The Great Creator vs. The Evil Imitator

I will not take up your time by going over a subject that you are probably very familiar with by now.  But I do want to draw a line of comparison here because the times and situations demand it.

Ecc 1:9
(9)  What has been is what shall be, what has been done is what shall be done, and there is no new matter under the sun.

We are bombarded on a daily basis with the concept of “new.”  Every product is new and improved, every doctrine of man is new, every thought, every ideology all new.  But yet Shlemo says there is nothing new under the sun.  How can so many be duped by this continuous lying?

The very foundation of sun worship (pagan christianity) is the absolute worse at perpetuating this lie.  Every jack legged preacher who comes along with a new circus act, claims he has a new thing.  Whatever!  There is NOTHING new under the sun or sun-god worship.  These tactics and antics go back to the Garden.  They come from the wrong Tree.  They are all part of the lie that the enemy started telling back in the Garden.  Not being the Creator, ha satan has always been the imitator.  He takes Truth, albeit in small doses, and wraps it around a huge lie.  Just like we do when we try to give our dog medicine.  When you wrap a piece of tasty meat or cheese around the medicine, the dog swallows the whole thing.  Sound familiar?

YHWH created everything, He made it all good and put His Blessing on it.  So in an effort to be like YHWH, the adversary has taken the good and made bad imitations.  Wrapping a little truth around a big lie, smiling and telling us it’s good as we gobble it down. 

The evidence of this dastardly deed is all around us.  Satan didn’t want anyone to keep the Feasts YHWH created, so he made imitations.  The imitation have been around almost as long as the originals.  Check me out.  People celebrated christmas thousands of years before the Messiah was born.  How is that even possible?  Pagan mythology set up the lies before the Truth was manifested.  This way it appears the imitation was the creation.  We know Scripture tells us the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world.  So if from Creation the Creator had already planned for the Lamb to be slain, doesn’t go without saying the Lamb must be born, live and die.  Right?  Well where was the Imitator when the Creator made His plan?  Did ha satan not know this plan?  Even if you think he didn’t know then, wouldn’t he have known when these Words were spoken?

Gen 3:15
(15)  And I will put eivah (enmity, personal hostility [see Ezekiel 35:5]) between thee and HaIsha (see HaAlmah, Yeshayah 7:14), and between thy zera and her Zera; it shall crush thy rosh, and thou shalt strike his akev (heel).

When YHWH spoke this curse upon ha satan what do you think he immediately set out to do?  Wouldn’t his MO (modus operandi) be to destroy the Good by imitating it and flooding the market (so to speak) with his cheap imitation?  Well, what a shock that’s exactly what he did.  The pagan lore of a god/man born to a virgin who dies is rampant.  The whole tamuz, I mean christmas story is all through mythology.  So is ishtar/easter, with all of the pagan attachements, colored eggs, rabbits etc.

So is it any surprise that we can actually determine Truth by looking at the lie?  This is not the best and perfect way to find truth, but it really does work.  We know that YHWH created everything and ha satan imitates YHWH’s creation, so why does the world and specifically the christian world embrace the lie?  We have Truth (Scripture) to use as a checkpoint, but still we all have chosen to chase hard after the lie while ignoring and trying to explain away the Truth.

Just because it must be asked, tell me; where is christmas or easter in the Scriptures?  Not there is it?  We do have Passover, Sukkot and other wonderful Feast Days to keep and celebrate, they are all in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, but we always say those were “done away with.” 

The lies of ha satan have ridden on the back of the churches and this causes generation after generation to accept them carte blanche.  It becomes almost impossible to walk away from the imitation when we are multiple generations deep into the lie.

Now I didn’t write this to talk about holidays vs. YHWH’s days, so let me get to my point.

In the late 1800’s a movement broke out in Topeka, KS. that took the United States by storm.  There was speaking in tongues, convulsions, shouting and people getting slain in the spirit.  This movement went from Topeka to Houston, where it grew and deepened.  From Houston it went to Los Angeles (Azusa Street), where it exploded.  I will not get into all of the details because if you are serious about your relationship with the Heavenly Father, you will check this out and confirm the facts.  The facts are this, ALL of these movements were centered around people with deep voodoo (vodou) backgrounds.  The acts that were manifest at these meetings were all syncretizations of pagan satanic rituals mixed with Roman Catholicism.  To be specific, it was called “riding the loa” by those in Haitian and African witchcraft.  Why would ha satan do this?  What was the motive behind shoving the lie down our throats?

There is always a true and real creation that the Imitator wants to debunk.  YHWH has and will move in a very real way through His people when they seek Him.  Yes, people can and will be healed, delivered and set free.  Yes, we can and will dance before YHWH and He does speak through His people with another tongue.  But once again the Imitator has set before us a evil imitation of a real thing that we naturally run to just like Adam and Chawah (Eve) in the Garden.  We are loosing our youth to this imitation ever day, simply because we run from the Truth and embrace the lie ourselves. 

When we look to YHWH, reject the lie and allow the Ruach to work through us, we will see His Ruach (Spirit) poured out in this last day.  It will not be Todd Bentley/Benny Hinn/Oral Roberts/William Seymour/Charles Parham type of hoodoo voodoo.  YHWH’s Spirit will not take us away from His Word.  Real Spirit leads to Real Truth.  Tattooed, adulterous, money hungry, voodoo following perverted men (and women) will not lead YHWH’s people into His outpouring.

We are desperately needing a move of YHWH in this last hour.  We need Spirit (Ruach) and Truth (Emet).  A life that is out of balance in either area cannot stand.  Too much Truth without Spirit is unbalanced and too much Spirit without Truth is not stable either.  Why is it we reject both at one time or another?   

The Children of YHWH need to be seeking His Ruach and what He wants us to have, not seeking the pagan ways of the world.  When we mix the Truth of YHWH with the lies of the Imitator we can not be pure sources of Water for the lost.

My point is this; we need a real move of YHWH in the Body today.  We must put ourselves in the proper position to receive this outpouring.  We must purge our homes and our lives of all pagan influences that ha satan uses because they are all imitations and keep us from YHWH’s Truth.

2Ch 7:14
(14)  If Ami, which are called by Shmi, shall humble themselves, and daven, and seek my face, and turn from their derakhim hara'im (wicked ways), then will I hear from Shomayim, and will forgive their chattat, and will heal their land.

Joe 2:28-29
(28)  (3:1)  And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Ruach [Hakodesh] upon all basar; and your banim and your banot shall prophesy, your zekenim shall dream chalomot, your bochurim shall see chezyonot (visions):
(29)  (3:2)  And also upon the avadim and upon the shefachot in those days will I pour out My Ruach [Hakodesh, see Ac 2:1-42].

I’m Gonna Kill Myself!

My life has not been secluded from the trauma of death.  From looking in my dad’s eyes as he drowned, to watching cancer take my Papa all at eleven years old, to arriving at the hospital as they are trying to revive my father in law, to holding my wife after we have had to pull the plug on her mother; I have witnessed death.  Being in the presence of those passing on numerous occasions has given me insight that I hope no one else ever has to gain.

One thing I have learned, the stress of passing and the fear of the unknown is far greater for those left grieving than for those passing, (at least those who die at peace with YHWH).

Right after we got married my wife and I rented a house in Terre Haute, IN. really cheap.  We wondered why our little home was so cheap until we discovered the neighbor behind us was sitting in jail just recently arrested on charges of mass murder.  The nights laying in bed knowing the atrocities that were committed less 25 yards from my bedroom was a little creepy.

Later we had purchased a home in the small community of Harmony, IN. and one night while I was home alone (with our two dogs), some guy abducted a woman and murdered her then set her car on fire in the alley behind our home.  Again, knowing what had taken place just feet from me, as I lay sleeping was very strange.

So I have known death and do not fear it as much as I fear losing someone else that I love.  The very thought of life without my wonderful wife or son will quickly bring tears to my eyes.  I would struggle to survive without them here.  My mother is now seventy years old and the reality that she isn’t long with us makes me apprehensive and sad.  I realize when she is gone, I will have no remaining connection to my childhood and the guidance and support only a mother can give will be gone.

Having said that, I don’t really fear dying.  I don’t want to leave my family like my father left us, so that part keeps me wanting to stay here just for their sake alone.  But if I have learned anything in life this I will stake my life on, I fear no one or nothing except YHWH.  If you don’t really know me, you may not believe that, but those who know me can tell you that it’s true.  My family has the reputation of not letting fear keep them from doing anything.  In fact, that is why my dad drowned at the young age of thirty-six, he took one too many risks.

Now at this point you are probably wondering where I am going with this and you may think I need prayer, counseling or both.  However, let me clarify something.  There is a part of me that needs to die.  In fact, if I don’t kill it, it will eventually kill me.  I am talking about my carnal nature.

We are at least triune creations, made up of body (basar), soul (nefesh) and spirit (ruach).  There are possibly other parts to us, but for now let’s leave those alone. 

Our flesh (Hebrew word basar) is the vehicle we ride around in, it is nothing more that the vessel carrying the real you.  it has a useful purpose and we tend to spend way too much time washing, waxing and buffing the outside while ignoring the inside.  We understand our body (basar) is the Temple of the Ruach ha Kodesh(Holy Spirit), in other words the body hosts the Spirit and we should maintain and upkeep the body for this reason alone.  However, we don’t ever want to worship the temple while ignoring the Spirit that lives inside.

There is another element that we have that plays a vital part in how we act and react.  This is known as our soul (Hebrew word nefesh) and it is the whole of a person, their body, breath and mind.  It is this part that tries to rule over us on a daily basis.  This is the part of you that makes you, you.  Your nefesh is best reflected through you personality traits and people will connect your appearance (basar) to your actions (nefesh) and create memories of you based on these two parts.  The soul/nefesh has wants and desires and will drive you to do whatever it takes to fulfill these cravings.  These driving desires makes alcoholics, drug addicts, gluttons and perverse men out of  normal people.  The alcoholic wakes up and wants a drink.  Why?  The nefesh is driving and controlling the basar (body) and the ruach (spirit). 

I believe that some people have become so nefesh driven that they are just above an animal in nature.  They seem to have driven any evidence of ruach (spirit) away and are only controlled by the insatiable desires.  Every minute of their lives is about quenching the desire to feel better.  In fact, just pay attention to how often the media talks about the way you feel.  Ha satan knows how to hook us and knows when we have given in to our nefesh we are killing the ruach. 

Does YHWH want a people with no nefesh?  Does He desire zombies that walk around in some state of auto pilot without personalities or emotions?  NO!  What has to happen to us, is we must kill the carnal nature so that is can be born anew with the conjunction of our ruach with His Ruach.  When we allow the Ruach ha Kodesh to fill our ruach we then become driven by Him and not ourselves.

Does this change our nefesh/personalitiy?  Yes and no.  It does in the sense that we no longer seek the things of sin but seek YHWH.  This makes us produce Spiritual Fruit and act like Yahshua.  But is doesn’t make you act different than the way YHWH made you.  Your life has been a collection of experiences, some good and some bad, but all making you into what you are today.  These experiences make you more suited to reach people who relate to your experiences.  So taking these traits out of you would make you unable to connect to other people in need. 

But let’s get back to my problem for a minute.  I have fought my nefesh now for about…all my life.  I have actually over powered it a few times and had it on life support.  I have been so close to getting it submitted to YHWH on several occasions only to catch myself sneaking into the hospital room and nursing it back to health.  It sounds crazy but it’s true.  You would think that having struck the ole man a near fatal wound that I would draw the Sword and cut off it’s ugly head.  But instead I work harder to revive it and bring it back to life than I did to strike the wound.  Then every time I have nursed it back to life I discover that it is more powerful than before and it will take even greater effort to force it into submission again.

So why do I allow something so ominous and threatening survive?  Why is it that I allow the part of me to live,  that wants to kill the part that desires good things?  I don’t understand it and to be quite honest, I’m more than a little mad at myself.  I think it’s time for a killing.  If I am ever going to become all YHWH wants me to be, I must complete this task and decapitate the carnal man.

So just how am I going to do this?  Well here is what has worked before. 

1. Prayer

On  my face frequently and staying that way until things change.  If I really fear (yarah) YHWH then I will realize the only safe place is prostrate.

2.  Fasting

Denying my nefesh the very thing it demands makes it weaker.  In fact, the more you deny it’s cravings the lesser it becomes.  In the process of denying the carnal nature the spiritual man gets stronger.

3. Stay In the Word

Reading, studying and memorizing the Word does something to the inner man.  Scripture is like the protein of the spirit.  Prayer and emunah (a living faith) works out the spiritual muscles, while fasting burns off the unwanted carnal fat, but it’s the Word that provides the fuel needed to create new spiritual muscles.

So what is going to make this time different than before?  How will I complete the tasks set before me and conquer the ole man?  You.

That’s right, I have hooked you in.  By now you have read this far and you are committed to this challenge.  You will join me in this battle, you will fight by my side and together we will be victorious over the flesh.  For you see, I know that you too have these same issues.  I know that you have fought these same battles and felt these same frustrations and now you are accountable.

Are you ready to join together with me and fight this fight to the end?  Are you prepared to be different and become the child of YHWH that He wants you to be?

If so, let’s do this together.  Let’s commit mass suicide of our nefesh.  The world thinks we are a cult anyways, so come on drink the spiritual Kool Aid with me and let’s die together.  Trust me when YHWH sits down on the throne of our heart (nefesh), we will be a new creature.

Chasing

I have chased so many things in my life
Never looking back or away
Only to discover sorrow, frustration and strife
Were waiting at the end of the day

Why I pursue the things that destroy or kill
I cannot say
The sin and wickedness makes me ill
It’s a debt I cannot pay

But when it comes to chasing Truth and Yahweh
I seem to have no drive
I would rather goof off and play
Then chase the One who keeps me alive

The older I get the more I find
The endless pursuit for the things of death
Have quietly eroded my mind
Taken my health and stolen my breath

Yahweh, today I choose to change what I am chasing
After you I will run fast
My priorities and desires in You I am placing
For Your Kingdom is the that which will last

Forgive me for running after sin
With my head lost in the stars
Doing the wrong thing time and again
Like a dog chasing parked cars

Help me start each day praying
As early I seek You
On my knees patiently staying
For chasing You is what I will do

Tabernacles Transformation

My family and I started our transformation from Christianity to a Scriptural based belief about 8.5 years ago.  It was shocking and revolting to discover the depth and length that paganism had within the bounds of Christianity.  As we embraced Scriptural principals and walked away from pagan customs we found ourselves being abundantly blessed.  So many things in Scripture that hadn’t made sense before now we saw with Spiritual clarity.

One of the major things we discovered was that ha satan, our adversary, had imitations for everything the Creator had made.  Every imitation was widely accepted and embraced by many churches.  So we began the process of purging out the leaven and making our walk a Set Apart relationship. 

After embracing the wonderful gift of Shabbat, we started looking at the Feasts Days of YHWH.  We had basically rejected the pagan imitations already, so we now had to consider the real days of celebration and begin observing them as best as we knew. 

Our first Tabernacles/Sukkot was kept in our back yard in a tent.  We had been attending Shabbat meetings with a local assembly, but since they did not observe YHWH’s Feast Days, we decided we should and all we knew to do was try our best.  We had no clue there were other Believers assembling within close driving distance of our home, so we were doing what we knew to be right the best way possible.

That first Sukkot it was my wife, son and me sleeping in a tent in our back yard at our suburban Dallas home.  Between the sirens and traffic noise from highway 175, we didn’t feel too Set Apart.  I know some of our friends, neighbors and relatives thought we were crazy, but we knew what we knew and there was no turning back.  Halfway through that first Sukkot, my then 3 year old son Zachry, got very ill.  It was SO cold that year and realizing the danger of exposing him to more sickness, my wife and son moved back into the warm house.  Believe me, that last few nights by myself, in the freezing cold, I questioned my sanity.  I remember getting during the night to go into the house for restroom use and looking at my family warm and sleeping soundly.  Needless to say, it was a miracle we ever kept Sukkot again.

The next year was somewhat better as it wasn’t as cold and no one got sick, so even though it wasn’t an awesome experience we felt better about our decision and were encouraged to press on.

Our third year we discovered another family from the assembly we were attending was keeping Sukkot on the country acreage and they invited us to join them.  So we set up our tent out in the field about 400 yards from Lake Fork and began this new level of Sukkoting.  We now had another family to fellowship with and the campfire time was awesome.  We also discovered some other new elements to Sukkoting; fire ants, coyotes and outside toileting.  So even though we were so happy to be with another family of Believers, we had some adjusting to do, again.  We came away with a new desire to follow YHWH and knowing we had made the right decision.

Our fourth year was a tough one.  I had reinjured an old back injury and was unable to fully participate in the sleeping on the ground experience.  We had made plans to Sukkot with our friends again and it was frustrating not being to be involved in the way I desired. 

Year five things took a different direction.  My back was a lot better and the opportunity to join a large group of Believers Sukkoting in Oklahoma opened up.  So we loaded up the truck and we moved to… well we headed to Oklahoma.  This was a new and awesome experience.  Hundreds (almost a thousand) other followers of YHWH together celebrating this appointed time.  For the first time we saw the heart of Sukkot among a large group of people and we were blown away.  Even though we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves my family didn’t really connect to other families and we left excited but still feeling like there was more.  Granted, it was probably us because we went with our dear friends the Droblyn’s and they connected to other families.  It was so great to be with YHWH’s family and learn.  The teaching was awesome, the music anointed and the atmosphere was excellent.

Year six we cycled up to another level.  Due to last minute issues, we changed from the Oklahoma group to a closer group meeting south of Arlington TX.  We didn’t really know anyone else going, it was just us and our adopted family the Droblyn’s  We recognized some of the scheduled speakers and like the last Sukkot in OK., Jimmie Black was doing the music.  So we arrived not knowing what would happen just excited to be with YHWH’s people.  Right out of the gate we saw obvious differences from our previous Sukkot.  This one was way less organized and somewhat hectic.  There were less people than the previous one but still there was about 300 people in attendance.  After settling in and adjusting to sporadic weather, something very awesome began to take place.  Unlike the previous year when the size of the Sukkot pushed us outside the camp, this year we were just yards from the tent of meeting and in a circular site with several other families.  Although we knew none of them, YHWH began a new work.  We began to form bonds that at the time we had no idea would be so strong.  When Sukkot was over, we felt like we didn’t want to leave.  Yes, there were mosquitoes, skunks (really), horrific weather swings and fire ants; this time we had forged a bond with our new family.  We wept as we left and prayed we would meet again soon.

 

Year seven (this year) YHWH completed our first week of Sukkot!  We approached Shavuot (Pentecost) with no idea were we where going for Sukkot.  The group we had Sukkoted with last year had chosen to observe the Feast using the vernal equinox and we felt the correct Feast was exactly one month prior than the dates they had chosen.  After much prayer and fasting we decided to look for another place to Sukkot.  In the meantime a really neat bond had been formed from last year.  Right after Sukkot 2009, we found out about a meeting in Dallas called the Final Return and there were some really great teachers going to be there so we went over for the weekend.  When we arrived (with our family the Droblyn’s) there were a few of the families from Sukkot last year,  So we were able to spend some time with our new family and enjoy the meeting.  We exchanged contact info and promised to keep in touch.  Just Shavout, one of the families sent us an email inviting us down to celebrate this Feast with there group from the Georgetown area.  This was 3 1/2 hours southeast of us but we felt this was YHWH’s will so we and the Droblyn’s drove down to be with our new family.  While there the issue with Sukkot came up and someone casually suggested we should do our own Sukkot.  It was laughed about and we moved on.  A few days later David Brumlow, Chris Droblyn and I were discussing plans to put a Sukkot together.  We initially thought it would be really small and just involve the few families that we had Sukkoted with last year.  We had less than 90 days to prepare for this and didn’t really understand the magnitude of our undertaking.  YHWH did send Steve Hoelscher to us and he had done previous Sukkots, so we had some help.  Right in the middle of planning, with no real advertising, YHWH worked a tremendous miracle.  Just days from Sukkot we suddenly had a meeting with around 200 other Believers.  We had felt the burden to keep this Sukkot centered around the local men  attending and their families, so we booked no “big name” speaker other than our friend/brother Paul Nison.  The worship was to be done by Jim Mattson a local brother and lo and behold, Jimmie Black was going to join us for two days. 

Right in the middle of YHWH’s Sukkot, something beautiful happened.  YHWH called the men together for the morning prayer time, and the first morning we met YHWH put us on our faces right in the east Texas dirt.  We repented for the lack of leadership we had displayed in our homes and vowed to become real men of YHWH.  On that day, YHWH’s presence was poured out on our meetings.  Something powerful, beautiful and anointed happen in Rusk, TX.  Bonds were formed that were based on our love for Truth and Torah.  I changed that day and have no desire to return to the old ways. 

Next year in Jerusalem…  If not, we will be were YHWH leads with those who are seeking Him and looking for His return.