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LOYALTIES

11/17/2016

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Many today are in the throes of coming out of her. It is a difficult and often painful experience and sometimes the weight of the cost is just too great. As I prayed about a recent rough patch we hit as a family/group/fellowship, Abba brought to mind a lesson He had to teach me years ago. I hope and pray it helps and encourages some out there who are struggling in this area. 

As servants of YHVH, our loyalty must be to Him. We are not to be bound to churches, groups, ideologies, or other people the same way we are to Him. This is one of the lies religious groups promote. It is something I have had to overcome; the idea that I was being disloyal or even disobedient to YHVH by leaving a particular group or fellowship. 


When I attended school, 13 years of learning were housed under one roof. You came in at five years old as a kindergartener and graduated from the building as a senior 13 years later. It would have been ridiculous to keep a student in the kindergarten classroom for all 13 years. Each classroom was designed to advance the process of learning and they were all necessary groundwork for the end result. After high school, other institutions were available for more advancement and growth in specific fields. 

This is not unlike “church” groups, except that the classrooms are separate churches and the building is the “church” at large. Is this beginning to make sense? At the beginning of my fellowship in the body of Messiah, I was led to believe - never stated explicitly, but always inferred - that my loyalty was first to denominational theology and second to the local body of which I was a member. Imagine the spiritual dissonance when I heard clearly from the Holy Spirit that I needed to leave a certain fellowship. Imagine the flack from leadership and fellow believers that were sure I was wacked.



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My Journey - Part 1

6/29/2015

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I have not written in a while. The Father has been working on me. It has been rough. I believe I am coming out on the other side, though there is now the work of learning and operating in the new way of being. Whole. What does this mean? 

As an adjective, whole is used to designate the full amount, the entirety of a thing, its completeness, undivided, unbroken, undamaged. In noun form, the word indicates something that is complete in itself, with all its components or elements operating as a unit. We know this idea from the teaching of Scripture on the body. Although, the physical body has many cells, organs, limbs, it operates as a unit, a whole. Similarly, we are told that the body of Messiah works the same. Many members, each with a specific function, all working together to produce something that the pieces parts on their own can never achieve.  

The Hebrew word echad relays a similar concept. Consider the declaration from Deuteronomy 6: Shema Israel, YHVH eloheinu, YHVH echad. Hear Israel, YHVH is our God, YHVH is one. In Genesis 1:26, YHVH refers to himself as a plural unity: Let us make man in our image. This is not the time or place to go into trinity theology. Suffice it to say that YHVH is not three gods in one, but rather uses manifestations of Himself for specific situations. He is One in different forms at different times. We have this word, echad, used in the shema, and indicates once again, the wholeness, completeness, perfection of the Creator of the Universe. 

This image we are created in, is used repeatedly as a metaphor in YHVH’s Word. Basar echad. One flesh. This is the term used to define marriage. Two people (of the opposite sex) coming together to become a new form of echad. Each on his/her own is echad, but coming together like this, they become echad in a different way. Two parts uniting for new purpose. This is a way of being that is intimately connected to the One who created all things. There is no room for independence.  

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Separate But Equal

7/30/2014

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Really? 

Some may bristle with my comparisons today and that is ok. Bristling means to me that I am about to find out something about myself. Usually, it’s because I am holding onto a need to be right. Once in a great while, a very great while, it is because I am coming up against something that is not good. I pray that today’s post causes a bristling against something that is not good.

Separate but equal. The same but different. You can have input (as a woman), but I (as the man) have the final say. Hmm. I have heard these phrases used in church settings to cut the sharp edge of genderism, to placate a woman who is having problems being casted as second class. Problem is that these terms have been repeatedly used in other situations where people were considered second class. 

I will never forget the shockwave that went through me as I watched the movie, The Help, the first time.There is a scene where Hilly (a white affluent female in 1960’s Mississippi) is having an outside toilet installed for her black maid. She says something to the effect: “Now isn’t this nice? Your own bathroom. Separate but equal.” 

WoW! I thought. That’s me in church. This is where the bristling may occur. How can I compare women in church to the problem of black suppression? Easy. In my last post (read through it if you haven’t), you will see that church has for the last 2000 years portrayed women as subhuman or at best less than. This is exactly how black people were treated in this country for years. Do you think for a minute that being told they were equal when everything about them had to be separate, when everything about them was seen as inferior, when they were not considered capable of thinking for themselves, made them believe it? Of course not. Human beings are human beings created in the image of YHVH, regardless of their skin color, their eye shape, or their sex. 

Domination over another human being is not scriptural. It is part of what we have inherited from the church fathers where women are concerned. It may seem unrelated but when a people group is singled out as needing to be controlled or dominated in the sense that they cannot function without being told what to do or even worse, do not have the right to function without being told what to do (given permission/covering) by the powers that be, we will end up with an abused/hated group of people - all justified with Scripture! The Jews did it to the Samaritans, Hitler did it to the Jews, Muslims do it to the world, and church leaders do it to women - and also men who cannot further their agenda. 

Where in Scripture is injustice ever tolerated? Where in Scripture are we told 1/2 of humanity is to be accused, abused, and berated? “ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Um. I may be missing something here, but does that include men and women? Ahhh, but what about Paul? Yes, what about Paul? 

and the band plays on . . . .

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TRUTH or CONSEQUENCES

6/27/2014

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I think I have mentioned this before. I am a live-in caregiver for my aunt, my dad’s sister. I love her dearly, but anyone who has done this job knows it comes with many challenges. A group of ladies meet here every friday for “bible study”. This is actually a misnomer as we do not actually study the bible. We get books and read them chapter by chapter and gather from week to week to discuss the material in the books. 
 

We are presently reading Philip Yancy’s  The Jesus You Never Knew. Throughout my time with my aunt, I have participated in these studies and have formed some interesting friendships with these lovely ladies. I appreciate that the ladies who come allow me to interject an ‘Hebraic’ understanding and yet I do not see that it has made much of an impact. 

Case in point is the chapter we went through today. Chapter 9 titled: Death: the final week, dealing with the week just preceding Yeshua’s death on the stake. Sometimes, it is such a struggle. I mean the writing is from a totally ‘christian’ perspective without so much as a shred of context that has anything to do with why or how the events unfolded as they did. 

There are speculation and opinion and statements made that cram the events into a “christian” paradigm which did not exist until the 4th century. Until that time followers of Yeshua were known as followers of The Way - a sect of Judaism that was recognized as Judaism. Now, there were leaders who didn’t like The Way, but never was there a question that those who believed that Yeshua was their Messiah were anything but Jewish in their practice and belief. Similarly today, we have Baptists and Methodists and Pentecostals, and although they have differences in the way they practice their belief, not one of these groups would state that the others were not christian. 

I commented that the waving of palm branches at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem was not, nor has it ever been a Pesach tradition. It was customarily done at the Feast of Tabernacles and is laid out in Lev. 23:40. The people waving branches just before Yeshua’s death were under the impression that the kingdom of YHVH was being ushered in and Yeshua was the Messiah/King/Anointed One who was to rule; the time when YHVH would once again “tabernacle” among His people, a thoroughly “Jewish” concept!

Uncomfortable silence. Furtive glances back and forth. Here she goes again. One of the women said she did not know this and thought it was interesting. One wondered why the author would come from any other perspective than a christian one since he was a christian writing to christians. I open my mouth again. Why would you not want to see these events in the light of their original context instead of trying to force it into a paradigm  established three to four hundred years after the fact?!?!


All the doors are shut, now. You can just hear the wheels turning - I like it the way I like it and am NOT going to listen to this. I am familiar with this place. I know that the Father uses me in a way that provides people with an opportunity to do the right thing. 

Years ago, I was led to put together a challenge to a large Denver area school district. It dealt with the psychological teaching methods being used which had been proven to be damaging to the adults subjected to them let alone foisting them onto unsuspecting children. In the car on my way to the hearing, I heard the Ruach say, “This isn’t going to change anything.” In my calm and gentle way - NOT - I pounded on the steering wheel and asked rather rudely, “Then what am I doing it for?” The answer I got was to forever change the issue I had with the way Abba has chosen to use me. He said, “Because they will not ever be able to say again - I didn’t know.” From this point forward, they are not being led down the proverbial primrose path without knowledge. They now know that what they are doing is causing damage and they will be held accountable for their participation, if not by the “law”, most certainly by YHVH. The end result of this encounter was a letter from the district stating that they understood the potential risks but were not going to change anything because what they were doing was not against the law. 

I will continue to allow the Father to speak through me, even though it means uncomfortable silences and eye rolling and even rejection. I remember how hard it was to come to terms with the fact that a lot of what I believed was a lie, but it never occurred to me to reject Truth to stay in the lie. This is what I struggle with: when the agenda of a school district is more important than the children’s lives, when your comfort level in what you currently believe is more important than the Truth. . .

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Shalom Mishpochah!

3/18/2014

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PictureSea of Galilea
My heart is full. Full of joy at the opportunity to have been privileged to visit the land of Israel. Full of gratitude for being brought face to face with people and places I would not have known otherwise. And full of grief for what is coming. 


What Can Be Shaken Will Be Shaken

Scripture speaks of major shakings. We remember the quaking of Mt. Sanai when the Word was given, how the giving of that Word not only caused the mountain to shake, but brought a spiritual shaking throughout the world. Again the earth shook when the only begotten son of the Living El took on the sins of the world and again caused a spiritual shaking unparalleled even to this day.

The passage in Hebrews 12 talks about an end times shaking. Most of the time we interpret this to mean the days just before the return of Yeshua, however, the author of Hebrews identifies these days as the time between His first coming and His second coming. So, in essence we have been living in the end times for around two thousand years. From what I can gather, this means ongoing shakings; times when everything will become disoriented and turned upside down. YHVH Himself says He does this shaking. Do you suppose that the shakings are intended to get our attention so we return to the right path?

There are many things we could point to which are being shaken today. Probably the one we would all identify with is government, as well as banking, education, medicine, science. And these are serious problems, but I want to discuss the shaking of faith. 

I recently returned from spending 10 glorious days in eretz Israel - the land of Israel! In spite of the issues there, I have experienced a sense of “being home” both times I have been. Spiritual awareness is heightened, an alertness that can only be explained by the special attention of YHVH for this piece of real estate. 

Factions that exist in Israel exist everywhere. Even within Judaism there are factions. How do we know what is right? How do we secure righteousness? How do we maintain it? How do you know that you know that you know? Questions are everywhere. Interpretations are everywhere. Who is God? Who is Messiah? 

YHVH is Spirit. The spiritual is spiritually discerned. The mind can only go so far without the Spirit. Since the first disobedience, the need to know has trumped the need to obey. Scripture is clear that knowledge without discernment is folly.

  •   Knowledge is information gained from your senses, observation, instruction, experience. Knowledge alone is amoral, that is without inherent goodness or badness.

  •   Wisdom is insight regarding knowledge that allows you to apply or put into practice the knowledge for a purpose, which can be either benevolent or malevolent.

  •   Discernment/understanding is spiritual perception to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, to use knowledge and wisdom for the advancement of YHVH’s kingdom.

Consider Solomon, believed to be the wisest man who ever lived, and yet with all his getting of knowledge and wisdom, his soul was vexed. Emptiness and despair are echoed in his words, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Also taken to mean, futile, pointless, meaningless. Why?

See Ecc. chapter 1. In chapter 2, Solomon is consumed with himself - I, I, I, I. In the end, he speaks:  

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecc. 12:13)

When Yeshua haMashiach comes, will He find faith in the earth? Faith without works is dead. Works without faith is meaningless. Knowing about YHVH and knowing Him are two separate things. Knowing stuff and keeping rules, or being able to debate someone into the ground does not necessarily connect you to the Creator of the Universe. What you know about YHVH must become who you are if it is to bring honor to YHVH. Love YHVH your Elohim with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your muchness, and your neighbor as yourself. Do I live the Scripture I know? That is the biggest question of all.

Hebrews 12:25-27: See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.


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Getting it Right Day 4

2/17/2014

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My precious mishpochah, 

I called a longtime friend this morning to talk over a 'situation'. She has a history of physical neglect and abuse that is on a par with sex trafficking and slavery. She has made a choice to become a victor instead of a victim. After a hiatus in our relationship, she is back with a vengeance! More healing, more refining, more of what Abba wants for her life. The poems I am sharing were written years ago during the foundational healing of my life. They focus on verbal abuse, something I have recently been subjected to - again - by someone who should know better. This is the 'situation'. 

I received some clarity and insight as I walked this morning and called to discuss it with her. Sometimes, I get the sense that because they are words and not violent physical attacks - either beatings or sexually - that they should not carry the same weight. Sticks and stones and all that. As we spoke and I poured out my heart, I was struck by her ability to empathize with my pain as if it were like hers. I guess it takes one to know one. And I am aware that verbal abuse leaves just as many and just as deep scars as physical abuse. I think I knew it in my head, but she helped bring it home to my heart. I will not let this pass again as if it doesn't matter because they are 'only' words and not fists.

YHVH tells us that the power of life and death is in the tongue. When do we get to justify our verbal cruelty and vicious word attacks? Because this is the 'situation', back when the poems were written and now. 

We also talked about the fact that I am a woman and these words came from a man, supposedly a believer. This is not the first time with this particular person. You can know Torah, but if you are not doing Torah, there is no life in what you say or do.

THROW AWAYS          by Sherri Rogers   (1997)
 
The paper is expensive.  It’s shiny and new.
 It hides inside what it’s supposed to.
It is only used once and then it’s discarded
Ripped and creased, no longer regarded
As useful or pretty or something to keep
Thrown away with the rest of the trash on the heap.
Like the lives of those who once were whole
And now sit defeated and all alone.
Crushed by the ones who used them to gain
Their selfish desires without thought of the pain.

Once beautiful faces with eyes full of life
Now lined with torment and racked with strife.
Left even by those who said they cared
Self appointed judges who wouldn’t dare
To lower themselves to take the hand
Of the abused and down trodden to help them stand
For fear they’ll become like the ones they touch
Or mocked and chided for caring too much.

 From YHVH’s love you cannot escape
In His Kingdom there are no throw aways.
"In as much as you have done it to the least of these
My child, you have done it unto Me."

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LESSONS

2/11/2013

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Is there a Lesson to be learned?

 A recent article did an excellent job of documenting the factions within the Islamic religion. The focus of the article was Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood’s struggle to “be all things to all people” in light of current wrestling between the Saudi brand of Islam and the Sunni leanings of the Brotherhood. The old Mubarak regime was secular in nature and suited the Saudi’s better than the religious Brotherhood. The former alliance between Egypt and Saudi was precariously held together by their desire to limit Shiite power. Religion forms the basis of jihad or holy war. The factions (read: denominations) within a religious group, which by its own law supports the violent overthrow of those in disagreement, brings the very real threat of Islamic civil war. For years we have seen this as one Islamic faction uses violence against another to dominate with their particular brand of conservative or liberal Islam. When brothers fight against brothers it is called civil war. 

In an online discussion through a Christian forum, the subject of denominationalism arose. I stated it was divisive to the body of Messiah. The use of “Messiah” rather than “Christ” prompted questions about my “affiliation.” I stated I have observed the Holy days and Sabbaths outlined in Scripture for a number of years. One person said categorically that I was wrong and one even called me Satan’s handmaiden. This is certainly not in alignment with Scripture and seems to be perceived as an acceptable way to address others in the faith who do not agree with you or are at a different place in the process of maturing.

While this confrontation was not physically violent, it certainly was verbally abusive and unwarranted under the circumstances. The leader of my congregation makes the point that people who must insist on being right or having things their way are actually insecure and immature. They do this in order to establish self righteousness. Even Paul and Peter - the apostles of Messiah Himself - disagreed and had personality conflicts, but unity was maintained in their focus on Messiah Yeshua as YHVH incarnate for the salvation of mankind! Messiah, himself took issue with the factions in Judaism perpetrated by the various leaders who set up their ideas and traditions over and above YHVH’s Word (Torah). Key here is their ideas and/or traditions. Whether that involves “christian” denominationalism or Jewish denominationalism, the Truth has never been anything other than THE Word of YHVH - all of it - His instructions (Torah) for life and they are not burdensome. 

 Sadly, I see this division being perpetrated even in marriages of believers. Relationships are difficult at best and must be cultivated and nurtured if they are to survive. This is the chorus from an old Linda Ronstadt song: Love is a rose and you better not pick it, it only grows when it’s on the vine. Hand full of thorns and you know you’ve missed it, lose your love when you say the word mine.There it is; the gospel in the chorus of a pop tune. Be grafted into YHVH through Messiah Yeshua with all your heart, mind and strength and love your neighbor (spouse, child, friend, stranger) as yourself, as Messiah first loved you - unconditionally. 

I am not saying there cannot be disagreement in the camp. This is what makes us dig and think and grow. But when the disagreement becomes a knock down drag out fight for dominance and “rightness”, the Word of YHVH has been violated. We are now involved in disobedience. The Holy Spirit functions perfectly well without our help. We are not the convicting power that changes lives and trying to force someone into compliance is totally opposite of what YHVH has set up - free choice. This did not work during the Egyptian captivity, the Spanish inquisition or Hitler. When domination is the goal, everyone loses. They will know us by our fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith and self control. Only the vine that is attached to YHVH through HIs Living Torah - Messiah Yeshua, will produce such fruit! The choice is ours. 

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    Napoleon Dynamite makes me laugh. The mountains are home.  I really hope there will be chocolate in eternity. I don’t have a lot of friends, but the ones I do have are spectacular! More than anything, I want to please my Creator. 

    How you live your life defines who you are. 

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