Alone in a Dark, Strange House

Have you ever found yourself groping and stumbling around in a totally dark, strange room without a light? You’re running into walls and furniture, stubbing your toes on things looking for a light switch or the door? Similarly but on a spiritual level, many people have left the comforts and familiar surroundings of the mainstream church system with some vague notion of returning to the Hebrew roots of their faith only to find themselves in such a dark house. Welcome to the house of the so-called Messianic or the Hebrew roots movement!

Many of us have been in this new spiritual house asking ourselves questions like: Where are we? Where are we going? What’s next? Who’s out there? Am I alone? 

Shifting from a traditional church-system paradigm and lifestyle to that of that of a more first century or Hebraic one as modelled by the early believers in the Book of Acts and apostolic leaders isn’t an easy to do. There are a lot of questions and unfamiliar territory to traverse. Am I moving into cultism? Legalism? Too much Jewishness? Or some bizarre new religion or what? 

Perhaps knowing the transition zones or spiritual growth stages that you will likely go through, as most of us have, might be like someone handing you a flashlight in that dark house. Even a little light on the subject might save your toe from getting stubbed and keep you from doing a nose plant on the floor! Not only that, knowing the stages most people inevitably go through when making the transition from a traditional Sunday Christian orientation to a Torah-pursuant one just might…

help us to stay on course spiritually, so that we won’t get stuck in one stage of spiritual development and fail to move to the next stage.

help leaders to see where people are at in their path to spiritual maturity, and help them to move to the next level.

help those who have advanced through these stages to be gracious and helpful to those who have not yet done so.

Here are the stages, as I see them. Each one’s personal experiences may vary a little, and the order of the steps may be slightly different for each person, but I think that most of us can relate to these steps of spiritual transformation to one degree or another. I know, because I’ve been through these steps myself!

The Eight Stages of Coming Out of Spiritual Babylon

1– Awakening Stage: Hearing the Sound of the Shofar and the Call of the Bridegroom

At this stage, we begin to awaken to our spiritual heritage—to the Jewish or Hebraic roots of the Christian faith.

We begin to develop a love for the land of Israel, the Jewish people as well as the Hebrew Scriptures.

We become aware of our need to return to YHVH’s ancient and good spiritual (Torah) paths (Jer 6:16), which predate Constantine Christianity and the traditions of men that are contrary to the Word of Elohim that often characterize much of what has been associated with our past church involvements. We realize that we have strayed spiritually from YHVH’s biblical paths of Torah-Truth and bought into many lying doctrines and traditions of men (Jer 16:19) that were taught in our Christian church experience.

2 – Anger Stage: Our Fathers Have Inherited Lies

We become aware that our spiritual fathers have inherited lies (Jer 16:19). Namely, we discover that the church has lied to us about our Hebraic heritage and YHVH’s Torah-instructions that he revealed to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and the patriarchs and then to Moses and the children of Israel. We come to realize that the mainstream church has withheld much in the way of YHVH revealed biblical Truth from us, and has substituted for that Truth man traditions of men and pagan ideas. If not careful, anger against the Christian church—our brothers in the faith—can set in and overtake us.

Some people, at this point, will begin to despise, denigrate and even hate the Christian church and Christians. Some don’t even believe that there are any Christians who are saved. In the process, many Hebraic-minded people become judgmental and bigoted toward Christians who still adhere to anti-Torah belief systems. In anger and bitterness, some people will even turn away from what correct Truth the church does have (e.g., the message of Yeshua, the cross, the basic gospel message, the message of love, etc.) and toss out the proverbial baby with the bath water. Sadly, some people will turn away from belief in the New Testament, the gospel message and the truth about the deity and messiahship of Yeshua.

3 — Exploratory Stage: Learning About the Roots of Our Faith