mystery cults, descended from Babylon. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, an article by Joshua J. Mark reads;
"That Galatian law was derived from the gods is suggested by the proximity of the sacred city of Pessinus, dedicated to the Mother Goddess Cybele and her consort Attis, close on the border of the western part of Galatia controlled by the Tolistogogii, (one of the Galatian founding tribes)."
The Galatians were fighters. When they were not fighting against another nation they were fighting for another one as mercenaries. It's not surprising they would choose a cult like Cybele, which was known for wild orgies and blood guzzling. Galatians were pretty rough cut folk, so it would be quite a task to turn their entire culture into a Jewish one over night.
After Paul had been there teaching them, a fake Jewish scholar went and discouraged them by saying it is necessary to keep the Jewish customs in order to be saved. When in fact, those customs never had anything to do with salvation. Justification and salvation happened at the temple on the altar; That altar is what Our Lord replaced. Paul said,
"Gal 4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."
The days, months and times related to the Cybele cult. He means they should not be returning to their former cult activities and he is afraid he is wasting his time working with them.
Then he explains it is not the works of the law that saves people, but faith in Our Lord. Otherwise, it would have been a waste for Our Lord to die.
Paul was by no means against the law. He was against the idea that people are saved by keeping the law. The lord still expects us to keep the commandments both new and old.
Mat_5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
The Greek word used for destroy, καταλυσαι - kataluō, only means destroy when associated with a physical object. (of institutions, forms of government, laws, etc., to deprive of force, annul, abrogate, discardis) - Thayers Greek Lexicon.
In other words, He did not come to deprive the law of force, but to demonstrate how to keep it.
There was one person in each age of the world who was able to keep the law well enough to not die. Enoch in the First Age, Elijah in the Second Age and Yeshua in the Third.
If that were not so it could be argued the law is impossible and therefore not fair. But since one person in each age has done it, it is fair.
We are as responsible for the spirit of the law today as if we were standing at the foot of the mountain. So, we will either keep The Lord's commandments to the degree that we love Him or we will impose on His Grace till the Judgment Day.
Our Lord said,
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Joh 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
That's pretty clear.
The reason it matters what we call ourselves is that it determines our position and the rules we will lean toward in the decisions of life. If we think we are gentiles we will probably behave like gentiles. If we think we are children of God and are about to enter an eternal kingdom of wonder and delight, we are more likely to keep the commandments.
That is not to say we will drop dead immediately if we sin. The psalmist wrote about the children of The Lord's Firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth;
If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; Psa 89:30
If they break my statutes, and keep not my Commandments; Psa 89:31
Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Psa 89:32
Psa 89:33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. Psa 89:33
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Psa 89:34
If we are in Christ and keep His commandments, we are the 'children of Our Lord's Firstborn', His new Bride, and the New Jews.
In addition, now it even appears how everyone who is saved can be included in one of the twelve tribes of Israel. When Israel gave his blessing to the twelve tribes in Egypt, he included character types exclusive to each. At the time and in the context it seemed to have little significance, but in the context of bringing Gentiles into the fold today, it identifies a spirit and destiny that can be ascribed to anyone as distinctive as a name. What is more, this blessing is directed to a time he calls, "the last days."
Gen 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Gen 49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
Gen 49:3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
Gen 49:4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
Gen 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
Gen 49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self will they digged down a wall.
Gen 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
Gen 49:8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
Gen 49:9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Gen 49:11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
Gen 49:12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
Once again, it's all about a people called Jews. But the idea of Jews is not very popular In the church business of America. If you want people to attend, you must preach grace, not commandments; rapture, not tribulation, and victory, not struggle.
The trap of that is, not many people will do well in a race they think they have already won.
Another problem is, it's hard to believe writings from some other religion. The whole Bible was written by Jews. As a Christian, it feels like you're spying on someone else.
Not until we understand we are the people called by His Name, spread over the centuries, can we stop feeling that we're reading other people's mail.
When people realize this they must make a choice. Either believe the Bible and keep the commandments or try to create their own reality according to their own rules.
Many groups throughout time have tried that. We are surrounded by examples in the past and present; people making their own rules.
Only when we surrender to His commandments can we feel the confidence of being part of God's people. It's not what seems right to us that matters, it's what God thinks. He made a few rules at the mountain based on what would happen in future generations and future ages. We must trust the mechanism He put in place for the future. He made rules in the First Age that were broken by some angels who corrupted the whole earth and blood began to flow. They taught man how to do things that would destroy the world, and it did.
Some of the traditions God made for us may seem silly. What must He think of the tradition of a fat man in a red suit flying behind a few caribou bringing gifts to everybody once a year like a god.
In contrast, wearing strings to remind us of the principles that keep our world from unraveling seems fairly reasonable.
The Lord created us able to drift away with our imagination for other things, Unless, we actively pursue Him. He also made signs, symbols, holidays and traditions for living reminders to keep us from drifting away.
Seeing ourselves with a real place in the Bible changes the way we look at everything. It all makes sense from the inside.
The Church is so corrupted now many people will not remain interested in the Truth. They will either progress into the real Bride of Christ or fall away with the Gentiles. One cannot stay on the fence forever. At some point people must decide whether they believe the Bible or not.
Christians my be similar to a group called Nicolaitans. In Revelation, The Lord said,
" Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."
It's not clear nowadays who were those Nicolaitans. But, we may safely assume they were people who claimed The Lord's name, but not His ways. Otherwise, He would have hated more than their deeds. Ralph Woodrow writes;
Even before the New Testament was completed, it was needful to give warnings about the doctrine of the Nicolaitines (Rev. 2:6). According to Scofield, the word “Nicolaitines” comes from nikao, “to conquer”, and laos, “laity”, which, if correct, “refers to the earliest form of the notion of a priestly order, or ‘clergy’, which later divided an equal brotherhood (Mt. 23:8), into ‘priests’ and ‘laity’.” The word “priest” in a very real sense belongs to every Christian believer not just ecclesiastical leaders. Peter instructed ministers not to be “lords over God’s heritage” (1 Peter 5:1-3). The word translated “heritage” is kleeron and means “clergy”. As The Matthew Henry Commentary explains, all the children of God are given the “title of God’s heritage or clergy ...the word is never restrained in the New Testament to the ministers of religion only.” Babylon Mystery Religion
Christianity has many, many wonderful people, but in America it too often becomes worship-tainment, guilt management or a money game.
People Of The Spirit
It has always been about the spirit from the beginning. The Jews were given the law at the mountain and were God's people in the world. Even then, they allowed converts by the spirit into their group. The earth also swallowed some of those Jews who did not walk after the spirit.
Nowadays, there is no longer any difference between race, sex or national origin. All who walk after the spirit are Jews and the Bride of Christ. So, God is not double dating between nations or peoples.
A Mistaken History
The general idea in America is that Christians were the victims in the medieval inquisition. That was not the case. It was not the evil Catholics against the innocent Christians. Both Catholics and Protestants are Christian.
The word 'Protestant' is derived from “protesting Catholics.” But, protesting is not the same as leaving. The Pope is still the head of the Christian Church. There is a reason he stood up on television and called on all Christians throughout the world a short time ago.
Christians were not the victims of the inquisition, they were the perpetrators of it. 'When the reputation of those in the pope's seat became known, even people who espoused no religion at all were ashamed of them.' (7) Then people began to shun the Church. The Church's response was the inquisition to get the people back from their “religious dissent.”
The Inquisition, in historical ecclesiastical terminology also referred to as the "Holy Inquisition", was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy. Torture and violence were used by the Inquisition for eliciting confessions from heretics.[1] The Inquisition started in 12th-century France to combat religious dissent, particularly among the Cathars and the Waldensians. The inquisitorial courts from this time until the mid-15th century are together known as the Medieval Inquisition. Other groups investigated during the Medieval Inquisition, which primarily took place in France and Italy, including the Spiritual Franciscans, the Hussites (followers of Jan Hus), and the Beguines. Beginning in the 1250s, inquisitors were generally chosen from members of the Dominican Order, replacing the earlier practice of using local clergy as judges.[2]
During the Late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, the scope of the Inquisition grew significantly in response to the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter- Reformation. It expanded to other European countries,[3] resulting in the Spanish Inquisition and the Portuguese Inquisition. The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions focused particularly on the anusim (people who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will) and on Muslim converts to Catholicism.
Portugal and Spain in the late Middle Ages consisted largely of multicultural territories of Muslim and Jewish influence, reconquered from Islamic control, and the new Christian authorities could not assume that all their subjects would suddenly become and remain orthodox Roman Catholics. So the Inquisition in Iberia, in the lands of the Reconquista counties and kingdoms like León, Castile, and Aragon, had a special socio-political basis as well as more fundamental religious motives.
In some parts of Spain towards the end of the 14th century, there was a wave of violent anti-Judaism, encouraged by the preaching of Ferrand Martinez, Archdeacon of Écija. In the pogroms of June 1391 in Seville, hundreds of Jews were killed, and the synagogue was completely destroyed. The number of people killed was also high in other cities, such as Córdoba, Valencia, and Barcelona.[4]
It never really stopped, they just changed the name.
In Italy, after the restoration of the Pope as the ruler of the Papal States in 1814, the activity of the Papal States Inquisition continued on until the mid-19th century, notably in the well-publicised Mortara affair (1858–1870). In 1908 the name of the Congregation became "The Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office", which in 1965 further changed to "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith", as retained to the present day.
Something similar happened several years later in Salem, Massachusetts.
The Salem witch trials were an extension of the inquisition; same agenda, same procedures and same tortures. It was the same problem, crooked people in high places.
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than two hundred people were accused. Thirty were found guilty, nineteen of whom were executed by hanging (fourteen women and five men). One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death for refusing to plead, and at least five people died in jail.[5]
The only real difference between the world wide inquisition and the local event in Salem is the scope. The same reason drove both events, power and profit. Few people in either travesty really believed the devil was a player. The world inquisition was done for wealth, property and dominion.
The Salem event was fueled by petty grievances, jealousy and greed, among an already bickering society.
Salem Village (present-day Danvers, Massachusetts) was known for its fractious population, who had many internal disputes, and for disputes between the village and Salem Town (present-day Salem). Arguments about property lines, grazing rights, and church privileges were rife, and neighbors considered the population as "quarrelsome." In 1672, the villagers had voted to hire a minister of their own, apart from Salem Town. The first two ministers, James Bayley (1673–79) and George Burroughs (1680–83), stayed only a few years each, departing after the congregation failed to pay their full rate. (Burroughs was subsequently arrested at the height of the witchcraft hysteria and was hanged as a witch in August 1692.)
A 'minister of their own' is the first clue to the real problem. A Society of their own is the final clue.
Puritans and other religious minorities had sought refuge in the Netherlands but ultimately many made a major migration to colonial North America to establish their own society.[6]
The Salem society, created expressly as a custom design of their own, sounds a lot like the property line, grazing rights and church privilege issues that ensued.
Obviously, ownership was the coveted goal and center of most of their problems. It may have been a manifestation in the flesh of problems in the soul.
As long as people are willing to hurt others for profit and pleasure, these things will continue.
Fake Religion
Fake religion has been used to misdirect people from God to the devil since Nimrod and Semiramis at the beginning of the Second Age.
Ha Satan's agenda seems clear from what he said to Our Lord while tempting Him in the wilderness,
If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. "Luk_4:7
We should not be surprised at what has happened throughout the centuries with so many different religions. From Semiramis to Santa Claus, millions of people have died on the wrong side of the Kingdom.
It is no accident there are so many strange religions with so many strange accoutrements. Anything condemned by The Lord is used in some kind of religion in the past and present. That tells us who is behind them and his agenda. The agenda has been the same from the beginning of the Second Age; to separate people from The Lord.
In this end time of the world corruption has grown like in the First Age. The same things are happening and the same result will occur.
The Christian Church
The Christian Church began in pagan Rome. The fathers of the Christian Church were Romans. The Bible was just one of the tools used, after it was discovered that religion could control the people.
Julius Cesar was Pontifex Maximus from 100 B.C. to 44 B.C. Head of the college of priests, pagan priests.
The religious ideas they took from Judea were simply added to the existing religion until everyone agreed. The church of Rome was a totally pagan organization, descended from Babylon long before Our Lord came to visit. See the Appendices as evidence at the back of the book.
The real religion of the disciples was replaced by the religion of the Romans during the Bar Chocheba rebellion, circa 150 A.D..
A Hebrew Hooligan named Bar Chocheba, meaning, 'son of a star', mislead a large group of followers because of his name. Afterward, they called him 'son of liar'. He led them against the Romans in the name of Jews, thinking he was still a Jew. The effect was the destruction of Jerusalem with thousands of Men, Women and Children slain and piled in heaps.
The worst effect was the killing of the fifteen Bishops of the Jewish churches in Jerusalem; James, Our Lord's half brother, Simeon, Justus, Zacchaeus, Tobias, Benjamin, John, Matthias, Phillip, Seneca, Justus, Levi, Ephres, Joseph and Judas, who were all Jews.
Josephus tells the story witnessed by one, Pella, who said the ancient inhabitants had completely perished and were replaced with foreigners. They said, the Church, too, was now completely composed of Gentiles.
After killing all the inhabitants, they changed the name of the city to, Aelia Capitolina, after the emperor, Aelius Hadrian.
The name, Christian, is mentioned in the Bible two times. Once it was used by a ruler speaking to Paul, and another time by Paul speaking about suffering from the Romans by that name. In all occasions, it is a Roman idea, because it is all the Romans could understand. They saw only some kind of religion with tales of powerful magic they could relate to their own mystery cults handed down from Babylon. And so, it was introduced into the Church of Rome, absorbed, misunderstood and changed. The rest is Catholic history, and unfortunately, Christian.
Ralph Woodrow and Alexander Hislop
Following is a short piece from Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, His book, Woodrow’s, Babylon Mystery Religion and James Carol's Constantine’s Sword, leave little doubt about the nature and danger of the Christian religion. Being on the wrong boat nearly always leads to going the wrong direction.
...In leading proof of the Babylonian character of the Papal Church the first point to which I solicit the reader's attention, is the character of MYSTERY which attaches alike to the modern Roman and the ancient Babylonian systems. The gigantic system of moral corruption and idolatry described in this passage under the emblem of a woman with a "GOLDEN CUP IN HER HAND" (Rev 17:4), "making all nations DRUNK with the wine of her fornication" (Rev 17:2;18:3), is divinely called "MYSTERY, Babylon the Great" (Rev 17:5). That Paul's "MYSTERYof iniquity," as described in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, has its counterpart in the Church of Rome, no man of candid mind, who has carefully examined the subject, can easily doubt. Such was the impression made by that account on the mind of the great Sir Matthew Hale, no mean judge of evidence, that he used to say, that if the apostolic description were inserted in the public "Hue and Cry" any constable in the realm would be warranted in seizing, wherever he found him, the bishop of Rome as the head of that "MYSTERY of iniquity." Now, as the system here described is equally characterised by the name of "MYSTERY," it may be presumed that both passages refer to the same system. But the language applied to the New Testament Babylon, as the reader cannot fail to see, naturally leads us back to the Babylon of the ancient world. As the Apocalyptic woman has in her hand A CUP, wherewith she intoxicates the nations, so was it with the Babylon of old. Of that Babylon, while in all its glory, the Lord thus spake, in denouncing its doom by the prophet Jeremiah: "Babylon hath been a GOLDEN CUP in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad" (Jer 51:7). Why this exact similarity of language in regard to the two systems? The natural inference surely is, that the one stands to the other in the relation of type and antitype. Now, as the Babylon of the Apocalypse is characterised by the name of "MYSTERY," so the grand distinguishing feature of the ancient Babylonian system was the Chaldean "MYSTERIES," that formed so essential a part of that system. And to these mysteries, the very language of the Hebrew prophet, symbolical though of course it is, distinctly alludes, when he speaks of Babylon as a "golden CUP." To drink of "mysterious beverages," says Salverte, was indispensable on the part of all who sought initiation in these Mysteries. These "mysterious beverages" were composed of 'wine, honey, water, and flour." From the ingredients avowedly used, and from the nature of others not avowed, but certainly used, there can be no doubt that they were of an intoxicating nature; and till the aspirants had come under their power, till their understandings had been dimmed, and their passions excited by the medicated draught, they were not duly prepared for what they were either to hear or to see. If it be inquired what was the object and design of these ancient "Mysteries," it will be found that there was a wonderful analogy between them and that "Mystery of iniquity" which is embodied in the Church of Rome. Their primary object was to introduce privately, by little and little, under the seal of secrecy and the sanction of an oath, what it would not have been safe all at once and openly to propound. The time at which they were instituted proved that this must have been the case. The Chaldean Mysteries can be traced up to the days of Semiramis, who lived only a few centuries after the flood, and who is known to have impressed upon them the image of her own depraved and polluted mind.
Apostolic Succession
...If there be any who imagine that there is some occult and mysterious virtue in an apostolic succession that comes through the Papacy, let them seriously consider the real character of the Pope's own orders, and of those of his bishops and clergy. From the Pope downwards, all can be shown to be now radically Babylonian. The College of Cardinals, with the Pope at its head, is just the counterpart of the Pagan College of Pontiffs, with its "Pontifex Maximus," or "Sovereign Pontiff," which had existed in Rome from the earliest times, and which is known to have been framed on the model of the grand original Council of Pontiffs at Babylon. The Pope now pretends to supremacy in the Church as the successor of Peter, to whom it is alleged that our Lord exclusively committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven. But here is the important fact that, till the Pope was invested with the title, which for a thousand years had had attached to it the power of the keys of Janus and Cybele, * no such claim to pre-eminence, or anything approaching to it, was ever publicly made on his part, on the ground of his being the possessor of the keys bestowed on Peter.
Considering when The Revelation was written, it must point to either the church of Rome or Roman Catholic as the Harlot riding on a beastly empire.
Problem is, How much of that has been taken into our society? Could all those symbols, names, procedures and accoutrements be considered ours by The Lord? If so, what does that make us, Daughters of the Harlot?
Today, according to the internet, there are at least 35,000 different denominations of Christian Churches in the world. They all worship the way they want and most think they are the only one doing it right.
While rebuking religious leaders of the day, Our Lord said. Mat 15:9,
”But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
He said that because they made a new rule that worked against the Commandment about honoring father and mother.
Mat 15:4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
Mat 15:5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
Mat 15:6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
'It is a gift' refers to a new rule they made about offerings. If they got some money and instead of giving it to their parents, young people could give it to the priests for an offering, so they could exercise control of it.
Our Lord elaborates that the change of intent in the Commandment of God is forbidden to the extent it makes their worship vain.
Ananias and Sapphira were under grace when they told a little lie about a gift to the Church of their own money, -they were killed.
Nadab and Abihu were killed for offering 'strange fire' before The Lord, the same Lord.
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. Lev 10:1
And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Lev 10:2
The Revelation from God has a warning to us today that we should notice about all this.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.Rev 18:4
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.Rev 18:5
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.Rev 18:6
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.Rev 18:7
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.Rev 18:8
What do we suppose He will think of a church that freely changes so many of His Commandments?
What is the destiny of those who embrace forbidden things and incorporate mystery religion practices from ancient Babylon?
What will happen to a church that actually requires breaking His commandments? I'm sorry people don't understand.
Readings include Ralph Woodrow's, Babylon Mystery Religion, where he elaborates how the Catholic / Christian Church is contaminated with things from the mystery religions of Babylon. He includes things like;
Mother and Child Worship
Mary Worship
Saints and Symbols
Obelisks, Temples and Towers
The Cross
The Winter Festival
The Mystery Of The Mixture
James Carol, an ex Catholic priest, in, Constantine's Sword, elaborates the long war against Judaism.
Answers From The Past
Once we really believe the Bible and learn to know it as the Truth, many things come into focus that would otherwise remain a mystery. We can then stand on one idea and reach something new and it's amazing how much information is there.
Also, it turns out the strange way it's written may have helped to preserve the Bible through the ages. No idea is found in just one place. The facts and messages are spread out and repeated in multiple stories, multiple books and often from different perspectives. Written this way to protect from hostile actions, no one can just take out a small part and destroy the message.
There are checkpoints only discovered recently that protect the integrity of the text both in the Old and New Testaments. An example of these would be the equidistant letter sequences found in the Old Testament. Every so many letters, say, every 49th or 50th letter of a book will spell a word or secret message. In one small paragraph in Genesis, the names of all 14 evergreen trees are encoded behind the same text that deals with those trees. In another place, in Isaiah, where it talks about the crucifixion, the names of 40 people are encoded, who were at the foot of the cross, except the name of Judas. Similarly, in the New Testament, there are words that are exclusive to each of the Gospels, in all the Gospels, and in each book their number is a multiple of seven.
Cowboy Input
Now it turns out, even early American Indians knew a flood story like that of Genesis during the days of Bill Cody, a famous cowboy pioneer. From the autobiography of Buffalo Bill Cody;
"While we were in the sand hills, scouting the Niobrara country, the Pawnee Indians brought into camp some very large bones, one of which the surgeon of the expedition pronounced to be the thigh bone of a human being. The Indians said the bones were those of a race of people who long ago had lived in that country. They said these people were three times the size of a man of the present day, that they were so swift and strong that they could run by the side of a buffalo, and, taking the animal in one arm, could tear off a leg and eat it as they ran. These giants, said the Indians, denied the existence of a Great Spirit. When they heard the thunder or saw the lightning, they laughed and declared that they were greater than either. This so displeased the Great Spirit that he caused a deluge. The water rose higher and higher till it drove these proud giants from the low grounds to the hills and thence to the mountains. At last even the mountain tops were submerged and the mammoth men were drowned."
No doubt the story got twisted as it passed from generation to generation, but it does indicate they had some idea of a catastrophic flood in the distant past even in America.
In the book of Enoch there is information that clears up questions about the new earth, the lake of fire and the new heavens promised in the New Testament.
The Atonement Day
It was previously thought the Atonement day was simply a forgiveness event and a foreshadowing of a greater one to come. But now, it appears to closely commemorate an event in the First Age where the angel, Azazel, was taken into the desert and cast into a fissure deep in the earth while all sin was ascribed to him. Without this history the Atonement Day procedures don't make very much sense to us. What is more, without some kind of Atonement, How could people of the First Age be saved?
Enoch 10.4 "And further the Lord said to Raphael: Bind Azazel by his hands and his feet and throw him into the darkness. And split open the desert, which is in Dudael, and throw him there. 10.8 And the whole Earth has been ruined by the teaching of the works of Azazel; and against him write: ALL SIN."
Lev 16:9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
Lev Chapter 16:10 וַיִּקְרָא י וְהַשָּׂעִיר, אֲשֶׁר עָלָה עָלָיו הַגּוֹרָל לַעֲזָאזֵל, יָעֳמַד-חַי לִפְנֵי יְהוָה, לְכַפֵּר עָלָיו--לְשַׁלַּח אֹתוֹ לַעֲזָאזֵל, הַמִּדְבָּרָה. But the goat, on which the lot fell for Azazel, shall be set alive before the LORD, to make atonement over him, to send him away for Azazel into the wilderness.
Lev 16:11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:
Jewish tradition says the Azazel goat was actually taken out and pushed off a cliff where he died on the rough and jagged stones below, commemorating the event in the First Age where Azazel was buried beneath rough and jagged stones.
Mishna, Yoma 6:3, ..."He divided the crimson thread. `Half of it he tied to a rock, and half of it he tied between its horns. `He then pushed it over backward, and it rolled down the ravine. `And it did not reach halfway down the mountain before it broke into pieces..."
Without reading Enoch we have no idea why the goat is even called 'Azazel' or why it would be part of the Atonement Day. In the First Age all sin was ascribed to Azazel. During the Atonement Day, in the Second Age, atonement was laid on the Adonai or 'scapegoat'. In the present time, it is laid on Our Lord, Yeshua, Who finished the process.
Following is where the idea of a remnant of people across the ages began. It was in the First Age with a prayer, according to the book of Enoch.
"Enoch 82:10 Now, my son, rise up; and beseech the Lord of glory (for you are faithful), that a remnant may be left upon earth, and that he would not wholly destroy it. My son, all this [calamity] upon earth comes down from heaven; upon earth shall there be a great destruction."
The Lake of Fire
Other information from Enoch explains how the lake of fire will come about. He describes the end of the world when the sun will begin burning seven times as hot and will destroy life on earth, as we know it. Apparently, life will never end, but will be changed somehow over time. The same event is described by Enoch, Isaiah and Peter representing the First, Second and Third Ages.
Enoch 92:16 "And after this, on the seventh day of the tenth week, there shall be an everlasting judgment, which shall be executed upon the Watchers; and a spacious eternal heaven shall spring forth in the midst of the angels."
Enoch 92:17 "The former heaven shall depart and pass away; a new heaven shall appear; and all the celestial powers [shall] shine with sevenfold splendour for ever. Afterwards likewise shall there be many weeks, which shall externally {eternally} exist in goodness and in righteousness."
Old Testament
Isa 30:26 "Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound."
New Testament
2Pe 3:10 "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat."
It appears all these writers have the same understanding because they are all describing the same event. That event will most certainly melt some of this planet. The temperature at the International Space Station is roughly 250 degrees everyday. Multiply that times seven, and in a short time there will be no water or air on earth and the sand will be 1750 degrees.
For that reason and more, we can be sure the new earth will not be here. Not only will this planet be too hot, but too small for the New Jerusalem John saw descending out of heaven. If we put that building over Jerusalem, it would cover all Israel and much of the surrounding countries. The new earth must be much larger and farther from the sun. Also, it must be in sight of this place so it can be an eternal spectacle as Isaiah says,
Isa 66:22 "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain."
Isa 66:23 "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD."
Isa 66:24 "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."
That really only leaves one place for the new earth, Jupiter. It will be the only habitable planet within view of the earth. It's the right distance from the sun after it starts burning seven times as hot and it's large enough to accommodate the new Jerusalem described by John.
Jupiter is not really a gas giant. In 1979 a NASA probe took a video of several large pieces of a comet striking the surface. Dust clouds the size of the earth were cast into the atmosphere and a plume of debris was observed extending 1800 miles into space. It was obvious those rocks hit a solid object. This writer has a movie on the internet archive entitled, Answers from the Ancient Days, that depicts evidence of that event including a little movie made by the NASA probe Voyager as it was approaching Jupiter during the event.
We can be pretty sure the new Jerusalem looks like a pyramid made of glass, gold glass. It turns out, evidence of this has been in open view for thousands of years in Egypt.
The New Jerusalem
Rev 21:16 "And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
Rev 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
Rev 21:18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
Rev 21:19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
Rev 21:20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
Rev 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Rev 21:24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
Rev 21:25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
Rev 21:26 And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
Rev 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."
John described the new Jerusalem as a building 12,000 furlongs on all sides. That's about 1,500 miles. No matter what planet it goes on, most of it will be above the atmosphere in open space. He described it as, "the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass." The sun shields of our space helmets are like that. They filter out alpha and beta radiation and they use pure gold.
This can be a real poser, "there shall be no night there". Let's step back from the building, looking from space. Most of the building will be sticking out of the atmosphere into space, and it's on the north pole of the planet. So, night doesn't really figure in. Because, Jupiter is different than earth. It doesn't lean over twenty three and a half degrees. It's almost perfectly parallel with the other planets, so that if we stand on the north pole, night will never happen there. It's orbit around the sun is circular, not an elliptic like earth's, so with no tilt and a circular orbit, winter will never come. It also has lots of moons which will light up the sky at night after the sun starts burning seven times as hot.
The great pyramid appears to be a model of the new Jerusalem, designed by Joseph, son of Jacob, of the Bible.
Joseph
His name in those days appears to be Imhotep, translation - 'the mouth of God'. Stories about Imhotep match characteristics of Joseph in many details. Joseph invented the canal system of Egypt and at least one of those is still named, bar Joseph, the Joseph canal.
The tomb believed to be for Imhotep, because of inscriptions related to his fame as a healer, does not contain his bones. When the Hebrews left Egypt they took Joseph's bones with them.
Joseph was famous for his dreams that always came true. Those dreams got him cast into a pit in the desert. Then, they helped him get out of prison, and later got him promoted to Vizier of all Egypt under pharaoh, Zoza. Imhotep was famous as a great healer using dreams to heal people. People came from all over the ancient world to get healed in Sakkara. They would go to sleep in a special room and wake healed the next day.
Joseph designed the first pyramid at Sakkara and built the grain bins that kept the people of Egypt from starving during a seven year drought. The eleven large, underground grain bins are still located at Sakkara today with their pillars carved like ears of corn. It is also the location of Imhotep's tomb.
The name of God alone suggests the connection of these two people. When God was speaking with Moses in the land of Midian, He said,'
Exo 3:14 "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."
Surely, the reason God told Moses to tell the Hebrew children that, I AM, sent him is because, it's the name they knew Him by in Egypt. I AM, would be the Im, in, Imhotep, English not withstanding.
The Riddle of the Sphinx
The riddle of the Sphinx is what we know as the Gospel. It is the head of a woman with the body of a lion, Virgo to Leo. It represents the Mazzaroth of the ancient Hebrews from Babel, We knew they built an observatory there, the tower of Babel. The Mazzaroth is most likely the result of information from God to Enoch. It's also called the Zodiac in the world nowadays. A Hebrew name was assigned to each of the stars by God long ago. Because Hebrew names are not just phonetic they also have a unique meaning, using the brightest stars down to the smallest, each constellation tells a short story. It is also why the wise men were able to know what would be taking place in Bethlehem when Our Lord was born. These stars tell the story of Our Lord coming down to earth, becoming man, fighting with and overcoming the devil. The meaning of these stars in all 48 constellations has never changed in any language of the world, according to the most renowned astronomer on the planet, an Arab named, Albamazer.