Category Archives: Ministry, The

27 Lessons From the Book of Jonah on Ministry, the Prophetic, Sin and Divine Judgment

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Before reading this article, it would be helpful to review quickly the book of Jonah, so that the following will make sense.

  1. When YHVH gives you some specific and direct marching orders, don’t disobey him no matter how difficult or distasteful they may seem to you. If you disobey, you may not be pleased with the unexpected consequences of your disobedient actions. Jonah found this out the hard way.
  2. Before pointing our fingers at Jonah for declining the mission YHVH had given him, how many of us have done the same no matter how small or large the assignment?
  3. When we disobey YHVH (i.e. sin), we take ourselves out of his will for our lives and the result is the loss of peace and tranquility. Sometimes, in an attempt to get our attention and bring us back to him, YHVH brings turmoil and “storms” into our lives to redirect us back to him. If and when this happens, we would do well to ask YHVH for wisdom and understanding as to why we are experiencing what we are (Jas 1:1–8, 12–15).
  4. When YHVH tells us to do one thing, and we want to do something else, we, at this time, Scripture instructs us to bring every thought of ours (that is not of YHVH) captive into obedient compliance to our Messiah (2 Cor 10:5).
  5. When we rebel against fulfilling a divine mission, YHVH will pursue us to get us back in line with his perfect will for our lives. 
  6. Sin and rebellion puts us into a spiritual state of sleep, so that we’re oblivious to the consequences of our actions upon us and those around us. When this happens, we come under spiritual delusion in thinking that we are doing the will when, in reality, we are walking in accordance with our own mind, will and emotions as dictated by the world, the flesh and devil (Eph 2:1–3; Jas 3:15).
  7. We cannot hide or run away from our sin and rebellion. It will be exposed, even if YHVH has to use heathens and strange circumstances to do so. 
  8. Only when we humbly confess our sins and repent will the “storms” of YHVH’s judgment cease and the sea of life made calm in our lives.
  9. Jonah, to his credit, owned his sin and took full personal responsibility for it without blaming others or making excuses. He didn’t want others to suffer for his folly. He was willing to accept the consequences of his sin. Because of this, YHVH showed him favor, prepared a fish to swallow him, and then gave Jonah three days in the fish’s belly to ponder his errant ways.
  10. When in a place of trouble and distress, Jonah prayed and expressed his faith in YHVH. When facing distresses in our own lives, how often do we fail to cry out humbly to our merciful Father in heaven?
  11. The eyes of YHVH are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. (Ps 34:15)
  12. The righteous cry out, and YHVH hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. YHVH is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but YHVH delivers him out of them all. (Ps 34:17–19)
  13. We should be ready and willing to pray anywhere at anytime. Jonah prayed in the belly of a fish. What excuse do we have for not praying no matter when or where we may find ourselves in our time of distress?
  14. Jonah was a spiritual backslider, yet he repented and YHVH heard and accepted his prayer. Jonah’s example should be an encouragement to any backslider no matter how grave the sins he has committed against the Creator.
  15. As Jonah’s three-day tenure in the fish’s belly was prophetic of Yeshua’s time in the grave, so Jonah’s “resurrection” from the depths of the sea points to the resurrection of our Messiah as Yeshua himself so declares in Matthew 12:40. Jonah’s faith in the Creator along with his “death” and “resurrection” points sinners to the Messiah who alone can save us from the sting of sin which is death. Our only hope of victory over death and the grave is through Messiah and the resurrection from the dead he promises to those who are his. 
  16. Upon repenting of his backsliding and being mercifully delivered from certain death, Jonah humbly submitted to YHVH’s mission to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. Jonah had to repent of his own sin before he was meat for the Master’s use. Jonah accepted the yoke of his mission, and fulfilled his mission with great boldness. Similarly, when YHVH gives us a mission, we must be bold to fulfill it faithfully and without hesitation. We must be willing to go when, where and to whom he tells us. We must faithfully do exactly as he has commissioned us, to proclaim what he has commanded us and nothing more or less.
  17. When YHVH gives you a prophetic word for someone, don’t let your personal emotions cloud your perspective. Don’t forget that you’re merely YHVH’s spiritual mailman who is delivering his mail, not yours. Period. Jonah let his anger for Nineveh (Israel’s mortal enemy) cloud his judgment.
  18. A prophet must accept his divine mission without any preconditioned biases against the message’s recipient, and he must remain as emotionally neutral and unbiased as possible. He should focus only on fulfilling his mission as YHVH wishes and remain impartial and personally emotionally detached, so as not to pollute the purity of the divine message.
  19. No matter how many miraculous things YHVH does in a prophet’s life, and no matter the magnitude of the message, the greatness of the recipient of the prophetic word, or the importance of the mission, a prophet needs to stay humble (small in his own eyes) before YHVH.
  20. Prophetic words of judgment are always conditional upon the recipient’s response. If they refuse to repent, the word will come to pass. If they repent, YHVH will relent and the judgment will pass.
  21. The Ninevites wholeheartedly fasted, prayed and repented of their sin, and YHVH in his mercy spared them. This is the key to averting YHVH’s well-deserved judgment upon individual sinners and a sinful nation.
  22. Don’t wish harm on others no matter how evil you think they are or how much you think they deserve YHVH’s judgment. At all times, orientate your heart and thoughts to that of the Father. He is merciful, gracious, patient and longsuffering and so should we be. When repentance occurs, his mercy triumphs over his judgment.
  23. Don’t wish judgment or destruction on your enemies. If you do, YHVH might spare your enemies and bring judgment on you just to teach you humility. We all deserve YHVH’s judgment, and were it not for his merciful grace, where would any of us be? Instead, we must seek the well-being of our enemies through their repentance and salvation. The missionary of YHVH must pursue his divinely inspired endeavors with a heart of love and mercy that overshadows any personal feelings he may have to the contrary. This is getting in tune with and acting out the heart of our Heavenly Father.
  24. Jonah, in not being pleased over the Ninevites’ repentance and YHVH sparing them judgment, evidenced his own self-righteous pride toward the heathens. After all, YHVH had miraculously and mercifully delivered him when he was a backslidden sinner. For Jonah not to show the same grace to the Ninevites that YHVH had shown to him was a manifestation of prideful hypocrisy. We must be quick to extend the same mercy and grace to others that YHVH has shown to us. After all, YHVH loved us all while we were yet sinners (Rom 5:8)!
  25. The conversion of sinners should bring the saint great joy, not sullen anger as occurred with Jonah. In this situation, he manifested a despicably carnal and rotten attitude! 
  26. There are few things as repugnant as a saint who falls prey to his base and carnal passions. In this case, Jonah was acting like pouting, puerile prophet who instead of being joyful at the salvation of sinners wished ill on them. Yeshua declares that the angels in heaven rejoice at the salvation of one lost sinner, yet all Jonah could do was to manifest a vindictive spirit. 
  27. Jonah was a conflicted prophet who spewed both sweet and bitter waters from his mouth. He was a true prophet of Elohim who manifested some truly noble and saintly character traits, to be sure, but he was conflicted in that he had not conquered some of his most carnal and base passions. Such prophets are a liability to the kingdom of Elohim. When in tune with YHVH’s Spirit, they are capable of much good, but when under the control of their own perverse, moody and sinful nature, they are perhaps a greater liability to the kingdom of heaven then they are an asset to it.
 

Deuteronomy 13—Dealing With Both Carnal and False Prophets

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Deuteronomy 13:1, If there arise a prophet.

In the modern (especially Charismatic) church not only is the term “prophet” carelessly thrown about, but so is the term “false prophet,” which is often applied to any Christian who simply “misses” hearing the word of Elohim correctly, but isn’t guilty of leading Elohim’s people astray spiritually into heathenism. We need to fine tune our use of these words and learn how the Bible uses them and then do the same.

For years, I also had been using the term false prophet too broadly and generically (as many in the church do) to apply to those who either prophecy presumptuously out of the dictates of their own heart, or who hear a word from Elohim but incorrectly interpret it or misapply it (as was the case with Nathan the prophet who repented for telling David incorrectly that it was YHVH’s will for him to build the temple), as well as to those evil prophets who lead YHVH’s people away from the Truth of Elohim and into paganism.

The term “false prophet” is not to be found in the Tanakh (or Old Testament) at all, and is only occurs several times in the Testimony of Yeshua (or New Testament) and is applied to patently evil, satanic individuals. Therefore, based on the biblical evidence, it is incorrect to apply this term to a godly individual who, for example, makes an accurate prophecy, but gets the dates wrong, or somehow misinterprets a prophetic message from YHVH. 

Although the term “false prophet” isn’t found in the Tanakh, there are many warnings given against individuals who, through their false prophecies, lead YHVH’s people astray into idolatry or who don’t urge the people to repent and get back to YHVH’s straight paths of Torah-obedience, or who otherwise involved in ungodly activities (e.g. Deut 13:1–5; 18:20–22; Jer 23:9ff; 28:1ff; Ezek 13:2ff; Isa 28:7). The term “false prophet” doesn’t strictly apply to a godly person who isn’t leading YHVH’s people into apostasy.

Therefore, based on the biblical evidence, the godly person who “misses it,” so to speak, should be more correctly called a presumptuous prophet (Deut 18:22), or foolish prophet (Ezek 13:2) or a carnal prophet (i.e. who speak out of the flesh; Ezek 13:1). Based on scriptural evidence, I can see no justification for applying the derogatory term “a false prophet” to a Christian who simply misinterprets a prophetic word from Elohim, or who erroneously adds their own ideas to the prophetic word while assuming they are from heaven. One should be wary of such a “prophet,” and, if possible, teach him or her how to hear and interpret a prophetic word correctly from Elohim, but the church should not reject them as a false prophet. For this reason and for the purpose of accountability, Paul instructed the saints in Jerusalem (and us) to judge the prophets who prophesy in the local congregation (1 Cor 14:29) to insure that what they are saying is indeed from Elohim and lines up with his Written Word.

Deuteronomy 13:1–6, A prophet or a dreamer … a sign or a wonder. A prophet may claim to receive his or her vision or “word from YHVH” while they are awake in a vision or in a dream while asleep (The ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash, p. 1007). According to Rashi (the Jewish Torah commentator), a sign is a supernatural event in heaven while a wonder is a miraculous event on earth. There are those among the people of YHVH who, as Adam Clarke states in his commentary on this verse, “pretend to have a divine influence, so as to be able perfectly to direct others in the way of salvation” or shows some “miraculous proof of his mission … or some type of representation of what he wishes to bring you over to” (vol. 1, p. 774). Yeshua warned about false prophets in the latter days who would deceive many (Matt 24:11) and false messiahs who might even deceive the “very elect” (verse 24). Paul talks about a “man of sin” that would arise showing signs and lying wonders such that some would fall from the truth of the salvation message of the gospel (2 Thess 2:1–12). Paul warns, “do not be soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word … let no man deceive you by any means (verses 2–3). He then (in verses 15–17) encourages the brethren to stand fast in the simple truths of the gospel of Yeshua:

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Lessons from Nehemiah on Overcoming Life’s Obstacles

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Ezra 2:11–14, Nehemiah surveys the ruins of Jerusalem’s walls. In many of our spiritual endeavors, we are not unlike Nehemiah whom YHVH tasked with rebuilding the broken down and burned walls of Jerusalem to protect the house of YHVH (i.e. the temple) from the enemies of Israel.

Like Ezra, Nehemiah’s predecessor, he faced and had to overcome many physical and spiritual obstacles to complete his divine mission. His initial walk around Jerusalem to survey conditions was prophetic of the battles he’d soon be facing to rebuild the wall.

Before he could celebrate the victory of a completed wall, he’d have to stare down the enemies of YHVH face to face and to overcome the psychologically and spiritually.

First Nehemiah passed through the Valley Gate, which is a prophetic picture of the valley of the shadow of death of David’s famous twenty-third psalm. This death may even include the death of our vision (i.e. the death to our own personal plans and wishes as opposed to those of YHVH).

Next he came to the Serpent Gate, which is a picture of everything Satan, the adversary and accuser of the brethren, will throw at you to hinder you from completing the task YHVH has given you.

Then he encountered the Dung (or Refuse) Gate. This is a spiritual picture of all the garbage the enemy throws at us to keep us from fulfilling our divine mission. This could include things such as physical distractions, false accusations, false brethren, the heathen around us, hindering demonic spirits, physical sickness, lack of finances, doubt, fear, discouragement and unbelief.

Next Nehemiah came to the broken down and burned gates of Jerusalem representing all the broken and failed dreams and attempts of our past to accomplish YHVH’s purposes in our lives including past personal failures and defeats at the hands of our physical and spiritual enemies.

It was necessary for Nehemiah to encounter and to overcome all these obstacles, which, in reality, he used as stepping stones to his success. These passage points served to bring him to the place of victory resulting in the spiritual outpouring represented by the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, which he arrived at next. These last two spots in the ancient city of Jerusalem that are references to water are clear spiritual allusions to and are biblical Hebraisms representing the waters of YHVH’s Word or truth (i.e.,the Torah), as well as to the outpouring of the Spirit of Elohim. Spirit and truth combined are what all true worshipers of YHVH need in order to lead them into the deeper waters of a spiritual relationship with the Father as Yeshua indicates in John 4.

In these times of trials and pressure from all sides, may YHVH grant you, as he did to Nehemiah, the strength of vision and faith to overcome the obstacles in your life. May they become mere stepping stones to victory for the glory of Elohim and the advancement of his spiritual kingdom.

We are the Ezra’s and Nehemiahs that YHVH is raising up in our time to help rebuild the one house or stick of YHVH comprised of the two houses of Israel.

 

Women in Ministry—Can a Woman Lead a Congregation?

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Acts 16:40, House of Lydia.

Was Lydia a woman pastor?

The Bible, both the Tanakh (OT) and the Testimony of Yeshua (NT), promote male leadership, eldership and priesthood as normative. However, there have been times when men were not available to fulfill the plans and purposes of Elohim, so he used woman. A most notable example was Deborah who was both a prophetess and a judge in Israel (although she was most likely the wife of Barak who was a military leader in Israel, which would have made her the co-leader of Israel with her husband). Huldah was a prophetess, a judge and a counselor to kings. 

The Testimony of Yeshua carries the idea of male leader into the church. In the apostolic era, the Head Leader, of course, was Yeshua himself, then there were his twelve male apostles, and then there were male elders over each congregation (1 Tim 3:1–7; Tit 1:5–9), and the head over each family was the husband and father (Eph 5:22–33). 

The apostolic writings also promote the idea of the priesthood of all believers (e.g. 1 Pet 2:9; Rev 1:6). When it comes to salvation and spiritual equality, in YHVH’s eyes there is neither male or female, Jew or Gentile. All are equal and one in Messiah (Rom 10:12; Gal 3:28; Col 3:11). 

However, the New Testament Scriptures record that the church was still led by male elders. Nevertheless, there are examples of husband and wife ministry teams. In Romans we see the husband and wife apostolic team of Andronicus and Junia (Rom 16:7). Another example of such a evangelistic-pastoral team was Aquila and Priscilla. They worked so closely together that sometimes Scripture mentions wife first, and sometimes the husband (Acts 18:2, 8, 26. Rom 16:3; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Tim 4:19). 

One example of a likely woman pastor is Lydia who, apparently, led a church in her home (Acts 16:40). The Bible reveals that if there is no man to do fulfill YHVH purposes, he will raise up a woman to do it. The only caveat is that to follow a biblical authority structure, she needs to be under the authority of or accountable to a male elder in some way. Lydia would have been under the eldership of Paul who led her to Yeshua and baptized her (Acts 16:14).

If a woman is leading a congregation and she is married, she should be doing so in conjunction with her husband, with his blessing. If she is not, then she is out of order spiritually. If she’s not married, then she needs to be working in conjunction with male eldership.

 

Binding and Loosing Explained

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John 20:23, If you forgive the sins [NKJV] or Whose soever sins ye remit [KJV]. 

Forgive is the Greek word aphiemi, which has a wide range of meanings including “to send away, to permit, allow, not to hinder, to give up a thing to a person, to leave, go way from one, to let go, let alone, let be, to disregard, to leave, not to discuss now, to omit, neglect.” Of the 146 times this word occurs in the NT, in the KJV aphiemi is translated as “forgive” 47 times (as in forgiving sins; e.g. Matt 6:12, 14; 9:2, 5, 6; 12:31; 18:12; Rom 4:7; Jas 5:12; 1 John 1:9; 2:11, etc.). The KJV also translates this word as “leave” (52 times), “suffer” (meaning “allow, let or permit”, 14 times), “let” (8 times), “forsake” (6 times), “let alone” (6 times).

What would be the purpose of remitting someone’s past sins (assuming that one has the authority to do so)? By asking heaven’s court to forgive a person’s sins, this could possible open the doorway to salvation to them by lessoning the burden of sin and the guilt, shame, hopelessness, depression and fear that comes with sin. With these burdens removed by which the forces of darkness keep that person imprisoned to their sin, they might actually come to see the glorious light of Yeshua and be set free and come to salvation.

The Greek word for forgive (aphiemi ) in John 20:23is different than the Greek word translated as “to loose” (i.e. deo; e.g. Matt 16:19; 18:18) as in “binding and loosing,” or in Matt 12:29 as in “binding the strong man” when casting a demon out of someone.

Similar to the binding and loosing scriptures (Matt 16:19 and 18:18), in John 20:23, Yeshua is giving his disciples judicial authority to declare a person innocent or guilty (i.e. bound or loosed) of the charges made against him by someone else. This seems to go hand-in-hand with Yeshua giving his apostolic disciples the keys of the kingdom (Matt 16:19) as his spiritual authorities and representatives on earth to make decisions with regard to legal scriptural matters and to render legal decision in church matters. Moreover, Yeshua also gave his disciples authority and power over demonic forces and Elohim’s enemies (Luke 9:1; 10:19), including over sickness and disease (Mark 16:17–18). 

Loose as used in the Matt 16:19 and Matt 18:18 is the Greek word deo meaning “to bind tie, fasten, to bind, fasten with chains, to throw into chains, being bound by Satan or his demons, put under obligation of the law, to be bound to one, a wife, a husband, to forbid, prohibit, declare to be illicit.” The counterpart to binding is loosing is the Greek word luo meaning “to loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened, to loose one bound (i.e. to unbind, release from bonds, set free), to loosen, undo, dissolve, anything bound, tied, or compacted together.”

The concept of binding and loosing was also a first century Jewish colloquial expressions relating to correctly or incorrectly interpreting the Torah. If the Jewish legal scholars believed that a person was incorrectly interpreting the meaning of a Torah law or one of the traditions of the elders, they accused him of breaking or loosening (luo) the law or making it less binding or less strict (deo). This was the case when Yeshua picked some grain to eat on the Sabbath in John 5:18. The NKJV and most English translations of this verse incorrectly state that “he broke the Sabbath.” This is a misleading, faulty and unfortunate translation of the Greek word luo. It is unthinkable and unscriptural to think that the perfect and sinless Yeshua actually sinned by violating the fourth commandment. In reality, he loosened the Jewish extra-biblical legal restrictions that forbad anyone from picking a handful of grain to eat on the Sabbath—something that the Torah doesn’t consider to be work (as opposed to harvesting a whole field of grain), and thus doesn’t forbid. Luo in this sense may possibly be read into Matt 5:19, John 7:23, and 10:35 as well.