Category Archives: Scripture

Scripture Studies

Yeshua on Divine Healing

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Luke 5:17, The power [Gr. dumanis] of YHVH was present. Sometimes the power of YHVH is present to heal people, sometimes it is not. There are many factors that determine if and when a person is healed divinely. These include such things as the sovereign will of Elohim for that person’s life, the faith of the individuals performing or receiving the healing, repentance of sin or the lack thereof, divine judgment, trials Elohim may be allowing in one’s life for character refinement (think righteous Job and Paul’s thorn in the flesh), and whether one is a saint or not and many more factors about which we may or may not be aware due to our limited human understanding of the spiritual dimension where Elohim operates.

Let’s now explore the healing activities of Yeshua to see what we can learn about the spiritual mechanics of divine healing.The Greek word dunamis in the phrase, “the power [dumanis] of YHVH was present” means “strength, power, ability” or, as often used in the Testimony of Yeshua, it can mean “miraculous power.” This statement by Luke is interesting when it comes to understanding the dynamics of Yeshua’s healing activities. Did Yeshua heal all people all the time, or only when the power of Elohim was present for him to do so? This verse, at least in this case, would indicate the latter. Elsewhere, we read that Yeshua “healed many that were sick” (Mark 1:34), but not all that were sick. On other occasions, the Gospels record indicates that Yeshua did in fact heal all the sick who were brought to him (Matt 4:23–25; 9:35; Luke 6:19). 

The Gospels also reveal some other interesting facts about Yeshua’s healing activities that we often pass over. On at least one occasions, Yeshua prayed to heal someone and they were only partially healed. Only after he prayed for them the second time, were they completely healed (Mark 8:22–25). Why was this? Couldn’t Yeshua have healed them the first time? Of course, but perhaps their faith wasn’t yet strong enough for them to be healed. Or maybe Yeshua was teaching us that sometimes we have to demonstrate persistent faith and keep seeking healing until the healing occurs. On other occasions, Yeshua healed people after he was “moved with compassion [love and pity]” for someone who was sick (Matt 14:14; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13–15). The Greek word for compassion, literally means “to be moved in one’s bowels,” or in the deepest areas of one’s emotions. At other times, people simply touched Yeshua’s clothing as he was walking by, and the miraculous power (Gr. dunamis) of Elohim flowed from him and healed them (Matt 9:20; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44 cp. Luke 6:19). They had the faith to be healed, and the received their miracle.

Elsewhere, it appears that Yeshua’s healing activities were hampered by the presence of those who ridiculed him and exhibited doubt and unbelief, which is why, on one occasion, he put the doubters out of the room and closed the door behind them, when he raised the little girl from the dead (Mark 5:40–42). Similarly, in his hometown of Nazareth, Yeshua “could do no mighty works there” except for healing a few sick people, “because of their [the townspeople’s] unbelief” (Mark 6:5–6; also Matt 13:58). Matthew’s account adds that the people of Nazareth were offended (literally, scandalized) by Yeshua, or that they stumbled over (or judged unfavorably, distrusted) Yeshua. Because of their low esteem for him, they lacked the faith to receive healing, which is why he healed so few people in that town.

When it comes to praying for divine healing, when in doubt, always look for an opportunity to pray for a sick person. Before praying, one must discern the situation. Does the person have faith to be healed? Is the anointing or Presence of YHVH there to heal the person? How is the Spirit of Elohim directing one to pray? Sometimes we sense the need to pray more authoritative prayers, other times, more pleading or intercessory prayers, and still other times prayers of agreement while asking heaven for the healing.

What’s more, prospective converts and new believers tend to have their prayers for healing answered more quickly, since this is a demonstration of the signs Yeshua promised that would follow the preaching of the gospel. Yeshua declared that divine healing as a result of the laying on of hands was to be a result of the preaching of the gospel to the unsaved (Mark 16:15–18).True, the saint can be healed, but often this will occur after having their faith stretched and refined. Therefore, the healing sometimes takes longer to receive.

 

Is This Why Central Banks Are Rushing To Buy Gold?

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From Alt-Market.com at http://www.alt-market.com/index.php/articles/4057-is-this-why-central-banks-are-rushing-to-buy-gold

Friday, 10 January 2020 04:24 Brandon Smith

This article was written by Brandon Smith and originally published at Birch Gold Group

Gold has seen an impressive price spike in the past 18 months, and if you are wondering what the cause is, you’ll find almost everyone has a different theory. That said, certain factors in historic gold rallies tend to be ignored. For example, the mainstream financial media often hyper focuses on stimulus measures by the Federal Reserve as the cause, but I would remind people that the most recent upward trend in gold started while the Fed was tightening liquidity and raising interest rates, not stimulating. Also, many analysts suggest that precious metals absorb investment cash flows when equities are sliding.  Yet, for now, stocks have been rallying for the past year as gold prices also trend upward. So, what is the mainstream missing here?

First and foremost, it’s important to understand that gold is not necessarily just an inflation hedge; it is also a crisis hedge. As economic and geopolitical uncertainty grows, gold prices skyrocket. The past decade has seen uncertainty and instability that the world has not seen for almost a century. The problem is, the average American is oblivious to this state of affairs. They have no idea how bad the situation can get, as they assume there are checks and balances to counter any potential disaster in the financial structure. They assume that the government or the banks will step in.

However, there are signals that tell us that this will not be the case. In fact, it appears that central banks around the world are preparing for an event that they either cannot quantify yet or simply refuse to warn the public about. This is evident in the acceleration in gold stockpiling by banking institutions.

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The War Pigs Are Finally Revealing Themselves – And This Is Just The Beginning…

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From Alt-Market.com at http://www.alt-market.com/index.php/articles/4056-the-war-pigs-are-finally-revealing-themselves-and-this-is-just-the-beginning

Wednesday, 08 January 2020 17:00 Brandon Smith

In 2016 during the election campaign of Donald Trump one of the primary factors of his popularity among conservatives was that he was one of the first candidates since Ron Paul to argue for bringing US troops home and ending American involvement in the various elitist fabricated wars in the Middle East. From Iraq, to Afghanistan, to Syria and Yemen and beyond, the Neo-Cons and Neo-Libs at the behest of their globalist masters had been waging war oversees unabated for over 15 years. The time was ripe for a change and people felt certain that if Hillary Clinton entered the White House, another 4-8 years of war were guaranteed.

There was nothing to be gained from these wars. They were only dragging the US down socially and economically, and even the idea of “getting the oil” had turned into a farce as the majority of Iraqi oil has been going to China, not the US. General estimates on the costs of the wars stand at $5 trillion US tax dollars and over 4500 American dead along with around 40,000 wounded. The only people that were benefiting from the situation were globalists and banking elites, who had been clamoring to destabilize the Middle East since the day they launched their “Project For A New American Century” (PNAC). Truly, all wars are banker wars.

The Obama Administration’s attempts to lure Americans into supporting open war with the Assad regime in Syria had failed. Consistent attempts by George W. Bush and Obama to increase tensions with Iran had fizzled. Americans were showing signs of fatigue, FINALLY fed up with the lies being constructed to trick them into being complicit in the banker wars. Trump was a breath of fresh air…but of course, like all other puppets of the globalists, his promises were empty.

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An Empire Self-Destructs

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From Doug Casey’s The International Man at https://internationalman.com/articles/an-empire-self-destructs/

by Jeff Thomas

US empire

Empires are built through the creation or acquisition of wealth. The Roman Empire came about through the productivity of its people and its subsequent acquisition of wealth from those that it invaded. The Spanish Empire began with productivity and expanded through the use of its large armada of ships, looting the New World of its gold. The British Empire began through localized productivity and grew through its creation of colonies worldwide—colonies that it exploited, bringing the wealth back to England to make it the wealthiest country in the world.

In the Victorian Age, we Brits were proud to say, “There will always be an England,” and “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” So, where did we go wrong? Why are we no longer the world’s foremost empire? Why have we lost not only the majority of our colonies, but also the majority of our wealth?

Well, first, let’s take a peek back at the other aforementioned empires and see how they fared. Rome was arguably the greatest empire the world has ever seen. Industrious Romans organized large armies that went to other parts of the world, subjugating them and seizing the wealth that they had built up over generations. And as long as there were further conquerable lands just over the next hill, this approach was very effective. However, once Rome faced diminishing returns on new lands to conquer, it became evident that those lands it had conquered had to be maintained and defended, even though there was little further wealth that could be confiscated.

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Blog Scripture Readings for 1-12 Through 1-18-20

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Parashat Shemot — Exodus 1:1 – 6:1
Haftarah — Isaiah 27:6 – 28:13; 29:22-23
Prophets — 2 Samuel 10:1 – 16:23
Writings — Psalms 89:30 – 95:11
Testimony — Luke 5:1 – 8:25

Our new annual Scripture Reading Schedule for 2019-2020 with daily readings is available to download and print. If you are still working through 2018-2019’s Scripture Reading Schedule, the link will still be available on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links”. If you are using a mobile device or tablet, the link may be below, meaning you’ll need to scroll down instead.

Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link or the “share your thoughts” box below.

The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day: one each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 1/12 through 1/18/20.

 

Listen to your fathers, so your ashes won’t be trampled on!

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Genesis 50:11, Beyond the Jordan. Beyond is the Hebrew word eber meaning “across.” This was the roundabout way of reaching Machpelah. The Jewish and Christian commentaries I have studied don’t give a good reason for Jacob’s burial entourage taking this most indirect route to the burial cave of the patriarchs. It’s possible that Jacob was, out of faith in the promises of Elohim, prophetically tracing the steps that his descendants would take several generations later in entering the Promised Land. It’s almost as if Jacob was showing the future generations of Israelites the route he wanted them to take from Egypt to the Promised Land to fulfill biblical types and shadows.

If Jacob’s intent was to show future generations of his descendants the route to enter the Promised Land, this begs a question for us. Do you have righteous parents? How about righteous spiritual fathers—the fathers of our faith such as the biblical apostles and prophets, Yeshua himself, and, of course Moses and the patriarchs? They have laid out the route for us to take to reach the Promised Land of our spiritual inheritance—the kingdom of Elohim or heaven. Are we following this path, or have we chosen another path? 

Malachi was the final prophet to close out the Old Testament or Tanakh before the coming of the promised Messiah. He uttered a strong warning to all who have ears hear and a heart to understand lest the fiery judgments of YHVH Elohim come upon you and your ashes be trampled under the feet of the righteous.

Remember the Torah-law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of YHVH. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. (Mal 4:4–6)

These are the final warning words and wise admonitions that close out the Tanakh. Let’s heed these wise words and turn our hearts back to the righteous fathers of our faith. Maybe they knew something that we don’t—the way to Elohim!

 

John the Baptist: Chop down that tree of religious pride!

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And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (John the Baptist in Luke 3:9)

Luke 3:7–17, John takes an ax to the tree of religious pride. What’s really going on in this exchange between John the Baptist and the religious folks of his day? Let’s step back and look at the bigger picture.

YHVH sent John to prepare the way for Yeshua the Messiah. As if he had a giant ax in his hand (Luke 3:9), his preaching was aimed at chopping down the tree of human pride, misdirected religious zeal and lack of love for one’s neighbor of which these Torah-obedient Judeans were guilty. John spared no words in forcefully commanding them to repent of their sins. 

In our day as we await the second coming of our beloved Messiah, are many of us not guilt of the same sins as those who went out to hear John the Baptist’s preaching? How many of us have unknowingly exchanged our love for Yeshua and his gospel message, and a love for our neighbor for a self-righteous and legalistic Torah-obedience along with a devotion for rituals and traditions of men? How many of us are proud of our obedience, while sneering at those who aren’t walking in the light of Truth that we have? How many of us would rather argue, split and divide over doctrine rather than reach out to a lost and hurting persons regardless of his or her beliefs. What does John have to say about this? Let’s hold up the same mirror of the Word and heart of Elohim into which John forced the people of his day to look to see what we really look like. Then let’s ask ourself the following question: is this the bride that Yeshua the Messiah really wants to come back for?

The multitudes of Jews had to make the long, hot and arduous journey through the Judean mountains down to the Jordan River, which was the lowest spot on earth, to hear John the Baptist, who was the latest fad preacher to come on the scene. However, when they arrived at his lonely wilderness pulpit, instead of stroking their egos by complimenting them for their religious zeal, he excoriates them and calls them a brood of vipers. John confronts them by saying that if they don’t repent, the fires of YHVH’s judgment will consume them (John 3:7–9). John’s preaching pierces their hearts, and lays them low spiritually. In a proper response, they ask him what he expects them to do (John 3:10). John then preaches a message of social justice involving giving to the poor, being fair and honest in one’s business dealings, and if one is a government worker, then treat the citizens one serves with respect (John 3:11–14).

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