As with all things “new” (if you dare call the Torah “new”, that is!), you often wonder if you’re “doing it right”. In this case, since we are learning to observe the Torah so that we can honor God and walk in the blessings He provides, we’re even more concerned. And since Passover was this past weekend and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (or “Unleavened Cardboard”, as some are wont to call Matzoh!) goes on right now, I thought I’d take a few moments to share my experiences from my first-ever Passover. Feel free to compare yours with mine, etc. (and I welcome your comments).

A Word On Traditions

For starters, we decided that we did not want to trade one set of traditions for another set of traditions. Granted, it’s almost impossible to totally avoid all traditions (just look at any service in any synagogue or church; the format has evolved over the years from what God originally ordained as various traditions crept in and deviated from God’s instructions). As an example, we light candles at the start of our family Shabbat celebration every week and we’re not commanded to do that in the Bible. So when we approached Passover, why not incorporate a few traditions?

First, many of the things that God wants us to do are simply “do it”. Shabbat, for example, is simply to be “remembered and kept holy”. There’s a lot of leeway there, and a lot of tradition wants to tell us what to do. We like the candles, we love Challah bread (not this past Friday, though!), etc. — so we have developed our own way, or “tradition”, of observing Shabbat. It continues to evolve as our understanding of the Torah grows.

Passover, however, is a bit different. We are told what to eat (roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread). Nowhere are we told to eat a boiled egg (which I find personally offensive because it smacks of fertility rites — kind of like Easter eggs and their pagan tradition, which is why we are dumping holidays like Christmas and Easter and learning to observe the Torah in the first place!) or drink four cups of wine. This is how Passover has evolved over the years. If you want to observe tradition, that’s fine, but for us, we started observing God’s festivals and ordinances to be free from tradition. We have no desire to trade one set of traditions for another. We want to trade tradition for obedience.

How We Spent Our Weekend

So we invited some friends over this past Friday evening (Passover began at sundown Friday), ate roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and Matzoh (plus a few other things; it was kind of a pot luck dinner — but I will confess to not bringing in a lamb four days before Passover, etc.!), read the story of the Exodus, memorized the ten plagues, and had a superb evening. We remembered.

Our regular congregation — or at least the one that I think will become our regular congregation (Beit Adonai Yisrael, or BAY) — didn’t have a normal Shabbat service, so we visited a different congregation where I learned about counting the Omer (more on that in a minute). The BAY congregation met Saturday evening to close out the Shabbat and Passover, and we also read the story of the Resurrection of Yeshua from three of the Gospels. A very nice first Passover, and we are grateful to all of our friends who made it possible.

Simple is Good, in my opinion, and this first Passover was very simple. At the same time, I’m pretty sure that we observed it in a way that is pleasing to our Lord.

Counting The Omer

I mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago about counting the Omer. This is a “count-up” to Shauvot. You start counting the first day after Passover and keep counting until you’re there.

The Shauvot is actually a first fruits offering that is presented to the Lord. Many of the early crops (i.e. barley) are ripe about this time, at least in latitudes closer to the equator). I remember the grains being ripe, even in Germany, at some point in mid-June, so this sounds about right.

The verse about remembering to count the Omer is found in Leviticus 23:15-21, if you’re interested…

One quick word about Shauvot and Pentecost: Pentecost and Shauvot are the same; however, the church has “twisted” it so that Pentecost always falls on a Sunday. This is incorrect. Since you start counting the omer the day after Passover — which falls on 15 Nisan on the Jewish calendar and can therefore fall on any day of the week — Shauvot will always be on a different day of the week.

In other words, “Pentecost Sunday” is another oxymoron to add to your list.

How Are We Counting The Omer?

Every evening, just before the children go to bed, we are saying a blessing, reading a passage from the book of Psalms (my almost 9 year old son is reading it; I love it!), and “doing the count” (i.e. “today is the third day of the omer”). We have a checklist and the children take turns checking it off.

Nothing fancy, once again; it’s pretty simple. But we are observing, we are doing. It is a blessing.

Jesus Did NOT Abolish The Law!

Again, as Christians, we are not required to observe the Torah. Instead, it is a privilege to observe it. While many will argue, nowhere in the New Testament did Yeshua tell us to stop observing the Law / Torah; indeed, He fulfilled it while pointing out how many of the traditions of His day made a mockery of the Law. The Law (allow me to switch words for a moment!) cannot condemn us, but we were never told to ignore it (and if we were, why did Yeshua go to such great pains to observe all of it?) — and the promised benefits and blessings of observing the Torah are still there for the taking.

If you’re wondering what God wants you to do with your life or if God seems far away, I want to encourage you to simply do what we are told to do in the Torah. While not all of the principles apply (i.e. Yeshua offered himself as the perfect sacrifice, once for all, so there is no need to sacrifice animals — although the prayers and other offerings associated with this are beneficial), many can be easily practiced and can make a huge difference in your life.

So why not start today?

I’m weird. I’m different. Most of my weekends are currently spent in churches. On Saturdays, we try to go to a Messianic congregation in Denver (about 60 miles away) at least a couple of times per month (and try to watch the online messages when we can’t make it), and on Sundays, we attend our local church. We do this because we feel the need to learn at the hand of an experienced Messianic teacher and mentor, but on the other hand, we want to maintain close ties with those within the church. We suspect that many in the Church are looking for what we have found — and if all the Messianics leave the church, who will be there to help them?

Besides, the pastor of our church has some pretty good things to say. Take, for example, the sermon he gave a couple of weeks ago about Joshua (and Caleb, but I want to talk about Joshua and this is my blog, so… ). Most of us are familiar with Joshua’s words that are recorded in Joshua 24:15 –

…But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

What some people don’t focus on is the first part of that verse:

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, 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 the LORD.

It’s all about choices. Joshua challenged his people with that statement. Were they going to serve the gods their fathers served in Egypt (the other side of the River Jordan, or the “flood”), the gods that the Amorites worshiped in their new homeland — or were they going to serve the Lord?

Regardless of where you live in the world, you must make the same choices today. I live in the United States, a country where many things that the Lord calls “sin” are becoming not only legal, but mainstream acceptable. I choose to serve the Lord, which means that I agree with what he says is right and wrong.

I also acknowledge the fact that you can decide for yourself about who (or what) will be your “lord” and control your life. In fact, to do otherwise would be saying that God is not in control of nations and government (see Romans 13 for more on this).

I don’t hate you if you choose to live in contrast to God’s principles for life. Heck, chances are good that we’d get along quite well together! But I’ve made my decision; I’ve made my choice.

And yes, that does, in a way, make me the “weird one”. I live in a land that is changing. Since my God is the one who ordained the government, then these changes are taking place for a reason. But many of these changes go against the principles laid out by the Lord, and I have chosen to do my best to obey Him. That puts me at odds with many who prefer a “license” to live as they please. It makes me the “weird” one.

By all means, take advantage of the laws enacted by my (or your) country. But if you ask me for my opinion about the things you do, my opinion will be shaped by the Torah and Mitzvot because that’s what God has for me (and you too, to be perfectly honest — but as Joshua pointed out, you have a choice). I also ask that you not try to tell me that my God has approved of “stuff” that His word and commandments say is “sin”. If God calls it “sin” and you call it “OK”, then we worship different gods — and outside of pointing out the blatantly obvious by saying that you’d probably be happier reading somebody else’s blog, let’s leave it at that.

My intent is to commit my life to learning and proclaiming the words of my Lord and King, the benevolent, loving Creator of the universe. My choice is to serve the Lord and to live my life in a way that will convince others that this is the way they, too, should pursue.

So who will you choose to serve this day? Do you consider following the Lord and his Mitzvot to be evil? Of is it the other way around?

My wife grew up in Poland and I consider my cross-cultural marriage to be one of the greatest blessings that God has given to me. It has been the source of lots of enrichment, has kept me from becoming close-minded, and, on more than one occasion, been the source of a bit of humor.

For the most part, the sugar that you buy in Polish stores is much coarser than the sugar you buy in the US. Salt, however, looks about the same. And as we know in the US, if you were to put a bowl of salt and sugar side by side, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference without tasting it.

So when we would purchase a bag of sugar at the military Commissary in Germany before traveling to Poland, it would often lead to some humorous moments. Imagine putting a bowl of American style sugar in front of somebody who is not accustomed to seeing sugar so finely ground, then encouraging them to put it in their coffee or tea! Of course they’re going to think that you’re trying to trick them into putting salt into their drink… (although they usually join in, laughing, after they see you put a couple of generous spoonfuls into your cup…).

Of course, one look at the bag would be enough to convince most people, since it’s clearly labeled as “sugar” (“cukier” in Polish; the word is very close). So labels can be quite helpful at times. But at others times, labels can be misleading.

Does A Label Really Matter?

For a long time, I have been extremely uncomfortable with the term “Christian”. Perhaps the seeds were planted when I spent six months in Saudi Arabia, where I first realized how Saudis seem to view the world. Speaking strictly from my own observations, the citizens of Saudi Arabia don’t see religion as an individual thing. While you are guaranteed freedom of religion in that country, practically everybody there follows Islam. There is an expectation that you will observe the tenets of Islam and live your life in a certain way. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that there isn’t merely an expectation; you MUST live your life that way. It seems to this outsider that it is a cultural expectation.

This type of thinking — that everybody is a Muslim and is therefore expected to live their life to a certain Islamic standard — permeates their thinking. So when they think of the United States, they see the US as a Christian nation in the same way that Saudi Arabia is a Muslim nation. Yet when they see the way that most people live (or at least the media’s version of it), they are repulsed because, quite frankly, living your life according to the tenets and doctrines of Islam is probably a better way to live than many people in western countries live (but I have rejected Islam because the god revealed in Islamic sacred writings is, in my opinion, different from Yahweh as He reveals Himself in the Bible — and there is only one God).

So I think that my time in Saudi Arabia (back in early 1992) was the start of that dissatisfaction with the term “Christian”. But it went on from there.

I’m Not Religious…

Scott Wesley Brown sang those words (“I’m not religious, I just love the LORD”), and I picked up a collection of his songs back in the 90s at some point. That phrase hit home for me. I began to see much of what is called “Christianity” in the US as being nothing more than religious ritual. Go to church on Sunday, sing a hymn, recite the Lord’s prayer, read scripture (be sure to stand during the reading from the gospels!), listen to a sermon, sing the Doxology after the collection, then go home and do it again next Sunday.

What difference does a life like that make? Where is the love for the LORD?

You got it right, Mr. Brown…

He also sang another song on that album — “Yeshua Ha Maschiach” — which is, in and of itself, a catchy tune, but it got “implanted” into my head and may have been the start of my return to the way God meant for those who accepted Yeshua as Savior and Maschiach to truly live. It’s only been within these last several months that I’ve had the desire to live as those first “Christians” did — and they were Jews!

Hello, My Name Is…

So what label do I put on myself? If I had one of those name tags where you put your “religion” (instead of your name) on it with a marker, what would I write?

Somebody told me yesterday that I am now a Messianic Jew. Uh, please — not so fast!

First, that’s another label, and I think I’ve made it pretty clear how I feel about labels (at least at this point). Plus, in spite of my relative newness to the “Messianic Movement”, I see huge differences in how individual congregations choose to run themselves:

* Some refuse to use the term “Rabbi” for their leader, while the congregation that I currently attend is led by a rabbi!

* Some aren’t much more than churches that choose to meet on Fridays and call our Savior “Yeshua” instead of “Jesus”; others truly emphasize the Torah and how God will use it to change your thinking and your life (I’ll give you three guesses as to which congregation and rabbi teach that… Oops, just gave it away, didn’t I? But I won’t reveal my congregation just yet; maybe some day?).

Besides, I still attend a regular church on Sunday because I find that the church is full of people like me who know that something isn’t quite right but they can’t quite put their finger on it. When they find out about these Messianic congregations, it “clicks” for them — and how will they know if somebody isn’t there to tell them? They start to grow again, they being to realize what God really wants from them and what God has to offer them, plus they being to un-learn some of the 2,000 years of nonsense that has permeated the “church” to the point that they totally miss the point that God has for them.

I guess I’m OK with “Messianic”, but I’m not so sure about the “Jew” part at this point in time. I find great joy in the tenets of Judaism because I know that this is how God wants us to live. On the other hand, I don’t want to insult anybody by declaring myself to be a Jew (I could write a book on that subject!)… Not to mention the fact that it’s yet another label. So until somebody convinces me otherwise, I am not a Messianic Jew. Perhaps some day Rabbi will convince me?

OK, how about the book of Acts in the Bible? Those early followers — Jewish to the core! — called themselves followers of “The Way”. The only problem with that label is that there is a “religion” that calls themselves that — and I’m not really “that”.

Fill In The Blank

So what am I? To be honest, a label isn’t all that important to me, at least not at this point, but I do know that it can be helpful to others. Calling me “Messianic” is OK, I guess, but even that label is somewhat ambiguous, given the differences between congregations and individuals. And I am definitely not a Jew, at least not by blood line (and I don’t think I qualify “religiously” either, at least not at this point — even though I am changing my life to adopt the tenets and practices ordained by God as given to the Israelites).

Hey, there’s an idea: How about “Messianic Israelite”? Nope; I’m not an Israeli…

In reality, the label I give myself isn’t as important as the label others choose to give me. If I choose a particular label, it’s because that label stands for something that I want to live up to.

I hold several computer security certifications at this point in time. Those certifications mean that I hold a certain level of knowledge and experience in my field that I have agreed to uphold a certain set of standards and adhere to a certain standard of ethical conduct. So I don’t you mind referring to me as a CISSP or GCIA; in fact, I use those labels myself. But in the area of my spirituality and walk with God, I can’t think of any labels right now that I want to put on myself. I hope to find a label I can use some day (or, to put it better, a label with standards) — but for now, feel free to use whatever label you want, if it helps.

But if you insist on a label and can’t come up with one yourself, how about if we shorten “Messianic” — and you just call me a “Mess”?

It’s not your fault. You never authorized the service. In fact, you can prove it because you have a contract stating that the service was free. But they sent you a bill, and when you called to tell them that it was a mistake, they simply laughed and said, “you’ll pay”.

Pretty soon the bills stopped, but then came the collection agency letters and phone calls. They, too, ignored your letters that told them they had no right to collect because it was a free service. Not long after that, you got the notice to show up in court because they decided to file a lawsuit against you.

No problem, right? After all, you can prove with zero doubt that the service was free! In fact, you decide to counter-sue so that the company is forced to pay for your costs and time. It’s a lock, says your lawyer (who is also looking forward to collecting his well-earned fee).

So the day comes, and at the appointed time, you walk into the courtroom — only to discover that the room is empty and the lights are turned out. It’s only then that you notice that the company’s headquarters is located in a different city — and they filed the lawsuit in their city, not yours…

Meanwhile, the judge slams down the gavel and proclaims, “Default judgment for the plaintiff” — because you, the defendant, failed to show up at the right place. As a result, you not only have to pay the bill — plus the collection fees — you also get to pay the court costs of the company that ripped you off and caused you so much misery. Oh, and your lawyer also wants to get paid…

This HAS Happened To You!

An unlikely scenario? Well, if you’re like most people, it happens every day. You show up in the wrong place and bad things happen. Or you fail to show up in the right place — and bad things happen.

You know how God wants you to live. You know what He wants you to do. So why don’t you just show up and do it?

He wants you to meditate on His word so that you will be prosperous and successful (Joshua 1:8 — and if our impartial God promised this to Joshua, He promises you the same). He wants you to remove yourself from places and things that will tempt you to dishonor Him through sin.

You need to be in the right place at the right time. 9, 12, and 3 are times for prayer. And when you pray at those times, you enter a courtroom where, as one person put it, your words are sovereign. Your enemies and accusers from the spirit realm are also there, hurling accusations against you, hoping that you won’t show up so that they’ll get a default judgment against you.

Will you show up? Will you raise an objection to the false accusations being raised against you? If you do, the Judge will sustain your objections and silence your critics. And if you speak God’s words and promises in that courtroom (where your words are sovereign) — the words from the Torah — things will change.

Those words are commandments. When you speak them, you show that you are in agreement with God. Your thinking begins to change, and as a result, YOU change. As God’s word consumes your very being, it takes over. You can’t help but change.

The Secret? What Secret?

Remember the big fuss over that movie called “The Secret” a few years ago? About manifesting and what-not?

Well, there is no “Secret”. It’s been in the Torah for thousands of years! The reasons that most haven’t discovered it are many. Here are a few, from my current perspective:

1. This is God’s system. We have to do it God’s way if we want results.

2. Most people don’t know God or His true nature. The distorted, twisted image that has been developed over thousands years — an image that has been passed on to us — is a false image of the Almighty God that we therefore want nothing to do with.

I’m even discovering in my life that much of what is called “good Christian living” is stuff that others have added over the years. Some think that they can add more good to God’s words, but such thinking is NOT proper. So not only do I have a lot to learn; I have a lot to unlearn as well!

3. The “Secret” makes it seem as if there is no evil. There is evil — just take a look around you — and the evil that manifests itself in the physical world has its roots in the spiritual world. Yet many who want to access the spiritual world apart from God are easily manipulated by these evil spirits into thinking that they are “good”, “enlightened”, etc. spirits, and as a result, they become the tools of the (evil) prince of this world.

We have access to all things spiritual, but we must do it God’s way. And God’s way is not man’s way.

In object oriented computer programming, we don’t worry about how the results of something are calculated — we just want the results so that we can further act on them. Let’s say that we want the sum of two numbers. When we type “1 + 1″ on the calculator screen, we don’t care one bit about the process the computer goes through to get to “2″ — we just want the answer. In fact, if most people were to try to figure it out on their own, it would take years of study to do it!

It’s the same way with our interaction with the spirit world. God knows good and evil. His spirit is Good, of course. So why do we need to go through all this “Secret” stuff to get the benefits God has already promised? Just do things the way He wants them done. Punch the buttons on His calculator (and we know what He wants us to do, thanks to His word) in the way He wants them “punched” — then enjoy the benefits. And a big part of that “punching” is:

1. Let God’s Word — especially the Torah — permeate and become a part of our lives.

2. Do things His way. Observe his festivals, commands, etc. instead of those that were created for other reasons.

3. Show up in His courtroom of prayer daily at 9, 12, and 3, prepared to speak.

I still have so much to learn but am slowly learning it! Again, thanks for taking the time to read this blog and to follow my journey as I learn to honor my God — and learn to show up in the right place at the right time.

We sang a song at church this past Sunday that is based on Psalm 103, i.e. “I will bless the LORD”.

What exactly does that mean? How can we bless the LORD? We could probably discuss this forever and still not come up with a “proper” definition, so for sake of argument, let’s use definition #4 as found at Dictionary.Reference.comThis is an external link and is provided solely as a convenience to site visitors and does not constitute an endorsement unless otherwise specified. While we strive to only link to quality sites, the site owners and operators are not responsible for content on the linked site and you assume all risk and responsibility when you click on the link. Web pages also change over time, so we cannot guarantee that this is still an appropriate link.:

to extol as holy; glorify: Bless the name of the Lord.

OK, so the LORD is holy and we are to glorify / bless Him. I Corinthians 6:20 (NIV) comes to mind:

Therefore honor (glorify) God with your body.

OK, what does our body do? THINGS. STUFF. OK, so to bless the LORD, we probably need to do so with our bodies, right? (At some point in the future, I’ll discuss glorifying the LORD with our minds, but I’m still studying that and don’t want to have to go back and correct something later).

Can anybody think of a better way to do this than by obeying the LORD?

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. (John 14:21, NIV)

Commands. Obey them. But WHAT commands are we supposed to obdy?

How about the Torah and Mitzvot?

That’s my choice. Pretty easy in that I don’t have to guess if I’m doing the right thing. And who says that following Yeshua is hard? We make it harder than it needs to be.

Torah Tranquility

I’ve also been looking into the whole “we are not under law, we are under grace” thing a lot lately. I’m still studying it, but the main “argument” for not having to follow the “law” is found in Romans 6. But have you ever looked at that passage closely?

Remember, “A text without a context is a pretext”, so take a look at the context. If we are under grace, the law cannot condemn us. That is all that passage is saying. In addition, this is really the only way you can interpret this passage when you look at Yeshua, who fulfilled the law (Torah).

So thinking that we can toss the Torah out the window isn’t a thought that should be in our minds. Sure, there are some parts that we cannot follow (because, for example, we are not in Israel), there are parts of the Torah that we don’t have to follow (i.e. animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sin; Yeshua took care of that “once, for all”), and there are parts that we don’t have to follow (i.e. dietary laws). I’ll even concede that you don’t have to follow any of it. But if you truly seek God’s will for your life, you will eventually discover that observing the Torah is God’s path to blessing, and since you choose to do it as an act of obedience and love, it’s not hard at all. Yet God’s promised blessings are still there so that you will prosper.

I admit that I have a lot to learn about the Torah, and in learning, I will have a lot of work to do. But I know that the LORD’s peace will be mine. I also know that the Torah is the constitution for the LORD’s kingdom, and it is my responsibility to learn it and observe it as a citizen of His kingdom.

Romans 12:1, anybody?

Why Words Matter

Finally, let’s talk about words. Specifically Lashon Ha-RaThis is an external link and is provided solely as a convenience to site visitors and does not constitute an endorsement unless otherwise specified. While we strive to only link to quality sites, the site owners and operators are not responsible for content on the linked site and you assume all risk and responsibility when you click on the link. Web pages also change over time, so we cannot guarantee that this is still an appropriate link.. You can read all about it at that link; I cannot do it justice at this time.

What I want to say is that this is deeply convicting me. I tend to say a lot that is not really in keeping with Torah principles of sound speech. My words need to encourage others, so I have decided to change my speech, the words I say, and the way that I say them.

I say this because some of my blog posts may disappear or be edited. I am dedicating this blog to documenting my spiritual journey from being a “traditional” Christian to a follower of Yeshua who is returning to the Hebrew roots of the faith. To accomplish my goal, I have to do some editing and deleting so that the purpose of this blog is not lost.

Some of the things that I wrote before I knew about about this may detract from the purpose of this site. I want it to be a resource for others whom the LORD is calling, but the wrong words may repel those who sincerely want to follow. My words may keep somebody from rediscovering the Hebrew roots of our faith. I do not want that to happen, so I will be doing some editing. I thank you for your understanding and apologize if I delete something that has helped you.

Ready, Set… Go!

I’m not writing this blog and documenting my journey because I “got it right” — instead, I’m doing it to serve. Don’t look to me as the “perfect example” – Yeshua is the one you should be looking to for that! My purpose is to create an honest resource for those facing what may seem to be a daunting task as you obey our LORD and choose to observe his Torah. Hopefully this blog will help you enter into obedience.

It can be extremely difficult to make this transition even if you have support (which I do); but if you, for instance, are living in a small town somewhere and God calls you to return to the true roots of your faith without anybody near you to mentor or encourage you, it can be almost impossible. I want a resource for people to use that will lead them into the court of our LORD so that they will truly know where they stand in the Kingdom — and so they know that they are not alone in their conviction.

The road ahead of me is long, but I have committed to travel it until I reach the end of my journey. May this journal of my experience encourage you to also obey our LORD’s calling.

Every time I hear the word “Torah” — now that I’ve started sitting under the teaching of those who have been living it for some years — I feel a strange comfort. 613 Mitzvot (271 for followers of Yeshua who live outside Israel, according to my current understanding), each a promised blessing from God. Who wouldn’t love that?

It truly is comforting, knowing that what I do — even when I stumble through it and get it all wrong — pleases God.

I’m still at the start of my journey, but I have started it. I want to go further. I want to see what further obedience will do. Heck, I’m even to the point where I want to start — GASP! — tithing.

But like most people, there’s a problem: doing so would put me way under water financially. And I’m like a lot of you in that I have almost no faith to just “give and trust God”.

Well, all that is slowly starting to change.

We found ourselves in a situation recently where I basically had the money in my wallet and would not get any more for the next few days. Sure, we had plenty of food in the cupboards and enough gas to get to work and back (and then some), so it wasn’t a really big deal. But our church feels called to get out of debt this year, and as a part of our church’s leadership team (yes, I still go to a church on Sunday; I strongly feel that this is my calling), I was invited to a special meeting about the elders’ plan for getting out of debt.

At that meeting, the pastor put a few white plastic buckets on the front of the stage and invited us to put in whatever we wanted to put in (no arm twisting or anything like that at all; it was truly a low-key opportunity). All gifts would go straight to paying off the church’s debt. My wife and I both felt led to empty our wallets, partly to show true servant leadership, and partly as a symbol that we were going to trust God with our finances. Again, it didn’t take all that much trust, but there it was…

So we put about $15 in the bucket, praised God for the opportunity, and had a good laugh about our lack of cash. Seriously. We laughed about it. I’m not exactly certain why I laughed, but I think it was because the whole thing was, on some level, absurd (probably because we know that God takes care of us and $15 is a drop in the bucket. Literally, in this case!).

The next day a friend gave my wife a gift card for a local “mega store” (that has both groceries and other stuff). The amount? You guessed it. Exactly $15.

I don’t believe in coincidences. God was showing us something here and made a powerful statement.

And since then, other sources of cash have been freed up — more than enough to enable us to tithe (and more is coming). Again, no coincidence; it’s God showing us that we can exercise the faith to tithe.

Personally, I can’t wait to see what God has in store after we get things rolling!

But back to the subject of this blog post… The teacher (who does call himself a Rabbi) at our local congregation explained that the Torah is the Constitution for the Kingdom of God. We derive our rights and authority from it. We are sent out from the King, and whatever we do is based on what He says we should do. And I see tithing as a first step; if I can get this one “right”, I can get the rest right, too.

I’m excited about Torah living. I don’t have to “guess” at what God wants and expects from me, nor do I have to guess at what to expect from God. There’s no more wondering about what God’s will for my life is or any of that nonsense. I do what God tells me to do and I don’t do what He tells me not to do. How easy is that?

And the more I follow God’s Torah and the 271 Mitzvot, the better I can discern God’s call and plan for my life. Even my physical body will change as I realize the power and authority God has granted me over sickness and evil influences and as I train the members of my body to obey his commandments. I’m also making myself of more use to His kingdom.

As excited as I am about all this, I realize that, as I said above, that I’m barely getting started on this journey. I have so much more to do and so much more to learn. I have so much to unlearn, too! But through it all, I know that God sees what I am doing, knows why I am doing it, and is well pleased.

May I encourage you to consider what God would have you do?

Let me leave you with the words of Yeshua from John 14:24 (New International Version):

He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

And what words are those? What word did God the Father give us — and Yeshua?

Think about it.

I’m going to try to step on a few toes today.

While I strongly know that God is leading my family and me back to the Hebrew and Jewish roots of our “Christian” faith (more on that in a moment), insofar as I know, I do not have a drop of Jewish blood in me (and neither does my wife). We may discover at some later point that we do have some type of Jewish ancestry, but for now, we are working off the assumption that we do not. We are full blooded, 100% Gentile (insofar as we know).

Having said that, I am still going to work and study hard to learn about Judaism. I feel as if the time is soon coming (and may have already started) when God calls His church back to their roots. Right now, we have a church that is, for the most part, ignorant of these Jewish traditions. I read stuff on the Internet that makes me cringe. And I’m going to comment on two of those items today.

The first are the allegations that many in today’s Messianic Jewish movement are not true Jews. Hey, I just admitted that I’m not (unless somebody can prove otherwise).

SO WHAT?

There. I said it. This is not about becoming a Jew; this is about learning our heritage so that I can be a better follower of Yeshua. When Yeshua said something (as well as the other writers of the New Testament), there was a cultural implication that the original hearers would have understood. We don’t know that culture, so when we hear it, it takes on an entirely different meaning. My goal is to better understand the Bible so that I can better understand what God wants for me.

I’ve also seen in many places where the oral tradition is bashed (the Talmud, Mishnah, and Midrash). These “bashes” primarily come from those who believe that if it isn’t in the Bible, then it’s not inspired by God and should be ingored.

Well, if that’s the case, then throw out your commentaries and close down your Bible colleges. For that matter, why have sermons at church on Sunday? Reading the Bible should be enough, right?

The simple fact of the matter is that ALL churches have an “oral tradition”, whether they want to admit it or not. The difference is that the Hebrew oral tradition is said to have been given by God but was not allowed to be put in writing. It eventually was written down due to political events in Israel that threatened the loss of the oral tradition; however, the preferred method (as far as I can see) is that it should still be passed verbally.

The Law: Abolished – Or Fulfilled?

May I also talk about the Law, especially those who claim that we are free from it? If that’s the case, I can go to my neighbor, have sex with his wife, kill her, take all their jewelry and cash, then come home and tell my wife that I was at church!

This whole “we are free from the Law” nonsense is just that: nonsense. Yeshua fulfilled every requirement of the Law; if He did, then why shouldn’t we? Again, God gave it and declared it good. There’s a reason He gave it, and we can benefit from observing it.

Many Christians claim that “we are not under law, but under grace”. Most of them can’t even tell you off the top of their heads where that is found in the Bible — but do they love to quote it!

I’ll help you… It’s in Romans 6:14:

For sin shall not be our master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

What’s that passage talking about (remember, a text without a context is a pretext!)? Not allowing the members of your body to be under the influence of sin. How do you do that?

Well, Yeshua was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), so He must have known a thing or two about it, right? Yes, the same Yeshua who said…

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)

I will say that the path to reconciliation with God is through Yeshua and not through the Law (at least today… Remember, this is a journey!). In that respect, the Law has been abolished. However, which do you think is better:

* Celebrating festivals that have their origins in the worship of false gods (i.e Easter and Christmas) — or festivals that God either ordained or were created to honor God’s great and mighty deeds (i.e. Hanukkah and Passover)?

* Setting aside an arbitrary day of the week for worship — or honoring the God appointed Sabbath?

* Training the members of our bodies to stay from sin by observing the 613 Mitzvot — or simply “hoping and praying” that we stay away from it (how’s that method worked for you so far…)?

271 Blessings, Direct From God

One word on the Mitzvot: Obviously, not all of the Mitzvot applies to those who believe in Yeshua Hamashiach (Jesus the Messiah); He died once for all, so there is no need to sacrifice animals to forgive sin, plus many of the Mitzvot deal with, for example, kingdom rule in Israel. However, by most estimates, there are 271 Mitzvot — 77 positive and 194 negative — that can be observed today (click here for my source).

So the Torah is not needed to experience salvation and reconciliation with God. That does not mean that we won’t reap the promised rewards by following it (nor does it mean we can ignore its provisions with impunity).

Who else could use 271 ways to secure God’s blessing?

P.S. — In the first sentence, I talked about our “Christian” faith. I personally think that emperors, kings, politicians (often disguised as religious leaders), and others have co-opted what we call “Christianity” today to the point that it is the antithesis of what Yeshua wanted for us. I also firmly believe that why you do something is more important than what you do, hence God blesses the actions of many Christians nowadays because they do what they do out of a pure heart and from pure motives.

But once God starts revealing “things” to you for what they really are (i.e. the worship of false gods “translated” into a Christian context), you have to do something about it; your faith leaves you with no other choice. And even if you don’t want to observe the Torah, isn’t it a better option that stuff like Christmas or Easter?

God is revealing this exact thing to my family and me; He may not be doing that to you (at least not yet). But please be open to what God has to say, and when (not “if”) the time comes when God calls you to do things the way He said to do them, please obey.

All scripture quotations were taken from the New International Version of the Bible.

It’s December 25 today, and I have to admit that not doing the normal Christmas morning “routine” is quite liberating. I don’t have to “pretend” that it’s a special holiday; in fact, I’m even free to sit at my desk and work today. I’m looking forward to our little Hanukkah celebration this evening, when the sun goes down. We’ll light another candle (the sixth of eight) and the kids will open another present. We’ll also thank God for His goodness, mercy, and love.

But that’s about it. We’re even (GASP!) skipping church this morning because we don’t want to look at the Christmas trees and sing theologically incorrect Christmas carols (we did attend the knesset in Denver yesterday, on the Sabbath. That word gets translated as synagogue, church, etc. — but it’s derived from the Hebrew verb “to assemble”, and since a true church is the people — not the organization or building — I’m kind of partial to “knesset” nowadays. Just don’t confuse it with the Isreali government’s Knesset, with a capital “K”…).

But Sabbath — or “Shabbat” — IS special. It’s the day that God gave to man to rest and to honor Him. And I love the fact that almost every business is closed this Christmas Day because it’s a kind of “Shabbat” for the land. I’d love to see my country (the United States) go back to where it was years ago, when everything shut down one day a week, and gave the entire land a Sabbath of sorts. Of course, I think that it should be on Saturday… — but I think that God honors any attempt to honor Him, so Sunday would also be OK. And this lack of an American Shabbat is hurting our country.

Hanukkah and the other festivals, feasts, and observances that God gave (including the weekly Shabbat) have meaning. Everything is designed to draw attention to God. And speaking as a first time observer of Hanukkah, it does seem in some ways that it’s an “alternate Christmas” in that the children still get presents. However, every evening we light another candle, thank God, and are reminded that He has promised benefits if we do our best to remember what He has done for us. It’s a time to remind ourselves of the covenant He has made with us through Yeshua (Jesus).

Speaking solely for myself, a commitment to doing what God wants me to do is a logical response to Yeshua’s sacrifice. Not living as God wants me to live would be an insult and an indication that I don’t take my salvation seriously. Perhaps honoring God with a true weekly Shabbat would be a good thing for you to start doing?

So “Merry Hanukkah”. If you celebrate Christmas, enjoy the day, and use it as an opportunity to remember Emmanuel — God Is With Us. And ask God to reveal His will to you as you do so.

I’ve been listening to “Still Life” tonight, an album written by John Fischer. The album first came out in 1973; I first heard it in 1977, while attending the Defense Language Institute during my first year in the Army.

That was 34 years ago. I haven’t listened to it since then. But listening to it tonight built a bridge across the years, back to when I was 19 years old, barely more than a child, living in an environment that was totally foreign to the strict fundamental Baptist tradition in which I was raised. And while it doesn’t invoke any specific memories, the music style and lyrics do bring back memories of how I felt back then (music does that to me; you can play a song and I can usually remember where I was, what I was doing, and the season of life I was experiencing when I first heard it).

I’m happy to say that John Fischer is still “in my life”. He puts out a daily devotional email from his website at http://www.fischtank.com — one which, in my opinion, is written from a bit of a contrarian perspective. That suits me just fine. John always strives to break down barriers and answer the doubters (there’s a reason my parents named me “Thomas”!). He works to embrace skeptics instead of dismissing them. More than some (and perhaps “most”) he’s out there on the edge, not afraid to take on controversy, grind up a few sacred cows into hamburger, and challenge our traditional view of who God really is and what He wants to do in our lives.

But as I listened to the music, I was thinking about where I was then and where I was now. I’m involved in a career field undreamed of back then (computer security) and am married to a wonderful woman whom I could not have even visited back then because of the Iron Curtain. And so much more…

But in spite of what has changed over the years, I know that God has not changed. Yes, my paradigm of God has changed. That’s inevitable for anybody who is committed to growing. But it’s more like looking at my house from the front, then going around and looking at it from the back yard. It’s the same house; I’m just looking at it from a different angle, a different distance, and in a different light.

And that’s the way it is with God; He hasn’t changed — I have. And I’m grateful for the influence that John’s music and ministry had on me back in 1977 — and continues to have today. And hearing this wonderful music for the first time in decades has shown me just how wonderful God has been and where he has taken me on my life journey. It’s been a great ride, and I’m looking forward to the years ahead.

Here’s hoping John makes a few more of his “old” albums available like this!

The sun will set here in Colorado Springs in about 15 minutes, so this will have to be a short blog post. It’s Friday, which means that Shabbat (Sabbath) starts when the sun goes down. And Shabbat is a time set apart for God, a time to separate the “common” week from the “holy” time God appointed for us to rest.

Why worry about it? What’s a good Follower of Jesus doing worrying about Shabbat?

The simple answer is, “I don’t have to worry about it.” I’m free from the Law, right? Absolutely! But “Thou shall not murder” is part of the Law and we still observe that, don’t we? So while we are under no obligation to follow the Law, it’s still good. There’s still something there for those who follow Jesus.

So we (my family) have decided to try to observe Shabbat (at least in spirit). And just like our upcoming Hanukkah celebration, we’re going to get most of it wrong. But we also know that God is pleased with our stumbling, bumbling efforts to observe His Torah.

This is a journey for us. I say it half-jokingly and partly as a neat way to describe what we are trying to do, but Hanukkah was the festival that Jesus observed, not Christmas (or should we bake a cake and sing “Happy Birthday” on December 25?). And we are doing it because, for years, we have grown increasingly dissatisfied with Christmas, knowing that it’s not something that God ordained, yet we celebrated it because we didn’t know any better.

We think that Hanukkah is that “something better”.

It all started to change when we started to realize the rich heritage that Judaism offers. I used to think that Judaism was the same as our “Christian” church (and I use the term loosely; religion is the cause of most of the world’s problems, in my opinion) — just subtract Jesus. I’m learning that it’s not nearly that easy. There is such a rich history in Judaism, not to mention both a written and oral tradition, that we have lost in what has come to be our modern “church”. We do not understand what Jesus wanted for his church because we do not understand the religion of our Messiah.

Just as God is pleased with our bumbling efforts to observe Shabbat and Hanukkah, it also pleases God when we assemble together to worship Him and learn about Him, regardless of when we do it. Sundays are good, and I firmly believe that it pleases God because we are setting it aside for Him. But the idea of observing Shabbat (which begins in about 3 minutes!) intrigues me. I love separating the common week from the holy Shabbat and I’m eagerly waiting to see the other blessings God has in store for my family and me when we fully learn how to observe the command passed down in the Torah.

Shabbat Shalom (and my apologies if this article isn’t up to my normal editorial standards, but I don’t want to be writing and editing during God’s time!). Let’s continue on the journey.