It seems that when the US and Europe impose sanctions on a government, such as Zimbabwe, it punishes the ordinary people who lose the stability that their government should be able to provide. Countries always have resources of various kinds that they need to sell, so if a government is blocked from selling those resources because sanctions have been imposed, this just opens up opportunity for crafty individuals to make money out of finding ways around the sanctions to help with the sale of those resources. That which would normally be done through official channels is done by the back door, enriching those involved but depriving the ordinary citizens of a country revenue that the government should be able to share more widely among its people.
Category Archives: Faith
Faith
The Letter Writer
I read a lot of stuff on Facebook about Paul being a false apostle, “the 13th Apostle”, who taught differently to what Yahshua did. This comes especially from people who are Torah observant. Paul wasn’t perfect, but I personally don’t think he was a false apostle. If Paul was false, then he deceived Peter, who refers to him as a “dear brother” too:
2 Peter 3:15–16 (NIV): 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
This whole argument is set alight by the fact that some people misinterpret what Paul writes about the law to mean that we are not to obey the commandments. Simply put, I believe Paul uses the phrase “under law” to refer to those who try to practice the law without it being written in their hearts. The Letter Writer, written by Tim Hegg is a good analysis of this.
Luke 17:20–21 (YLT): 20 And having been questioned by the Pharisees, when the reign of God doth come, he answered them, and said, ‘The reign of God doth not come with observation; 21 nor shall they say, Lo, here; or lo, there; for lo, the reign of God is within you.’
We aren’t under subjugation to the law in the same sense as a child in a school being taught by someone, about things they often don’t know about, (Gal 3:24-26), because we are to know the law inwardly by nature.
34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more. (Jer 32:34)
The New Covenant says the the law will be written in our hearts:
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people: (Jer 31:33)
Romans 2:14–16 (CJB): 14 For whenever Gentiles, who have no Torah, do naturally what the Torah requires, then these, even though they don’t have Torah, for themselves are Torah! 15 For their lives show that the conduct the Torah dictates is written in their hearts. Their consciences also bear witness to this, for their conflicting thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them 16 on a day when God passes judgment on people’s inmost secrets. (According to the Good News as I proclaim it, he does this through the Messiah Yeshua.)
The key to understanding what Paul is saying about the law is Romans 8. We obey the law by Yah’s spirit in us, it is His work in us that enables us to understand and do – that’s not an excuse to be lawless.
Don’t let the common misinterpretation of Paul’s narrative put forth by “the church” sway you from understanding what he is saying. You will find Peter’s words are 100% correct, because those people who misinterpret Paul also misinterpret the other scriptures, they don’t misinterpret Paul only. This happens because of the spirit in people, we can read the same text and come to many different beliefs from it, but the spirit of Yah is not divided, Yah is one.
Copernicus and the Jews
This is a book that will challenge your perceptions about the various religious systems centred around pertaining to what is commonly known as Christianity. Should Rome, England, Russia or any where else be the focus of a faith that is inherently Jewish?
Dr Amos Wilson Religion, Work & School
It’s radical, but there is some truth in this. In a world where cultures, colours, races, religion and economic systems collide, the primacy of any group is not necessarily maintained by merit, but by might and policy.
Under Law?
Think carefully about the doctrine of Christianity, as opposed to “The Way”. If Messiah “abolished the law on the cross”, as many people claim, then the new covenant could never have been established and Messiah’s own words were unfulfilled (Matt 5:17-20). How can people put their hope in a saviour whose words have apparently failed? How will that affect our trust if what The Messiah has said cannot fully be trusted?
The new covenant is Yah’s laws written in our hearts – Jer 31/Heb 8 makes this clear. Don’t think Yah found fault with his law, no, scripture says he found fault with the people. Furthermore, it wouldn’t be possible to write what had already been abolished in our hearts. Christians, logically, really must believe that the new covenant will never be established. Maybe I’m over-thinking it, but the way I see it, the doctrines of Christianity are entirely confused. The Apostle Peter (Kefa) said this:
2 Peter 3:15–16 (CJB): And think of our Lord’s patience as deliverance, just as our dear brother Sha’ul (Paul) also wrote you, following the wisdom God gave him. Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
Lawfulness and obedience to Yah’s commands doesn’t lead to destruction or death (Rev 12:17 & 14:12), but rather it is sin that leads to death (Rom 6:23).
However, we aren’t “under law” as Paul/Sha’ul puts it, because being “under law” means you don’t have the law written in your heart and/or neither have you accepted the Messiah. One who is under law is obeying the law under their own effort, and not because it has been written in their heart by Messiah. This effort to obey that which is external to us not only applies to Yah’s laws, but also the man made traditions which also form another branch of “legalism”. Yah never made traditions so he will not write them in our hearts.
Consider that Paul’s use of the phrase “the just shall live by faith” (Gal 3:11) is a reference to Habakkuk 2:4 – which talks about the Babylonians/Chaldeans. Revelation prophecies the fall of Babylon, and Habakkuk 1:11 describes one of the The Babylonian’s chief characteristics thus – “they become guilty, because they make their strength their god”. The mark of the Babylonian is a people whose own power to keep the law, and/or laws given from their own power is what they declare makes them righteous.
Really Paul/Sha’ul says it so eloquently in Romans 8 we must be renewed by the Spirit of Messiah, not of our own works but of His in us. When something is written in our hearts we do it by nature (Rom 2:14/15). We don’t need laws to tell us to open our eyes to see, laws to remind us to breathe, etc, we do these things by nature – and so it is with the law for those who have been renewed by Yahshua Hamashiach. This is why scripture states “his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3) and Messiah said “my yolk is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).
DC:UL – Time
This video is about biblical time and it will challenge your perspective about calendars, years, holy festivals, how a day is formed, and perhaps even the origin of the creation universe.
Full video copy available on: https://www.burnished-bronze.com/artists/dcul/time/
Burnished Bronze Podcast – Proverbs 2 – Spiritual Adultery & Prostitution
In this podcast Burnished Bronze looks at spiritual prostitution and adultery, to bring meaning to what this means to us today.
Looking for green ears of barley in Abib (Aviv)
This is an article that questions how Messianic and other Torah followers calculate the beginning of each year. Yes Passover is definitely in Abib, and I agree with Deuteronomy 16, but I have questions. When does scripture show that we have to look for “green ears of barley” in order to begin the count of days for the first month? What happens if there is a drought like in Lamentations and Jeremiah? I’m not looking for secondary or anecdotal evidence about the meaning of words (2 Tim 2:14) but for direct evidence from scripture.
My thinking was that if we celebrated Passover on 8th April 2020 and on 27th March 2021, then we have had a year with only 353 days. But, the Jewish/Hebrew year appears to be 364 days, that is 12 months of 30 days (360) plus 4 season marker days totals at 364. The following scriptures refer to the day/year prophecy principle:
25 And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until A TIME AND TIMES AND A HALF TIME. Daniel 7:25
7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him that lives forever that it shall be for A TIME, TIMES, AND A HALF; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. Daniel 12:7
2 And the court which is outside the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it has been given to the nations: and the holy city shall they tread under foot FORTY-TWO MONTHS. Revelation 11:2
3 And I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy A THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY DAYS, clothed in sackcloth. Revelation 11:3
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of Elohim, that there they may nourish her A THOUSAND TWO-HUNDRED AND SIXTY DAYS. Revelation 12:6
14 And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for A TIME, AND TIMES, AND HALF A TIME, from the face of the serpent. Revelation 12:14
5 And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and there was given to him authority to continue FORTY-TWO MONTHS. Revelation 13:5
All scriptures taken from The Sacred Scriptures, Bethel Edition. EMPHASIS MINE.
30 x 1 = 30 days or 1 MONTH.
30 x 12 = 360 days or one TIME.
30 x 42 = 1260 days, or A TIME, TIMES, AND A HALF TIME.
From my research I am dating the book of Daniel as being written in 6th Century before Hamashiach (~500 BC). The book of Revelation was written around 95AD. That means we have evidence in scripture that for 600 years the Israelites held a 360 day “Time” equivalent to our year.
How then in 2021 do we arrive at having two Passovers WITHIN the span of 360 days? Yahweh’s laws do not change, and as we KNOW the prophecies are true, our current system for calculating dates should be the same as scripture, otherwise we stand the risk of calculating the dates of the feasts incorrectly.
“the exactness of the year is accomplished through its separate three hundred and sixty-four stations.” – Enoch 75:2 – Charles, R. H. (Ed.). (1913). Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Vol. 2, p. 241). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
“36 For there will be those who will assuredly make observations of the moon—how (it) disturbs the seasons and comes in from year to year ten days too soon. 37 For this reason the years will come upon them when they will disturb (the order), and make an abominable (day) the day of testimony, and an unclean day a feast day, and they will confound all the days, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean day with the holy; for they will go wrong as to the months and sabbaths and feasts and jubilees.” – Jubilees 6:36/37 – Charles, R. H. (Ed.). (1913). Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Vol. 2, p. 23). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Not all folks accept the Pseudepigrapha as scripture, but note, it was the Roman Catholic Church that did not include it in their “Canon” of scripture. Yes, that very same organisation, of which scripture states their king (or power) will try to change the times and laws, has omitted from its canon the only scriptures that tell us how to calculate times in Yahweh’s way! Following on from this every “Christian” and Messianic denomination seems to have accepted the same. When are we going to kick these limitations imposed on us by The Roman Catholic Church into touch, and put them away finally!!!??? Those who have understanding, let them understand.
I’m not trying to subvert belief here, I am genuinely questioning if what we do is correct.
Was America Founded on Biblical Principles?
There are many people of faith who are passionate about America being the land of the free, based on “Christian” freedom, but they forget we really only have one nation or Kingdom we should be proud of!
therefore here is what Adonai ELOHIM says:
“Look, I am laying in Tziyon
a tested stone, a costly cornerstone,
a firm foundation-stone;
he who trusts will not rush here and there. (Isa 28:16 CJB)
As you watched, a stone separated itself without any human hand, struck the statue on its feet made of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken into pieces which became like the chaff on a threshing-floor in summer; the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the stone which had struck the statue grew into a huge mountain that filled the whole earth. (Da 2:34–35 CJB).
“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not pass into the hands of another people. It will break to pieces and consume all those kingdoms; but it, itself, will stand forever— (Da 2:44 CJB).
We are not of the kingdoms of this earth, or are we? Genocides committed 1400 years after our Messiah told his disciples to go our and PREACH to all nations and make disciples of men doesn’t sound like the rules of the kingdom to me.
Rather it was Pope Nicholas V’s edict of Dum Diversas that gave Europeans free reign to “invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue”. Isn’t this the words of the lamb that spoke like a dragon?! (Rev 13:11) Let’s just say some people are slow learners huh, but you would have thought well over a millennia to learn would have been enough?
There is no leftist or rightist, just as there is no Jew or Greek (Gal 3:28), that is a patently foolish division. There are only wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30) – I don’t see leftist and rightist tares or wheat spoken of in scripture, and when you make a division like this, you are alienating people in this group who may not have the same political affiliation as you. Why would you do that if we are bound together by the Spirit of Messiah?
Yet there is a wisdom that we are speaking to those who are mature enough for it. But it is not the wisdom of this world or of this world’s leaders, who are in the process of passing away (1 Co 2:6 CJB)
Why base your hope on the spirit of leaders who are already dead, whose nations and kingdoms are foretold to fall by scripture, defending them and their misdeeds over the Word of our Messiah in whom their was no violence or deceit?
Climate Change
This image says it all. A graphic I created on top of a background I found on Pixabay
Deuteronomy 28
I posted this question recently on a Facebook group:
“Opening my bible, I just read Deuteronomy Chapter 28. Verses 15-68 sound like the pain Africa endures. What do you think?”
I had hoped to spark a discussion, but to my surprise someone threw the question right back at me, to which I replied.
To my mind Africa is under the spiritual rule of an evil force, in fact the whole world is, but Africa appears to bear the brunt of this at the present time.
Then, when Adonai gives you rest from your suffering and trouble and from the hard service imposed on you, you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Bavel:
“At last the oppressor is stilled,
his arrogance is ended!
Adonai has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
which furiously struck down peoples
with unceasing blows,
angrily beating down nations
with relentless persecution.
The whole earth is at rest and quiet.
They break into song.
Isaiah 14:3–7 (CJB):
We can look at nations who throughout history represent the spiritual pattern of Bavel (Babylon), with this endless persecution of other nations. I believe economic, military, and cultural might help us to see where this power rests.
Nevertheless, many Africans still have to wake up to the realisation of who Yah is, and his power, that He alone is God, we are to worship the creator of all things, and not worship the things he created, or fall into the hypocrisy of European taught religion which paints Yah in their own image, but disregards most of the laws which Yah has given. If Africa continues to do this it will remain spiritually enslaved by Europe.
As I have said, many biblical laws are close to traditional African law, but all Europeans teach from scripture is about their version of “love”, which somehow allows them to enslave people, and allows them to ruthlessly exploit other nations and live in prosperity, and then hypocritically feel they are serving God by giving some level of charity to the very people they exploit in the first place.
One has to understand the following from a spiritual perspective:
Nahum 3:4 (NIV): all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute,
alluring, the mistress of sorceries,
who enslaved nations by her prostitution
and peoples by her witchcraft.
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