Blog Scripture Readings for 12-21 Through 12-27-14

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat Vayigash — Genesis 44:18 – 47:27
Haftarah — Ezekiel 37:15–28
Prophets — 1 Samuel 25:1 – 31:13; 2 Samuel 1:1–27
Writings — Psalms 77:1 – 82:8
Testimony — Mark 14:53 – 16:20; Luke 1:1–66

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.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 12/21 through 12/27/14.

 

What It Means to Come Out of Babylon the Great

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“Come out of her my people!”

“Come out of her my people” is the cry of YHVH Elohim to his end times saints in Revelation 18:4. Come out of what?  Out of Babylon the Great. What is Babylon the Great and what does it mean to come out of her?

Babylon the Great

Babylon the Great

What Is Babylon the Great?

A quick definition of end times Babylon the Great is this: It is a global religious, economic and political Antichrist system that is a confused mixture of both good and evil, which enslaves the minds and lives of humans. It is this system that YHVH-Yeshua will be destroying at his second coming. Babylon the Great involves all the religions of the world including mainstream global Christianity and Judaism. These last two religious systems are part of Babylon the Great because they have, to one degree or another, mixed biblical truth with ancient, pagan Babylonian religious doctrines and traditions. This is called syncretism and is something that YHVH Elohim hates according to numerous passages in the Scriptures. Another word for syncretism is ecumenism. The biblical term for it is apostasy — a  term which means “forsaking (something), falling away or defecting (from something).” Falling away from what? The fundamental truth of the Scriptures (2 Thess 2:3 cp. 11, 12, 13) and believing the lies of the serpent or devil (v. 11), which involves coming under the influences of mystery of lawlessness or Torahlessness (v. 7).

What does it mean to come out of Babylon?

What does it mean to come out of Babylon? In the context of mainstream Christianity, we could give some very simplistic answers to this question by beating up on all the usual suspects. These would include all the non-biblical Christian paganesque holidays (Christmas, Easter, et al), steeples on churches, pagan-derived words in Christian nomenclature, whole denominations like the Roman Catholic Church, mainstream Christian doctrines that are derived totally or in part from pagan sources (e.g., immortality of soul, the traditional concepts of heaven and hell, the trinity, anti-Semitic theologies, etc.). Some people even view coming out of Babylon as leaving one country that they view as Babylon the Great (e.g., America). These are all issues that need to be addressed, but these are not the first issues one must deal with when discussing exiting Babylon.

Coming out of Babylon is more than just leaving non-biblical religious traditions, or leaving a religious system denomination, a country. It involves matters of the heart. When issues of the human are addressed and dealt with, the rest will take care of itself.

Being in the world, not of the world

When YHVH urges his people to come out of Babylon in Revelation 18:4, who are his people? Buddhists? Moslems? Hindus? Witches and satanists? Secular humanists and atheists? Maybe yes in a very broad and generic sense, but in a biblical context, he’s talking about the believers in the God of the Bible. Specifically, who are Elohim’s people? Many Bible believers don’t know the Continue reading →

 

New Video: The Torah Revealed from Genesis to Revelation

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Do you have a biblical paradigm based on doctrines and traditons of men, or on the light of biblical Torah-truth? The Torah-law and Yeshua, the Living Torah-Word of Elohim, are indivisible. One isn’t opposed to the other as the mainstream church would have you believe. It’s time to remove the spiritual sunglasses that filter out the light of Torah-truth as revealed from Genesis to Revelation.

 

Reflections on Joseph’s Sterling Spiritual Character

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Genesis 41:9, YHVH’s timing is perfect. Do you have the trust in YHVH to believe that for your life? Had the chief butler remembered Joseph prior to this how would things have been different for Joseph? Would he have had the chance to interpret Pharaoh’s dream? Would he have returned to Canaan? How would the history of the nation of Israel been different? Would YHVH’s purposes have been fulfilled?

Joseph enslaved 20692041

Genesis 41:16, After all Joseph had endured—multiple false accusations, murder attempts, enslavement and imprisonment—a man of lesser spiritual stature than Joseph might have lost his faith in Elohim along the way. In this verse, what is the evidence that he hadn’t given up hope in his Heavenly Father and that he had not lost sight of the dreams and promises that YHVH had made to him many years earlier? As a form of witnessing, do you give honor to YHVH whenever you can—even to strangers? Doesn’t the fact that Joseph was able to do so in front of one of the most powerful monarchs of his day show evidence of his strong and abiding faith in and fear of YHVH even in spite of years of mistreatment and false accusations? Joseph is a powerful and encouraging example to the down-trodden of the world who have been persecuted for the their faith. It is possible to maintain faith in YHVH even in spite of dire circumstances.

Genesis 41:38, A man in whom the Spirit of Elohim is. Would this be the testimony of those heathens around you about you? If not, why? What changes in your life should you make to insure that it would be?

 

New Video: How to Get in the River of Life & Experience Divine Blessings

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It’s time to either get in the spiritual river of life that flows from Elohim’s throne, to get in deeper, or to undam the river. Here are some suggestions to help you experience the abundant life Elohim has for you.

 

Money? What’s that?

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Mark 12:15, Bring me a denarius. Yeshua was so disinterested with, unaffected by and uninvolved with money that when he needed some, even for illustration purposes, he wasn’t able just to whip a coin out of his pocket, but he had to find one elsewhere. In this case, he asked someone in the crowd for a coin. When he needed to pay the temple tax, he found a coin in a fish’s mouth (Matt 17:24–27). Yeshua’s approach to money is rare among Christian ministers today.

A Roman denarius — a small silver coin.

A Roman denarius — a small silver coin.

 

Blog Scripture Readings for 12-14 Through 12-20-14

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THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

Parashat Miketz — Genesis 41:1 – 44:17
Haftarah — Numbers 7:30 – 41; Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7**
Prophets — 1 Samuel 18:1 – 24:22
Writings — Psalms 70:1 – 76:12
Testimony — Mark 11:19 – 14:52

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.

**Often a different haftarah is read when a “special shabbat” is designated on the traditional calendar. This week is the Sabbath during Chanukah and has a special maftir (concluding reading) and haftarah. Otherwise I Kings 3:15 – 4:1 is the haftarah for Parashat Miketz.

Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 12/14 through 12/20/14.