Flat Tops- Dissecting Flat Earth Meme ( Row A)

It's been a little while since I posted my "Hey Flatty's" post and since then, I have come across this picture circulating facebook. At the time of my Flatty post, I was working with a handful of scriptures that were given to me, and hence I feel the need to bust this one apart since it's taking more. Seeing as how this graphic has super bad compression, I'll do what I can to copy the texts as I go over them.

EARTH CREATED BEFORE THE SUN:
Genesis 1:1-19
Since there is a lot of text to this one,  I'll just link to the text and ask what the earth being created before the sun has to do with the shape of the earth? I mean yes, there are details of the creation of the earth but the marking that it is made before the sun has no geometric relevance.

UNIVERSE IS COMPLETE:
Genesis 2:1
I didn't really need to link the one verse, but I'mma keep rolling with it.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.- Gen 2:1

Ok. So... The heavens and the earth were completed. This tells me absolutely nothing about the geometric shape of the earth... Just that it was made. I wonder how many of these 200 flat earth scriptures have absolutely nothing to do with the actual shape of the earth, but are used to bolster bad logic. As it looks now, I'm down to at least 199

EARTH MEASUREMENTS ARE UNKNOWN:
Job 38:4-5, Jeremiah 31:37, Proverbs 25:3

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
5 Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it? - Job 38:4-5

This says nothing about the shape of the earth, and frankly, if we are to take this literally as many flat earthers do with other scripture then Job is some all knowing immortal god-like man that exists before the sun and earth were made... or, certain parts are poetic in nature that are to paint understanding.  If we take this literally like flat earthers do with other things in this passage, God is clearly stating that Job was in Genesis 1. Reading Genesis 1, there is no mention of Job ergo, the logic of taking everything in Job 38 as literal is BAD and will create contradictions in scripture based on narrow and flawed understanding.   Those who take  SOME scriptures literally to apply to flat earth, even in this subheading EARTH MEASUREMENTS ARE UNKNOWN, must either reconcile that this is God's imagery... or God is a liar for saying that Job DOES in fact know the measurements of the earth.
“Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And darkness, where is its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory
And that you may discern the paths to its home?
21 “You know, for you were born then,
And the number of your days is great!- Job 38:19-21

Thus says the Lord,
“If the heavens above can be measured
And the foundations of the earth searched out below,
Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel
For all that they have done,” declares the Lord- Jeremiah 31:37

Not seeing anything on a shape here. I see that you can't search the foundations of the earth... but that does not speak to the shape of the earth itself.

As the heavens for height and the earth for depth,
So the heart of kings is unsearchable.- Proverbs 25:3

Still not a shape, but I will say that as per the earth's depth. We've been to the bottom of the marina trench and still have only discovered like, 5-10% of the ocean so, we don't know how deep it goes. This verse is still accurate.... even though the unsearchability of a kings heart is not a global shape.

EARTH IS A DISC/CIRCLE NOT A BALL:
Isaiah 40:22, Job 38:13-14

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.- Isaiah 40:22

Ok, Circle is a shape. A circle in 360 degrees is a sphere. One thing I want to ask about though if we are going to take this not as poetic imagery but instead as literal concrete text...
“The pillars of heaven tremble
And are amazed at His rebuke. - Job 26:11
Are the heavens a curtain or are they on pillars?

That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 “It is changed like clay under the seal;
And they stand forth like a garment- Job 38:13-14

This one is interesting, until you factor in the previous verse that gives context of God rebuking Job saying

“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
And caused the dawn to know its place

So, "have you ever commanded the dawn to know its place that it might take hold of the ends of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it "  Are we to believe that this is a legitimate option for Job, that he some how has this ability to do what God is suggesting, that he can commands the dawn and shake wickedness out, OR is this imagery so that God can take a broad concept and relay God's OWN grandness and justice and Majesty to a finite man of narrow perspective? The logic also has errors under the heading EARTH IS A DISC NOT A BALL, seeing as how this makes no mention of either disk or ball. If you want to suggest that a ball does not have ends, talk to every major league pitcher that has ever thrown a knuckle ball and has had to grip the ball by either... get this, the TOP END or the BOTTOM END of the ball. This verse does nothing to speak on the actual shape of the earth, just that it has vague undefined "ends" in a metaphoric reasoning.


 EARTH IS MEASURED WITH A LINE NOT A CURVE:
Job 38:4-5
(already linked and quoted under section EARTH MEASUREMENTS ARE UNKOWN)

Seeing as how this is already quoted above, but posted again in another section, I'm lead to believe that it was copy/pasted to try and persuade people by a cursory glance who don't bother to look up everything on the list, they just see a lot of scriptures and think "man that is probably true, look at this big list of scriptures... I'm not going to look them all up, I'm going to go play Mario kart."
Lets look at the surrounding verses to give some context

“Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;
9 When I made a cloud its garment- Job 38:8-9

Is anyone out there making a doctrine that the ocean is a giant... how do I put this right in a Bible blog... Baby factory? (wipes forehead). Are there flat earthers out there that are making gnostic stances that clouds are clothes? No? Its because certain passages are imagery, and not literal.


PATHS ARE STRAIGHT NOT CURVED:
1 Samuel 6:12, Psalms 5:8, Psalm 27:11, Isaiah 40:3, Jerimiah 31:9, Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23, Acts 16:11, Acts 21:1, Hebrews 12:13 ( hoo boy we got a list now.)

I'm going to rapid fire through this nonsense fast:
1.  1 Samuel 6:12 is about cows walking down the street and not wandering to the right or left. these are cows hitched to a cart. This is the biblical equivalent of cruise control, and not a case for the shape of the earth. If I put a level on a piece of wood, and roll a hotwheels car down it, this is not in any way at foundational premise of the shape of the entire earth. This is so dumb that im a little mad that this is on this list and I have to explain that. " lowing as they went" Changes in elevation... that means... a curve to some extent in some point.
2. Psalms 5:8 "O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; Make Your way straight before me."  I see, because we are to walk in uprightness and blamelessness, the earth is ...flat? What kinda logic jump is that? That is a HUUUUUGE leap. Look at the next verse:

There is nothing reliable in what they say;
Their inward part is destruction itself.
Their throat is an open grave;
They flatter with their tongue 

see that... the throats are open graves... time to put dead people in those throats and then put dirt in those peoples mouths because we have to bury people in the open graves that are in the throats of those people because we're taking all imagery literally.
3. Psalms 27:11 "Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes."  If we apply the literalist bad logic of misinterpreting scriptures... this must mean that the shape of the earth is different to the foes of david. David is requesting that God lead him in a literal flat earth shape because the shape of the earth might cause him to die because of his enemies. Please tell me that people see the absurdity of this. I don't think, and I could be wrong, but I don't think that in verse 2 when David is saying "When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh" that he is literally running from cannibals. I'm PRETTY sure that the phrase devour my flesh is an idiom

"The phrase le’ekol eth besart – devours my flesh is an ancient Semitic idiom that literally means to steel something from you that is as precious to you as your life.  That could be the wicked  the ra’a’ who are so envious and jealous of you that the will do whatever it takes to suck the life out of you, they would love to have that which is bringing you such joy and satisfaction for themselves and would leave you with the feelings of despair and hopeless that they feel.  They are literally devouring your flesh."

Literalist would completely miss this meaning and assure you that David was a zombie slayer
4. Isaiah 40:3  A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God."  so.... what you're sayin is that the way ISNT smooth so that it must be MADE smooth... Next verse: “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;"  WE STILL HAVE MOUNTAINS!!!! How can Zechariah 14:4, talking about Yeshua returning and splitting the MOUTNTAIN and CREATING A VALLEY happen if we are to interpret Isaiah 40:3 as saying that the earth everywhere is flat?
5. Jerimiah 31:9 is akin to saying  "I'll fix the sidewalk" rather than "the earth is flat"
6. Matthew 3:3  For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’”    If we interpret this as being about the shape of the earth, then we would need to interpret the fact that Yeshua is the upright one, and start removing scriptures that say He bent down to scoop dirt or that He reclined with His disciples. The term is referring to His walk of a Spiritual nature.
7. Mark 1:3- see point 6
8. Luke 3:4,- see point 6 its the same point
9. John 1:23,- See point 6... its the same flawed logic applied again to the same verses
10. Acts 16:11, "So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis"  ... Watch this video. Each of these traveled in a straight line, but also, each of these had various heights and depths that do not support flatness.
11.Acts 21:1,- See point 10. Also, if I leave work and go straight home, that means that I did not travel to the store, gas station, hair cut place or pizza place.... it does not mean that I drove through the building, through 80 trees, through the park, through a gas station through a park directly to my driveway.
12. Hebrews 12:13. If we are to take this verse literally as the earth is flat, then why are we not also applying that same logic to verse 2 "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" as to mean that we can never blink or drive or do anything as we must constantly be staring at Jesus? How are we going to do that literalist, He hasn't come back yet... and graven images are out.. maybe we need to rethink the horrible logic for all of these

WATERS ARE STREGHT NOT CURVED
Job 37:10
“From the breath of God ice is made, And the expanse of the waters is frozen."   There is no shape in that.


EARTHQUAKES SHAKE EARTH AND DOES NOT MOVE (how does that work?)
2 Samuel 22:8? Isaiah 12:13???? Revelation 6:12-13

2 Samuel 22:8 “Then the earth shook and quaked, The foundations of heaven were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry." How exactly does the earth shake and quake without moving?


Isaiah 12:13.... it's easy to say there are 200 verse when you do this, just make up verse. Isaiah 12 only goes to verse 6. I'm about 98% sure that this theory and list was created by atheists to prey upon believers apathy to actually look up real stuff and make them look ignorant.

Revelation 6:12-13. Oh at least we're back to real verses again, this one says " I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; ¹³ and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind"  Again, where in there is the shape of the earth?  If we were on a globe and we were surrounded by stars (which we are on both counts) then the stars could "fall" to earth from any point in the solar system/galaxy...this doesn't speak to earth shape and being Shook doesn't say anything about earth shape.


EARTH IS FIXED AND UNMOVEABLE
Psalms 93:1, Psalms 96:10, Psalms 104:5,  Psalms 119:89-90, Isaiah 45:18, 1 chronicles 16:30
1. Psalms 93:1  "The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved." So instead of taking this to mean that the earth will not be moved say, from the axis it rotates on, or the circuit from which it spins, we're supposed to take this literally as the earth doesn't move at all... and I guess we're to take it that water talks too? verse 3 "The floods have lifted up, O Lord, The floods have lifted up their voice,
The floods lift up their pounding waves". How is this POETIC IMAGRY speaking to the shape of the earth?

2. Psalms 96:10. See point 1 above
3. Psalms 104:5 "He established the earth upon its foundations,

So that it will not totter forever and ever." Again, spinning on an axis like a globe achieves this. The earth does not totter, the earth spins the way it always has... on its axis.
4. Psalms 119:89-90 "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands." That has nothing to do with shapes.
5. Isaiah 45:18 "For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited),“I am the Lord, and there is none else." How does "People live on earth" = "Checkmate Globies" This is not a flat earth scripture... its just a scripture.
6. 1 Chronicles 16:30 "Tremble before Him, all the earth; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved."  same context as before... unless you want to account for all of nature being people...

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
32 Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
33 Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord;
For He is coming to judge the earth.

Careful now, starting to sound like a wiccan if you take this as literal.

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

Psalm 46:10

"Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” ... please, please tell me that you're not trying to shoehorn this into a bad doctrine as if it were to mean that God saying cease or be still He's some how making a statement about the "immovability of the earth" because if that IS what you're trying to suggest... take any remaining credibility you have as a Bible 'scholar' and use it to light your pilot light.

EARTH HAS PILLARS AND HANGS ON NOTHING

1 Samuel 2:8, Job 9:6, Job 26:7,  Psalm 75:3, 2 Peter 3:5

1.1 Samuel 2:8  "“He raises the (a) poor from the dust ,  He lifts the (b)needy from the ash heap

To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor; (c) For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,

And He set the world on them."    So... (a) symbolic (b) symbolic  (c) literal?

2. Job 9:6 "Who shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble" Uh-oh... we got a conflict if we're taking everything literally because above you said the earth doesn't move out of its place... remember....  Psalms 93:1  "The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved."  You're breaking the Bible with your bad reasoning.3.  Job 26:7 “He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing." This maybe one of the closest to a reasonable verses that would look like something for a flat earth... but it doesn't. Even in a globe, to say that he's stretched out the north out into space, that doesn't mean flat that can mean the curve of the earth.

4. Psalm 75:3 "“The earth and all who dwell in it melt; It is I who have firmly set its pillars. Selah"  See, this is one that you have to take a step back and look how your reasoning for one half being hammered into your preconceived notion doesn't fit with the other half of the verse. I am not melted. You, if you are reading this are not melted. We are not melted.  Look at this verse in the same chapter "And all the horns of the wicked He will cut off, But the horns of the righteous will be lifted up." Since you didn't melt.... are you telling me that you have horns, are you some sort of goat creature?

5. 2 Peter 3:5 "For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water" This neither states that the earth has pillars, hangs on nothing, or that the earth is any particular shape.... Just that it was made from water.

Speaking of Pillars of the Earth, let me show you something....

These are Pillars in the earth. They exist. This doesn't mean flat.  I will continue more of this terrible list of misguided scriptures in future post as God allows, but this post is getting long so I'm going to break it into 3 sections. Lord help me heal the violence done to the text in with this bad logic.


Row B

Judgments.

I've tried to write this months post at least three times and I have always been caught short looking for the words or the substantial theme. Yom Kippur kept coming back to me, and I reflected on the elements of the days of awe (the original airing of grievances for all you festivus people out there) and what that entails. I went through a set of checking my actions and my heart for things over the past year and areas that I needed to repent for. I keep coming back to one word.

Judgments.

There were areas that I delivered a right judgment but I didn't do it the right way, and I had to go back and apologize to the person that was involved. The matter was in regards to addressing aspects of behavior that warranted removal from a group due to persistently antagonistic and divisive nature. It was the right call. The part that I erred in was where I removed them without being precise about it in a message AS it happened.  It was weird reaching out to them for the way, and not the why. They predictably rejected my apology and seethed with indignation and called me a name or two but the effort was made. In judgment, I went to them for ownership of my part.

On Yom Kippur as night had just fallen and I was on my way home I got caught at a light where there were two junkies holding signs. I usually refer to them as domestically challenged people, but these were junkies. They've been holding signs that say anything helps and I've handed out deodorant to  domestically challenged people before.. and they just looked confused. I seldom carry cash, and if I have cash I might have given them a dollar or two. This night, at the light, I watched these two on the corner. I reached into the passenger side of my truck and pulled out two cans of coke zero, rolled down my window and I called one over. I'm sensitive to the homeless as the verse states

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’- Matt 25

 My intuition was that these people didn't need my help but they were exploiting the generosity of those who would give, but I suppressed the notion. The man came over and said "Oh, thanks." as he took the cans of soda "What we could really use is money to get some drugs though..." his eyes widened as if he himself was surprised at what he just said "...or maybe like, food or a place to sleep or something, Heh". I'm pretty sure the expression on my face was one of, "Its too late man, I heard you the first time and you need to back away from my car...now". My judgment was correct, but I felt it prudent to be safe rather than sorry. I was out like a buck in soda and I fulfilled the command to give. They turned out to be junkies, but the next one might not.

Judgments


A while ago in the Torah Singles group that we have on Facebook there was an individual that was new to the group. He'd lurked for a little bit and started commenting "Hello beautiful" on threads of some women. Now here's a thing that many men don't know, Most women do not see that as a compliment, they see it as creepy. Many women judge and dismiss men that don't know any better because they weren't taught any better ( some good, some bad).  Now there was one guy that judged this person harshly, demanding that he be removed from the group because he'd "made women feel uncomfortable" by commented "hello beautiful". The judgment seemed kinda rash seeing as how I don't think anyone ever died from someone nonchalantly calling them beautiful, and based on how each of these women were a grown adults capable of speaking up about what did or did not offend them. Banning a guy for bad social cues in my opinion wouldn't let him observe, and learn to correct with time. After a while, it was determined that this individual, well, was a little lagging in the processing power. This didn't stop the one guy for making a loud public stance and essentially "White Knighting" for everyone to see how noble and chivalrous he was protecting these women from the beast that was utter the foul words "Hello" and "Beautiful". The White Knight, when called out on his over reaction, doubled down with the butthurt and went missing in action. As I weight the totality of the scenario, I was reminded of the verse that says

"Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." - John 7

After we sought out what happened to the guy that went missing, he went on a long rant about how we suck in keeping the peace because new members were going to show up and see a guy commenting "Hello Beautiful" and how that... what did he say..

They’re seeing the absolute worst side of the group literally within their first interaction of the group and no one is doing a damned thing about it. I think that’s honestly some kind of record; I mean seriously, call Guinness World Records. - Butthurt guy in over reactive dramatization

Where as it looked like the ...cognitively impaired dude was being a creeper, he just wasn't understanding what he was doing. Where it looked like the dude initially was trying to protect the group, he actually turned out to have a little bit of a savior complex needing to rescue damsels from being called beautiful because people would obviously run for the door if we didn't jump in and flex authoritarian control over the communications of consenting adults. Its kinda laughable.

Judgments.


Last year there was a split from a group/ group of friends that I had come to love. Trust is a hard thing for me, vulnerability is even harder. Over time with these friends in this group they came to feel like family. I spent a lot of time encouraging many of them and at times a few of them encouraged me in a hard time. I even helped pair a few of them up with their significant others. When it came time to make changes in the group, I voiced my disagreement with the choice. Instead of validating the fact that I disagreed, and being out voted (which I would have been more than fine with) there was one who sought out people that had left the group and cited me as the reason that they had left. Now, in the group rules it clearly stated that they were to go by the Matt 18 protocol for disagreements and go one on one to the person that they had issue with, being me in this situation. They didn't. They left, and when I disagreed with the proposed changes to the group my close friends sought out those people that never had the decency or the courage to discuss things with me, and they gossiped about my character and demeanor. Their justification for listening to gossip and seeking it out, was the baseless assumption that if they had hypothetically brought up their grievances to me, that I wouldn't have listened to them. Then they had their Julius Caesar moment where they brought only half of the people in charge of the group together ( and a few people that weren't in the group or part of things) and it ended with my departure from the group. The story and the details as to the how and why they did what they did kept changing and they still keep putting forward a false or selective narrative. It still hurts me sometimes. I was thinking about how even after I explained how they sinned against me, they were unrepentant. When I explained how badly they hurt and betrayed my friendship and my trust, they had no remorse. We just came through Yom Kippur and there was no out reach, no repentance. I think about that and how there isn't anything that I can say or do to change their hearts. There isn't anything that I can say or do that will help them understand, its something that God has to do. I have to trust Him and clean my side of the street. He is the one with Righteous

Judgments.









.... but it doesn't stop me from making jokes to remind them I'm still around though.

Not Yet Mr. 70 A.D. Guy

The other day I was in a conversation with a Preterist that stated that the Torah is not to be followed due to his statement that Jerusalem was destroyed in 70ad. Citing Luke 21 he says “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, ²² for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
his stance is that when the Savior states in Matthew 5:17-19 that the Law of God is to be followed until heaven and earth pass away, that heaven and earth don't really mean heaven and earth and that the text merely means until "all is fulfilled" which... citing the passage in Luke 21, he means is 70A.D. since Jerusalem was sacked in 70.A.d.
 Here are a few problems with that idea of "everything fulfilled" idea that they're shoehorning into theology.... Not everything HAS been fulfilled. When you read Revelation which was written shortly after the A.D sack of Jersualem you see a lot of stuff about the seals and what have you. It's easy to dismiss them as some weird mystical fever dream and not literal events and then you can ascribe whatever meaning to them you want... except for the fact that Zechariah seems to give the same accounting for the events (same or really really close similarities that are enough for me)


³ Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. - Zech 14
² I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.- Rev 6


Hasn't happened yet.



On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. ⁷ It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light- Zech 14
I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;- rev 6
 The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. rev 8




Hasn't happened yet.

This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. ¹³ On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. ¹⁴ Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. ¹⁵ A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps- Zech 14
When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come” ⁸ I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.- Rev 6



Hasn't happened in this specific context yet.



 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; ¹³ and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. ¹⁴ The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. ¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; ¹⁶ and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; ¹⁷ for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”- rev 6
On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵ You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.- Zech 14


Nope,  Not yet.


 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.⁹ The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.- Zech 14
They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes- rev 7 


No, that one hasn't reach its full fullness yet... so Preterist guy I think is wrong in his take that Luke 21:22 was in reference to the event in 70 A.D.  I think, and I fully admit I could be wrong on this, but I think the horses spoken of in this passage (which hasn't happened yet):



²⁰ On that day holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. ²¹ Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty.- Zech 14


....Are (maybe) the Horses mentioned in Revelation. (maybe not, but possibly)


 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

....which... you know... hasn't happened yet.

Book of 1st Opinions

One of the first accounts with the Adversary is in Gen 3 and it is as follows

 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;  but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”  The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!  For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
A lot of believers seem to be flocking to extra-biblical literature. I've seen it crammed in peoples Torah portion studies like it has any right to be there. It doesn't. I had a discussion with someone recently that had this to say

If the source venerates and expounds on scripture i don't see the problem and Enoch especially clears up misunderstandings about Genesis 6 that causes prejudice against God when misunderstood 

Clears up misunderstandings? The dude that said this is a well meaning Facebook friend but this is a problem.  When I asked "so you're saying it adds to the text of Gen 6?" He continued

expounds on or clears up misunderstandings caused by a lack of information. There are many books referenced in the cannon of Scripture that we don't have in the cannon

That is a HUGE problem to suggest that we as believers need some outside source to authenticate the scriptures, when scriptures are the standard of authentication. Look at that passage above that I outlined from Gen 3. The addition of ONE word, not an entire book, not an entire paragraph, not an entire sentence, but one single word slipped in by the adversary was enough to doom humanity.  What is the temptation offered by these books if it isn't  "your eyes will be opened"  and it allow you to have special knowledge like God? 

 

 

Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. - 1 Tim 6

 

 There are people that read extra-biblical works and they get hung up on the Nephlim and the Firmament and all sorts of issues that have more than likely zero spiritual resolution for the believer. They can rant for days about their thoughts about the Sons of God mixing with the Daughters of men, but they have difficulty loving their brothers and sisters in the Christian church. They have 10k opinions on the book of Jasher, but they can't forgive the church that burned them or love their enemies as Christ commands.

 

Take a look at this:

 

And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

    to guard you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. - Luke 4

 

He didn't even add words that time, he just used the right information in the wrong way to make it a lie. How much more so would we allow the opportunity for deception and detraction when instead of reading what the word says in nearness with God, we hold up that which is not scripture as if it were or put it on a pedestal as if was the decoder to all things Bible. 

 

People are so ready to believe anything that they see on Youtube that they do not confirm its accuracy, as another one of my friends pointed out in response to the claim "if you study them you will find that they support scripture and you will then see why they were removed by the Catholic church and the Protestants as well" he said

 

this is a fabrication from Hyslop. The book of Enoch traces back to about 300 BC. The Hebrew Scriptures were canonized by the time of the Hasmonean line of kings, so roughly 100 BC. In fact, the Greek Septuagint was put together around 200 years before Yeshua. Yet no one in that era considered Enoch as worthy of being included as Scripture. This has nothing to do with the Catholic church. The Catholic church merely agreed with the same conclusions previously drawn by Jewish scholars, that it did not qualify as divinely inspired material.

When we start holding extrabiblical books that grant us "special knowledge" in the same light as the scriptures not only are we in danger of the warning time and time again against adding and taking away from the Word of God, but we're conducting ourselves the same as the Mormons. If the goal of the adversary is to counterfeit, then the elevation of non-biblical text is nothing short of playing with fire.

Weathering storms

The blue eyed woman across from me is throwing back whiskey sours speaking of our beliefs in the past tense. She’s stacking grievances alongside her temptations as I plow through my third or fifth Dr. Pepper so far.  My eyes are tracing the doubled dimples in her smile as my mind is retreating to its latest battlefield.  We cycle through subjects and memories and roam over the psychology of all the people we know until we’ve closed down the bar and cleared the tab. She tells me out in the parking lot that I’m a Leo rising, but also water aside from the scorpions flame.  She thinks the science behind the moons tides are held in the aspects of us being water mostly, and born when we begin. I can hear her mother’s voice in my mind saying “It’s all bullshit anyway” but the context was for her discarded beliefs, not these.  I watch the haggard dirty street people shuffle along in the darkness, contrasted by the attractive fair skinned blue eyed woman sitting beneath a flood light.  She tells me matter of factly “I’ll never set foot in another church again, I’m sorry, but that’s just how I feel at this point in my life.” I stand in the parking lot with the shade of a canopy blocking half of the light splitting my definition.  I don’t know shit about moon tides or birth times, but I know temptations and tailspins. I know that God and I aren’t right together and my mind rolls though the elements of justice; sovereignty, grace, sacrifice, and obedience.  There are days that I wake up with a lie that tells me that I don’t love God. I weigh the deception, sifting through it for truth.  I know my hearts feeling disconnected in a shit storm of life, but then again feelings don’t dictate reality, only perception.  I’m occasionally inclined to think that I took to God less as a King and more as a powerful Ally in my war against life and the world.  I know my souls got a flu and reading the Scripture isn’t putting a pulse into a dead man.  I drove my truck to a night service the other day because I know something's wrong, and I tried to praise and I tried to worship but my voice was wrong. It was like salted earth and I didn’t have the shovel to remove the top soil to dig.  I waited for a word from God in the sermon hoping for some ministry because I’m thinking my heart is flint. All I got was politics and watered down quotes about doing my parts to recycle reduce and reuse.  God is real, and I know he deserves better than me.  An old group told me that I war too much, and since then the words make their way around again.  As I stood in the parking lot yearning to unshackle the restraints that hold depravity in check I recalled the two weeks after my sister died.  The effects on the mind and the passenger state of my own mind make me wonder if that man was the real me and everything else just a version  mask due to cultural conditioning for a people that I love who follow a book that makes the most sense to me? I ask myself If I’ve caught a demon, or just doubt.  Thomas knew the truth but was still a skeptic. I’m a believer but a failure.  I listen to the life of a blue eyed Adonis and I can recall all the faces that have let go. My back aches in physical and symbolic pain. I’ve put myself on trial and my actions make a case that I knew God, but do I know Him?  I think that I walked with Him, and He knew me, but sometimes I don’t know who I am. I war too much and I am supposed to be for peace, but I fight my identity, and I fight a steeped culture, and I fight to be honest with a silent God who sets His hand against me in my pride.  I cannot tell if I am a rational man or one gifted with too much sight pushing me to madness. There is too much geometry to everything

 A trap messianics often fall into regardless of how often we assure ourselves we dont believe is that Works =Favor and lack of works = unfavor... thus Grace becomes merit based which is paradoxical as Grace is essential independant from Works. So, at times God feels distant or quiet and it plays in my mind as "I've sinned, God has left" a.k.a Samsons terror. Compound divine silence with heavily voltile life issues in general and one suspects that the Hand of God has turned against them. In that darkness one begins to question, not God or His Sovreignty or Righteousness, but if one really loves God. Do I love God, who is worthy of love in the highest, or did I cast lot with Him as a supreme allied force in a vendetta against the world? How much of my faith has been, in some small dynamic, cultural? How many lies have I told God when I've said things like "i'll not do X again". Then war, I know we are to be ambassadors of Peace bringing shalom, meek, servants, but I often see the destruction that i can do. Like my purpose is to break, among a people called to mend. I see flaw in myself that i cannot change, along flaw that i try to change, along flaw i hold indifference to. So, questions arise about security in grace among flaws both in reform and atrophy, love and death, peace and combat, sheep and wolf.

A lot of the times I'll walk into a church and I see people buzzing around in their friend groups but I don't fit. I tried to make way with someone that I thought had common ground, to get to know them and their friends, but I think every time I reach out in a sense to bond with someone, it was treated as this alien thing. I often feel like I'm too studied for Christian churches when we're walking through Romans which mentions God's Law and I speak on it in proper context and am asked to leave. I'm ironically at Christian churches because I need the grace, love and fellowship that I find lacking in Messianic places. When I say that I sometimes don't feel accepted, what I actually mean to say is that most of the time I don't feel accepted. In my mind I understand that by challenging certain Doctrines from the scriptures themselves, it is a threat to people’s way of life in the platform of something sacred. It is not my intention to break that which is Holy. It is my intention to reconcile that which is True by the Word, with the rest of the Word as, If I have found something totally in error, I need to understand how. As I've walked in this way, which seems like a sect, a branch, a denomination of which many do not wish to claim, I have watched loved ones of like mind drift out into the disbelief. I wonder at times if I am living by faith, or surviving it. I read of Jeremiahs lamenting at the "church" mocking him and putting him in stocks as God grieves those who rejected His ways, and I feel lonely because I see as Jeremiah does but I am not as righteous. I grieve as Elijah does on the mountain top as a man who stood in front of priests and men and begged them to understand that God's ways are truth, but I am not holy as Elijah. I haven't the ambition or the drive to become some leader and preacher or teacher as some have spoken, I've rejected that pretty much every place it's spoken. I wonder if there is a church I can belong though. A place where we can read and study the word and grow together and be friends, or a family. A place where I am not looked at as an outcast for genuinely pointing out that the scriptures do not contradict, and cannot in the context, and should they then it is the Doctrines of men that should be adjusted. I'd like to be able to enter church and not measured by my shortcomings and condemned for having flaws not yet fully crucified. I'd like to be in a church that I do not hear unbiblical sermons advocating certain sins that they believe God has made a way for them to enjoy. I'd like to be in a church that doesn't perpetually spend hours poring over numerals and pictorial Hebrew letters, and spends three hours discussing Greek words that never touch the state of the Heart or the power of the renewal of Christ in the Holy Spirit of God. I'd like to not be treated like a wolf looking to devour sheep for asking Biblical questions in a search for right understanding. I'd like to be a part of a body that doesn't have Alex Jonesian theologies in adding to the Word of God with widely disputed texts that have been verified as debunked, in order to add "special knowledge" about Nephilim, some secret plot to hide the shape of the earth, or the need to "Enhance scriptural understanding" via something that is not Scripture itself. More and more I see people spin out into deception, and heresy, apostasy and contempt. I'm left feeling like a man with no country. To not fellowship with anyone is tactically vulnerable from a Spiritual standpoint. I am weak as one, alone. I am susceptible alone for prolonged extent. I wonder how long until my own love grows cold. I wonder how to properly love a body that holds me in contempt.

I tell people I'm a man, regular man like any other. I have days of doubt and I have waves of madness and anger. I hold to the Grace of the Divine living God, and pull stones from a leaky boat to keep from sinking. Water rises, and the tides rage around me, But I don't drown holding to a King who can walk on water.

Unrecognizable

On my work one day I saw a man painting a mural high on the corner of a building near a parking lot. I was curious as to what it was exactly that he was painting, as the mural itself looked to be a bunch of flesh tone boxes. As I drove on in my confusion I began to be annoyed by what passes for art in today's society.  Throughout my shift I was annoyed by this, at that time unfinished work, admittedly more than I should have been. It wasn't until the following Monday on my commute that I saw the finished product

 

 

I was a traffic light and I stopped and looked at it and realized what it really is, a painting of the Savior with his face pixelated. Commentary of religious censorship in America not withstanding, the work of art has stuck with me for weeks and I find myself reflecting on this faceless Messiah. Ultimately I came back to this:

Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.-  Isaiah 52

Have you ever thought about this?  That man was created to bear the image of God, and there on that cross God was unrecognizable as he bore the image of a man? Our Christ, Yeshua, the Savior, the Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords who was there at man's creation and said:

 “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  - Gen 1


We were born to bear the image of God.  I cant help but think about how in our sins, we are the ones that are unrecognizable to our purpose. We are the ones that act like animals, carnal, rebellious and unreasonable. In our flesh we are hostile to the purpose of God, and Christ on that cross took all of that.  There is no forgiveness without the recognition of sin, and we must look upon that cross knowing that it testifies that our behavior has not been of God. We must recognize that when we continue on in our sin we make the Christ unrecognizable in the world. I think about Moses

So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.”  And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.- Numbers 21

Could it be said that they were looking upon a reflection of their action? That they were looking at heir deeds and acknowledging that they had walked in the manner of the serpent, the adversary, the enemy. When they recognized that God was the only one that can save, just as we look at our Beloved on the cross, when they accepted their guilt, then there and only there can there be redemption. One cannot have forgivingness if they refuse to acknowledge that they have committed an offense.  Our pride and our self will and our arrogance in defiance of God makes unrecognizable as His children. Our rejection of the sacrifice of the Messiah, makes us unrecognizable as believers.
 Our rejection of God's ways, God's commands, and God's Law, makes us unrecognizable to the Messiah

 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ - Matt 7


I'm fortunate for the pixelated mural on the way to work, because it puts me in the mindset that I can be recognized as a Son of the living God, redeemed, forgiven.... because of his work becoming unrecognizable as a man.

The Dividing wall

One of the characterizations that most Messianics have experienced, and hate, is that notion that by being obedient to the commands of God one is either A. Trying to earn salvation or B. That they're trying to prove themselves superior by having special knowledge. Christians often make these generalizations looking at some of the fruit of a few weirdos and then painting the whole group with the strokes of the outliers. That is a frustrating thing for many messianic people because they believe this in an unfair assessment.
One of the characterizations that most Christians have experienced, and hate, is that notion that because you're a believer, you therefore A. Hate people that struggle with Homosexuality B. you're judging everyone based on their sins. The world often makes these generalizations by looking at some of the fruit of a the likes of the Westbro Baptist Church and then painting the whole group with the stokes of the outliers. That is a frustrating thing for most Christians because they believe this is an unfair assessment.


I had a conversation with a Messianic person who was railing against our brothers and sisters in the Christian church because many of them do not understand the commands of God the way that many Messianics do. This man went so far as to state that because they are not keeping the Sabbath in the fullness of the manner in which the Bible prescribes, that they're not saved and took great issue with my referring to Christians as Brothers and Sisters. I consider myself a Christian. I also consider myself Messianic. I also consider those who read the bible and pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be my Brothers and Sisters. I tried to point out to this man that he was essentially teaching that keeping the commands is what saves you even though he was trying to make the case that he wasn't saying that. When I was first a believer and I called out to a God of whom I was told would never leave me or forsake me, I knew nothing of the right way or the wrong way to keep the Sabbath, eating clean, or what a Tzitziot even was. Was my soul less placed in the hands of God through the atoning blood of the Messiah through faith because I didn't yet know the details of how God prefers that we worship Him?  Yet somehow with many Messianics this mindset persists.

 "Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”" - Acts 15

Its easy for a Messianic to miss these warnings when they hold a bitter view of Christians, Christianity, and to some degree a hostile regard to the "new Testament" since they spent much of their life reading that and now want to focus more specifically on "Torah". Ironically many in the Christian church hold a bitter view of Messianics, Hebraic thought, and a hostile regard to the "old Testament". Many in the Christian church trample those of genuine faith in the Messianic belief because they hold to the idea that once saved, works/ fruit should be manifesting in your life. many turn their head from the definition of sin, Ignore 2 thes 2's warning against lawlessness, and disregard where Christ himself states that there will be many who have done all kinds of Christian things who Christ will say "depart from me you who practice lawlessness, I never knew you". 


"Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. 2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. 3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”- Romans 15

Where is this fall withing the body of Christ in Christians and Messianics? Are we so partisan to our own understandings that we exclude our brothers at their understandings to grow and walk with them? If we do have insights into the walk of the Messiah that others do not yet see, do we hold animosity against them or do we bear their weaknesses?  Think about this


" Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ."- Acts 18

Do you see the power of graciously coming along a brother or sister with a zeal and a love of God and the Savior, and equipping them with other tools to help illuminate the path?
When it comes to judging others remember this

 "Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall"- Ephesians 2

We all used to be unbelievers. We all used to be baby believers. We all grew in our understanding as God teaches and grows us. Don't look down on those who believe contrary, reach out to them. Be gracious to each other. Tear down the dividing walls that keep us from being one in Christ.

so KoDESH!!!

Messianic people you know the ones I'm talking about. They're walking around at a party telling everyone that they're TRUELY KODESH and set apart. You know the people that make judgments on your life without having ever really talked to you, saying that you're spiritually immature when they never really struck up a conversation about a spiritual matter. They're usually the ones that brag about how much they fast or pray or how long they have been walking in the Holy Spirit and point out how you should be Holy the way that they are Holy. These people that talk a big game and do a lot of work to polish the outside...but are often blind to the reality.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. 'But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner! 'I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” - Luke 10


Seems contradictory no? That the one who is a total mess is in a better place than the one who boasts about his good works and judges everyone else? How does that passage start: And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt. The past few weeks have been rough on me if I can be candid. It's like there were those who sought out friends of mine, close people, and filled them with words about how flawed and unholy I am. How I am not like other people in so much I consider myself a regular flawed dude. I'm the first to admit my flaw, and I am very much and very deeply flawed. Do my flaws mean that I am not saved? Not at all. Do my flaws mean that I do not stumble, merely because I am forthright about them? No.

"Imagine yourself in the vicinity of the Garden of Gethsemane on a warm April night 2,000 years ago. As you watch, a man walks up to Jesus and begins kissing him. You would probably conclude, “How this man must love the Master!” Shortly after this you are shocked to hear another man bitterly cursing Christ. Now your conclusion would be, “How this man must hate the Master!” but both times you would be wrong. Judas, the man who kissed Christ, really hated him, and Peter, the one who cursed Him, really loved Him."- Dr. H. L. Willmington

The only one you should be comparing yourself to is Christ, with the caveat that you occasionally look at your former self to acknowledge that God has begun a work and you and has brought you closer to Him.

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment- John 7
When you casually glance at someone laughing with a group and fostering a sense of community with them, can you get the picture of someone behind the scenes sitting for hours ministering with broken and hurting people, pointing them back toward Christ? Do you judge that because you don't openly see from across the internet that the right hand is not doing things to the standard of the left hand, that it is not part of the body? Is this righteous judgment?
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.- Matt 6
Be careful out there. There is a form of pride that masks itself as righteousness. It pretends to be holiness and it can deceive you into thinking that you are a great crusader of the faith, when you are wielding a sword against your brothers and sisters of faith.

Get to the Chopper

The other day I was at work and was talking about learning to ride a motorcycle. A nurse overheard the conversation and he went on a rant about the dangers of motorcycle riding and how other people  have wrecked, and the accident landed them in the brain injury ward of the hospital where he and his co-workers had to wipe their butts. As I listened to how whole drawn out story of danger, the only thing that really cautioned me against the ride was the thought that I'd be stuck in the hospital and having to eat the cafeteria food for weeks on end. I've thought about his story since then and it wasn't until this morning that I tied the ideas together on a different point. Balance. You could get totally destroyed driving a car the same way that you could get wrecked on a bike. You could, but you probably wont. Why ride a bike? For me there isn't much more liberating and that risk is worth the reward, as long as I take precautions.

This got me thinking about the Torah and the Law of God. I couldn't tell you how many times I have heard some brothers and sisters in Christ say that the Law of God is legalism and that if you start doing it you have to turn off the power to your house one day a week, you can't drive anywhere and its so much stress that eventually you end up being spiteful towards God. Some say that when you follow the law of God you turn into this judgmental hypocrite that runs around stabbing people with the scriptures and heaping prideful damnation upon them in your ego driven zeal, proclaiming yourself something of a prophet.  The interesting part, is yes, that can happen. If you are careless on a motorcycle and reckless you're going to lose balance and focus, get thrown and live the rest of your life with a burn on your ankle where your skin hit the exhaust on the way down... not that I'd know anything like that. Ok, I would. However, if you are looking to the commands of God in proper context, if you are rooted in the Savior

"For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully" - 1 Tim

To avoid the proper application of the Law in your life because others have misused it would be like avoiding eating food because obesity is an epidemic and people occasionally choke to death on steak they didn't chew right. There are real threats and concerns, but not if you're doing the right thing the right way. Fear is not a good enough reason to keep from doing the right thing.

In your zeal to not be these guys:

Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”- Acts 15

Don't be these guys:

 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’- Matt 7

Find your balance, wear a helmet, enjoy the ride

Engagements

For whatever reason a few years back (could be 3, could be 10, I don't know they blur together for me) it seemed like there were like 40 different bride shows and all kinds of wedding movies. Out of all of that I think that is where the term "Bridezilla" came about. According to Google, Bridezilla is a word and it's defined as: "A woman whose behavior in planning her wedding is regarded as obsessive or intolerably demanding." These are the people that take something that is supposed to be a joyous occasion and get really angry over the centerpieces being 2 inches off of center, or a groomsman having a carnation pinned slightly higher than another groomsman (I don't know, I made those things up but someone is out there thinking, that is the worst). They lose focus of the bigger picture.

Recently on Facebook, I started a page called Questions4Pastors with the idea that there are questions that each person that reads the Bible must reconcile with the doctrines in their church. In a sense, We hope to engage a dialogue using the Socratic method to either have people research the answers as to why the believe God's law has been done away with, or hopefully, for them to ask their Pastors and get them involved in the study. I see these things as planned engagements in critical thinking.  How do we as Torah believers engage the Church, as there is a vast body of people that are hungry for the Truth of the word but have inherited bad doctrines. What, and how, are we reaching these people to bridge the breakdown in understanding.

Now, some of the Torah community have offered suggestions for questions to us. The questions, though logically sound, would not be perceived well. Take this question for example "If the Church says that the Law of God was done away with, then that means that I can marry my sister right?"
Even though this is an example of how the logic of the church breaks down, It presents the asker as an incestuous weirdo who wants to marry his sister instead of someone that is loves God and His Law. In this question and questions like it, what the Torah presenter thinks that they're showing flawless reasons as to why the Torah should be kept, when in reality they're show  a hostility and anger toward the one that does not understand. That isn't to say that the occasional shocking question isn't needed to jar someone awake to a mindset that they're sleeping in, but that shouldn't be our default reasoning should it? Think about the Bridezilla that sucks any sort of happiness out of the occasion of establishing a covenant relationship. Is that how we are presenting the Torah to non-torah believers, not by words but by expression? It makes me think of Luke 12
 Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”  And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? ⁴³ Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁴ Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵ But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; ⁴⁶ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷ And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, ⁴⁸ but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
Beating other believers and not giving them their rations at the proper time. Our job isn't to make other believe, but our job is to not be odious in our engagements. Our job is to reflect the Messiah and His glory, not our anger at their rejecting him or our pride at them not submitting to us. Don't be a Bridzilla in your evangelism. Be a loving bride inviting others to the joy of a relationship with the bridegroom.