.
Yohanan (John) 3:16
says “For Elohim so loved the world that He gave His only brought forth Son,
so that everyone who
believes in Him should not perish but posses everlasting life.” That means that
everyone who believes
in Elohim should live forever. Ya’acob writes in his letter, “Even the demons
believe,
and shudder.” This is
found in James 2:19 in The Bible So unless demons will live forever in a state
of
rebellion, there must
be more to belief than just acknowledging the existence of what you believe in.
Let us
take for example, the
President of The United States of America. We can read in the papers, or see on
the
news the name of the
person who currently holds that office. Nearly everyone will know that he is
the
President. How many
people believe that he should be president, or how many people believe that he
is
taking the country in
the right direction? Now the list is smaller, is it not? This brings up the
question: “What
does it mean to
believe?”. Would you, dear reader, say that you believe in Elohim? To believe
in someone,
is more than just
acknowledging their existence, or acknowledging that they occupy an office. To
truly believe
in someone, you must
believe that everything they say or do is right. Are you still claiming to
believe in Elohim
now? Of all the people
who believe in a higher power; how many people believe that hwhy
is Elohim. How
many people truly
believe in hwhy? Do You?
Wayyiqqra (Leviticus)
11:1-42 clearly describes food that is safe to eat and abominations that are
not
edible. We will
encounter people who say they believe, but they do not believe that they need
to obey this
command. Do they not
believe that hwhy meant this for all people or
for all time? Do they believe that they
can cleanse the
unclean by feeding the beast clean grains, slaughtering it a certain way, or
through
refrigeration and
freezing? If so, they believe in themselves or they don’t believe that hwhy
knows everything!
There are some that
believe that hwhy spoke this only to make us
feel as if we are not worthy to be in His
presence. If you
believe hwhy loves you then you will know that He did not make
a law that He doesn’t expect
us to obey, and He did
not put restrictions on us to make us feel unworthy to be in His presence! He
gave
us perfect
instructions to keep us from dying or to keep us healthy, wealthy and wise!
Because of the
improper slaughtering
in butcher shops, and/or preparing of foods in many Restaurants; some people
who
believe in hwhy
are abstaining from eating in restaurants, and many more are becoming
vegetarians! If
people do not believe
that this command applies to them, forcing them to obey it will not save them.
We can
challenge them to
follow these instructions to prove they will be healthier, and sometimes this
leads them to
believe that hwhy
is right. Doing what the law says will sometimes help someone believe,
but doing without
belief will not get
anyone into the Kingdom. On the other hand, why would one want to eat something
that
Our Creator calls
unclean. For example, hwhy said pig is unclean, and this
author, believing that hwhy
knows best, does not
eat pig. We cannot force people to believe; but what we believe will be
reflected by what
we do. How can a
person blatantly ignoring The Word of hwhy convince
someone that hwhy is love?
The same concept works
with other scriptures as well. Some instructions are not as
specific so
let's
not focus on what others are doing, just live what we believe. Does Wayyiqqra
19:19 include
cotton
polyester and/or other synthetic blends? Debarim (Deuteronomy) 22:11 infers
that it
doesn’t,
however this chapter raises other questions. In verse 5, what is a man’s
garment that a
woman
is not to wear, and vice versa? How does verse 12 apply today? Is this command
only for
the
men, or is it for everyone? Is this command only for the children? See Bemidbar
(Numbers)
15:37
41 for another reference. How do we make the fringe? Are we supposed to wear
garments
that
have four corners? Enough about clothes, let's talk about hair. Does Yehezqel
(Ezekiel)
44:15
31 apply to us today, or just the priests of the time it was spoken? What does
1st Corinthians
11:14
mean? Is Paul saying that a man must cut his hair in the Greco-Roman fashion?
Is Paul
simply
saying that a man who doesn’t cut his hair is putting himself below Yahshua? (See
Strong's
#
819 in Vines dictionary). 1st Corinthians 11:6 says that if a woman does not
cut her hair, then she
must
wear a covering. Is it possible that Paul is explaining why men don’t wear
coverings?
Certainly
a man wearing a crown (a type of covering) would be highly esteemed. Is being
shamed
a
bad thing in this context? There are many more issues in which it seems the
scripture is unclear.
Are
these scriptures to be taken literally, or are they metaphors? Although some
people do take
Debarim
(Deuteronomy) 6:8 literally, most of us see that as symbolic. To this day, I do
not know
of
anyone who took Debarim 10:16 literally.
We know that we cannot convince anyone, it is the Spirit
that teaches all of
us. The best way to handle such issues is to pray that hwhy
reveals the truth to us. Some
will accept the truth.
Others will reject it. We should be humble, and be constantly asking ourselves,
“Am I
the one who is
rejecting the truth?”.
What about the way we
treat other people? Prophecy tells us that there will be peace on earth when
the Kingdom comes.
Revelation 20:4 says that those who are martyred for proclaiming the truth, or
for
refusing to follow the
beast will be priests in The Kingdom. Matt. 5:11-12, and Matt. 10:22 say the
same. Do
we believe this? Matt.
7:7-12 says that hwhy is our provider. Do we
believe this? Is the way we treat other
people reflecting this
belief? For example suppose that you walk up to your car and find someone
trying to
hot-wire it. According
to the letter of the law, that person now owes you two cars (Shemoth/Exodus
22:4).
Romans 7:6 says that
we should serve in newness of Spirit and not in oldness of letter. A typical
response
from a person led by
The Spirit might be this: “Friend, what are you doing to my car? If you had
asked me,
I would have let you
use the car. But to show you that hwhy loves
you; here are the keys, take the car and
be at peace.” If hwhy
wants you to have your car then that person will flee. If that person
needs your car for
whatever reason and it
is good in the eyes of hwhy for him to have your car,
then you know that hwhy will
not leave you without
transportation! Would your response resemble this? Paul gives a list of
characteristics
of a person led by the
flesh in Galatians 5:19-21. Galatians 5:22-23 gives a list of Spirit led
traits. Which list
best describes how you
would respond to a person stealing your car? What if someone smacks you in your
face? The scriptures,
(Matt. 5:39-48, Luke 6:28-29, Romans 12:17-210) are quite clear about how we
should
respond. How many
people would be guilty of murder if they reacted in the flesh, and the fight
escalated?
Did Stephen (Acts
7:57-60) throw the stones back? What if you walked in to your house and saw
someone
attacking one of your
children? Would you trust that hwhy can protect your
child, and pray for the salvation
of the attacker?
Ephesians 6:16 says that your belief is a shield. If action is needed, let hwhy
take that
action. You don’t
stand a chance against that demon without hwhy. If
we lose sight of the goal, (or doubt),
we could react in the
flesh instead of letting the Spirit control our actions!
How great it is that
YAHUSHUA died for our sins -- Especially when we are the ones that are in need
of
forgiveness! Although
we would like to remain in the Spirit and never sin, there will be times when
we fall
short and need
YAHUSHUA to fix our mistakes. It might not be even as extreme as the above
examples.
We need to be on guard
at all times because people are watching us, and will use the fact that we
sinned to
justify their own sin!
We are to be set-apart as hwhy is set-apart(Galatians
5:14-18, 1 Peter 1:16). Let us pray
constantly that the flesh will submit to the Spirit at all times. The only
way we can live without sin
is
to abide in the Spirit at all times. Many of us believe this is possible. This
author has not
accomplished
this goal yet. If we do fall short of the goal, do we believe that we can be
forgiven if
we
ask for forgiveness and repent? This is the most important thing to believe!
Ibrim (Hebrews)
4:16
says to come boldly to the throne. How can one who does not believe in
forgiveness be bold
in
front of The Almighty? Will we stand on the day of resurrection, if we do not
know that hwhy
is
forgiving? So then, it is belief (faith) that gets us into the kingdom and not
works. If we believe
in hwhy then we will do what He says. If we believe in ourselves and
abide in ourselves, then we
will never be
good enough. May hwhy bless you in
your study of His word!
