Look OUT

It has been a long while since I have written on my blog but with the events happening around the globe, I figured I would put my 2 cents in.

I would first like to ask my brothers and sisters who read this blog to please pray for those who are affected by the many killings, protests, earthquake and tsumami victims all around the world. I believe we are witnessing prophecies coming to pass before our very eyes. I would suggest that if you are not well versed with your bible, study. Learn the scriptures! For far too long, we have done nothing but repeat what we have heard. I say it is past time for all of us to wake up and learn the scriptures for ourselves! Many of my brothers and sisters are awaiting the rapture to come and sweep them away from all the mess the world has but not knowing the scriptures that say that judgement starts in the House of God.

I dare you to be the watchman and Look Out! Be on the look out for false messiahs! Be on the look out for those promising the sweet by and by before the Lord returns! Watch as well as pray!

My prayer is for someone to be reached and touched by these words. I will be writing more on this blog in the days to come as well as hosting a web radio show that is soon to come. Until next time, Look Out!

Know the End From the Beginning pt 1

Tis the Season 2

Shalom family.

In my last post, I spoke of celebrating the Feast of Dedication. It is a true Jewish feast but one that I believe should not be ignored on the basis that it is recorded in the Scriptures. Let me make one thing very clear: the Hanukkah celebration is not a replacement for the extremely popular holiday, Christmas. I count my self fortunate for being allowed to teach on this pagan celebration to our congregation a few weeks before the 25Th. Many people who now attend our congregation every Sabbath never heard anyone talk against this holiday and truly had no idea what it truly stood for. It was an honor to stand before family and friends to discuss this and it has been more honorable that the teaching has become one of the most requested teachings that people want just so they can pass it to their friends, family, co workers, etc. I did not go into everything I could have because what information was given was a lot to take in, especially for those who just did not know. I'm going to share some of the information that I learned while researching Christmas and I will share some of the testimonies that I have heard afterward.

Jeremiah Chapter 10

Idols are compared with God

1 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 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. 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. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

Let's begin with this scripture in Jeremiah 10. The very first scripture let's us know that number one, shema - hear, do, and obey the voice of the Lord and do not learn the way of the heathen! Not just hear as in listen with one's ear, but diligently discern but perceive it, publish it, and then proclaim it! I was in a meeting some years back and the teacher told us that this scripture was not a Christmas tree because Christ had not been born yet. I found that argument to be ignorant. The truth was the young gentleman did not have the desire to stop this celebration no matter what the scriptures say. Historicaly, this celebration was called the winter solstace. The celebration of the invincible sun, mithra. The people were afraid that the sun would not return so they held a celebration filled with rape and violence in order to grab the attention of the "gods".
Warning: the information being posted is rated True!!

The tree that is decorated and garnished is a representation of mithra's uncircumcised penis. The garland that is strewn about the tree represents his sperm. The lights put arond the tree stands for the sun which was also used to ward away evil spirits. When a woman stood under the miseltoe, she was a candidate to be raped, for the fertility gods chose her as a vessel. During this celebration, the government was no longer in control. All manner of violence and incest was considered the norm for 8 days. The wreath with the red berries stood for the vagina of Astheroth and the berries stood for her menstrual blood which was considered to be the fountain of youth.
In one book, the encyclopedia of witchcraft, it was said that "the new sun god was born to the mother goddess and the gifts were also his sperm comming out of the phallus". When the people would bow down to the tree to recieve the gifts, they are paying homage to the tree (mithra).

In Exodus 32, while Moses was on Mt. Sinai, meeting face to face with the Lord, the people grew impatient and had Aaron make a golden calf, not to replace the Father, but as Aaron declared, "tomorrow will be a feast unto the LORD (YHVH)." This is the same thing that we have done with Christmas. We have said that we are not doing this for Mithra, but we are doing this for the Lord. We have taken this pagan practice that we have learned from the heathen and have tried to give it to YHVH when He told us not to. I'm sure there are many that mean well, like my own mother who cried when I first told her this same information 5 years ago, but the God of our bible said don't do this. Period! I am very fortunate to have been able to teach this information (there is a lot more that goes along with it but for the sake of time I only gave some critical parts) and this last time I taught this, I was sure that someone was going to throw a shoe at me. LOL Some got out of their seats and left, but the majority stayed and listened. Those who stayed and had heard this for the very first time went home, packed up there decorations, and threw them out. And then began to spread the Word to others and one dear sister who took the information to her job, withnessed to a coworker and they followed suit.

Of course there have been plenty of persecution this year. People accused of splitting up the family, we have become heritics, foolish Galations, the list goes on and on. I am thankfull that the people who sat during this teaching actually heard it and acted upon it. I am truly thankfull for an elder in our congregation who is still attending his Sunday congregation (because of his ministerial duties which he is in the process of relinquishing) and took the information to that congregation and the pastor actually heard it and wants the elder to teach it. And he said so accross the pulpit. And for the first time this year, that church has not put up any decorations. As small a victory a as it was, it is still a victory. I also have to note that in my city of Cleveland, Ohio, there is a Luthern church that happily boasts how it was their pastor who was the first pastor who set up a the first Christmas tree in a church in America. No wonder my city is going through many issues. (Not saying that it is the only reason but that didn't help)
I thank all of those who are standing up for the gospel of truth. You are vitally important and appreciated, and loved.

May you be blessed in Hashem Moshiach Yeshua.

Tis the Season

Shabbat Shalom friends and family!

It has been a long time since I last posted so please forgive me for waiting so long to write a new post. I bless Yahweh because as we are coming toward the end of this civil year, I reflect on all the changes that have happened in the life of my family (natural and spiritual). Our congregation, Sar Shalom Ministries began nearly 5 years ago now, meeting in our pastor's basement, then meeting in an office building, and 5 months ago, we began renting a church building. Our congregation has grown and we are seeing more and more of HIS Word. I do not view success by the size of our congregation or by the size of the offerings. Our success comes by the testimonies of the people who have the testimony of Yeshua and the commandments.

We have been doing a teaching series called the 2 trees; one is a mixed tree filled with the fruit of today's holiday celebrations such as Christmas, Halloween, New Years Day, and Valentine's Day. I have been amazed at the testimonies that have come out these teachings. People who have celebrated Christmas for years have thrown away their trees and lights, disgusted by the pagan roots and have been sharing the information with others. The hurtful thing is that our brothers and sisters in church are the one's persecuting us. Even that is a testimony. Despite the persecution, we still stand strong. And thankfully, there has always been one person who hears the "voice crying in the desert...".

We have also been observing the Feast of Dedication also known in Hebrew as Hanukkah. I do realize and understand that this is a Jewish feast, meaning it is not a feast that Yahweh commanded us to observe. However, I cannot ignore the fact that Yeshua in John 10:22 went into the temple during this time. I also cannot ignore the fact that Yah did a great miracle during this time when the feast was instituted by the Maccabees. The story goes as follows:

In the 2Nd century BCE, the land of Israel lay between Egypt and the Seleucid empire. Both Egypt and the Seleucid empire were states descended from the break up of Alexander the Great’s Greek empire. Since the rule of Alexander in 336–323 BCE, a process of Hellenization had spread through the near East. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes (ca. 215–164 BCE), became ruler of the Seleucid Empire in 175 BCE, Hellenizing Jews had been long-established in Israel. They had built a gymnasium, competed internationally in Greek games, "removed their marks of circumcision and repudiated the holy covenant" (1 Maccabees, i, 15.)

Conflict over the appointment of the High Priest and corruption contributed to the causes of the Maccabean Revolt. The High Priest in Jerusalem was Onias III. His brother Jason, who favoured the Seleucids, bribed Antiochus to make him High Priest instead. Antiochus was insensitive to the views of religious Jews and treated the High Priest as a political appointee and one from whom money could be made.

Menelaus (who was not even a member of the Levite priestly family) then bribed Antiochus and was appointed High Priest in place of Jason. Menelaus had Onias assassinated. His brother Lysimachus took holy vessels from the Temple, causing riots and the thief's death at the hands of the rioters. Menelaus was arrested and arraigned before Antiochus, but he bribed his way out of trouble. Jason subsequently drove out Menelaus and became High Priest again. Antiochus sacked the Temple and re-installed Menelaus.

From this point onwards, Antiochus pursued a Hellenizing policy with zeal. This effectively meant banning traditional Jewish religious practice. In 167 BCE Jewish sacrifice was forbidden, Sabbaths and feasts were banned and circumcision was outlawed. Altars to Greek gods were set up and animals prohibited to Jews were sacrificed on them. The Olympian Zeus was placed on the altar of the Temple. Possession of Jewish scriptures was made a capital offence. The king's motives are unclear. He may have been incensed at the overthrow of his appointee, Menelaus, he may have been responding to a Jewish revolt that had drawn on the Temple and the Torah for its strength, or he may have been encouraged by a group of radical Hellenizers among the Jews.

After Antiochus issued his decrees forbidding Jewish religious practice, a rural Jewish priest from Modiin, Mattathias the Hasmonean sparked the revolt against the Seleucid Empire by refusing to worship the Greek gods. Mattathias killed a Hellenistic Jew who stepped forward to offer a sacrifice to an idol in Mattathias' place. He and his five sons fled to the wilderness of Judah. After Mattathias' death about one year later in 166 BCE, his son Judah Maccabee led an army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the Seleucid dynasty in guerrilla warfare, which at first was directed against Jewish collaborators, of whom there were many. The Maccabees destroyed pagan altars in the villages, circumcised children and forced Jews into outlawry. The term Maccabees as used to describe the Jewish army is taken from its actual use as Judah's surname.

The revolt itself involved many individual battles, in which the Maccabean forces gained infamy among the Syrian army for their use of guerrilla tactics. After the victory, the Maccabees entered Jerusalem in triumph and ritually cleansed the Temple, reestablishing traditional Jewish worship there and installing Jonathan Maccabee as high priest. A large Syrian army was sent to quash the revolt, but returned to Syria on the death of Antiochus IV. Its commander Lysias, preoccupied with internal Syrian affairs, agreed to a political compromise that restored religious freedom.

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple following Judah Maccabees's victory over the Seleucids.

One of the awesome things that our Father did during this time was during the re dedication of the temple, there was only one cruz of oil that was considered kosher. It was enough for 1 day. That one cruz of oil was enough to keep the lamps burning for 8 days. This may seem small and insignificant to some but this was a mighty deed. These people who fought not to become like the Greeks, who upheld Torah even in the face of death, received a miracle that only Yah could do. Just as He did in 1Kings 17 when the widow had just enough oil and meal for herself and her son, the vial of oil did not run out.

If our Jewish brothers had not stood up for Torah during that time, many of the things we read in our bibles would not have taken place. So I urge you to remember that this feast of dedication is not about presents (although some of our "westernized" brothers have been exchanging gifts), it is about us re-dedicating the temple of our bodies to our Father who live within us. We are supposed to be the light of the world. People should see the light of Yeshua in us. So on this final day of Dedication, take time out to dedicate your all to the Lord. Indeed, tis the season, not for the pagan observance of the winter solstice, but tis the season of re-dedication.

Be blessed in the mighty name of Yeshua.

Since When. . . .?!

I received a very disturbing phone call from a very good friend of mine who posted a question on Facebook asking about truth. A friend of his that he used to go to church with sent them a message attacking him and his wife for leaving the church they attended and became full time members of the congregation that all of us attend every Sabbath.

The well meaning friend scolded them for leaving the church and their, "spiritual parents", aka, the pastors. I do not yet know what their response was to this misguided attack but one thing that bothered me was something that I have heard from the pastor's of this particular church before which is you do not leave this church unless the pastors, "release", you. Another statement made during this attack was how can you just uproot yourself from the place where the Holy Spirit dwells? (in so many words)

Now I have a problem with that. Since when has anyone NEEDED the pastors permission to do anything? How long have we as Christians put just about all of our trust and faith in a person whom we believe to be the spokes man for Yahweh? To be honest with you, this is not uncommon at all. I'm sure many of us can look at our congregations and ask this same question. How many people wait until they get to church to crack open their bibles? How long have we repeated what was said across the pulpit without the benefit of studying for our selves?

Since when did we have the right to NOT speak up when we hear the preacher, teacher, etc make a mistake or misquote a scripture, or anything else that we know is wrong but yet not say anything because if we do, then we would be made to feel inferior or be accused of being rebellious? We have all given our leaders much more power over our lives than we would like to admit. I remember once at my former church, some of us had begun wearing prayer shawls. We had some ordered for ourselves and one of our friends ordered the particular ones we wanted and had them shipped to us. My wife's prayer shawl resembled the one the pastor's wife had and the pastor's wife had a problem with it. She made it know that my wife should return it and get a different one. I had a problem with it since we had to put in a special order for the prayer shawl.

That night, all of us who ordered the prayer shawls discussed how we could resolve the issue with now harm and we came to a conclusion, case was closed. . .or so we thought. That Sunday, we were pulled to the side for a meeting with the pastor's wife and she figured that she had been the topic of conversation during the week (which she was not), and told us that we were wrong for having these prayer shawls and that we should have gotten her permission to order them for ourselves.

Do you see the problem with that statement? I certainly did. And in my own colorful way, I made it known that I had a problem with it. But this just serves as an example of what type of power church leaders have had over their respective congregations. I think we need to remember that when Peter, James, Paul, Silas, etc taught, they were questioned at every turn. And when the teachers in the various synagogues taught something that was incorrect, the apostles were quick to speak up.

Since when did we become passive and allow wrong teachings to come across our ears without a challenge? And what are we going to do about it now? Or are we afraid of being branded? I am asking everyone who will stand up for the truth to speak up. I am not asking anyone to disrespect anyone. I am asking everyone to be like the Berean's and study for themselves and tell the truth. What is truth? Just what the scriptures say it is; Thy word is truth.

Shalom in Messiah, Yeshua

Lord, We Have A Problem

I have been struggling with an issue for little while now within the Messianic movement. I praise God for showing not only myself His word and His ways but my family and so many others. The past 4 years have been mindblowng to me as I see scripture in a way that I have never seen before. It has been nothing short of miraculous.

Now to the problem that I am having. Lately, I have been running across more and more believers who are reminding me more and more of the Pharisees who believed on Yeshua but still adhered to traditions of men. Matthew 24:24 says "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect:"

Now, there have been people around the world who claim to be the Messiah come in the flesh and have many followers which is unfortunate. There are also many signs and wonders going about and many of the brothers and sisters who truly love the Lord are being led astray. And now for the false prophets:

The job of the prophet is to lead God's people back to His Torah. And there are many who are doing just that. When I first came into this truth, I felt like a wide eyed child looking at the world in a brand new light. I found various groups across the internet who were like myself and we loved and shared all the information concerning scripture that we could find. This past year, however, a lot of people who have started out in love are now becoming haughty and arrogant. If you are not a part of their inner circle or if you disagree with something that is said, you are booted out of the camp.

One group that I had joined on the internet has had a change in thinking. It seems now that it is no longer about studying the scriptures but it is increasingly becoming about the way you keep them. No longer are all welcome. The love we felt in the beginning is all but gone. Now we're caught up in saying the sacred names correctly and did we keep the Passover like it was done in the bible. It is becoming a disturbing trend.

I would ask that all of us who believe in Yeshua Messiah and keeping His Torah check our selves, meaning our motives and attitudes. Let us continue to compel people to come to the gospel truth. I know that when there is a large movement of the Spirit, the enemy will always find a way to pervert it and right now, he is doing the job by decieving the brethern. Let's stop it right now. I urge all of my brothers and sisters in the Lord to come back to our first love and stop the mess or we will continue to have the same problems.

Shalom in Messiah Yeshua

He Is Risen

Shalom to everyone that is reading this blog. It has been a long while since my last post and I do apologize for my long absence. But I have returned and I hope my thoughts will bless everyone who reads this.

Today there are a lot of people who are celebrating what has been called the Easter resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have celebrated this, "holiday", for many years also. I did until I as challenged by something during my study time. I was reading in the World Encyclopedia a few years ago concerning the death, burial, and resurrection and found an interesting comment in one article. It stated that the Christianity of today closely resembles what was known as Mithraism in Greek and Roman times. Needless to say, this piqued my curiosity and made me look into this claim.

The article pointed out that some time during the 4th century, Mithraism mysteriously vanished. The explanation that is given was this: Christianity replaced Mithraism. "How can this be?", I asked my self. Researching further, I found out that the church fathers combined the practices of Sun worship with Christianity, taking out a few of the rituals of Mithra worship and totally eradicating the Feasts of the Lord, sighting them too "Jewish".

I say all these things because we have, as one article stated, been too long in the sun. We have adopted sun worship in place of the Lord's sabbath. We have adopted Christmas, saying that no one knows when Jesus was truly born but when you do a little biblical research, it's not that hard to find. And we have taken Yeshua's time of redemption and replaced it with an Easter celebration saying that God does not mind since He knows my heart.

It is with great sadness that I tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. God does care! God spoke about what we should and should not do when it comes to mixing our worship. As we are about to find out, our ways are truly not His ways and our thoughts have most definitely not been His thoughts. But I pray for all who read this. I pray that your heart will be pricked and that you will study for yourself and truly see what thus saith the Lord.

This past week my family and friends observed the Passover celebration which is found in Exodus 12. This time was so important to the Lord that He tells Moses and Aaron in Exodus

12:1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 " This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.

In our society, we celebrate January 1 as the new year. But according to what we just read in Exodus 12, God already established what the new year would be for those who believe on Him. As a matter of fact, God knew that it would be said that this was for the "Jews" only. But several times in Exodus God says that one law shall be to him who is home born and to the stranger that sojourns with you. God makes this point very plain in Exodus 12:38, "And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks and herds very much cattle".

God also makes it clear that He wants His people to keep His passover. But what about Easter? In the King James bible, Easter is found in Acts 12:4 "And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaterions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. . . ".

Notice the word, "Easter", has been inserted there. Looking up this word in the Strong's concordance, it is the #3957 which is Passover. Why would the translaters substitute this? The reason is simple; it was deemed too Jewish. This was a deliberate attempt to hide what God calls, "My Feast"! If that is wrong, then what else is incorrect? And why do I think it is important that we celebrate His death, burial, and resurrection at the appropriate time?

My birthday is January 14. That date never changes. Every year I know that my birthday is the same. But the day that my birthday falls on is always different. It is the same for Passover. Passover is the same date every year; Abib (now called Nisan on the Hebrew calendar) 14, at evening. That date never changes but it does come up on different days according to our Gregorian (or Greek) calender. Does that mean we should ignore the date and celebrate what God has done on our time? Or should we pay attention to the time He set? I would think the answer is obvious.

It breaks my heart to see my brothers and sisters, year after year, dress up in their Easter outfits and eating colorful eggs that have supposedly lain by a rabbit. And say that somehow I am off because I choose to follow scripture. I have heard it said that many people know that Easter has it's roots in pagan ways but t church has turned it around and now uses it to give God the glory. What happened to just obeying what God said to do in the first place? Jesus met with His disciples before He died and told them of His great desire to have this Passover with them. (Luke 22:15) But we have had no desire to do as He commanded by doing this (Passover) in remembrance of Him. Instead we have taken on Easter, which is the pagan fertility goddess, Ishtar, who according to legend came down from heaven in an egg. When she landed and the egg opened, out she came, the bare-breasted goddess of fertility who in a show of her power, turned a bird into an egg laying rabbit.

God commanded us in Jeremiah 10 not to learn the ways of the heathen and use them for His glory. But that is exactly what we have done. We shun the Lord's feast days and times because people have told us those things are for the Jews. we have been in errror not knowing the scriptures. Instead of taking on the practices that are rooted in the Word of God, we would much rather have fun in the pagan practices.

For years I have been a part of the same thing. God in His mercy and kindness saw fit to have mercy on me and many of you who are reading this article. There are no accidents. You are not reading this by mistake. God desires for His people to repent and come back to His ways. When Jesus took the Passover and later on that night was tried and in the morning executed on the cross, He took all of our sins upon Him. It is interesting to note that during that time, the priests in the temple would have 2 loaves of bread set on 2 high pillars. The idea was that every family was supposed to remove the leaven out of their homes and it is to be transferred to a place where everyone brought their leaven. Leaven is of course a representation of sin. The temple priest at a certain time (around the 5th hour which is about 11am) would take one of the loaves down which signified that time was running out to get rid of your leaven. Then, at the 6th hour (12pm our time), the priest took down the final loaf and it is interesting that the scriptures record that at that time, darkness fell upon the whole earth.

It was at that time that the leaven was fully transferred out of each families house; just as the leaven of our sin was transferred onto our Lord and Savior. Not just the sin that was there at that time, but also the sins of the past and future. He saw us and took it upon himself. Is it a small thing for God to ask that we remember the atonement of His only begotten Son during l. the time that He appointed? Let's get rid of the paganism in our hearts and let us do as Paul said and keep the feast. Why? Because He is Risen. He died during Passover by becoming our passover sacrifice. Right after Passover, it became time for the feast of Unleavened bread. It was after that high holy sabbath (the first day of unleavened bread) that Jesus rose. It is time to put aside the pagan practices that have infected our beliefs. It is time to admit that the feasts of the Lord are not Jewish but for all who belong to God. It is time to admit that He is risen on the 3rd day. That Jesus' death came at 3 pm and so He rose around 3 pm 3 days later.

I know it may be hard to let go but I pray that the Lord opens your heart to His word. It does not matter how long we have been saved or how many degrees we have. All that matters is what the bible says. Shalom in Messiah Yeshua, Amen.