Day: February 1, 2023

I’ve read many, many articles recently that discuss diversity as a strength in America!  I want to speak to this as it is false and I’m going to share why.  The term diversity is a noun, it means the state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness: dissimilar.  Some of the tenant understandings of the term Diversity are ok!  We are a diverse nation made up of people from many backgrounds and cultures.  The etymology of diversity is 14th century Old French diversite, from Latin diversitas, veristas means the whole, so univeritus or university are many made into a whole, Di (latin for more than one) Diversity: quality of being separate, different, oddness, contradiction, disagreement, turned different ways, distinctly dissimilar or unlike.  The etymology reveals the issues with diversity. 

The key here which speaks to Diversity is that without a divine visions people cast of restraint, “Para” in Hebrew, to unbind, to let loose, anarchy, and even death. There must be just one vision!  More than one vision is DIVISION!  America is a nation of immigrants, a people of diverse background, many cultures, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Indigenous people (native Americans) Jew, Gentile, but what makes us a great republic, a great nation isn’t division, its vision!  For centuries immigrants arrived in America seeking a better life!  A life with possibilities, a life without restrictions, a life where hopes and dreams may be fulfilled! A life where if a person who worked hard, had initiative, and lived a righteous life could make something of themselves!  A life of choices the individual made for themselves, not by Monarchs, Tsars, or Emperors.  A life of freedom, unrestrained by tyrannical governments, monarchies, Socialism, and communism.   

How did we transition from this “light upon a hill” type of free republic to the polarized, divided, combative, anarchy we experience today which is not only in the government but the people, the citizens themselves!  What happened to civility, brotherly love, of loving thy neighbor as thyself?  What’s amazing is that there is a direct parallel to what’s occurring in the greater body of Messiah today and in our greater society.  Democracy only works when its citizens choose to obey the Law!  Americans in the past followed the rules because they didn’t believe we were just accountable to the nation, but that we were accountable to God as well.  Americas morality and ethics came from the bible that was taught weekly in every town!   

The reward or recompense for obedience and compliance to Adonai and His commands are Shalom, a state of “National Tranquility”, the absence of conflict, peace, prosperity, safety from both the wild beasts of the land and outside foes or enemy forces IF we are Adonai’s people, His loyal servants!  One could argue this is true for Israel when God Himself ruled yet God knew Israel would beg for a human king like the nations around them and they got what they asked for.  The same holds true under a secular government as Sha’ul shared as he lived under the Roman occupation and governance of Judea 2,000 years ago: 

Not that many years ago an overwhelming majority of America’s population were believers who regularly attended weekly services.  Every state had blue laws (The concept was right even if it was a day off-Adonai honored the heart and intent) and every public event started with prayer!  The first book Congress authorized to print was the bible for elementary school reading primers!  On September 12, 1782, Congress approved printing of the Bible.  Called ‘The Bible of the Revolution’ it was the first English-language Bible printed in America and the only Bible ever authorized by an act of Congress! Oh how far we’ve come!  

As our greater society loses Godly influence, morality, and brotherly love continues to rapidly decline what will become of the Republic?  Remove Adonai and you won’t be able to hire enough police!  Remove Adonai and America will soon experience an attack we can’t throw off! Ironically, America’s issues and the bible issues are intertwined:  

A trap, a snare, a big scandal causes many to be trapped into a lie, to stumble, to block, impede, to causes a person to distrust and desert what they should be trusting and obeying which results in betraying and hating each other!  This is exactly where we are at in our nation today!  Acidic, hateful, vindictive behavior, betraying each other… I want to pause here for a moment and digress.  Joseph, was sold into slavery by his brothers who then winds up in Egypt and sold to a wealthy man names Potifar whose household became even richer and more blessed with the addition of Joseph who was put in charge of everything in Potifar’s household: 

The wife made a false accusation to her husband Potifar who had Yosef imprisoned! False accusations (scandal) are an ancient and primary tool of HaSatan to destroy character and integrity, polarizing people into betraying and hating each other!  There’s nothing new under the sun! It takes an accusation which leads to a scandal to start the ball rolling, starting toxic rhetoric, gossip, slander, character assassination, polarization, instant fighting, and division.  

The truth is done away with, it no longer matters! What gets people’s attention are those who shout first, who are the loudest, or posts first on some social media site regardless if its truth or not!  We see the same disregard for our constitution, its being treated like the bible.  100 years ago the constitution was a rock solid document for the ages.  Now a new generation is rising up that believes its is no longer unalterable, that it is fluid and must change to reflect our DIVERSITY!  See where this is going!  Either all of God’s word is truth, infallible, and unalterable or none of it is: 

This passage was written almost 350 years before the canonization of the New Testament, the Brit Chadesha.  What scripture is Sha’ul talking about in this passage?  The Torah, The Tanach, the Nevi’im, Prophets, and the Tehillim, the Psalms!  Not select parts of it or choosing the parts you agree with!  Diversity leads to division.  There has been a systematic attack upon the word of God since Yeshua was on this earth!  It was small in the beginning but over time it has gained momentum and increasingly gotten worse.  

I’ve often wondered why it is that though we all (Believers-for the most part) read the same bible have so many schisms and divisions within the body of Messiah!  How can someone biblically endorse or justify slavery as it was known in America? Yet hundreds of thousands did.  How can one read the bible and justify the racist, rabidly Anti-Semitic, Anti-black Aryan Church?  Why so many protestant schisms?  There are even Catholic schisms (mostly arguing about who’s in charge) and Judaism schisms (again, mostly about who’s in charge)!  How can we all read the same bible yet experience such diversity in the greater body?  This is actually very dangerous: 

Matthew 12:25.  However, knowing what they were thinking, Yeshua said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not survive. 

Chillingly a nation divided will be brought to ruin, a home or family divided will be brought to ruin.  America faces a grave danger, it is transitioning from a unified nation to a diverse nation where all desire to keep their ethnicity, their previous nations identity while not becoming part of the republic.  Its elevating self above the nation!  We witness the same effect within the greater body of Messiah, individuals elevating self above the greater body! As a Messianic Congregation Yeshua’s words speak directly to us here today.  2,000 years later not much has changed.  We, as Messianic Believers exist at a crossroads, an intersection of, between two communities, two cultures. So many believers have been taught and believe the lie that Torah has been done away with which is exactly what the Deceiver, HaSatan wants you to think and believe! 

By disregarding, denying, or throwing away an overwhelming portion of the bible we also disregard, deny, and throw away morality, ethics, holiness, purity, and righteousness!  At one time the body of Messiah was THE MORAL VOICE of our nation and society, not anymore!  Because of our diversity (over 2,500 denominations and counting), the body is divisive, dysfunctional, and disunified, rarely influencing society!  Now you begin to profoundly see why HaSatan wants the word removed!  God’s word is HaSatan’s nemesis, its Satan’s Kryptonite, HaSatan’s end.  If Gods infallible word is fallible it can be dispensed or done away with!  How much easier than to also disregard our U.S. Constitution?

These issues parallel each other, and we knowthe source, HaSatan who is the author and father of all lies!  A rapidly growing world view of an ever expanding percentage of the western world is built upon a foundation of lies and willing, willing self-deception! Such as the growing acceptance that gender identity isn’t biological, that it’s determined by how a person feels day by day, hour by hour!  Or that Adonai is done with Israel, that anyone or anything has replaced Israel… on and on and on! HaSatan knows his time is short, so we are experiencing an increase in lies, deceptions, and division worldwide!  Adonai doesn’t want us diversified into separate camps! The Word of God tells us not to live like the crowd (Ephesians 4:17-25). Don’t do what everyone else is doing, don’t live like a non-Jew, don’t live like those who aren’t serving Adonai, whose thinking is void of truth or force, whose thinking is perverse and depraved!  We are not to live like them, be like them, or associate with them. 

We are not to remain diversified, celebrating a separate but equal mentality which estranges us from Adonai, from the fullness of His kingdom!  So many are shrouded in darkness with corrupted thinking, their thoughts and capacity for spiritual truth shrouded by darkness. Yet society tells us to accept, to receive them and celebrate our diversity! Retaining perverse and depraved thoughts they are disconnected from Adonai, abandoning themselves to sexual depravations, wantonness, and insolence.  This old nature must be stripped off as we renew, reform, regenerate our minds and spirits!  When you come to America and become a citizen you’re an American, not African American, Jewish American, Irish American, Japanese America, not Spanish American.  Espousing diversity destroys unity, destroys patriotism, it elevates SELF over all!  This is not what Adonai desires in the kingdom of God. When you refuse to change your mind and spirit, when you don’t strip off your old nature and cloth yourself with the new man, new creation! Here is what Adonai desires: 

This defines how the One New Humanity is to be lived and walked out, how Adonai desires we live!  When you get married you and your spouse don’t live in separate but equal houses across the street from each other, celebrating your diversity!  No, you dwell together, marriage is cohabitation, not divisiveness.  So, it is with the One New Humanity in the Kingdom of God and in our greater nation!! Let us be unified, not diversified! 

Shalom Mishpocha,

        February is a quite month for us, comprised of the biblical months of Shevat and Adar. Sunday, February 5^th at sunset through Monday February 6^th at sunset is Tu BiShvat! Tu BiShvat is a Rabbinical Jewish holiday occurring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat. It is also called Rosh HaShanah La’Ilanot, literally “New Year of the Trees”. The day is celebrated in modern Israel as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration. This day is akin to our Arbor Day celebrated in April!

Why is this geographical area (Jamestown, VA), the birthplace of America so Important?  When we spirit map and go back to our nations beginning on May 14^th 1607 at Jamestown Island we see that our nation was founded upon the biblical covenants of God’s Kingdom. We also see a complex, symbiotic relationship develop between the various cultures that clashed, melted, mixed, and developed over the course of Americas History. The Indigenous People who called this land their home! English colonists who came here claiming this to be a new world that now belonged to them and black slaves that were brought here against their will. Centuries have passed and wars have been fought to end the curse of slavery and establish justice. There is a biblical secret encapsulated within this complex, symbiotic relationships forged over our history that confounds those who seek to divide, oppress, and hate.  It is the power of unity. 

The enemy does everything with his power to develop division through men and their teachings of racism and bigotry. History records the first Slaves in America arriving at Old Point Comfort in 1619.  Brought by Spanish Traders who had suffered damage to their ships in a great storm and low on supplies, they traded several slave women for food and supplies at Old Point Comfort in 1619.  History also records the first freed slave occurring at the same spot in what was to become known as Fort Monroe in 1861 commanded by General Butler.

In the modern bid for freedom, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the predominate leaders.  But I want you to see a common thread that weaves through this fight, Adonai and Yeshua.

Dr. King also organized and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, and labor rights in addition to basic civil rights. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are attributed, in part, to the works of Dr. King.

Dr. King was fundamental in founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957.  The SCLC is a group that used the moral authority and organizational capacity of black churches to conduct non-violent protests on behalf of civil rights. The Southern Leadership Conference established an Executive Board of Directors, and elected officers, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as President, Dr. Ralph David Abernathy as Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Rev. C. K. Steele of Tallahassee, Florida as Vice President, Rev. T. J. Jemison of Baton Rouge, Louisiana as Secretary, and Attorney I. M. Augustine of New Orleans, Louisiana as General Counsel.

At its first convention in Montgomery in August 1957, the Southern Leadership Conference adopted their current name, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Basic decisions made by the founders at these early meeting included the adoption of nonviolent mass action as the cornerstone of political strategy, the affiliation of local community organizations with SCLC across the South, and a determination to make the SCLC movement open to all, regardless of race, religion, or background.

SCLC is a now a nationwide organization made up of chapters and affiliates with programs that affect the lives of all Americans across this nation. Its sphere of influence has broadened to a global scale regarding human rights that transcends national boundaries.

I want you to see the relationship here with the SCLC and a majority of other civil rights organizations! Most of those active in the Civil Rights movements were Pastors and Believers!  Their kingdom, biblical knowledge and understanding led them to know that Jim Crow and segregation laws were not according to God’s will, word, or design. 

According to the Rev. Glenn Plummer, 82 percent of black Americans are Christians who belong to a church.  Black Americans consider their churches to be the core of their communities and the fount of their identity. The church is a place where the word “Israel” is heard over and over, and a place where black men and women feel a connection to the Bible and the Jewish People who share a similar background.  Unity is the key!

In 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1965 the American Jewish Committee presented him with the American Liberties Medallion. Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Why did the American Jewish Committee present Dr. King with the American Liberties Medallion?  Because there was and is a Shared Empathy between the Jewish and Black communities.

This is a quote from the PBS series, Swastika to Jim Crow:

Since the time of slavery, Blacks have in some ways identified with the Jewish experience. They compared their situation in the American South to that of the Jews in Egypt, as expressed in Black spirituals such as “Go Down, Moses.” The longing for their own exodus inspired the popularity of “Zion” in the names of many Black churches. Black nationalists used the Zionist movement as a model for their own Back-to-Africa movement.

Over the years Jews have also expressed empathy with the plight of Blacks. In the early 1900s, Jewish newspapers drew parallels between the Black movement out of the South and the Jews’ escape from Egypt, pointing out that both Blacks and Jews lived in ghettos, and calling anti-Black riots in the South “pogroms”. Stressing the similarities rather than the differences between the Jewish and Black experience in America, Jewish leaders emphasized the idea that both groups would benefit the more America moved toward a society of merit, free of religious, ethnic and racial restrictions. From the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, Blacks and Jews marched arm-in-arm.

In 1909, W.E.B. Dubois, Julius Rosenthal, Lillian Wald, Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch, Stephen Wise and Henry Malkewitz formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). One year later other prominent Jewish and Black leaders created the Urban League. Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington worked together in 1912 to improve the educational system for Blacks in the South.

Thus, in the 1930s and ’40s when Jewish refugee professors arrived at Southern Black Colleges, there was a history of overt empathy between Blacks and Jews, and the possibility of truly effective collaboration. Professor Ernst Borinski organized dinners at which Blacks and Whites would have to sit next to each other – a simple yet revolutionary act. Black students empathized with the cruelty these scholars had endured in Europe and trusted them more than other Whites. In fact, often Black students – as well as members of the Southern White community – saw these refugees as “some kind of colored folk.”

The unique relationship that developed between these teachers and their students was in some ways a microcosm of what was beginning to happen in other parts of the United States. The American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, and the Anti-Defamation League were central to the campaign against racial prejudice. Jews made substantial financial contributions to many civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, the Urban League, the Congress of Racial Equality, and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. About 50 percent of the civil rights attorneys in the South during the 1960s were Jews, as were over 50 percent of the Whites who went to Mississippi in 1964 to challenge Jim Crow Laws.

God reveals the infinite value of Human Life in that he originally created only one-the Patriarchal Father of every one of us; Adam! Medical science announced in 2005 that upon completely mapping the human Chromosome chain they had discovered that we have all descended from one person!  Had Adam been killed, all of humanity would have perished, and conversely, if his life was threatened and he was saved; all of humanity would be saved! 

It is therefore incumbent upon each and every one of us as children of God to actively involve ourselves in fashioning a world in which each and every person, regardless of skin color, race, or culture is treated as if he or she has the infinite value of life like that of Adam! Each and every life is the most precious gift from God. We are all created in His image. Let us live, worship, walk, and stand together as one, Jew and Gentile, Black and White, First Nations, Asian, and Hispanic. As Dr King stated:

(Words in Parentheses are my additions to highlight concepts) 

God divided between the light and the darkness” 

Darkness, translated from the Hebrew word: “Choshech”:  Root word Chosh, which is the root word for lacked, missing, unenergetic, lacking energy, powerless, beyond repair, aimless, hopeless, feared, suspected, secret, secret place, worthless, meaningless.  Darkness or Choshech is all of the previous descriptions!  The enemy, HaSatan, the Devil, the Prince of Darkness is chosech or darkness. 

Light, translated from the Hebrew word: “Or”: Ha Or, The Light!  A Beam of Light.  “Or is the root word for illumination, joy, happiness, instruction, teaching, directive, order, puts in order, lawyer, attorney, woke up, roused, and parenthood.  Light is all of these terms!  Yeshua is the light of the world!  He is all of these descriptions! 

“Or” and “Choshech” are structured and unstructured energy.  The Torah says that both Or and Choshech are Echad, that the two are one, chaos and order are one.  The biblical day begins at sunset and ends at Sunset.  Genesis 1:5 “So there was evening, and there was morning, one day” (Yom Echad). What is Echad? 

Echad is the Hebrew word for one that is a completeness through pluralism!  What does this mean?  Aleph represents the Numeral ONE.  Echad is something different, a completeness, a wholeness.  The root word of Echad is “Ached” which means to unify, to be in accord, in unison, no more separate parts! Adam and Eve are described as “one flesh” or Echad in:  

Echad Flesh!  Complete, Whole, in Unity! This does not denote a sexual connotation.  It is a spiritual concept!  Let’s read Yeshua’s comments on the same subject: 

Sh’aul shared the same view in: 

God also taught us this concept about Himself in the “Shema”, a traditional Jewish prayer from Deuteronomy that is recited daily. 

Deuteronomy 6:4. ““Sh’ma, Yisra’el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, Isra’el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one]; 

We are Echad with God and our spouses.  There is also a warning to us from Paul in I Corinthians, sex outside the bounds of marriage make a person spiritually “One” or “Echad” with that person!   If you have an affair, you become complete with all the negative spiritual baggage of the other person!  You become cursed!  Echad has a powerful impact in our lives and is found over 900 times in Tanach!

Kol Echad, a voice of Unity!  This is simply understood to be the voice of many people speaking in unison so that God heard one sound, one unified reply.  

Numbers 13:23 “They came to the Eshkol Valley; and there they cut off a branch bearing one (Echad) cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two of them; they also took pomegranates and figs.” 

A complete cluster, individual grapes make up a cluster! The concept of unity and wholeness is built into the tabernacle, whose curtains were fastened together to form one (Echad) unit (Ex 26:6, 11; 36:13). The concept is further developed in: 

The word “hope” in this verse (some translations use “wait”) is the Hebrew word Khavah (kaw-vaw) which means to “twist and bind, gather together, to be strong and robust from the idea of binding fast.” Read this verse again replacing wait with the definition “But they that are bound/gathered together with the Lord shall renew their strength.” The revelation is that strength and unity result when we bind our lives together with the Lords. This twisting, this binding, this gathering with the Lord makes us Echad (complete-one) with God. 

Back to Genesis, The biblical day begins at sunset!  The day begins in darkness, a chaotic, unenergetic, lacking energy, powerless, beyond repair, aimless, hopeless, feared, suspected, secret, worthless, meaningless time period.  As the day progresses it gives way from the darkness and chaos to light and order!  From nothing to life, order, illumination, joy, happiness, instruction, and teaching!  The creation of the universe is from a formless void in darkness that gives way to order, life, and light! As David revealed, you and I were born into sin, darkness. 

David declares we are all born sinners, we are born into the darkness! But that darkness gives way to the light, who is Yeshua as revealed in His own words in:

Yeshua is our Order, He is our teaching, He is our Illumination, He is our Joy, He is our Happiness! He is “Ha Or Olam”, The Light of the World! 

We, as created beings, follow the pattern as set forth in God’s creation of the universe and individual days, we all begin in darkness and proceed towards the light, from chaos into order! In response to a group of Judeans who asked Him to tell them plainly if he was the Mashiach, Yeshua gave them an answer in: 

Echad, “One”, is the same word used in Deuteronomy 6:4, and by using it, Yeshua defines its meaning. He uses the word Echad in the same vernacular as used in Genesis as well. Yeshua clearly identifies himself as Echad, complete with the Father, YWHW. The Jews of that time period knew exactly what he was saying.  They became enraged and picked up rocks in order to stone him. He was declaring that he and the Father are unified, twisted, and bound together, gathered together, complete, Echad.  That they are in complete Shalom and harmony.  Yeshua said “I only do what I see me Father do!” Yeshua’s clearest interpretation and use of Echad is found in: 

Yeshua’s definition of Echad with God is: “I am united with the Father, and the Father united with me”, united, bound together, gathered together, complete, whole!  Just as the two parts of a day or Adam and Eve are Echad or complete, so too is Yeshua Echad or complete with Adonai, the Father!  

We, as believers are to be Echad as well! Yeshua teaches us that Echad is not an isolated principle between He and Father!  Yeshua’s prayer found in John 17 reveals prayer not only for His disciples, but for all those who shall trust in him through their word. 

Yeshua prays and teaches Echad.  He prays that we, you and I, Jew, Gentile, Male, and Female, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, and Indigenous people will all be Echad, united, bound together, unified, in accord, no more separate parts in the Kingdom of God!  Yeshua tells us that this Echad, this oneness, will not only bring maturity in our lives with God but with one another. The manifestation of this Echad, this binding together, this unity, is love of the Lord and love for one another.  Yeshua is our example of Echad with God. If a person says that he is Echad with God but does not manifest love for one another, then by Yeshua’s definition, they are not Echad. Finally, Echad is the One New Humanity! Sh’aul reveals the secret of Echad in: 

This scripture shows us that through the sacrifice and blood of Yeshua, God has made Jew and Gentile, One (Echad) New Humanity, the Blood of Yeshua has made us complete, whole, in unison, un-separable!  The Gentiles were as Ephesians 2:12 states “without hope,” chosech, in darkness, aimless, MISSING!  The One (Echad) New Humanity cannot exist without the Gentiles!  They were formerly missing but now have been brought in!  God has brought us all together to work towards accomplishing His divine purpose in the world. Sh’aul’s writings refer to TODAY, NOW, OUR GENERATION!  WE ARE ENTERING INTO THE ONE (ECHAD) NEW HUMANITY!  When “grafted in” as Sh’aul explains in Romans Ch.11, the wild olive branch is fed by the Jewish rooted olive tree, but the branch still produces its original fruit.  In other words, if a pear branch was grafted into an apple tree, the flavor of the fruit changes a slightly as nourished by the new root, but the branch still produces pears!  That is the miracle of the One (Echad) New Humanity!  All are bound together through the blood of Yeshua and nourished by the Jewish Olive Tree and each branch retains its own identity!  We need to celebrate and rejoice in who we are, whether a Jew, Gentile, Black or White, Hispanic, African, Asian, European, First Nations People, it matters not!  God loves all the same and has made us Echad!  THERE ARE NO CONVERSIONS!  The One New Humanity in its freedom tears down the walls of Anti-Semitism, Racism, Bigotry, religious, and cultural barriers.  We become united, joined together, unified, striving towards the same goal, sharing God’s plan of Salvation to the world and preparing ourselves for the return of Yeshua!  As Sh’aul said, “It is life from the dead.”  The One New Humanity will usher in World Revival! In Yeshua’s name I pray that we all become Echad!