The Real Story Behind the Biblical Kosher Laws—Holiness!

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Leviticus 11:1–47, The biblical dietary laws are about holiness. Let’s briefly discuss the subject of clean and unclean meats. The focal point of biblical dietary laws are holiness and separation. There are other issues here that need to be explored as well. How serious are you about obedience to YHVH’s commands, or is your belly your god? (See Phil 3:19; Rom 16:18.) Do your taste buds or the Word of YHVH rule your life? Remember, Torah covers all aspects of life: physical, spiritual, emotional, relational, civil, agricultural, political, jurisprudence, religious and economic. ­Torah is a very holistic handbook on life. Are you one who takes the (humanistic) pick-and-choose approach to Torah-obedience? “I’ll obey only the biblical laws that suit me.” Such an approach is akin to what the serpent told Adam and Eve when he said, “You can have it your way … YHVH didn’t really mean what he said when it comes to obedience.”

When most people think of word kosher, the biblical dietary laws come to mind. This is only part of the picture that the Bible presents when it comes to the subject of kashrut. The biblical kosher laws involve not only clean and unclean meats, but many other areas as well such as health issues, holiness (not defiling the body, the temple of YHVH’s Set-Apart Spirit), and separation issues—how we’re to act, live, eat, worship, think, dress and talk differently than the heathens around us. The word kosher derives from the Hebrew word kasher/RAF (Strong’s H3787) meaning “to be straight, right, acceptable” (see Est 8:5; Eccl 11:6; 10:10). YHVH has called his people out of this world and sanctified (set-apart) them to be “straight, right and acceptable” to him. Therefore, YHVH hasn’t give us the liberty to act, speak, dress, eat and live the way the heathens do. He has called us to a higher moral and spiritual standard. We can’t expect to be called the children of the Most High, and still live like the children of the world. We must choose whom we are going to serve (see Josh 24:15): YHVH or mammon and this world (Matt 6:24).

Leviticus 11:4, 47, Unclean. The word unclean is the Hebrew word tameh meaning “defiled, impure, polluted ethically, ritually or religiously” and the word clean is the Hebrew word tahor meaning “pure physically, ceremonially, morally, ethically.” In verse 43, YHVH says that in eating unclean meats one becomes abominable (or detestable, filthy). In Ezekiel 22:26, YHVH rebukes his people because, “Her priests have violated my Torah-law, and have profaned my set-apart [Heb. kadosh] things: they have put no difference Continue reading →

 

Christian genocide in Nigeria: 5 facts you need to know

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Please remember persecuted Christians around the world in your prayers. Often, there is fault on both sides. Pray that those who claim to be Christians would react in biblical ways to those who are persecuting them. Self-defense against an evil aggressor is not an unbiblical reaction. Vengeance is, however. 
From the Christian Post at https://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-genocide-in-nigeria-5-facts-you-need-to-know.html

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter
The aftermath of Fulani attacks in Barkin Ladi, Nigeria, on August 28, 2018. | Photo: World Watch Monitor

Hundreds of lives have been lost and hundreds of homes have been burned since the start of 2019, raising questions again about the truth behind the violence occurring between Fulani Muslim herdsmen and predominantly Christian farmers in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.

While conflicts between nomadic herdsmen and farmers in the Middle Belt date back decades, there’s been a noticeable increase in deadly massacres across several states in the Middle Belt of Nigeria since January 2018, where people were slaughtered and communities razed.

In addition to the seemingly countless numbers of people killed, it has been estimated that as many as 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes by the communal violence.

What’s happening in the Middle Belt of Nigeria can be confusing for onlookers outside the country because of the fact that there are competing narratives.

One narrative labels the Fulani attacks against Christian farmers a “genocide” perpetrated by radicalized Islamic herders looking to drive out Christians from their homes.

A second narrative paints the killings as being part of a years-old conflict exacerbated by several factors, including increased Fulani herdsmen migration due to the Boko Haram insurgency and the desertification in the north.

In the following pages are five key facts you need to know about the Fulani conflict in Nigeria.

1. What’s at the root of the crisis?

What’s at the root of the Fulani Muslim herders versus Christians conflict can vary depending on who is asked.

According to prominent human rights watchdog group Human Rights Watch, the violence is increasingly described in “religious terms” (Muslim Fulani extremists vs. Christian farmers) but the organization stresses that “competing claims to land and other resources are at its core.”

Fulani are an ethnic group of over 20 million in West and Central Africa. According to the Global Terror Index, only a small subset of Fulani herders (extremists) engage in attacks. Herders have been known to travel hundreds of miles while carrying weapons to protect their livestock.

But over the last several years there has been an increase in Fulani from the north To continue reading, go to https://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-genocide-in-nigeria-5-facts-you-need-to-know.html

 

What type of cross was Yeshua crucified on?

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John 20:25, Nails. The Greek word for nail here is in its plural form. The plurality of the word nails is corroborated by the fact that all the major English translation of the NT including both the Alexandrian or Byzantine family of  Greek NT texts contain the Greek word helon (nails, plural) as opposed to helos (nail, singular). This is the case in the Aramaic NT as well (see the translations of Ethridge and Murdock, for example). 

Moreover, William Mounce whose Koine Greek grammar book is used in the majority of seminaries in the U.S. in his Greek and English Interlinear NT designates this word as being in the genitive case, plural form and masculine gender.

What is the point here? This verse proves that Yeshua was crucified on a standard t-shaped cross, not on an upright stake minus its cross arm. Had he been crucified on the latter torture instrument, only one nail would have been used to secure his hands to the one post, not more than one nail as this text indicates—something which would have been required on the traditional t-shaped cross.

Some folks will argue that Yeshua was crucified on an upright stake or post. It is true the the Roman execution stake or cross took many forms of which the t-shaped cross was but one. It is also true that the the Paleo-Hebrew letter tav looks like our small letter t, and, according to some experts, pictographically signifies “the sign of the covenant.” It is also true that the Torah reveals that the furnishings in the Tabernacle of Moses were laid out in the form of a cross, and that the children of Israel were camped around the tabernacle in the form of a cross. We could go on, for there are other examples of the Paleo-Hebrew letter tav mentioned in the Scriptures including the mark that the angel placed on the foreheads  of those saints who signed and cried for the abominations done in Israel in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezek 9:4). This mark would save those righteous people from the punishing destruction that Elohim had declared over Jerusalem.

It is also true that the t-shaped cross symbol was usurped by the pagan, devil and sun worshiping heathens in their religious rituals. Scripture reveals that Satan is the great counterfeiter, for he takes that  which is good and perverts it in an attempt to deceive the unlearned and naive. With this in mind, let us not toss out the wheat of truth for the chaff of error of Satan’s perversions.

Whether you believe that Yeshua was crucified on a t-shaped cross, an upright stake or some other instrument of execution, in the big picture it doesn’t really matter.  On this blog, we try to present facts. Whether one agrees with them or not is up to the person, and we refuse to argue about it. The bottom line is that we must believe that Yeshua died for our sins, or we’re all spiritually lost and stand condemned before the Righteous Judge of the universe, and we have no hope of future life. It is our faith in Yeshua the Messiah’s death, burial and resurrection that saves us, not the instrument on which he was crucified.

Have you made that spiritual transaction with your Creator and Savior?

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Joh 3:17  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Joh 3:18  “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Joh 5:24  “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

2Co 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Rom 10:5  For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “THE MAN WHO DOES THOSE THINGS SHALL LIVE BY THEM.”

Rom 10:6  But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)

Rom 10:7  or, ” ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

Rom 10:8  But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

Rom 10:9  that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Rom 10:10  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Rom 10:11  For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.”

Rom 10:12  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.

Rom 10:13  For “WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.”

 

 

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 20:23 is 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.

 

Yeshua: “Touch me not”—An allusion to the red heifer?

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John 20:17, Touch me not. Touch is the Greek word haptomai meaning “to fasten one’s self to, adhere to, cling to,” and can be used to refer to touching in a carnal and passionate way as between a man and a woman.

Perhaps Yeshua didn’t want his disciples to cling to him as a wife clings to her husband, since, in a spiritual sense, they (and us) were/are only betrothed and not yet married to him yet. (The marriage of the saints to Yeshua will occur at his second coming.)

Additionally, Yeshua had not yet ascended to heaven where he would be accepted by his Father as the perfect, unspotted, undefiled and sinless sacrificial Lamb of Elohim. If a sinful human had touched him, this may have ceremonially defiled his state of perfect cleanliness.

In the Torah, for example, if a man touched a dead human carcass, he would become ceremonially unclean and need cleansing (Num 19:11–13). This pertained to the law of the blemish-free red heifer through which a person could be cleansed from ritual defilement if they had touched a dead body (Num 19:1–10; Heb 13:10–12).

The red heifer was a prophetic picture of the sin-free Yeshua dying on the cross to cleanse spiritually dead humans from their sin. The lesson here is that all men are dead in their sins until they come into contact with Yeshua the Messiah, and this is a fact about the red heifer that most people miss. 

 

Let the glory cloud come down—Are you sure you want to “play” with fire?

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What follows is a discussion on the interplay between the glory of Elohim, righteousness, atonement for sin, the blood the lamb and the fire of Elohim versus profane fire.

Leviticus 9:2–4, YHVH will appear. It is impossible to appear before YHVH Elohim without the shedding of innocent blood for the atonement of man’s sins. Man is too sinful and unholy to be able to come before his perfect and holy Creator. The sooner human’s realize their sinfulness and unworthiness, and the need to deal with the sorry state their live is in, the sooner they will be able to fill their inner (some say the “God-shaped) void and the unmet need of having an intimate relationship with their Creator.

Leviticus 9:6, This is the thing. When atonement for sin is made, and a person comes to their Creator on that basis, YHVH and his glory will appear in one way or another in that person’s life.

Leviticus 9:6, 23, The glory [kobowd] of YHVH. Kobowd means “glory, honour, glorious, abundance, riches, splendour, dignity, reputation, reverence.” The root word of Continue reading →

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 3-34 Through 3-30-19

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat Shemini — Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47
Haftarah — 2 Samuel 6:1 – 7:17 | Ezek 36:16-38; Num 19:1-22**
Prophets — Isaiah 27:1 – 33:24
Writings — Proverbs 9:1 – 15:33
Testimony — John 19:1 – 21:25; Acts 1:1 – 2:39

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 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.

** A different Haftarah is read when it is a special sabbath in Jewish tradition. This week it is Shabbat Parah on the traditional calendar. The Haftarah is Ezekiel 36:16-38 with a special maftir reading of Numbers 19:1-22. Otherwise, 2 Samuel 6:1 – 7:17 would be read with Parashat Shemini.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 3/24/19 through 3/30/19.