My Thunderbird Tee-Shirt Explained

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Several people have had some questions about a tee-shirt I was wearing during a recent video I made with an embroidered thunderbird on it. One person expressed legitimate concern about my wearing an image of what they took to be an idol—something Scripture forbids. Actually, the thunderbird image is not an idol but, as far as I know, a non-religious, symbolic artistic depiction of heaven. Let me explain.

I purchased the tee shirt on my recent trip to Alaska. This was my fifth trip to that state. On the shirt is some native art from the Tlingit Indians picturing the mythical thunderbird, which is similar to an eagle. In my trips to Alaska, I have studied Tlingit art, talked to Tlingit natives and inquired about their beliefs and spiritual practices. The thunderbird (look it up oh Wikipedia), was not an object of worship but rather was a mythical creature (like sasquatch/Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster, the abominable snowman, the Phoenix bird, the biblical Leviathan and the unicorn, or the griffen or winged lion (which is a representation of the Cherubim in the throne room of Elohim). Moreover, the thunderbird (not an object of worship) represented the good powers of heaven, while in other native cultures the the great horned serpent represented the lower powers of darkness, hell or Satan (now that’s one tee shirt that I would never wear!). 

Moreover, the Tlingit art (like all of the art of the coastal indigenous peoples of the NW Pacific coast including Canada, Washington state and Oregon—where I live) is a highly stylized art that looks pagan but is not. These are highly caricaturized pictures of animals such as whales, ravens, eagles and salmon that represented their nation, clans, subclans. My wearing a thunderbird is no different than wearing a stylized eagle, which is a patriotic representation of America, since the eagle symbolizes America. Since I am an artist, I like artistic things, and I like native art (as long as it’s not pagan), since it often represents natural elements in YHVH’s creation (such as wind, rain, fire, trees, mountains and sky, earth, etc.) in a stylized way. I rather think that YHVH was keen on symbolic art himself. For example, look at all of the implements in the Tabernacle of Moses. They are are symbolic of many things!!!! Since I am an outdoorsman and make my living working with trees and plants and have spent much time in the forests and mountains, I tend to like things that depict or symbolize natural elements or aspects of YHVH’s creation. After all, doesn’t Romans 1:20 tell us that by his creation, which points to him, we understand his invisible attributes?

One more thing. Even the Christian cross is a pagan symbol going back to sun god worship, but now is a symbol for Christianity. I tend to think that the cross symbol goes back, potentially, to the Paleo-Hebrew letter tav which may mean “sign of the covenant”. So we potentially have a good symbol that was taken over by the pagans and corrupted as part of their idolatry, then they crucified Yeshua on their altar to their sun god, and now it’s a Christian symbol. What came first, the chicken or the egg? You see, symbologies can be complicated, since our world is full of them, and many of our words we speak, clothes we wear, things we eat, cultural practices and traditions come out of ancient paganism. Whole books have been written about this, and some Torah-minded people in their search for truth tend to get overly hung-up on this and begin to get legalistic and start judging others on what they say or do. (Look at some of the extremists in the sacred names movement where you’re forbidden to say “Jesus” or even have a Bible that has “Jesus” or “God” or “Lord” in it. As one can see, we want to avoid any pagan symbology that is overtly pagan, but to avoid it all we’d have to live naked in the woods and speak our own invented language, right?

When I was living in Europe, I knew a man in my church who hated organ music because it reminded him of the Catholic Church that he came out of. Does that mean the organ and its music is an evil because it’s associated with Roman Catholicism? There was another man who criticized me for wearing a red carnation in the lapel of my suit because this happened to be the symbol of the French communist party. So now we can’t listen to organ music and have red carnations??!!! It goes on and on!

I pray that this addresses the issue satisfactorily.

Here are some other examples of Tlingit (as all as art from other Pacific Northwest coastal tribes, which is part of the native cultural tradition in the area where I live) artistic depictions of Pacific Northwest coastal animals. This art may not be your cup of tea, but I rather like some of it. Different strokes for different folks!

Whales
Some seals
A bear
A raven and whale
a fox or wolf?
An eagle
A salmon and a whale or two whales, not sure.
Another whale
A beaver?
Another raven
Obviously a turtle
An otter
A salmon
 

The Oral Torah or Talmud—Good or Bad?

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Deuteronomy 17:8–13, Matters of controversy. How respectful and obedient are you to the spiritual leaders YHVH has placed over you? Or do you follow their wise counsel only if and when it suits you? Nowadays if one does not like congregational leadership for any reason, they simply leave that congregation and find a new one. In ancient Israel, this was not an option, nor was it an option in the first century. There was only one congregation in each town, and if there was a disagreement, people had to learn to work out their differences. What if we were in that situation today? How would that change your method of operation if you couldn’t just “cut and run” whenever things didn’t go your way or you got offended?

Rabbinic Justification of the Jewish Oral Torah Known as The Talmud. This Scripture passage has been used by Rabbinic Jews as a justification for  their so-called Oral Torah, or as Yeshua referred to it as “the tradition of the elders.” This oral tradition was eventually put into written form in the second century A.D. and was known as The Mishnah, which eventually evolved into The Talmud, which came hundreds of years later. Other Scriptures the rabbinics use to substantiate their claims regarding the legitimacy of their Oral Torah include Deuteronomy 1:16; Exodus 24:12; 34:27 (See Everyman’s Talmud, p. 146). Yeshua  and the apostolic writers make references to the Oral Torah as well (see Matt 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43; 12:5; 23:2–3; 1 Cor 14:34; 1 Tim 1:14). 

So what is the bottom line here? Are the saints supposed to follow the Oral Torah or not? These are some guidelines on how to view any non-Scriptural rabbinic Jewish writings: First, does it contradict or line up with the Written Torah-Word of Elohim? If not, then reject it. Second, does it point us to Yeshua the Messiah or away from him? If not, reject it. Third, is it historically accurate or is it fable and legend? If the latter, then it should probably be rejected. Finally, was it written during the Second Temple era or afterwards when many rabbinic Jewish took a decidedly anti-Christian and anti-Yeshua bent? If the latter, then  take it with a grain of salt—with a high degree of scepticism. 

Frankly, studying the Bible itself with the guiding help of the Spirit of Elohim and Spirit-led, Yeshua-believing and Torah-obedient teachers should be sufficient to give the saint the information they need to have a right relationship with YHVH Elohim through Yeshua the Messiah (see John 14:26; Eph 4:11–16; 1 John 2:27). Extra-biblical sources like the Talmud can be helpful for historical background information on a few subjects, but is of little value beyond that, in my opinion.

Finally, the purpose of the judges in Israel as per Deuteronomy 17:8–13 was to apply and interpret the Torah to everyday life situations, and not to change the Torah or add to and subtract from it, which the Jewish Oral Torah often does. This is elevating the mind and traditions of man above the Word of Elohim, which both the Torah (Deut 4:2; 12:32 cp. Rev 22:18) and Yeshua forbid (Mark 7:8–13), and which, quite frankly, is idolatrous, humanistic and feeding from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil instead of feeding from the tree of life and, therefore, is an evil practice.

 

The Bible Speaks Out on So-Called “Conspiracy Theories”

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In the modern mainstream media, one can hardly go a day without hearing the term conspiracy theory as a label applied to anything that does not fit the government-media complex politically correct narrative. What should be the saint’s view of the concept of so-called ­conspiracy theories? Actually, the Bible, the Word of Elohim and the foundation of all knowledge, has much to say about secret and evil plots by wicked cabals of like-minded individuals to thwart the plans and purposes of Elohim. As in all things, the saints of the Most High Elohim are advised to let Scripture inform them on everything they think, say and do, and this is true when it comes to “conspiracies theories” as well.

Even though the phrase conspiracy theory was apparently coined during the American Civil War, it was introduced into modern parlance in 1964 after criticisms surfaced concerning the Warren Report that “officially” explained how U.S. President John Kennedy was assassinated1. More recently, the phrase has been typically and cavalierly lobbed at anyone who suggests a narrative that explains the whys and wherefores of current political and economic events that diverges from that of the major government-media complex narrative, or what one might call “the party line”. The problem with this is that the use of such knee-jerk pejorative labels or epithets tends to shut down any questioning about, critical thinking concerning and discussion of a subject that is not “politically correct”. However, the greater problem with labeling any and every idea that one disagrees with is that this mentality ignores a key biblical truth which instructs the saints to “prove all things and hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thess 5:21). Moreover, it ignores the fact that from the beginning of time, there have always been nefarious schemes by evil people, who hate YHVH Elohim (and his saints), and to undermine and subvert the plans and purposes of the Creator. In fact, the Bible chronicles this from the beginning to the end including and even until the very return of Yeshua the Messiah as we shall see below. 

By dictionary definition, a conspiracy theory is,

A theory seeking to explain a disputed case or matter as a plot by a secret group or alliance rather than an individual or isolated act. A hypothesis alleging that the members of a coordinated group are, and/or were, secretly working together to commit illegal or wrongful actions including attempting to hide the existence of the group and its activities. In notable cases the hypothesis contradicts the mainstream explanation for historical or current events. Hypothetical speculation that is untrue or outlandish.2 

On the surface, this definition seems logical and almost incontrovertible, but upon closer examination, it reveals some serious flaws and begs some fair-minded critical analysis. The main and most obvious flaw in this definition is that it assumes that if we cannot see something in front of our eyes this means it does not exist. This is like saying that when we are in a boat on the ocean that if we cannot see the marine life below the waves’ surface, it must not exist. Of course, to any rational person, this is a foolish and ignorant proposition. Therefore, the typical definition of “conspiracy theory” is a non sequitur or a fallacious and illogical one.

The common and accepted definition of conspiracy theory is further flawed because it assumes that business, political and religious cabals do not exist or have never existed that have secret, ulterior and even subversive motives to gain control, power and wealth over other people. Anyone who has even a cursory understanding of history and current events knows that this assumption is patently false. If this were the case, then why do governments have secret spy and intelligent agencies such as the American CIA and FBI, the British MI6, the Israeli Mosad, or the former Soviet KJB now the FSB to name a few?

Further fallacies in the common definition of the term conspiracy theory reveal themselves like a flashing neon sign. For example, in Wikipedia’s article entitled “New World Order”, the title is followed by the parenthetical phrase “(conspiracy theory)”3. The lead paragraph in the article reads,

The New World Order (NWO) is a conspiracy theory which hypothesizes a secretly emerging totalitarian world government.

The glaring fallacious lie in this article is that high profile people (such as U.S. President George Bush) have publicly used this term New World Order as early as the late 1980s and early 1990s in reference to the very thing that Wikipedia denies exists. More recently, the so-called global elite political and economic power-brokers are using phrases like “a global reset” or “a liberal world order.” On the one hand, we are told that a new world order does not exist, and on the other hand, we are told that it is coming whether one likes it or not, and will impose upon humanity such things as a global tax, a digital global currency and cashless society, global social credit scores, a global initiatives to deal with climate change, global biometric tracking of humans, and the list goes on. The United Nations has even publicly documented such agendas in its Agenda 2021 report on the Earth Summit on “Sustainable Developments”4  and its similar Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals5. These publicly stated agendas by those who control the direction of affairs on planet earth are not conspiracy theories, but stated and undeniable facts that are being implemented and imposed on the human population as we speak!

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