A Pondering
thought for December 2014
1st Corinthians
11:1 (the great Apostle Saul writing to us) "Be
imitators of me, as I am also of Messiah." Hebrew Roots
version
What was one of the things that Saul did that we
are to imitate?
Acts 17:2,3 "And according to Saul's CUSTOM,
he went in to them and reasoned with them from the scriptures on three SABBATHS,
opening and setting forth that the Messiah must have suffered and to have risen
from the dead, and that this is the Messiah, Yahshua, whom I preach to
you." HRv
So one of the Apostle's customs was to keep the
Sabbath (It is actually recorded that he kept the Sabbath 84
instances in the book of Acts alone!) and to reason with
others (in this instance the Jews and Greeks, in our day all of Israel
and not just Jews and then the unconverted, the unlearned, but also the
congregation, true or false and for sure those who have a sincere desire to
know the Truth) about the Word of Yahweh and of Yah's-salvation = Yah-shua.
But Saul commanded us to imitate him as He
imitated Messiah. So was he imitating something that Yahshua Messiah did also?
Luke 4:16 "And He (Messiah) came
to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His CUSTOM was, He went into
the synagogue (in our day: the Assembly or Congregation) on
the 7th day SABBATH, and stood up for to read." HRv
And so Saul and the Messiah both had the same
custom. But to imitate them goes much deeper than just the custom of the
Sabbath and reasoning with others. 1st John 2:6 "The one claiming
to rest in Him, ought to walk, himself, even
as He walked." HRv To walk means to be on a path, it is your ways
it is the life that you practice. We are to imitate Saul's ways as he imitated
Messiah and His ways. If we claim that we are abiding in Messiah, that we
are believers, then we should be walking as He walked.
How about the Messiah, did He imitate
anyone? John 15:10 "If you keep My commandments you will continue
in My love, as I have kept My Father's commandments and continue in His
love." John 14:15 "If you love Me (Messiah), keep
My commandments." HRv
So we are to imitate Saul who imitated Messiah
who imitated the Father. Messiah kept the Father's commandments, Saul kept
Messiah's commandments and we therefore keep the same commandments as did Saul.
It was their way and it is to be our way, it is our walk as we walk
as they walked. The one who loves Yahshua will keep His commandments as He kept
the Father's commandments. We don't love him because we keep His commandments,
but we keep His commandments because we love Him! Do you love Him?
Keeping His commandments is one of the proofs
that we actually know the true Messiah and not the Anti-messiah. 1st
John 2:3-5 "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his
commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth
is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in
him verily is the love of Yahweh perfected: hereby know we that we are in
him."
If we don't keep His commandments then we are
liars by claiming we know Messiah while still calling ourselves believers.
Those sure are some real tough words from the Apostle John. I'm glad he said it
and not me. So don't be mad with me, take it up with the great Apostle John as
he was writing under the inspiration of the Kodesh Ruach. Take it up with the
spirit of Yahweh then! But the spirit of Anti-messiah will allow you to
disregard the true commandments of Yahweh and instead follow after
vain commandments and lying, pagan, idolatrous holidays while deceiving
you into believing you are a true believer! The spirit of the Anti-messiah
is always associated with sin and lawlessness and iniquity and
rebellion and the disregarding of the commandments. Most have obviously
already fallen under the deception of the Anti-messiah! What spirit are
you of?
How about you? Do you imitate Saul as He
imitated Messiah as He imitated the Father? Do you really love the Messiah? But
before you answer, first ask yourself: do I keep His commandments as they
are being revealed unto me? If so, you will continue in His love. And friends,
the 7th day Sabbath is one of His commandments. Cannot say the same for Sunday!
He also has 7 annual set apart days that are His commandments. Cannot say the same for Christmas and all of the other supposed
Christian Holidays. They are not nor ever were Yahweh's commanded
set apart days. Just because the Whore Church of Mystery Babylon the
Great and her Harlot daughters have dressed up pagan days of observance with their
Bible stories and terms does not suddenly make them Kodesh, scriptural, or of
Elohim!
Search the scriptures if you will, but from
Genesis to Revelation you will not find a single command to keep the 1st day
Sunday nor a command to keep and observe
Christmas or any of the other religious holidays that the Church of Christianity
is keeping. If the true Elohim didn't command such holidays to be kept, I would
wonder just what elohim did? Maybe
Santa....oh, I'm sorry I misspelled the title of the satan!
If the Father didn't keep, observe nor command
them to be kept, then Messiah didn't keep, observe nor command them to be kept
and therefore the Apostle Saul did not keep, observe nor command them to be
kept, as each was imitating the former and we are commanded to imitate them
all. They were not keeping such holidays, because they are of idolatrous pagan
origins and we are commanded not to learn the ways of the heathen and try and
worship the true Elohim with the ways that the heathen worshipped their false elohim’s. Deuteronomy 12:1-4,30;
Jeremiah 10:2
Deuteronomy 12:32 "See that you do all
I (Yahweh) command you; do not add to it or take away
from it." HRv
You or I or anyone are not
to take away from what Yahweh has commanded. But that is just what most are doing by not keeping His Sabbath days as times of
worship that He has commanded. But also you or I or anyone are not to add to what Yahweh has commanded. But that
is just what most are doing by observing Christmas, Sunday or even Easter or
other such like times of worship that are not commanded of Yahweh.
I'm going to be very blunt now: If you reject
His commandments and replace them with man's commandments, if you reject His
set apart days and replace them with your traditions and days of pagan origins
that He does not command, then Messiah speaks to you in Mark 7:6-9,13 "He
answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you
hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me
with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For
laying aside the commandment of Yahweh, ye hold the tradition of
men...........and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them,
Full well ye reject the commandment of Yahweh, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Making the word of Yahweh of none effect through your tradition, which ye have
delivered: and many such like things do ye."
Just like I said previously about the Apostle
John, I now say the same about Yahshua. I'm sure glad that He spoke those words
and not me, and yet I'm set in defense of the faith. So again, although I
was being very blunt, yet not I my friends, it was the Messiah who was being
very blunt. Is His Words blunt unto your hearing? Has conviction of
the spirit begun? I can say I have been there, and still am at times as
new Truth is revealed. It is then time to repent and to convert to the
new Truth being revealed and to then begin walking in the newly
revealed Truth. But the Elohim will give us all a season of repentance, a
time to prove Truth from error.
We are commanded to prove all things and then
stand fast into that which has been proven. (1st Thessalonians 5:21) Most
do not prove what they believe, but continue believing something for which they
have not proven. Seems to me it would be much safer and wiser to
believe the scriptures as directed by the Ruach of Yahweh than to believe
and trust in the commandments and traditions of men. We know what Saul's
custom was and we know what Yahshua's custom
was. What is your custom? Is it your custom to keep the ways
of Yahweh or the traditions of men?
It is better to have proven what you have
believed than to have believed what you have not proven. If you have not
proven what you have believed, why then do you believe it?
Much to
think about, especially as we enter into one of the most idolatrous times of
the year. Is it any wonder why our nation is quickly becoming the tail
of the nations when at one time we were the
head? Even the Sunday keepers at one time kept the spirit of the Torah. (Deuteronomy
28; Leviticus 26) Such should grieve us as it most certainly
grieves the spirit of the living Elohim. :(
The Old Paths Restoration Ministry