Born, Again

There are a lot of instructions from our Heavenly Father as to how He would like us to live while on earth. His Son our Messiah points out: Love YHWH with all your heart, your soul and all your might - and - Love your neighbor as you love yourself - that these are the two most important laws on which all the other commandments hang.  Yahweh is Love and love is powerful stuff!  Besides Love is Trust. In trusting Y'shua, accepting him as our Messiah, Son of the Creator, we prepare to be spiritually born again which counts toward our salvation. Apostle Peter said that we have been born again not from some seed that will decay, but from one that cannot decay, through the living Word of Elohim that lasts forever. Peter also said, 

"Without having seen him, you love him. Without seeing him now, but trusting in him, you continue to be full of joy that is glorious beyond words. And you are receiving what your trust is aiming at, namely, your deliverance."

I recently received a letter from a dear friend who claims she has not nor does she need to be born again - I assume she thinks that by just 'believing' she will be found in the Book of Life.  She was responding to a letter I sent her in which I was sharing the depths that my faith has brought me while searching for the least translated version of the bible. That is when I discovered the 'Messianic Community' and those who have found their Hebrew Roots. It seemed a natural progression, the results of years of research, study and desire to know our God.  Reading a version of the bible and attending church once a week is not what YHWH had in mind - although it is a beginning for many seeking the Truth.

My friend admits she has always 'believed', but I am convinced she does not understand what it is she believes, nor does she really understand His Word, otherwise she'd have no problem with being born again! I am not a scholar nor do I claim to completely understand Scriptures, but as a believer in search of His Truth, I know how to read and find answers in the Teaching of Y'shua, Son of the Creator. Our Heavenly Father has shared His Plan with us so that we may choose Life.  

My friend told me not to send any religious literature (not share my faith) and then told me "...your beliefs are yours and ours are ours. Please, lets leave it at that."

After I read that remark I began to wonder just who it is she has always believed in.  And I can't leave it at that - like all best friends, she and I have always told each other everything - I won't let her cut me off like this - I must offer her evidence from Scriptures to show her why she needs to be Born Again, and this blog is my warm-up for that reply!  A good Sabbath study!

Born Again, a rite of passage:

John 3- I tell you that unless a person is born again from above he cannot see the Kingdom of Elohim... unless a person is born from water and the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

I admit even though I am on His Path I still fight against temptations as I try not to conform to this world. I am not 'holier than thou' by any means, but may be further along The Path than others, as there are multitudes ahead of me. It is our duty to help those who need it - we will be judged and rewarded by the deeds we perform during our earthly lives.  If I do not reach out to my friend on this topic of salvation, of being born of the Ruach Ha'Kodesh (Holy Spirit) and accepting Y'shua as the Messiah, her name may be erased from the Book of Life and I would be judged accordingly.

The reason why you need to be "spiritually" born is because you have never been spiritually born to begin with. So when the Bible speaks of being “born again,” it actually means “born for the second time.” You were born physically into this world, but you were born without the Spirit of God in your soul (spiritually dead). Yes, He created you, but He gave you a free will to decide for yourself where you will spend eternity.

Fairy Tales

I was born in 1955. As a child I loved stories, especially fairy tales.  Mom had a book by The Brothers Grimm in which were stories like Rapunzel, The Three Billy Goat Gruff, Hanzel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, which I would read over and over - I had such an imagination that these stories played out in my head like a movie as I read them!  The pictures drawn to depict different scenes in each story intrigued me as well. I was fascinated and completely drawn into the stories which is why they were so popular - almost every child was enchanted by them!  These stories introduce fairies, gnomes, ghosts, goblins, giants, good witches and bad witches into our creative young minds.  And with that we were led away from God the Creator before we even got a chance to know Him.  This is the handiwork of Satan, the deceiver, that old serpent the devil.  With all this fantasia, who needs a god?

In the mid-sixties, for me, fairy tales gave way to a love of science fiction (fairy tales for grown ups).  Dad had a collection of paperbacks, some by Isaac Asimov, and I read many of them. Sometimes Dad would plug in the small TV in our bedroom so we could watch late night sci-fi shows (in black and white) on Friday or Saturday nights. I remember watching the Twilight Zone, War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still and One Step Beyond. Mom didn't approve... she knew we'd have bad dreams!  But she didn't know how deeply those fairy tales and science fiction were forming my world.  

Outer Space was big food for my imagination! And there were more TV shows that kept me hooked- The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, The Jetsons, The Thunderbirds, Superman, My Favorite Martian and many more.  Life on other planets beyond our galaxy was real to me.  I would stare out into the sky trying to see as deep into space as I could, both daylight hours and nighttime, wishing a starship would come and take me away. I use to draw pictures of flying saucers, beaming down a ray of light that would levitate frightened young girls, still in their night gowns, taking them up into their ships. I believed that aliens came to earth, genetically impregnated the apes, mixing their DNAs and created man, the man of evolution stature. Of course, at that time, I had no idea I was standing at the doorway and peering into the occult - a world without God the Creator.

As I got older- marijuana, alcohol and a mix of recreational drugs helped to fuel my already colorful imagination and push me through that doorway. The New Age movement became the next attractant for me, taking me deeper into science fiction, offering a way to 'live it' while embracing the Alien/Evolution theory (another fairy tale for adults). In my quest of self enlightenment I could even have 'out of body' experiences (one such event scared me so much that I never attempted to go further in that area).  Mom had a couple of books, one by Edgar Cayce and another by a channeler, Elizabeth (I forgot her last name) who were both psychics. They gained popularity in the late 60's early 70's, if I remember correctly. So ESP and other paranormal abilities fit right in with my conditioning. Television programs still played a part with shows like I Dream of Jeanie, Bewitched, Star Trek... my brain was ripe for the picking, but it was Satan doing the harvest.

Even though I'm using my own life as an example to put forth this 'pre-conditioning' idea as a technique to take us away from our Creator, I am not an isolated event... almost every child has been told fairy tales, but I cannot prove that every child found them as a Great Escape, as I did. Speaking of 'escapes', who didn't love the movie 'Wizard of Oz'? Innocent enough story, eh?  Consider this:

L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz was a member of the Theosophical Society, which is an organization based on occult research and the comparative study of religions.  Baum had a deep understanding of Theosophy and, consciously or not, created an allegory of Theosophic teachings when he wrote the Wizard of Oz.

The Theosophical Society is an occult organization, mainly based on the teachings of Helena P. Blavatsky, which seeks to extract the common roots of all religions in order to form a universal doctrine.

also:

The three declared objects of the original Theosophical Society as established by Blavatsky, Judge and Olcott (its founders) were as follows:

“First —To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color.
Second — To encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Science.
Third — To investigate the unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in man.”

This is only one example of fairy tales being used to alter the thinking of young minds, but I believe all stories that ignore our Creator and dishonor Him are not beneficial for the development of a child.  And YES I enjoyed the movie Wizard of Oz and I'm no longer afraid of the flying monkeys, but... this is just one more fairy tale in a collection of many that are aimed at young minds with a possible controlled result.  Today we have Harry Potter, Avatar, Contact and other movies promoting transhumanism, without God or mixing Him with aliens.

What brought this on was, we watched 'Hook' the other night, (Robin Williams finds out he is really Peter Pan - Dustin Hoffman plays Capt. Hook) and in the back of my head I'm criticizing the flick for not honoring the Father. Sure it's an enjoyable film, a funny twist on an old fairy tale, harmless! But- as with most fairy tales, fables and other children's stories, belief in the One True God is absent. Is this by accident? Of course not. The Father of Lies, Satan, deliberately eliminated Adonai our God from these stories. We call it 'entertainment' - but it's nothing but a pack of creative lies.

Now, consider this:

The Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) if full of colorful events that would make wonderful stories to tell children. Each event is its own story: The Creation, Eden, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, The Nephilim, Noah and the Flood, Nimrod and Babylon, the life and times of Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah, Ishamel and Isaac... these are but a fraction of the Word and barely touch the Good News of the Kingdom of YHWH our Creator. The gospels are historically true happenings as exciting and mesmerizing as any fairy tale and they honor Him! The stories include demons, witches, amazing feats, signs and wonders, tragic events and miracles that stir every emotion. When you tell these stories to your children they are given a sound foundation from which to develop into honest, fair and just adults who love God their Creator. Imagine the type of community that would arise from good folk like that?  There is no deception, no lies, no tricks to cause one to stumble and fail, rather, the gospels well equip one to survive against the constant attacks made by Satan and his minions. In other words, these stories prepare us for life!

I am ashamed that I wasted so many years avoiding Yahweh our Creator. I certainly would have been spared many unnecessary heartaches and pains.  Since that is not the case, my past is the basis for these writings - a comparison to ponder.  Yahweh our Creator will forgive us the follies of our youth.  His Son, Yahshua, shed his blood to atone for our sins. Together they shine their Light on the Path of Righteous Living on which the Set Apart Spirit of Father Yahweh leads us to understanding, wisdom and truth.