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Monday, February 27, 2012

Christians and the Torah


Since my family has chosen to celebrate the Feasts of the Lord and learn and follow the Torah, we have come against MANY nay sayers.  Most of these are arguments arise from fellow christians.

Many churches today teach that we are not under the law of the Old Testament.  They teach that the Old Testament laws were for the Jewish people only.  They basically teach that more than half of the bible doesn't matter to us at all.  They highly stress the New Testament, which is important, but reject the Old Testament almost in entirety. They teach that the Old Testament laws are actually bondage to sin.  Some cite the following scriptures.


Romans 6:10-18

10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Romans 7:1-6

7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

WAS PAUL TRULY REJECTING THE TORAH OF GOD?  Was Paul truly teaching christians to throw away, ignore, and reject the Laws of God?


Romans 7:6 in the NIV says that last bit of scripture like this.....

"Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit."

While we are not required to live to the "letter of the law" which is impossible for our sinful nature, are we not STILL called to serve the Lord.  Are these 'laws" not still HIS ideal of perfect living?


We throw them out, claiming freedom, not even clinging to them as a guidepost in a fallen world.  And because of this we have followed the world in so many areas of our lives.


So I choose to follow the laws to the best of my ability and lean on the blood where I fail.  I admit to being a 'newby' to levitical law, since for over 1600 years the church has tried to expunge any hebrew traits to our faith.


In this same argument we also come across another CONSTANT conflict with the teaching of the mainstream church.  Why do we, you, even I, accept ENGLISH TRANSLITERATIONS for the name of God and Jesus, when in fact we know the actual names?


Don't know what I'm talking about?


WHY do we say Jehovah or only Lord God, when we KNOW that the Hebrew name of god is Yahveh, and WHY do we say Jesus when we KNOW that the Hebrew name is Yeshua?


My name is Caroline.  When I am in Spain, my name is Caroline.  When I am in Russia, my name is Caroline.


Considering that the bible gives such CLEAR weight on the NAME OF GOD and the NAME BY WHICH WE ARE SAVED, why do we not use the actual name?  Why do we accept the teachings of the false church?


IF the name of Jesus Christ, is in fact NOT his name, and is in fact a transliteration based on the name of the sun god ZEUS, how do we call on it for salvation?  If the name of the saviour is in fact Yeshua, would that name not be the name by which we must be saved?


WHY has the church THROWN AWAY all hebrew heritage?  WHY is this anti semitism still accepted within the 'christian church?  Isn't it biblically, and historically the antichrists' desire to rid the world of the Hebrew people and all of their paths?


Please note that the word JEW only refers to the tribe of Judah (the conglomeration of the two remaining tribes).  The word Hebrew refers to the entirety of tribes of Israel, 10 of which have been lost since hundreds of years before the coming of the messiah.


Please understand.  Please consider.


I am NOT negating grace.

There is grace.
Grace was needed.

But at a certain point, which in our hearts we MUST FACE, rejection of the WILL OF THE LORD IS SIN.


John 14:15

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Look what else you throw out when you completely abandon the laws of God.



Leviticus 26:3-1

3 ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;
you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;
I will rid the land of evil beasts,
and the sword will not go through your land.
7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;
your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
9 ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.
10 You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.
11 I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.
12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves;
I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.

Did you read, hear, EAT those words?  Did your heart swell and yearn when you saw the PROMISES that IN THE TORAH?


Now we were not freed from the slavery of Egypt.  But weren't we freed from the spiritual slavery of sin?


Romans 6:15-16

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

And if you are not obedient to the Torah, the laws that GOD specified and laid out..... which rules are you being obedient to?


I understand that the Messiah walked the earth.  I understand that He poured out his blood as a perfect sacrifice.

Wasn't the sacrifice's purpose, since the very beginning, to cover where we FAILED TO LIVE UP TO THE STANDARDS OF GOD?

And what are the standards of God, if not the levitcal law, called the TORAH.


I suppose you could perhaps say the Messiahs perfect sacrifice covered where you don't live up to the law and so now you don't even bother trying and don't have to.


If the law was truly done away with, there would be nothing to live up to, and nothing in which we are failing or falling short.  If the law was truly done away with, there would be nothing to condemn ANYONE WHO CAME AFTER the Messiah.  We would all live forever, without sickness or pain or sin.  We know that this is NOT THE CASE.


As my husband explained, "I have a son.  I absolutely love him.  There is almost nothing he could do in this world to change the fact that I love him.

Does he disobey?  Yeah.  He's not perfect.
Is it impossible for him to obey me all the time?  Yeah.  We are all sinful by nature.
Since he will falter from time to time, should he just give up now and not obey his parents?  No.
Should you or I give up because we can't live up to the glory of God?  No."

The Law still exists and still stands.  And our falling short can be covered by the GRACE found in the PERFECT SACRIFICE of Yeshua.

The Law is STILL IMPORTANT to our God, Yahveh.

Jeremiah 31:33
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Hebrews 8:10
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Hebrews 10:16
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”

Romans 2:12-13
12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;

And if you reject the above verses because you are not of the house of israel, consider this....

Romans 11:16-19
16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”

True believers are GRAFTED IN to the Olive Tree, the House of Israel.

If you accept the Messiah, and are a child of God, by FAITH, you are adopted, and GRAFTED IN.  You are ISRAEL.  You are the DESCENDENTS of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  You are the people of God.

>Romans 11:19-24
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?


Also, by celebrating the Feasts of the Lord, we find much MORE depth and meaning in our faith in the Messiah.  The Feasts of the Lord were filled with prophecy and promise about the Messiah and our relationship with Him.

Quick Overview







Feast





Date





Meaning





Status
1. Passover/PesachMarch/AprilRedemption/Sacrifice/Death of MessiahFulfilled
2. Unleavened BreadMarch/AprilSantification/Burial of Messiah/No decayFulfilled
3. Firstfruits/Grain HarvestMarch/AprilRepresents the Savior as first of the harvestFulfille
4. Weeks/Shavuot>May/JunePentecost/Holy Spirit sent by YHWHFulfilled
5. Yom Teruah (Trumpets)Sept/OctBelievers' New Year/Messiah returns to Israel ("Rapture")Future
6. Day of Atonement/
Yom Kippur
Sept/OctDay of Atonement/Messiah saves IsraelFuture
7. Tabernacles/SukkotSept/OctWedding Feast/Golden Age/Messiah starts MillenniumFuture
Taken from http://therefinersfire.org/feasts2.htm

Do you seeeeeee?  The FEASTS of the LORD TELL ABOUT the Messiah?  And we REJECT THEM?  We call them "BURDENSOME"?

If you really look at them, aren't they in fact a beautiful blessing from the Lord directly to His people?

How much are we missing in our walk, when we REJECT the blessings and wisdom of the Lord? How much are we missing when we assume that the church before us KNEW better?  How much are we actually falling for the ploys of the enemy by accepting the status quo and not seriously taking the bible for the WISDOM AND TRUTH of the God that we serve?

Joshua 24:15
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve YHVH, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve YHVH."



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