Fasting

Isaiah 58:5
 “Is this the kind of fast that I have chosen,

merely a day for a person to humble himself?

Is it merely for bowing down one’s head,

for lying on sackcloth and ashes?

Is this what you call a fast,

an acceptable day to Yahweh?

Isn’t this the fast that I have been choosing:

to loose the bonds of injustice, 
and to untie the cords of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry,

and to bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him with clothing,

and not to raise yourself up from your own flesh and blood?”

Matthew 6:16

When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, 

for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. 

Truly I tell you, they already have their reward. 

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 

so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, 

but only to your Father, who is unseen. 

And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, 
will reward you.

Luke 12:25

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, 

what you will eat or drink; 

or about your body, what you will wear. 

Is not life more than food, 
and the body more than clothes? 

Look at the birds of the air:
They do not sow or reap or gather into barns

and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. 

Are you not much more valuable than they? 

Who of you by worrying 
can add a single hour to his lifespan?

Spit out the Bones

Did Jesus go out to "meet and greet" people, getting to know them before he started to teach the Word of God? Did he sidestep issues of the day so as not to be labeled a "Torah Thumper"?

I don't think so.

Did Yahshua mix and mingle lies with the truth in order to attract people to him? Did he share ideas and theories to entertain and entice folks to join him?

I think not.

He came loaded with knowledge, understanding, love and truth and wasted no time with 'ear tickling' as a tactic to win people over.

Y'shua was known by his reputation. From a young age he was very knowledgeable of Scripture. Later he became known as a teacher and a healer, and some speculated he was possibly the son of Elohim - others knew without a doubt. People were drawn to him, some out of curiosity, some to hear his teachings for themselves, or to be healed of their ailments, or because they recognized the Good Shepherd's Voice and responded to the calling.

John 14:6 - Yahshua answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life...."John 8:12- Yahshua spoke to the people and said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."1 John 5:11-  And this is that testimony: Yahweh has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

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Why do people think it is O.K. to share teachings from folks who are not 100% in line with the Word of Yahweh as a tool to "bring others to Christ"?  This is no different from mixing pagan customs with the religion of Christianity in order to bring more folks into the 'church'.  It is a stumbling block for many and a snare for others. They say folks can "eat the meat and spit out the bones" meaning we can visit these sites, read these books, watch those videos so we can glean nuggets of truth from them.  But what else are we gleaning, even if it was not our intention?  What bad seeds are being planted with the good?  Are we really to go through all that trouble when we could simply read Scriptures daily and allow our Father's Set Apart Spirit to reveal all truth, without the risk of entertaining demons... 

Codes vs Yahweh

Romans 2:8 - 

But for those who are self-seeking 

and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, 

there will be wrath and anger.

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Folks who think it's OK to delve into numerology in order to prove "God" are dabbling in pagan traditions we've all been warned about.  Those people are promoting the discovery of 'Bible/Torah Codes'.  This is no different from relying on science to prove the existence of an Intelligent Being; God or the 'god particle'.  If they had Faith in the Creator they wouldn't need mysticism to prove His existence. Numerology is the study of the occult significance of numbers.

As an element of astrology and fortune-telling, numerology has long been employed to predict future events. Numerology has also been used to interpret personality; in particular, numerologists may assign numbers to each letter of a person's name and use the resulting figures, along with the person's date of birth, as a guide to his or her character.

Allowing ourselves to experiment with mysticism opens a portal for demons to enter. We are called to come out of this world system just as His People were called to come out of Egypt (they had a choice). We are called to come out of Babylon, this same old hot bed of paganism.

Our Faith is our Trust in the Living Elohim, we trust His Instructions. We should not let our pride and arrogance get in the way of His Truth. If He says 'do not eat lobster', I will not eat lobster. I do not need a scientific reason to obey the One who created me. 

There are places we just aren't suppose to go. Take that tower they tried to build in Babylon. Those folks wanted to make a name for themselves. It was because of their pride and arrogance that Yahweh scattered them. If He gave us commandments not to do certain things, things that the pagans did, why on earth would we think it was O.K. to experiment with 'new age' old world mysticism now?  Are we letting pride and arrogance get in the way?

There is nothing new under the sun.

(Ecclesiastes)

Yahweh our Elohim has warned, more than once, not to 'mix or mingle' with non-believers and traditions of men.  It is up to us to choose to believe, to act in Faith and not by the dictates of science or the philosophies of man. His Spirit cannot be quantified by science - He is beyond our total understanding because we are still separated from the spiritual by physical realm.  Using secret codes is akin to man trying to build a tower to reach the heavens because of his pride and arrogance. 

Who is the Master of Confusion? Who is so subtle as to make one question the Word of Yahweh Elohim? Doubt is a device expertly used by Satan to turn us from our Creator. As we patiently wait for the return of His Son we must continue to withdraw from those who walk wickedly.

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I paraphrase assumptions and discussions that led up to this study:

...so herbs and essential oils were used by all pagan cultures. But we use them today, because our God made them right? So, these "eastern" cultures have used body flow meridians to see where the body is lacking, I know for a fact that God made these things. Yes people have perverted it, but it does not make it pagan. I think we give the enemy too much credit, Yah created these things. So I don't like to jump into the everything is pagan because in reality we would be in a lot of trouble....Yes Yah heals, the blessings and curses are also spoken about the promised land, so I don't believe we get the completion of these blessings until we are there. Yah heals, but maybe he gave a doctor the knowledge to repair your clogged arteries before you had another heart attack. I've come to find there is nothing that Yah is not in, he's not in a box.

and... 

Have you guys heard of chakras? Yeah those weird things hippies talk about huh? Well...they are light within the body, guess what? Same up and down light points as the menorah, because guess what? We truly are the light of the world. 

and then this:

Yah said the knowledge would increase in the end days, I think that's what is happening. There are many "thinkers" and people that are more on the science side of things, I believe he allowing these things to come about. He is science, he is math, he is quantum physics. He is the maker of heaven and earth

We should never underestimate the power of the Adversary. 

It was Satan who caused Eve to doubt the Instruction of Yahweh, 

which is why we are where we are today.

Trees are part of Yah's creation, a good thing, but it's the pagan tradition of cutting them down, bringing them indoors and decorating them that is an abomination to Yahweh. We can grow trees, take a walk in the woods etc... but we are not to turn them into idols of worship. Likewise, herbs, honey, oils and vinegar are good things as long as we are use them for food and healing, but not in an attempt to connect with the spiritual realm. 

Here's a thought: Is the Ouija Board an innocent game or a tool to tempt one into divination or calling up the dead, even if that wasn't one's intentions. 

Excuses to dabble in mysticism I see as a problem that has resulted from many a Hebrew Roots assembly.  Once we realize that Torah is for Everyone in Yah's Creation, we should realistically move beyond the discovery of our Hebrew heritage and come face to face with Faith, which was never about religion.  But many "go Jewish" and are sidelined by another religion complete with man made doctrines, opinions and mysticism (Talmud and Kabbalah).  The example I quoted above was in regards to using Yoga and 'body flow meridians' for 'health' reasons.  But the subject matter is the same as one who wants to use numerology (gematria) to expand their understanding of God.

Pagans do not make something 'pagan' by using it, but their established actions, lifestyle and the 'gods' they worship etc... are what define them as being pagans. They are heathens who do not accept Yahweh or His Instructions; they attempt to mix some of Yahweh in with their gods just as leaders would blend paganism with Christianity to bring more into the Church system. If healing is promoted by relating it to spiritualism or enlightenment, then we need beware of the implications of copying them. Do not forget that the Divine Beings who left their station in heaven taught things to humans that were not supposed to be shared. And later, when Yah's people entered the promised land they were told not to adopt the ways of those they had dispersed. The land of Canaan was permeated with pagan traditions.

I rely on Yahweh's Instructions for all things, search His Word for answers and seek His guidance in making decisions. This is where we can 'be still' and let His Set Apart Spirit direct us. Remember how subtle Satan is in his desire to be 'god' - he will say anything to get us to turn our backs on the Creator. 

Yes, Yahweh is our Creator, but who is the Deceiver? Who has a counterfeit for almost everything Elohim put forth? Don't forget that time when Yah regretted He created man and sent a Flood to wash them off the face of the earth. 

We must be very careful when choosing something that sounds good but underneath is destructive to our soul. This is why we are instructed to read Scripture every day, study our Creator's Instructions day in and day out, teach it to our children, remember where we came from and where we want to go. We are called to come out of Mystery Babylon so as not to partake of her sins nor her plagues. Babylon was a hot bed of paganism so it should be no mystery as to why we are being called to come out of today's world system. It is no different for us now as it was for them. Everything was pretty much under the influence of paganism in the Land of Canaan.

Leviticus 18:3 - You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived: and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; neither shall you walk in their statutes.
Leviticus 20:23 - You are not to live by the customs of the nations, whom I've cast away right in front of you. Because they did all of these things, I detested them.

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Colossians 2:8 - Beware lest any man rob you by philosophy, or by empty deception, according to the teaching of men and according to the principles of the world and not according to Yahshua the Mashiyach.
Psalm 49:13 - This is the destiny of fools, and of those who approve of their philosophy.

Definition of "Philosophy":

• pursuit of wisdom 
• a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means 
• an analysis of the grounds of and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs 

(it's a Greek kind of thing....)

Yahweh tells us not to be taken in by those who teach by speculation, who hand out empty deceptions concocted by men according to worldly desires; who ignore the teachings of Yahshua, son of Elohim. 

We are to rejoice and be glad because our reward in heaven is great. Just as folks persecuted the prophets of old for speaking the Word of Elohim, we too, shall be persecuted for our faith and following the perfect example set by His Son. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Because we follow the Instructions of the Father our behavior- our light -shines in view of all people. We become the 'light of the world' by example. That example is evidenced by our lifestyle, which is according to the Instructions given us by our Creator and not by some mystic light show happening within our bodies. 

John 8:12 - Once again, Yahshua spoke to the people and said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.

So, now I'll get back to Bible Codes.

Quote: (*I Do Not Agree with everything on this site but offer it for your further research, study and understanding of this topic of codes. I do not recommend the KJV to anyone)

The one who ignited this spate of new books on hidden Bible codes is J.R. Church and his ministry is called ‘Prophecy in the News’ out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1993, Rev. Church published a book entitled ‘The Mystery of the Menorah and the Hebrew Alphabet.’ ... Since then he has published two more books by Yacov Rambsel, a Hebrew-Christian who wrote about his fascinating discovery that God had encoded the Hebrew name of Jesus (Yeshua) throughout the Hebrew Old Testament.... All this hidden secret Bible code business is a great deceiving by Satan designed to mislead and divert people from the truth. It will cause all sort of misuse and trashing of God’s Word, preserved in the English language."

The Bible Code

In 1994, Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips, and Yoav Rosenberg published the paper, "Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis", in the scientific journal Statistical Science. In their paper, the authors set out to prove that the names of famous rabbis could be found with the Book of Genesis in close proximity to the dates of their births and deaths in such a way that chance alone could not explain... The process relied upon "Equidistant Letter Sequencing (ELS)," whereby researchers take a single letter, skip ahead a certain number of spaces to a second letter, and then repeat the process using the same numeric interval.

Isopsephia (aka Gematria)

Georges Contenau cites evidence that isopsephia (the Greek word for gematria) was widely used in Mesopotamia. In this case numerical values were assigned to the characters in their syllabary, and the numerical values of names were computed. (This also fits in with the general Mesopotamian reverence for numbers: all the Gods had numbers, which Simo Parpola has shown to be numerically related by the Assyrian Tree of Life.)

The next datable source for gematria I know about comes from David Fideler's Jesus Christ: Sun of God. He argues that the standard spellings of the Gods' names were formulated according to isopsephic principles under the influence of the Pythagorean League c. 500 BCE . So for example, Zeus is the Geometric Mean of Hermes and Apollo. He further argues that many Greek temples, such as the Parthenon (447 BC) and Apollo's temple at Didyma (300 BC), were constructed isopsephically.  Given the early use of gematria in Babylonia (by the eigth century) and its apparent use in Greece (by the fifth), the general idea must have been widely known around the Mediterranean from an early date. Nevertheless it seems that the Hebrew gematria known to us now came from the Greeks.

Hebrew Letter Numbers

Each of the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet is correlated with a specific number. Gematria is the computation of individual letters, words or entire sentences utilizing their numerical equivalence. Some people believe that the words and ideas in the Torah may be connected with or understood from the numerical values and relationships. It is alleged that the numerical word-value is not unintentional, but rather prearranged. This study was first introduced amongst Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah in the 2nd century AD.  Many believe there are secret codes to be uncovered by interpreting the numerical values of the letters in the Bible. The kabbalists employ gematria to decipher the Torah and everyday events. Gematria is also used to interpret the Midrash and Talmud. There are many Jews, however, that believe one must be of stable mind to partake in the study of gematria, so as to not go fanatical.

Quote:
The original manuscripts did not contain the chapter and verse divisions in the numbered form familiar to modern readers. Some portions of the original texts were logically divided into parts following the Hebrew alphabet; for instance, the earliest known copies of the book of Isaiah use Hebrew letters for paragraph divisions. There are other divisions from various sources which are different from what we use today.
The Old Testament began to be put into sections before the Babylonian Captivity (586 BC) with the five books of Moses being put into a 154-section reading program to be used in a three-year cycle.
By the time of the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, the New Testament had been divided into paragraphs, although the divisions were different from the modern Bible.

An important canon of the New Testament was proclaimed by Pope Damasus I in the Roman synod of 374. Pope Damasus also induced Jerome, a priest from Antioch, to undertake his famous translation of the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, the official language of the Roman Empire at the time. This translation is known as the Vulgate. The Church continued to finance the very expensive process of copying and providing copies of the Bible to local churches and communities from that point up to and beyond the invention of the printing press.

Churchmen Archbishop Stephen Langton and Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro determined different schemas for systematic division of the Bible in the early 13th century. It is the system of Archbishop Langton on which the modern chapter divisions are based. 

The first person to divide New Testament chapters into verses was Italian Dominican biblical scholar Santi Pagnini (1470–1541), but his system was never widely adopted. Robert Estienne created an alternate numbering in his 1551 edition of the Greek New Testament. The first English New Testament to use the verse divisions was a 1557 translation by William Whittingham (c. 1524-1579). The first Bible in English to use both chapters and verses was the Geneva Bible published shortly afterwards in 1560. These verse divisions soon gained acceptance as a standard way to notate verses, and have since been used in nearly all English Bibles.

So man added the chapters and verse numbers to Scriptures. How can one honestly believe gematria (numerology) has anything to do with confirming the authority of Yahweh Elohim? He did not put division by numbers into His Word. 

Who is the author of division?

could it be.... Satan?

Maryam of Magdala

Once upon a time,

Mary Magdalene aka Maryam of Magdala

 had Seven Demons...

Luke 8:1 And it happened after these things that Yahshua was going around in the cities and in the villages and was preaching and declaring the Kingdom of Elohim, and his twelve Apostles were with him ... also those women who were healed of sicknesses and of evil spirits. Maryam who is called Magdalitha from whom seven demons had gone out. And Yokan the wife of Kuza the steward of Herodus and Shusban and many other, those were ministering to them from their wealth.

Maryam was freed from those demons by Yahshua and became a faithful follower of The Way, but nowhere in Scriptures is she referred to as a harlot, prostitute or whore. In the above paragraph she is noted with other women who are using their wealth to help support the 'ministry' of Yahshua and his Apostles.

She saw Yahshua and spoke with him after his resurrection.

John 20:11 (lightly paraphrased) But Maryam was standing at the tomb and weeping, and while she wept she peeked in the grave and she saw two Messengers clothed in white who were sitting, one at his pillow and one at the foot of the bed, where the body of Yahshua had lain. And they said to her, "Woman, why do you weep?" She said to them, "Because they have taken my Master and I do not know where they have laid him." She turned around and saw Yahshua standing behind her. She did not recognize him, thinking he was the gardener... Yahshua called her by name and she turned to look at him fully and said to him in Hebrew "Rabbuli!" which means Teacher.  He sent her to tell his brothers than he ascends to their Father and Elohim. Later that evening he stood among his disciples (except Thomas was not there) telling them to receive the Ruach haKodesh, forgive men their sins and they will be forgiven. Eight days later the disciples were gathered again, with Thomas and Yahshua appeared before them saying, "Peace be with you."  Now Thomas believed he was resurrected. Yahshua said, "Now that you have seen me, you believe. Blessed are those who do not see me and believe."

In John 21 we read that Yahshua reveals himself again to his disciples by the sea of Tiberius (Galilee). Verse 25 wraps up John's account: And there are many other things that Yahshua did, which if those were written one by one, not even the world as I suppose would be sufficient for the books that would be written.

Magdala
(Magadan, Dalmanutha): Mejdel. This small city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee was about 3 miles N of Tiberias. Taricheae was a Greek name of the place called in Hebrew Migdal (Magdala), from 'taricheuein' to smoke or preserve fish "pickling places." The pickled fish of Galilee were known throughout the Roman and Greek world. Large quantities were taken up to Jerusalem at the season of the yearly feasts, because of the great multitudes. Barrels were also transported around the Mediterranean.

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Babylon the Great & The Caliph Antichrist

The Kingdom is at Hand

We know what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, but what does Yahshua mean when he says it is near - at hand?  Is this the spiritual realm of our Creator? 

Luke 17:20

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of Elohim would come, Yahshua replied, "The coming of the kingdom of Elohim is not something that can be observed."

Romans 14:17

For The Kingdom of Elohim is not eating and drinking (physical), but the righteousness and the peace and the joy in Yah's Set Apart Spirit (spiritual).

The Ruach haKodesh is the Spirit of Yahweh who spoke creation into existence. It is this same Spirit that caused His Son to be born. It is the same Spirit Yahshua gave to his Apostles ten days after he ascended to heaven. It is this same Spirit that becomes apparent within us as we continue to read and study the Word of Yahweh our Creator. His Kingdom is the righteousness, the peace and the joy in the Ruach haKodesh.  When we become aware of those spiritual emotions, then we experience the nearness of His Kingdom. It is His Spirit that connects us.  

We won't find The Kingdom of Heaven by performing traditional rituals, eating and drinking and partaking of pagan holidays.  It is not a physical manifestation that can be seen in this world. Yet the Ruach haKodesh, who comforts us revealing the Truth of all things, teaches us just how close we truly are to the Kingdom of Heaven. By faith we shall find our reward- the righteousness, peace and joy -in our hope of the Good News in the Kingdom to Come.

Halleluyah!

Everlasting Consolation