Who will rise up? The Bible on Civil Disobedience

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In General, Obey the Civil Authorities

Elohim in his Word instructs his servants to obey the civil laws and authorities in the lands in which they are living (Deut 17:12; Matt 22:21; Rom 13:1–7; Tit 3:1; 1 Pet 2:13–17).

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. (Rom 13:1)

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work… (Tit 3:1)

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme… (1 Pet 2:13)

Examples of Civil Disobedience in the Bible

However, when obeying the laws of men goes against the higher laws of Elohim, Scripture requires the saints to follow Elohim’s laws over the laws of men (Acts 4:19;  5:29).

But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of Elohim to listen to you more than to Elohim, you judge. (Acts 4:19)

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey Elohim rather than men. (Acts 5:29)

Here are some examples from the Bible of righteous saints who disobeyed the civil laws when those laws violated the higher laws of Elohim.

  • The Israelite midwives defied Pharaoh and refused to practice abortion or infanticide (Exod 1:15–20).
  • Rahab defied the ruling authorities of Jericho and hid the Israelite spies (Josh 2).
  • Gideon defied Israel’s Midianites rulers (Judg 6:11–8:21).
  • Samson rebelled against the Philistines (Judg 14–16).
  • Mordechai defied Hamon, the king’s agent (Est 3).
  • David became a fugitive on the run from King Saul (1 Sam 21–27).
  • Elijah defied the king’s religious establishment and defeated the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs 18).
  • Elijah became a fugitive fleeing for his life from Queen Jezebel (1 Kgs 19).
  • Obadiah hid the 100 prophets of Elohim from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel (1 Kgs 18:3–4, 13).
  • The three Hebrews defied King Nebuchanezzar and refused to worship the golden idol (Dan 3).
  • Daniel prayed to Elohim against the commands of King Darius (Dan 6).
  • Yeshua turning over the money changers tables in the temple (John 2:14–15).
  • Peter and John were arrested and imprisoned for preaching the gospel (Acts 4).
  • The apostles were arrested for preaching the gospel, put on trial, but refused to stop preaching the gospel (Acts 5).
  • Peter was arrested again for preaching the gospel (Acts 12).
  • Paul and Silas were imprisoned for preaching the gospel (Acts 16).
  • Paul was arrested, tried and imprisoned for preaching the gospel (Acts 21–25).
  • The end times Babylon the Great, Antichrist, New World Order system will require all the inhabitants of the earth to worship the beast and to take the mark of the beast on their bodies in order buy and sell (or, by implication) or starve to death (Rev 13:11–18). At the same time, there will be those saints who refuse to take the mark of the beast (Rev 15:2; 20:4). To not take the mark of the beast will be an act of civil disobedience.

The Case for Civil Disobedience 

Civil governments all around the world—especially in formerly Christian nations—are increasingly removing freedoms from their citizens and demanding that they stop preaching biblical truth and the gospel message, and, in essence, obey and worship the State. 

For example, in the U.S. the constitutional right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to keep and to bear arms, to practice one’s religion, to raise one’s children in a biblical way, to educate one’s children outside the government approved educational system, to not be Continue reading →

 

A Quick Overview of the Family Purity Laws and How They Relate to YOU

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Leviticus 15 Family purity laws. This chapter discusses the family purity laws. This is a tough subject that spouses should discuss with each other and ask YHVH for wisdom on how to implement them. Holiness and purity is very important to YHVH in all situations. Men, at the very least, are to refrain from all physical relations with their wives during her monthly flow. Any man who has a problem with this needs to repent of selfishness, uncontrolled passions and failing to give his wife space during a difficult time in her life. Sin has consequences, whether we understand what they are or not, so why risk it? YHVH takes his laws seriously and blessings or curses befall us vis-à-vis our relationship to them. Check your heart attitude here. Are you serious about obeying YHVH? Or at this point, are you content to ignore his Word and, in effect, rip pages out of the Scriptures arrogantly saying, “It doesn’t apply to me”? Didn’t the serpent say something like this to Adam and Eve at the Tree of Knowledge about the Word of Elohim?

Did Yeshua fulfill the family purity laws? Let’s first establish one thing. When we say “fulfill” as per Matthew 5:17, we don’t mean “to do away with” or “destroy” as the mainstream church de facto infers from this passage. The Greek word behind the word fulfill means “to bring to its Continue reading →

 

Why Celebrate the Passover?

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Isn’t your life already busy enough? Who has time for a six-hour Passover Seder commemorating something that happened thousands of years ago? What could this possibly have to do with my life here and now, you may ask? How can a 3500-year-old Biblical ritual in any way relate to those living in the age of the laser, satellites, the worldwide web and computers? Well, let’s see!

The Preacher said in Ecclesiastes 3:15, “That which is has been already and that which will be has already been.…” Life is full of paradoxes. Do advancements in technology, science, economics, medicine, religion, and world government really promise to give men the rest for their weary souls for which they long?

How about a different approach to the questions and problems facing modern man? Is it possible to go forward by going backwards? This is a thesis that the ancient prophet Yermeyahu (Jeremiah) proffered to those who had ears to hear. He said, “Thus says YHVH, ‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it’” (Jer 6:16). What were those ancient paths to which this white-haired Jewish prophet referred? This question is answered three verses later: “Because they have not listened to My words, and as for My Torah, they have rejected it also” (verse 19). YHVH through his prophets has been showing men the way of rest for their souls for thousands of years, yet men consistently refuse to listen. They always have a better way, so it seems!

The festival of Passover is one of the most ancient paths to be found in all of the Scriptures. In it are contained clues that will help the partakers of it to understand the past, present and the future. 

A God-hater, Karl Marx, the father of modern communism, said that religion is the opiate of the masses. Yes, this can be said of dead, truthless and spiritless religion. But how about that religion which gives definition, purpose, meaning, hope and destiny to a man’s life? How could anything that comes directly from the Loving Father who created you and me in his own image be detrimental to us?

It has been said that the religion of the Bible tells a man where he has come from, where he is at and where he is going. Could it not be said that a man who knows the answers to these questions possesses true wisdom and wealth, and has indeed found rest for his troubled soul?

One of the most important scriptures in the Jewish faith is the famous shema passage of Deuteronomy 6:4–9. This passage, which is like a “pledge of allegiance” for the Jews, starts out by saying, “Hear [shema], O Israel …” The word shema literally means “to hear and to do.” Later, in verse five, the shema continues, “And you shall love YHVH your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might.” Loving our Heavenly Creator is not just a mind-thing, but also an action and a doing thing. It is something we act out and participate in. This is the Hebrew way … the ancient paths! As a path is for the purpose of walking down, even so, Passover is meant to be celebrated. This is how YHVH’s people showed their love and devotion to him. Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, reiterated this when he said, “If you love me, keep my commandments [or Torah mitzvot]” (John 14:15). 

This is what the Passover Seder is all about. We, as humans, learn by doing. We learn obedience by obeying. We learn to love by loving. We learn about heavenly and spiritual mysteries by walking out the types and shadows found in Scripture (of which Passover is but one) that point to the heavenly and spiritual domain or dimension of YHVH himself. The French have a saying: L’appétit vient en mangeant. Translated this means: Appetite comes while eating. Or we could say that the more one eats (delicious food) the more one wants. David said in Continue reading →

 

Why Study About and Celebrate YHVH’s Biblical Feasts?

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It’s Time to Take Off the Blindfold!

The biblical truths presented below you have NOT heard in your Sunday churches. If you had, you would have been observing or celebrating YHVH Elohim’s biblical feasts in those churches! Yet these truths have been in your Bible all along. The problem is that most people have been blinded to them, and until YHVH opens their eyes and they express willingness to hear and obey YHVH’s truth, they will remain spiritually blind!

An Introduction to the Biblical Feasts

If you had to sum up the entire message of the Bible in one word what would it be? Probably words such as love, hope, salvation, eternal life or heaven are coming to your mind. But I challenge you to find a better word than the following: r-e-c-o-n-c-i-l-i-a-t-i-o-n. The dictionary defines reconciliation as “to restore to friendship or harmony, to settle or resolve a quarrel, to make consistent or congruous.”

When the first humans chose to listen to the lies of the serpent and to rebel against YHVH by giving in to sin at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil at the very beginning, our first parents chose the path of separation from their Heavenly Father. Sin causes man to be separated from our totally holy, righteous, sinless and loving Creator.

Since that time YHVH has been endeavoring to reconcile man to himself. He has laid out the criteria for this to occur—for man to once again have a loving and intimate relationship with his Heavenly Father as did Adam and Eve before they sinned.

The seven biblical feasts of YHVH (please note, the Bible calls them YHVH’s feasts, not men’s feasts, Lev 23:2, 4; Exod 31:13) prophetically represent the steps man must take to be reconciled to his Heavenly Father. They are the complete plan of salvation or redemption rolled up into an easy-to-understand ­seven-step plan. Though a child can understand these steps, the truths contained therein can, at the same time, be expanded and unfolded until one literally has rolled out before oneself the entire message of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation—a message that to the human comprehension is staggering, deep and rich beyond understanding. The biblical feasts are literally the skeletal structure upon which the truths of the entire Bible Continue reading →

 

When do we celebrate the Passover?

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Passover occurs on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight (Lev 23:5; Num 9:3, 5, 11). Twilight is the Hebrew word erev meaning “evening, night, sunset” according to all the main Hebrew lexicons. The root word for erev is arab meaning “to become evening, grow dark or to spend the evening, do at evening.”

The phrase “at twilight” can also mean “between the evenings” (see the marginal notes for Exod 12:6 in the KJV). The addition of the word at (Heb. beyn) adds an additional meaning to the word erev as we shall discuss further below. 

Which twilight time did the Israelites keep Passover? The twilight of the thirteenth day going into the fourteenth day, or the twilight of the fourteenth day going into the fifteenth day? Let’s examine the Scriptures for the answer.

YHVH commanded the Israelites to kill the Passover lamb at twilight (Exod 12:6) and then to put its blood on their doorposts (Exod 12:7). After that, they were to roast and eat the lamb in that same evening (Exod 12:8). The word evening in Hebrew is layil meaning “night as opposed to day.” They were to eat the lamb that evening “with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand…in haste” (Exod 12:11). This was the same night that Elohim struck all the firstborn of Egypt, but passed over all the houses of the Israelites that had blood on the doorposts (Exod 12:12–14).

One thing is certain. Passover occurs on the fourteenth day of the first month of the biblical Continue reading →

 

How to Prepare Yourself for Passover and YHVH’s Spring Feasts

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It’s time to get spiritually clean!

Repent of Sin and Get Under the Lamb’s Blood. As the children of Israel applied the lamb’s blood to the door posts and lintels of their house, so we must apply the sin-cleansing and Satan-defeating blood of Yeshua afresh to our lives (i.e. to our thoughts as represented by the door lintel and and to our hands or actions as represented by the door posts). This occurs as we repent of our sins, and pray for and receive YHVH’s forgiveness. He will then cover our sins over or wash away our sins by Yeshua’s blood (1 John 1:9; Rev 1:5).

In Egypt at Passover time, YHVH judged all those who had failed to put the lamb’s blood on the door posts of their houses. In other words, they weren’t under the blood of the lamb, but were still under the penalty of sin, which is death (Ezek 18:4; Rom 6:23). Any unrepented of sin in our lives brings the curse of death on us. To the degree that one has sin in their life is the degree to which the spirit of death has a legal claim on us. Now is the time to repent of sin by confessing it and seeking Elohim’s forgiveness under the blood of Yeshua and then forsaking that sin through YHVH’s grace (1 John 1:9). 

Here are some things of which to repent. 

  • Pride. Do you always think that you’re right? Your opinion is what matters the most? Do you have a hard time with those who don’t see it your way, when you don’t get your way? Do you have a fit when people disagree with you? Do you criticize others and put others down (especially those who are closest to you)? Do you belittle, mock, scorn and ridicule others? Do you focus on other people’s faults? Do you have a hard time identifying any sins that you have committed? Are you proud of your humility? Are you proud of how Torah-observant you are (compared to others)? Are you overly defensive when someone corrects you or challenges your opinion? Do you blame others when things don’t go right instead of taking personal responsibility for your actions? Are you proud of (instead of grateful to YHVH for) your achievements in life? Do you constantly have to be talking about yourself? Is much of what you do, say and think focused on yourself? These are all signs of pride. Pride is self-idolization. Elohim hates pride and calls it an abomination (Prov 6:16–17).
  • Ungratefulness and selfishness. Are you ungrateful? Are you discontent about your place in life? Do you always want more? Are your material possessions and personal belongings really important to you? Do you have a hard time giving things away? This is a form of self-idolatry, pride and idolization of things.
  • The love of this world over love of YHVH and the things that matter to him. This is a form of idolatry. In this case, we’re concerned with what others think more than what Elohim thinks about things. Therefore, our thoughts and actions are geared at trying to please ourself and others instead of pleasing Elohim (Jas 4:4; 1 John 2:15).
  • Sins of the mouth include mean, selfish, unkind, angry, impatient, egotistical words and gossip. This is idolization of self. What matters most is what I have to say, how I feel, my opinions and I have the right to say what I want when I want. This is also pride.
  • The lack of the fear of Elohim. Are you more concerned with what others think than what YHVH Elohim thinks about something? Anything in our lives that we put ahead of Elohim is idolatry.

Ask yourself this: In everything that I do and say, am I advancing the kingdom of Elohim and bringing glory to Yeshua or am I doing the opposite? Am I being a river of life to all those around me, or am I dragging them downward by being a purveyor of negativity and darkness? Are my Continue reading →

 

Leviticus 14—A “Flyover Scripture” That, on Closer Examination, Is Full of Nuggets

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It’s easy, all too often, to simply “fly over some of the chapters in Leviticus that seem irrelevant to  modern life. In reality, upon closer examination, they’re a spiritual treasure chest full of rich nuggets that not only point us to Yeshua, but teach us how to live more righteously before YHVH. Check it out…

Leviticus 14:3, Plague of leprosy [Heb. tsaraath]. Some of the English translations of this scripture verse use the word leprosy for the skin disease described in these passages. This is a mistranslation. A better translation would be infectious skin disease. The Jewish sages teach that the skin disease described here is a supernaturally caused ailment. They also teach that this is YHVH’s way of identifying the evil sins of gossip and slander (along with haughtiness, selfishness and jealousy) before this sin spreads throughout the land engulfing it like a forest fire from hell. (Read James 3:5–6!) This disease would cause the sinner’s face to change color becoming like a red flag for all to see. An afflicted person would be forced to live outside the camp until repentance along with atonement and purification rituals had occurred, and all this occurred under the watchful eye of a priest. As you read this, you may be wiping your brow with a sigh of relief thankful that you didn’t live in ancient Israel. Suppose you did, or suppose YHVH suddenly imposed these consequences for the sin of the evil tongue (Heb. lashon hara) upon the country where you live. How would it affect you, your family, what politicians and lawyers say, and how the news media reports the “news”? Is it possible for us as YHVH’s ambassadors for the spiritual nation of Israel and his eternal kingdom—as a royal priesthood and a kingdom of priests (Exod 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9)—to begin acting more righteously with our mouths now as if every evil word we spoke would result in our faces lighting up like a neon sign?

Leviticus 14:1–6, The cleansing ritual of tsaraath. The atonement and purification rituals for the sin of gossip and slander are very interesting. The Jewish sages teach that cedar wood was chosen because the cedar tree grows tall, imposing and wide symbolizing haughtiness. The wood used in the ritual was about the size of a baseball bat (The ArtScroll Tanach Series Vayikra, p. 221). Hyssop may actually be thyme or oregano. Since antiquity, thyme has been known for its cleansing and healing properties. It is an antibiotic and antiseptic and is beneficial against infectious diseases and for healing wounds. Oregano, on the other hand, is a strong antiseptic, antitoxic and antiviral herb.

Why do you think YHVH chose these herbs to be part of the cleansing process for the sinner who was guilty of murdering others with his tongue?

The third ingredient in the cleansing process was a crimson thread. The Jewish sages teach that this was wool dyed with a pigment made from a lowly creature (either an insect or a snail, ibid.). Why wool and why red? How does this relate to sin? (See Isa 1:18.) The wood, “hyssop” and Continue reading →