And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. – Genesis 1:3-4

Here we see God calling light into existence. He saw that it was good and he divided the light from the darkness. He separated the light from the darkness. He distinguished between the light and the darkness. He made a distinction between the light and the darkness. The action described here in Hebrew is “badal beyn”. When we look in Scripture to see what else has been “badal beyn”, we find the following:

>> The waters under the firmament / the waters above the firmament

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.  And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.  – Genesis 1:6-7

>> The day / the night

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years:  – Genesis 1:14

>> The light / the darkness

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.  – Genesis 1:4

…and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.  – Genesis 1:18

>> The holy place / the most holy
>> That which was holy / that which was common

And thou shalt hang up the veil under the clasps, and shalt bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony: and the veil shall separate unto you between the holy place and the most holy.  – Exodus 26:33

He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.  – Ezekiel 42:20

>> The holy / the common
>> The unclean / the clean
>> The beast that may be eaten / the beast that may not be eaten
>> Unclean fowl / the clean

and that ye may make a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean;  – Leviticus 10:10

to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.  – Leviticus 11:47

Ye shall therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by bird, or by anything wherewith the ground teemeth, which I have separated from you as unclean.  – Leviticus 20:25

Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. – Ezekiel 22:26

>> You / your God

but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear.  – Isaiah 59:2

For the longest time, I never paid much attention to the action of dividing/separating the light from the darkness in Genesis 1:4, but when I started studying Scripture to find out about when the day begins, this jumped out at me. At first I didn’t look up the Hebrew word for dividing/separating, I just read the verse and noted that this action is mentioned in several verses there in the first chapter.

It wasn’t until I looked up the Hebrew and sought out where else in Scripture this action is mentioned that I realized its significance.

Scripture clearly says, after the distinction between light and darkness was made, Elohim called the light “day” and the darkness he called “night”.

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.  – Genesis 1:5a

Then a few verses later, we find that Elohim put lights in the firmament of heaven to make a distinction between the day and the night. A greater light, which we know to be the sun, was to govern/rule over the day, and a lesser light, the moon, to govern/rule over the night.

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years:  and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.  And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.  And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.  – Genesis 1:14-18

This tells me there is a distinction between day and night, according to Scripture. I do not see anything in Scripture where this distinction between the two is removed and the whole day plus night is called day. Needless to say, there are many who insist the day includes the night, however that is not what Scripture says.

If I am in error, please somebody reprove me from Scripture.

This season wreaks of commercialism and I didn’t want any part of it. But year after year I’d put up a tree out of a sense of obligation and decorate it. I’d buy Christmas presents (on a very small scale), attend Christmas gatherings, eat lots of Christmas cookies, listen to Christmas music and watch lots of Christmas movies.

Then I’d remind myself that the real reason for the season was Jesus. I’d go to church, participate in the Christmas programs, go caroling, and read the Biblical account of Christ’s birth in Scripture — all with the hope of finding peace, joy and love during this horribly depressing, worldly holiday.

Then last year I chose not to celebrate the holiday. This was after a year of starting to keep the seventh day Sabbath set apart. I had spent the year studying the holy days in Leviticus 23 and started keeping them as best I could according to Scripture.

I started seeing the richness in these feasts and how *they* were truly all about Jesus. I saw how Jesus kept these festivals and Paul encouraged the gentile-turned believers to also keep the feasts. While I tried to share this with others, it was like nobody was interested.

During that year I started taking a deeper look at Easter and Christmas. I discovered that not only was Jesus *not* born on December 25th, but this day marks the birth of other gods in ancient history. Then I started looking into the origins of the Christmas tree and how Christmas even began as a Christian holiday, and I found it all rather disturbing.

The reason I found it all disturbing was because I had already purposed in my heart that I would love the LORD my God with my *whole* heart, mind and strength. Jesus said this was the first and greatest commandment. When I went back to Deuteronomy to see the context of this command, I found the way to do this was to obey all his commands.

The first of the Ten Commandmants is to have no other gods in his face. Well, Christmas is clearly about other gods.

Scripture also teaches that we are not to worship God in the manner of the heathen. The story of the golden calf demonstrates this. While others may not see Christmas as a picture of the golden calf, I do. Out of love for my God, I choose to have nothing to do with Christmas.

I understand not everyone feels the same as I do, and I’m okay with that. But I, personally, don’t want to have *any*thing to do with Christmas anymore. That is why I’m now done with Christmas.

Let me first explain, my reason for sharing this now is simply to inform folks of where our heart has been and is today concerning our fellowship with those whom we attended church for over three years.

When we first started attending this particular church, we were looking for a church close to home that was Biblically-based and allowed for the move of the Holy Spirit. The first day we attended, we felt right at home with the praise & worship, and we liked the fact that the message was centered on Scripture.

We also felt very welcome by the members we met that day. We were invited back to a Wednesday night meal, and we went. At the time I was pregnant and had two small children and a preteen, and clearly this church welcomed children.

We decided right away this is where we would remain. We became involved immediately. About a year later we decided to formally join as members, which was a shock to most people because so many thought we were members already.

We did not take our commitment to membership lightly…in fact, we never imagined not being there any longer.

There were times when we didn’t always agree or like what was happening (or not happening) at this church, but we didn’t feel that was reason enough to end our commitment. In fact, I felt very strongly that we were there for a reason and that God did not want us to leave.

During the winter of 2009/2010 my husband and I started feeling convicted about not keeping the sabbath day holy. At the time the Pastor and his wife were on a sabbatical leave, so we were not able to discuss our conviction with them right away. But we as a family decided to start setting the 7th day apart by not doing any of our regular work on that day. We continued to attend church on Sundays and Wednesdays, and I continued to go to the Ladies’ Bible Study on Thursday mornings. We didn’t really share with anyone about our sabbath-keeping practice at first…we were just doing it for ourselves. We spent the time reading/studying the Bible, praying and worshiping with our family. It was wonderful.

After the pastor and his wife came back from their leave we met with them and discussed what we felt God had laid on our hearts concerning his Sabbath day. Since this topic came out of the blue to them, we agreed to get together again to discuss it further. Meanwhile, we continued to keep the Sabbath day set apart and fellowshiped on Sundays at that church.

Easter was quickly approaching and my husband and I had reservations about celebrating Easter, but we were interested in learning more about Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, especially since they were Biblical holidays and Jesus is considered to be the Passover Lamb. When Easter Sunday came and went, and we were not in church that day, many folks were concerned and expressed their concern over our absence.

When my husband explained to the Pastor as to why we chose not to celebrate Easter but rather the Passover & Feast of Unleavened Bread, he had a hard time understanding our position. There was a bit more discussion on the Sabbath day, but it was clear we did not agree.

During this time I started posting some of my thoughts on my Facebook page, particularly that Jesus never declared unclean animals as clean to eat. There was some healthy discussion including Scripture that occurred back and forth…pro and con regarding my initial statement.

This exchange led the Pastor to warn me about “teaching” on Facebook. I considered what he had to say, and although we thought his warning was a bit uncalled for (in his position as a pastor) as I was not doing anything wrong (or sinful), I was mindful of his advice (in his position as a friend). My desire was not to “teach” anyone, but rather it was to discuss particular issues. Those who chose to engage or disengage in the discussion were welcome…but it was completely optional. It was on my personal FB page and those who could read the discussion were only those who were on my personal friends list.

Time passed. We continued to attend each of the various services, however we still continued to have questions and thoughts that conflicted with the predominant teaching in Christian circles, let alone at that church. I became very frustrated because I felt like I was being avoided. I wanted to talk about the Bible to anyone willing to talk to me, but had a very difficult time finding anyone in leadership willing to do so.

During one of the ladies’ Bible study meetings I was very transparent in my feelings. There was concern expressed by someone that we might be leaving that church. I told everyone there I had absolutely no intention of leaving, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I was asked to leave. The reaction to my statement was laughter and disbelief…they didn’t think I was serious and never expected that anyone would do such a thing.

Toward the end of the summer we took an extended vacation (5 weeks). We drove cross country to Oregon to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (an 8-day festival) with other believers who recognized Jesus as the Messiah and kept the seventh day Sabbath set apart. We also stopped off at our home in Tulsa, OK on both legs of the trip to visit my husband’s family and take care of issues concerning our home there.

When we returned, people seemed happy to see we were back, but nobody expressed an interest in hearing about our trip. I took the opportunity to share a little bit about the Feast in Sunday School, but I was surprised that folks were not interested in hearing about it. I didn’t say another word about it.

Shortly after, we discovered the church was doing another trunk-or-treat outreach on the weekend of Halloween. My husband and I had reservations the year before about the church being involved with Halloween, and although I expressed my concern to several ladies in leadership earlier that year, we never discussed our concern with the Pastor. So I wrote a letter to the Pastor and copied the Deacons and Elder expressing our concern with the church having an outreach event linked to Halloween, specifically, addressing the wickedness of Halloween. The Pastor appreciated our concern and said there were others who expressed concern as well and these concerns would be addressed following the event.

Unfortunately that email triggered a series of emails between various individuals (within leadership) and my husband and I. A question was asked of us by a deacon to the effect of whether we would persist in raising concerns over issues that didn’t sit well with us…or something to that effect. I imagine the message that was attempting to be conveyed had the purest of intentions, but I perceived it as antagonistic. I responded by saying I felt an obligation to address my concerns with leadership when I felt Spirit-led to do so.

I believe given the forum of communication (email/letter), there were things written by all those parties who chose to write something that may not have been received in the manner the sender had intended them to be. In retrospect, I wish we all had the opportunity to discuss in person the various issues that were raised directly/indirectly in the emails with all those involved in the exchange, but that did not happen. Instead, I felt further alienated.

When it became clear to me that I was not going to find anyone willing to discuss my thoughts/questions concerning Scripture at church (specifically amongst the leadership), I started blogging about it on my own personal website. I had already determined I would not take on any leadership position at church, especially given the difference between what I was seeing in  Scripture and what the leadership was teaching. Plus, I wasn’t interested in hijacking any discussions either in a Sunday School setting or Bible Study knowing there might be newcomers in the faith present.

Between what was written in the email/letter exchanges and a series of posts I made on my blog between October 20 – November 7, 2010, the pastor and elder showed up at our home on a Saturday with a document in hand. The document was a written dissertation entitled, “The Covenant and the Law.” We were told this paper explained the doctrine espoused by that particular church concerning the Old Testament Law and the New Testament believer. I appreciated receiving the paper and was very interested in reading it. I asked if we could discuss it after reading through it. We were told it was not open for discussion.

My husband was not happy that the elders chose to hand us a peice of paper written by someone else in order to defend their faith rather than bringing out their Bibles to state their position themselves. Personally, I was just happy to have something to read to help me understand why they believe what they believe. After having read the document however, I was very disappointed with the premise used to form their doctrine. The writings of Paul and the author of Hebrews were used as the basis for dismissing what Jesus plainly said. Basically, since these other authors said such and such, Jesus couldn’t possibly have meant what he said when he said what he did. My position is: since Jesus said what he said, what these other authors wrote can’t possibly mean what we’ve been taught they mean. Unfortunately as far as the leadership was concerned this was not open for discussion.

So since I wasn’t able to discuss it with the leadership, I blogged about my own thoughts on what I read on my own personal blog. That was November 15th. I blogged a few more things over the course of the next week. Then the pastor showed up at my husband’s office. He told my husband that if I continued to write what I was blogging about that we weren’t welcome back at the church.

I believe the concern he expressed was that I was guilty of “false teaching”. But again, Scripture was not used to reprove us. Instead, we were just told to stop.  After he left, my husband promptly told me to *not* stop writing. He was personally offended that we were being told to be quiet or don’t come back.

I didn’t know what to think. I was shocked. All the while we just wanted to sit down with somebody to discuss Biblical issues and nobody in leadership was willing to do so.

Instead we were handed our hat after 3+ years of faithful service. We were never reproved from Scripture. In essence we were told this is what the church believes, if we couldn’t accept that, then this wasn’t the place for us.

I really struggled…I can’t begin to tell you how much I struggled. I was shocked. I was hurt. I felt this was all handled unjustly, and I felt betrayed…by those I trusted, loved and thought loved me. If we were truly in error, then why didn’t our friends take the time to help us understand our error using Scripture?

I didn’t want to leave that way. I didn’t want people to think we abandoned them. I cared about the people at that church. We considered bringing this to the attention of the body, but we didn’t want to be responsible for a “church split”.

Several months later I tried to see if there might have been a misunderstanding, maybe we mistook what the pastor had said to my husband. So, my husband and I met with the pastor and his wife to discuss what ultimately happened. But clearly there was no misunderstanding, they confirmed that we were not welcome there any longer given our new understanding of Scripture.

Early on I was accused of bringing division to the body, but it wasn’t me that was causing the division.  I was bringing up controversial subjects from the Bible. I wouldn’t settle for the doctrinal company line. I wanted answers from the Bible…answers that cleared up questions. Not answers that created more questions. When I started studying Scripture more on my own and discussing it with my husband, we were getting our questions answered…they weren’t the same answers coming from church, but they sure answered a whole lot of other seeming contradictions in Scripture.

Do we have it all figured out? No. Do we think we’re 100% right? No. Are we humble enough to recognize that we don’t have it all figured out? Yes. Are we humble enough to allow the authority of Scripture to stand in our lives, even if it means forsaking the religious authorities. Absolutely.

We believe the Holy Spirit was given as a counselor and a comforter, to lead us into Truth. We believe the Holy Spirit is real and he speaks today to those who will yield to him, and we must be careful to not quench the Spirit. We also believe the Word of God is living and active, powerful and rich. There is so much it has to say to us, if we’ll just take the time and energy to read and study it for ourselves. We cannot afford to leave it to the religious authorities to tell us what is truth and what is not, especially if they are unwilling to challenge their own doctrines and test it out against Scripture.

I pray that the folks at that church recognize who it is they serve. As for me and my house, we serve YHVH, the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, and our master is the Messiah Jesus, spoken of in Scripture, the Son of God. Paul said if a man preaches another Jesus or another gospel that does not line up with the Law and the Prophets (which is what Paul preached from), then we are not to follow that man. This requires knowing what the Law and the Prophets say. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. If what we read in the New Testament seems to contradict the Old Testament, then we are not understanding something correctly. The enemy is real…he does not want us to know the truth…he seeks to steal, kill and destroy. He is a deceiver and masquerades as an angel of light. I believe it would behoove us all to continually seek the truth in all matters. Our future is at stake.

I love the folks at that church. That is why I’ve chosen to write about all this. I’m not looking for anyone to take sides. I’m not looking for things to go back to the way they were. I have forgiven those who’ve hurt me in the past, and I have sought reconciliation for those I may have hurt as well. My prayer is that all who are His will hear and obey His voice. My biggest reason for writing was that I wanted folks to know why we are no longer attending the church we committed to as members. We didn’t switch churches. We didn’t move. We didn’t cease believing in God or the Messiah. We didn’t seek to pursue works for salvation. Instead we chose to keep all of the 10 commandments, strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father and His Son by studying to show ourselves approved and doing the will of the Father.

We’re still at our same address. We have lots of farm animals and still have our wallpaper business. Our kids are growing fast and we’d love to maintain relationships. Folks are welcome to call, write or visit us anytime. We have no problem sharing our thoughts on the Biblical issues that were raised, but we’re also happy to just fellowship apart from all of that. We are not interested in gossip. We encourage folks to seek the other sides to our story to get a well-rounded understanding before establishing an opinion about what all happened. All in all, we don’t want the people we’ve come to love and care about to think we abandoned them…or our faith.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”

Paul was referencing this passage in the Torah/Law:

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 “If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land YHWH your God is giving you as an inheritance.”

I was also very familiar with the death and burial of Jesus/Yeshua. Each of the gospel accounts indicated he was hung on a tree, taken down at sunset and buried in a tomb.

But something I did not notice before in the Prophets concerning the Israelites being taken into the promised land was what specifically happened to each of the kings of the areas that were destroyed/conquered.

Joshua 8:2 “You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king…”

The Bible doesn’t directly tell us what happened to the king of Jericho, but it does tell us what happened to the king of Ai.

Joshua 8:29 “He hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take his body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it , which remains to this day.”

I thought that was interesting enough, seeing the parallel of being hung on a tree until evening and at sunset the body being taken down, but the following passage made me sit up and pay more attention.

Joshua 10:26-27 “Then Joshua struck and killed the [five Amorite] kings and hung them on five trees, and they were left hanging on the trees until evening. At sunset Joshua gave the order and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. At the mouth of the cave they placed large rocks, which are there to this day.”

What stuck out to me here was the parallel of the place where the bodies were buried: “large rocks” were raised over them or placed at the mouth of their tombs (cave), “which are there (or remains) to this day”. Hmmm.

This made me think of the stone that was rolled away:

Matthew 28:2 “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.”

Mark 16:4 “But when they [Mary Magdaline, Mary the mother of James and Salome] looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.”

Luke 24:2 “They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,”

John 20:1 “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.”

The significance of the stone being rolled away suddenly became all the more significant in my understanding.

Joshua 10:28b “And he did to king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.”

Joshua 10:30b “And he did to its (Libnah’s) king as he had done to the king of Jericho.”

Joshua 10:39b “They did to Debir and its king as they had done to Libnah and its king and to Hebron.”

These other kings were not only hung on a tree until evening having their bodies removed at sunset, but they were also “buried” under/behind large stones/rocks. But those stones remained until this day. Unlike the Messiah Yeshua…the large stone covering his body, was rolled away. And this rolling away was not done by men, but by God!

What a HUGE statement this was making to those who knew the Word of God (The Law and The Prophets). Surely the Jewish leaders knew that all these other kings were buried in this fashion and that was the end of them (the kings)…but not with this king, Yeshua, the “king of the Jews”. Then again, maybe only those who were seeking truth saw it.

Stone Was Rolled Away = Easter?

Now I can’t help but think about Easter when considering the stone being rolled away…with all the cantatas/productions and sermons I’ve seen and heard in church all of my life, it’s hard to divorce the two thoughts. But in reality Easter has nothing to do with the stone being rolled away.

Did you know Easter predates Christ’s resurrection? A decision was made a few hundred years after his resurrection to take the pagan holiday/festival of Easter and “Christianize” it with the hopes of bringing in more converts to Christianity. If you are unfamiliar with the origins of Easter, I encourage you to investigate it further for yourself.

Maybe the origins don’t matter to you…I know I never investigated it until only a little over a year ago. But there are things that I have been in the dark about all my Christian life, namely the Biblically-based Feasts of YHWH, because all my attention was on celebrating days such as Easter, which is nowhere to be found in Scripture.

Besides my ignorance of the feasts, I lacked a huge understanding of God’s ultimate plan, the part I played in it and who God really is. I knew who Jesus was (or so I thought), but I had a vague understanding of who God was and how he operates. For example, the whole sacrificial system and the elements of the tabernacle, the concept of clean & unclean, and the restoration of Israel. Then there was my perception of going to heaven and the kingdom of God.

Old Testament: Foundation of the New Testament

My goal these days is to study the Old Testament in light of the New Testament, so that I can better understand all of what God is saying and who He is. The foundation of the New Testament is the Old Testament. And when I see things like what I read in Joshua concerning the kings’ demise and how that related to Yeshua’s death, burial & resurrection, I get so excited in seeing God’s plan being played out.

Jesus/Yeshua did not start a new religion, known to us as Christianity. Neither did Peter or Paul. Yeshua is just part of God’s grand plan that was laid out from the beginning. This plan did not change part way through. God didn’t trash the Old (Testament) to bring forth the New. And unless we get back to understanding the Old Testament, we won’t recognize any discrepancies between the gospel & Jesus that Paul preached from The Law and The Prophets and the gospel & Jesus Christianity preaches.

Jeremiah 6:16-19 “This is what YHWH says, ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, “We will not walk in it.” I appointed watchmen over you and said, “Listen to the sound of the trumpet!” But you said, “We will not listen.” Therefore hear, O nations; observe, O witnesses, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law [torah].’”

In America it seemed to me that there weren’t any other “gods” or “idolatry” except when we glorify things or people, elevating them to a level higher than God. But other than that, we didn’t worship Baal or Asherah or anything like that. Those were things you saw in other parts of the world, not in America.

Some folks might worship nature or the environment but I didn’t think I was guilty of that. Some worship the almighty dollar, but I didn’t think I was guilty of that either. My greatest concern was making sure my priorities were straight, putting God before anyone or anything else.

But then as I continued to read my Bible, I kept thinking there is an *awful* lot of attention drawn to “idolatry” and/or “sexual immorality” in the entire Bible. If there is that much attention to it, it *must* be more pervasive than I realize. At some point I also came to understand that the constant reference to sexual immorality in the Scriptures often times means following after other gods.

Then I started thinking about the wide path that leads to destruction and the narrow gate that very few find. (Matthew 7:13-14) Could Christianity in its purest form really be the narrow gate? I mean, not just the ones that say they are Christian and go to church, but the ones who believe in Jesus and live a life that reflects that. There seems to be an awful lot of Christians to be considered “few”, I thought.

I also started questioning the passages that say to obey God’s commands. Which commands specifically were we supposed to obey? Surely we were to obey everything Jesus said and anything else given in the New Testament. But what about the commands in the Old Testament?

I think it’s generally accepted that we are to obey the Ten Commandments, but I could never find anything in the Bible that made the distinction between those ten and all the rest…except when they are directed specifically towards priests, a specific gender, or a specific peice of land. I would hear many talk about the ceremonial law, but I couldn’t find any distinctions in the Bible that said, “obey this, skip that.”

As my husband and I began discussing it, we realized we weren’t keeping the Sabbath day holy as stated in the Ten Commandments. We started doing that on our own and started asking our Christian friends what they thought about that commandment. We were completely shocked at the kind of response we got.

Many said Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath but Sunday was the Christian Sabbath. But that’s nowhere in the Bible. I had a few folks justify this argument using a few Scriptures, but they were clearly twisting the Scripture to justify their position. The more we looked, the more it was clear: there is ONE weekly Sabbath day, and it’s the seventh day of the week.

Then I had some other folks say the Sabbath day command was put away…Jesus fulfilled that commandment, He is our Sabbath rest. Well, that didn’t make sense to us. We continued to search the Scripture and it became clearer and clearer which day of the week was the Sabbath day, and since Jesus and all of his disciples including Paul kept the Sabbath day holy, we as believers/followers of Christ are also expected to obey that commandment. We tried discussing this with the leadership at our church and came to a clear crossroads: we had to agree to disagree.

While we started keeping the Sabbath, we started looking at some of the other commands given in the Old Testament…particularly, the Feasts of the LORD. Our next question was why don’t Christians celebrate these feasts especially when we recognize they’re all about Christ? Jesus is our Passover Lamb, He’s the Unleavened Bread, He’s the FirstFruits. The Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost (or Feast of Weeks). Why didn’t we ever hear teaching on these holy days? At that time, Passover & Easter were right around the corner.

We decided that we would celebrate Passover & the Feast of Unleavened Bread this year. In searching Scripture to figure out how to keep these days the Biblical way (not necessarily the Jewish way), I discovered what a High (or special) Sabbath was. Then dots started connecting.

Jesus was buried before sundown leading into a High Sabbath and when his tomb was found empty on the morning following the weekly Sabbath, those two sabbaths were two different days! Jesus’ claim that he would be in the earth three days and three nights told me that he was buried on a Wednesday and rose on a Saturday, blowing the whole “died on a Friday and rose on a Sunday” idea away. We always thought the Good Friday (death) to Easter Sunday (resurrection) story didn’t add up, but this made it crystal clear.

Anyway, we decided we would *not* celebrate Good Friday and Easter this year, and boy, oh boy, what a stir this caused amongst our Christian friends and family. My husband had already done a little research on the pagan ties to Easter, but when I started looking into it, I became really disgusted. It was shocking to see where the tradition of the Easter Bunny and coloring eggs came from…completely pagan…positively affiliated with other “gods”!

We continued to keep the weekly Sabbath day and learn more about the LORD’s feasts. One thing in particular was that these Biblical “holy days” were generally equated with “Jewish” holidays by Christians and Christians had their own set of holidays (Sunday worship, Easter & Christmas), which weren’t even in the Bible. While studying about the Sabbath day, I discovered that it was Constantine that issued a decree in 321 AD declaring “the venerable day of the Sun” as a day of rest. Then, when I discovered these other Christian holidays were actually pagan celebrations incorporated into the church to help bring in the non-believer, I was blown away.

When we spoke to one of our well-respected Christian friends (a couple) about all of this, their response was “but that’s not what it means to me”. And it was like somebody turned a light on in a very dark place…there was such a stark contrast in our understanding of things, it was startling.

I suddenly realized these “Christian” practices of keeping “the venerable day of the Sun” holy vs. the seventh day which God blessed and made holy himself was in fact “turning to other gods”. And celebrating pagan festivals disguised as Christian holidays loosely tied to Biblical references vs. celebrating our Creator’s appointed feasts perfectly tied to our Messiah was most certainly “turning to other gods”.

It was like my whole worldview was turned upside down. This is what I call “my paradigm shift”.

Shortly after all of this I read through the books of 1 & 2 Kings and I noticed each description of the various kings started with the following statement: “he did evil/right in the sight of the LORD”. It didn’t matter what the kings considered right or wrong, good or evil, but rather it was what God considered right/wrong. And again, BAM, more dots were being connected in my understanding of things. Throughout Scripture, especially in the Old Testament we hear of stories where the Israelites may have done something that didn’t sound like that big of a deal to us perhaps, but God had a completely stronger/harsher reaction.

I had always known God was a holy God, but it was like He had a softer side when Jesus came to earth. But the more I started digging into my Old Testament this year, I really started seeing God’s softer side even back then. Then I realized, God is still holy and it still matters how things appear in His eyes vs. our own.

Someone pointed out to me a passage in Jeremiah 10:2-4 saying it was directly related to a Christmas tree (cutting down an evergreen, fastening it so it wouldn’t topple over, decking it with silver and gold). I didn’t believe them. I thought it was simply referring to an idol, a statue.

But then the more I researched the traditions behind Christmas, the more I saw the pagan origins behind it all and it disgusted me. AND…there are so many who cling to the Christmas tree with such fervor despite the fact that is has nothing to do with the birth of Christ (Luke 2). It sure sounds and looks more and more like an idol than just a mere holiday decoration.

I’m not opposed to celebrating the birth of my Savior, but I am opposed to celebrating it on a day commemmorating other gods and filling my home and family life with pagan rituals disguised as something “holy”. Not to mention the blatant slap in the face to our Creator when the very thing He slated detestable (pig) is the main attraction on so many Christmas dinner tables. As far as I can tell, the Christmas holiday is evil in the sight of the LORD…and it is no longer appealing to me in the least.

Unfortunately, there are many around me it seems that don’t see how or refuse to believe they could be committing sexual immorality by putting other gods in YHWH’s face through these Christian holidays and forsaking His holy days simply because that’s not what it means to them. I pray God will open their eyes.

I do have compassion for them because for so long I was guilty of the very same thing…I simply didn’t see it. Nobody pointed it out to me, in fact I had been led to believe my Sunday worship & Easter/Christmas observance was pleasing to God. I now see I was deceived.

I think the difference between my seeing it while others don’t lies in the fact that I was *looking* for how I could be committing such sin…I asked God to open my eyes, and He did. My hope is that my friends/family will seek the truth concerning these particular things in order to find it for themselves and repent rather than waiting to be slapped upside the head with it.

Jesus is coming back soon, and I don’t want him to say, “Depart from me, I never knew you, ye worker of iniquity” to my friends/family (let alone to me). Besides, the Sabbath and the LORD’s feasts are a delight and much more rewarding than any Sunday service (as a Sabbath replacement) or Easter/Christmas holiday can ever be. So many are missing out on that. I now know I was.

One of the reasons why I continually say to read the Bible, is because I believe we need to continually read our Bible. Many may already be doing that, and that’s great. My charge to read the Bible is because I want to encourage people to always go back to the Word of God. The Truth is found there.

When I was first questioning “obedience to what?”, I would read whole books at a time. It’s not that I never read them before, but I felt like I was missing something. So, I’d read it again. Then, I’d read it again. Then, when I felt like the LORD was telling me something, I’d read it again with that thought in mind.

When I started sharing my thoughts with others, they would say to me, “You need to read Galatians.” or “You need to read Romans.” Now, of course I’ve read those books before…in fact I had read them fairly recent to their charge for me to read them. BUT, I’d go ahead and read them again. I wanted to see something I might have missed.

One of the beautiful things about God’s Word is that it’s alive! It literally speaks to us.

It doesn’t change. The words are already written on the page. But we are constantly changing. We are at different stages of life over time and each time we come to read the Bible we’ve had a new set of experiences added to our life. So, when we read the same words we’ve read in the past (no matter how many times we’ve already read them), the Word can say something new to us. That’s one reason why I think we need to continually read the Bible.

We also tend to focus on particular portions of Scripture, putting influence on a certain part of a verse over another part. If we were to put influence on another part of the verse, we might see something we had overlooked in the past.

I think we also tend to skip over words or references we’re not familiar with, but the next time we read it, one of those words might jump off the page at us begging us to figure out what that word or reference really means. Sometimes that word or reference we’ve missed in the past can totally change the meaning of the verse, but we have to be willing to check it out.

This calls for humility.  I believe we need to come to the Word eager to learn as opposed to thinking we’ve already got it all figured out. We need to be teachable, willing to set aside something we once thought, if God is trying to show us something different. We need to consider the possibility we could be wrong or off even just a little in our current way of thinking. That’s why I also encourage people to ask God to teach them something when they read His Word. That’s not to say His Word won’t speak to us if we don’t, but I think we’ll learn more if we approach it with a willingness to grow.

Another reason to continually read the Bible is because we need to be transformed. Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 to not conform or follow the patterns of this world any longer, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then we’ll be able to test and approve or “recognize as genuine after examination” what God’s will is. This world is continually influencing us in so many ways. I don’t believe we fully comprehend all the influences that we confront on a daily basis. If we’re not continually reading the Word allowing it to renew our minds, then I’m afraid the outside influences will make it harder for us to be transformed. I could be wrong about this, but that’s how I see it.

So, whenever you hear me say, “Read the Bible”, please know it’s not said in condemnation. It’s being said in love…the Truth is in there. It’s like a buried treasure…we need to seek it out.

I’m continually reading the Bible now. I used to read my Bible “all the time”, but I wasn’t feasting on it, like I do now. I wasn’t meditating on His torah day and night like David speaks of in Psalm 1.

Does that mean we all need to read whole books at a time? No, I’m not suggesting that. Just because I say that I do that, it doesn’t mean I’m telling anyone else that it’s required of them. My only plea is to continually read the Bible, and ask God to teach you.

My heart’s desire is to glorify God…to direct people to Him. YHWH loves us, and He wants us to love Him back. He wants to have a relationship with us…He wants it so much, that he sent His only begotten son to die for us, so that we can be reconciled to Him.

He wants us to love Him wholeheartedly. He gave His Word to teach us how to please Him. It wasn’t so that it could be nailed to a tree. His Word is the way, the truth and the life. Yeshua/Jesus is the embodiment of the Word. He is our living example. We are to follow the will of the Father, as He did. He didn’t die so that we could continue to live in our flesh and reject his Father’s will, He died so that we could be free from our flesh and pursue his Father’s will.

It is a joy to live according to the Spirit of life. I dance at the thought of how much the Creator of the Universe loves me. I’m drawn to my knees in gratitude at the grace and mercy demonstrated toward me. And He loves you, too. His grace and mercy is available to all who will repent.

Deuteronomy 14:3-21 provides a listing again of what the children of YHWH are permitted to eat and what they are told not to eat.

In both of these accounts they are reminded that they are a people holy to YHWH their God.

What the Bible doesn’t have to say about it…

Jesus

The following passages are often used to say that Jesus declared unclean animals clean for consumption, however when we look at the context of the passages, we see he is not talking about the Law of God but rather a tradition of man.

Matthew 15:1-20 and Mark 7:1-23 both speak of a time when some Pharisees and teachers of the law approached Jesus asking, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat?”

Jesus responds by saying, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” He goes on to speak about two commands given in the Law of Moses and how these religious leaders teach against them. He says, “You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites!”

He proceeds to quote Isaiah, claiming the prophecy was speaking of them. Then he called the crowd around him and said, “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean’, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean’.”

Evidently the teaching of these religious leaders indicated that if they don’t wash their hands (or cups/dishes) before eating, then they will be “defiled” or made “unclean”. Jesus set the record straight. It’s not what goes in the mouth, but what comes out of the mouth, which comes from the heart, that makes a man “unclean”.

The Law of God that speaks against eating unclean animals, in no way teaches that if you eat the unclean animals, you are made unclean. Does it? Go back and read Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.

Another thing — why would Jesus chew out the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for nullifying the word of God for the sake of their tradition and then turn around and nullify the word of God with his own teaching? He wouldn’t.

The Bottom Line: Jesus kept the dietary law and never declared unclean animals as outlined in Leviticus 11 & Deuteronomy 14 clean for consumption.

Peter

The following passage is often used to say that Peter’s vision from God declared unclean animals clean for consumption, however when we look at the context of the passage, we see the Law of God was being used to catch Peter’s attention in order to point out a fallacy in a tradition of man.

Acts 10:9-29a, 34-35 speak of a vision that Peter had. He saw a sheet being lowered down from heaven with unclean animals on it and a voice told him to “Kill and eat”…this happened three times. Peter was perplexed because he never ate an unclean animal…he knew the will of the Father…it is expressly stated in the Law of Moses. He told the Lord this after hearing the command to kill and eat. The voice replied, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

After a little bit some men came looking for Peter and the Spirit of God told him to go with the men. By the time he went with the men, he had figured out the interpretation of the vision. Verses 27-28 say,

“Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him…”

When Peter said, “it is against our law” he was talking about “Jewish law” not the Law of God. He said it was against the law “for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him“. This is not found anywhere in the Law of God, but rather it was a tradition of man.

Then Peter gives the interpretation of the vision saying, “…But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.” He said “man” not “meat”.  God used His own law about unclean animals to grab Peter’s attention to teach him not to follow a tradition of man. The tradition taught that the Gentiles were “unclean” or impure, but God did not want Peter to call the Gentiles unclean.

The Bottom Line: Peter kept the dietary law and while unclean animals was the subject of this vision, the lesson drawn from Peter’s vision had nothing to do with the dietary law of God.

Council at Jerusalem

The following passage is often used to say that the Apostles decided that the dietary law concerning unclean/clean animals does not apply to the Gentiles, however when we look at the context of the passage, we see that the apostles recognized that the Gentiles would eventually learn about all of the Law of God when they attended synagogue on the weekly Sabbath.

In Acts 15:19-21, we see there was a concern for the Gentiles feeling overwhelmed as they turned to God, so the Apostles decided to write a letter stating four particular items they needed to stay away from.

Many believe that the Gentile-turned believers are being instructed to only obey these four things:

1. abstain from food polluted by idols,
2. abstain from sexual immorality,
3. abstain from the meat of strangled animals and
4. abstain from blood.

However, the very next verse, verse 21 says,

“For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

I believe in saying this verse there was an expectation that the Gentiles would learn more about the Law of Moses as they attended synagogue each week on the Sabbath. They would not only learn more about the items they were specifically writing to them about, but also about the rest of the Law of God.

This is consistent with the fact that if we keep reading in Acts, we find both Jews and God-fearing Greeks attending synagogue together. (Acts 17:17 and 18:4)

The Bottom Line: Just because “unclean animals” was not listed in the four things to abstain from in the Apostles’ letter, it doesn’t mean Gentile-turned believers are exempt from staying away from the unclean animals as well. There were a whole lot of other things that were not mentioned in those four things (ie having other gods before YHWH, bowing down to sacred cows [so to speak], taking the name of YHWH in vain, etc.). Are we to believe those are all acceptable to the God-fearing Greek? I don’t think so.

Paul

Romans 14 is one of the most often used passages written by Paul that seems to be giving permission to eat unclean animals, however again, when we look at the context, we see that Paul is not talking about this dietary law at all.

The very first verse tells us,

“Accept him whose faith is weak without passing judgment on disputable matters.”

The issue at hand pertains to passing judgment on “disputable matters”. Is eating pork or ham disputable according to God’s Law? I think it’s pretty clear those meats come from a pig, and God forbids his children to eat pigs. It’s clearly stated in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, is it not?

The next verse says,

“One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.”

The controversy is between meat-and-vegetable-eating folks and vegetable-only-eating folks. It is not between clean and unclean animals.

These verses lay the foundation for the context of this whole passage (as it pertains to food). People were being judged over disputable matters: eating or not eating meat, and I believe the reference is to food sacrificed to idols. 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 seems to give us more insight into this matter.

1 Corinthians 8:4 says,

“So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.”

Verse 7-8 continues,

“But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.”

I encourage you to re-read Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 together and see what you think. Either way, God’s dietary law as it pertains to eating unclean animals identified as “detestable” by God is not a “disputable matter“.

The Bottom Line: Paul kept the dietary law and while he was accused several times of teaching against Moses, they were clearly false accusations (if we are to believe the author of Acts). Paul in fact encouraged the keeping of God’s law in earlier passages in Romans; not for justification (salvation) purposes [as those in the circumcision group would have you do], but rather for righteousness’ sake that leads to holiness. Paul teaches obedience to the law as a result of accepting God’s gift of righteousness through His son (by faith)…we die to our sinful nature and no longer disobey God’s Law, we come alive in the Spirit and start obeying God’s Law. (See what I wrote on Understanding Righteousness for a more detailed look at this.)

IN CONCLUSION

While I certainly agree there seems to be passages in the Bible that say one thing contradicting other passages that say something else and this causes a lot of confusion, especially when we enter the book part way through it. But I don’t believe God contradicts himself…it is our understanding of His Word that is flawed, not the Word of God itself.

Things make much more sense when we start from the beginning of the book and read it as one continuous story. Plus when we don’t understand something, we need to dig deeper into the Word asking God to teach us and stop turning so quickly to our Biblical commentaries.

Unfortunately, many in Christian circles (and even outside of them) have approached the New Testament from the vantage point that Jesus and/or the apostles somehow changed the Law of God, or at least changed it for some select group of people, but this denotes that God’s Word is changeable. Though this approach may help explain a lot of the seeming contradictions, it doesn’t explain all of them.

I believe if we approach the New Testament from the vantage point that the Law of God has not changed, and that Jesus did not put any of it away when he walked this earth, when he died on the cross, or when he ascended into heaven (like he said he didn’t come to do in Matthew 5:17), then all of the seeming contradictions go away.

If something doesn’t seem to fit, we need to ask God to help us understand. We need to heed the full counsel of God. Sometimes that means letting go of something we once thought was true. One thing we don’t do: we don’t alter the Word of God to fit into the doctrines of men.

—

NOTE: Please understand this post describes my understanding of the Scripture at the time of this writing. If you see there is something I am missing in my understanding, please feel free to share it with me in love. I will be glad to hear other perspectives as I seek to remain teachable.

“He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”

The question that stands out to me is, “What is the trustworthy message Paul is referring to here?”

Verses 10-12 says,

“For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach — and that for the sake of dishonest gain.”

My next question is found in this passage, “What is the teaching that ought not to be taught?”

Then when we jump down to chapter 2, verse 1, we read,

“You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.”

Following my same line of questioning, “What is the sound doctrine being referred to here?”

Paul also warns against false teaching in his letters to Timothy. In chapter 1, verse 3-4 he says,

“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work — which is by faith.”

In his second letter to Timothy, he says in 1:13,

“What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

What is it that Timothy heard from Paul that he is to use as the pattern of sound teaching?

I think when many of us read these verses, we automatically assume the teaching we have received in our religious upbringing is “the trustworthy message” that Paul taught, that it isn’t “the teaching that ought not to be taught” or “false doctrine”, but rather that it is the “sound doctrine” that Paul taught. But what if we’re wrong? What if we’re off by just a little bit?

I believe we are at a slight disadvantage. Because Paul says in his second letter to Timothy (in 3:10):

“You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings — what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.”

Timothy and Titus has first hand knowledge of Paul’s teachings. We on the other hand, only have a handful of letters and a record of his “Acts”. Oh, wait a minute…we do have one more thing. We have the Scriptures from which he taught.

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17,

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Which Scripture is he referring to? Which Scripture did Paul have at the time?

I believe we need to be willing to humble ourselves and go back to the drawing board of Scripture…the same Scripture Paul used to teach from so that we may know if what we believe to be “sound doctrine” is in fact sound.

Because of this and my huge lack of knowledge concerning the actual written Law, I was very confused about which laws were “Jewish” laws and which were God’s laws. But I discovered a remedy to my confusion. It’s called “Read the Bible“. If it’s not in the Bible, then it’s not God’s Law. Pretty simple, really. Yet, I missed it for so long.

What do I mean?

SABBATH KEEPING: Tradition of Man vs. Law of God

For example, did Jesus ever break the Sabbath commandment? No. He was perfect, right? He was the spotless Lamb of God, who obeyed all of God’s Law completely.

Yet, why were the Pharisees giving him grief over the things he was doing on the Sabbath (ie healing the lame, allowing His disciples to pick/eat grain, etc.)? Because he was breaking their Jewish law…not the Law of God. How do I know this? Well, besides the fact that I know Jesus perfectly obeyed his Father’s teachings and instructions, I’ve read the Law of God, and those added rules are not in there.

Exodus 20:8-11 says,

“‘Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.’”

Leviticus 23:3 says,

“‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the LORD.’”

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 says,

“‘Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.’”

So is keeping the Sabbath Day commandment according to these verses a Jewish law (tradition of man) or a law of God? It is the Law of God. Did Jesus obey it? Yes. As followers of Jesus, shouldn’t we? Yes.

But what about the Sabbath rules such as: don’t create anything, don’t walk so many miles, don’t carry anything for long distances, etc.? These are traditions of men! They’re not listed in our Bibles as commands given by YHWH, right? No, these are added Jewish laws.

Before I move on, I need to point out that I used to think Jesus kept laws like the Sabbath because he was Jewish. But as we see, time and time again, while Jesus was physically Jewish, he still broke much of “Jewish law”. So why would he break some Jewish laws, yet keep other laws? The laws he kept were the ones found in the Bible. Those are the laws we as believers and followers of Jesus should also be keeping…not because they are Jewish laws, but because they are the Law of God.

This is why it is so important for us to read and study our Bibles. In order to do the will of the Father, we need to learn what that is. The will of the Father is outlined in the Law of Moses. Jesus taught on it, giving us more insight into it. He also lived it, giving us an earthly example to follow. He is the Word made flesh…the embodiment of the Word of God. When he became flesh, what Word was in existence at that time? (Hint: It was before Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, and Peter wrote anything.)

So why was I so ignorant of or detached from the Old Testament most of my Christian life? Why did I have it stuck in my mind that the Old Testament was primarily for the Jews and the New Testament was for the Christians? I was taught it. Now I’m finding, it was a deception.

DIETARY LAW: Tradition of Man vs Law of God

Here’s another one: Did Jesus ever give permission to eat unclean animals? Oh, I would venture to guess that a *large* majority of Christians will say, “Yes, he did.” And not only that, “Peter saw a vision that specifically told us to kill and eat unclean animals.” But truth be told, No, Jesus did not give us permission to eat unclean animals.

Oh, I know this goes against every fiber of some of your beings who are reading this. But think about it. Jesus was perfect, right? He did his Father’s will…He obeyed every bit of the Law of God (that applied to him, as a non-levitical priest and non-woman). So why would he go against the Father’s will and say what his Father called “detestable” and forbade him to eat, was now not “detestable” for those who follow him? He wouldn’t!

PETER’S VISION (Acts 10)

But what about Peter’s vision? He saw a sheet being lowered down from heaven with unclean animals on it and a voice told him to “Kill and eat”…this happened three times! Peter was perplexed because he never ate an unclean animal…he knew the will of the Father…it is expressly stated in the Law of Moses. He told the Lord this after hearing the command to kill and eat. The voice replied, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

After a little bit some men came looking for Peter and the Spirit of God told him to go with the men. By the time he went with the men, he had figured out the interpretation of the vision. Acts 10:27-28 says,

“Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him…”

Whoa…stop the presses! Did you catch that? He said, “it is against our law.” Which law is he talking about? He said it was against the law “for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him“. Is that Jewish law (tradition of man) or the Law of God?

Well, how do we know for sure? We read our Bibles! Let me give you a hint…it’s not in there. I checked. But don’t just take my word for it. Open your Bible to Exodus starting at about chapter 20 and read all the way through to the end of Deuteronomy. You won’t find it in there. That’s because it is a tradition of man. Let’s move on with the interpretation of the vision…

“…But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.”

Whoop…did you see that? “…I should not call any *man” impure or unclean.” It doesn’t say, “meat”…it says, “man.” But I thought the vision was about unclean animals. Yes, God used His own law about unclean animals to grab Peter’s attention concerning a tradition of man.

We see evidence of Peter’s tendency to follow this tradition of man in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Chapter 2, verses 11-14 say,

“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, ‘You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?’”

There, did you see that? By Peter’s drawing back and separating himself from the Gentiles, (the same thing that vision was pointing out was wrong), he was following a Jewish custom. This was not something found in the Law of God…this was a tradition of man incorporated into the Jewish religion. Paul rebuked Peter for this.

Okay, but wait a minute I thought I read somewhere in the gospels that Jesus declared all foods “clean”. Yes, you did. Mark 7:18-19 says,

“‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)”

I know you’re not going to believe me. but that paranthetical statement added on to the end does not mean all unclean animals are now clean. How do I know this? First, I must confess I was tipped off in a health book I read several years ago written by a Jew that the unclean animals identified in Deuteronomy 14 is not considered “food” to Jews.

Also, think about it. You consider a chicken food, right? How about a turkey? Now, what about a vulture? If someone were to ask you if there were any foods you’d rather not eat, would you even consider listing a vulture? Why not? Because that doesn’t even register on our radar as something we would consume.

This is what the list of unclean animals are in the Law of God. They are labeled “abominations”, “detestable” or “disgusting things”. They are not even considered “food” by God’s standard for His children.

But if this verse doesn’t mean “all unclean animals are now made clean”, what does it mean? For that we need to check the full context of this passage…starting with Mark 7:1-5:

“The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?’”

The issue at hand concerns a “tradition of the elders”. Still think this is pertaining to a Law of God? Read your Bible…handwashing before meals is not in there. But if you don’t want to take the time to pull out your Old Testament at the moment (I don’t blame you), just keep reading and see what Jesus has to tell us.

“He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’[Isaiah 29:13]

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

“And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe[or set up] your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[Exodus 20:12, Deut 5:16] and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 20:9] But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.””

Ooooh. That is harsh. But there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. These Pharisees were letting go of the commands of God and holding on to human traditions. They were nullifying the word of God by their handed-down traditions. And…they did many things like that. Ouch! That was a pretty sharp rebuke. Let’s continue…

“Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

Now wait a second – why would Jesus start teaching “nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them” after this little exchange with the Pharisees and their tradition of man?

I propose it is because this tradition taught that if you don’t wash your hands (or cups, pitchers & kettles) before eating, you will become defiled or “unclean”. Seems like a reasonable assumption given the context, doesn’t it?

Also, if he was starting to teach about something having to do with the Law of God (say, eating unclean animals), he would be a HUGE HYPOCRITE. He just got done chewing out the Pharisees for passing down traditions that nullify the word of God, why would he proceed to nullify the word of God with his own teaching? Obviously, he’s not talking about changing the Law of God here.

Let’s keep going…

“After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

So, Jesus is saying just because you don’t wash your hands or your dishes before you eat, this doesn’t make you “unclean”.

“He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.””

What makes a person “unclean” or “defiled” are the evil thoughts that come out of a person’s heart…not dirty hands or dirty dishes.

I know that’s going to burst a lot of people’s bubbles. Many of us have been taught that Jesus usurped his Father’s authority here and did a 180 on the dietary law, but that is so incredibly contrary to Christ’s character. Jesus would never…and never did speak or teach against his Father’s will. He never broke his Father’s commands, and he never taught his disciples to do so either.

So, are the traditions of man bad or wrong? If they nullify the Law of God, yes. If they are considered a part of or equal to the law of God, yes. However, if they are just considered traditions and don’t violate or nullify the Law of God, I personally, don’t see anything wrong with them. Your best bet, however, would be to pray about it and see what God has to tell you.

I will tell you emphatically though, If God’s Law clearly states something contrary to the tradition of man, there is no way He is going to give you the go-ahead to follow your man-made tradition, forsaking His very own Law.

Having said that, we need to do our homework here. We need to dig out our Bibles and figure out what the Law of God really says.

I can tell you it is no where near burdensome compared to the traditions of man (be it Jewish tradition or even Christian tradition). In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

What burdens is he talking about here? Those who were “weary and burdened”… I imagine it could have been the burden of sin, but I also think it was the burden of man-made religious tradition.

Jesus said his “yoke is easy”, his “burden is light”. Jesus knew no sin…all he knew was the will of the Father. He lived it, he taught it and he calls to those of us who are weary and burdened to come to him, receive his rest, take his yoke and learn from him.

It’s a life-long process, folks. We’re not expected to get it overnight. We’re not expected to get it perfect every time. Praise God for his grace! It truly is amazing.

First we receive grace through the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice, justifying us, giving us access to the throne room of heaven. Then we die to our flesh (also known as being released from the law of sin and death) and live according to the Spirit, following in the footsteps of our earthly example, Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh. We seek to do the will of the Father, as Jesus did…and we will be blessed for it.

Shalom!

Maybe you’ve read that passage a gazillion times (okay, maybe not that many, but a lot), and you think you know what it means, but you realize there’s a word or phrase in there that you’ve always kind of just glossed over in the past because you didn’t really know why it was there. I’ve done that. Too many times, I think.

Up until a year or so ago, when I would come across words/phrases/verses I didn’t understand, I’d ask those whom I hung around with — the ones I knew read their Bibles, too. Either they’d say, “I don’t know” or they’d give me their take on what the whole passage was saying. I was usually content with their answer or I’d just shove the question into the back of my mind and move on.

Lest you think I’m not that spiritual, I will point out that many times when I would come across those questions in my personal Bible study, I would ask God for the answer as well…but I didn’t always wait on Him to get an answer.

It was much easier to ask someone who I could physically see and hear, or that’s how I used to think. Now, I realize…I’d rather get the correct answer than just any ol’ answer. So now, I wait on the LORD for the understanding of His truth.

What do I mean when I say, “wait”?

When I have a question about something I’m reading, I ask the LORD and I keep my mind’s ear tuned in to hearing from Him.

I keep reading. I read all around the text to get more context. When there are references in the passage to some other part of Scripture, I go read that. Then I read all around that text to get more context.

Then I dialogue with Him. “Is it saying this?“, The Spirit usually brings something from Scripture to mind that either answers the question or gives me more to nibble on. And I keep pressing in. “Is it saying that?” I get the same response.

Then when I think I understand what the passage is saying, I go back and read the original passage with that new understanding, and either it doesn’t fit or *bam* things make much more sense.

Then I get up and do a little jig, because I know I just had a conversation with the Father. It wasn’t just me prattling off a wish list (or a list of demands) and then moving on only to go on about my own business. I asked…and I sought Him through His Word. I waited to get an answer by lingering a little longer in His Word.

Now, there’s times when I am not able to linger in His Word…the kids are calling me, my husband needs me, my chores are screaming at me, the phone rings, my eyelids get too heavy…you get the idea. But, I keep my mind’s ear tuned in to hearing from Him. And lo and behold, he speaks! Not audibly, mind you, but ideas are popping into my head…other Scripture is being brought to my memory, or I’ll run into someone or something throughout my day that directly speaks to the very thing I was asking God about. It is SO cool how that all works out.

But it hasn’t always been like that.

For many, many, many years (I’ve been a Christian for a long time) I didn’t dialogue with God that much.  Truth be told, I wasn’t that familiar with Scripture. I had the general gist of a lot of the New Testament, with some very familiar passages. But I was very ignorant of a lot of the Old Testament…I found it to be rather dry, so I usually steered clear of that. I’d read small passages here and there, but I didn’t usually invest much time there.

Now, I had a lot of knowledge…I’ve been in church most of my life. I attended a Christian university for four years, been to my share of Christian conferences and retreats…I hung around in Christian circles for over 30 years. But most of it was second-hand knowledge.

I’ve known for a long time that the only way for the Holy Spirit to bring Scripture to our remembrance is to get the Scripture in our heads first.

It wasn’t until I started reading the Word of God in bigger chunks that I started experiencing the kind of dialogue I’m talking about here. PLUS, I was eager to hear what the LORD had to say. I wanted His answers to my questions, not just any ol’ answers.

What were some of the questions I asked? Well, I’ve already addressed some of them on this blog, but here’s a short list:

• When the Word says, “If you love me, obey my commands”, which commands am I, as a gentile-turned believer, to obey?
• Why don’t we, as Christians, keep the Sabbath day commandment?
• How is it that we, as children of the promise, receive the benefits of the promise but do not partake in the responsibilites of the promise?
• If the Law of God has been put away, then why do we pick and choose what we’ll obey?
• How come there are two sets of rules: one for the Jew and one for the Christian?
• Why are the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation only Jews (from the 12 tribes of Israel)…where’s the church in that?
• Why can’t I make heads or tails of all the prophetic books?
• Why do we celebrate the holidays of Christmas and Easter when they’re not mentioned in the Bible?
• Why don’t we celebrate Passover, when we know that Jesus is the Passover Lamb?
• Why do we say Jesus died on a Friday and rose on a Sunday, yet Jesus said he’d be buried three days and three nights?
• If Jesus said he didn’t come to abolish the law, but that he came to fulfill it, then why do we consider the law abolished after he fulfilled it?

There’s something else I’ve discovered this past year, that is unique to this generation…the Biblical resources found on the internet.

I have a Strong’s Concordance in my personal library, and the fact of the matter is I think I’ve only picked it up to use a handul of times since college (that was 20 years ago).

I have a few versions of the Bible, but I spend most of my time in one. I’ve always thought it would be cool to get a Study Bible, but I have an aversion to ones with commentary mixed in. Have you seen some of those Bibles? Many times there’s more of man’s word on a page, than God’s Word. I want to spend more of my time reading God’s Word, and I think those Bibles would deter/distract me from that.

Ah, but the internet… I just Google a phrase and I get scripture verses in return. (It saves gobs of time, as opposed to leafing through pages.) Now, I usually just go to the sites that are strictly Bible, such as Bible Gateway. I can read the Bible in multiple translations.

And then I can go to places like Blue Letter Bible and drill down to the original Greek or Hebrew and find the definitions of the original words. This is a great tool to get back to the original intent of the written word, rather than our modern day understanding of the translated English words.

Recently I discovered E-sword, a free software package that is jam packed with Biblical resources. I’m still new to using it, but it makes studying God’s Word so much easier for the common man.

So what is my word of encouragement to my fellow believers in Christ?

Open your Bibles and read them. Keep reading them. Ask God for understanding. Don’t just turn to man for your answers.

I think it’s okay to hear other input, but be careful who you ask. Ask someone who reads and studies their Bibles. But if you want the absolutely correct answer, turn to the Man upstairs (He’s not really a man, He’s the Creator of all mankind, YHWH).

Then, don’t stop asking the tough questions. As I’ve personally seen in my own life, most men (& women) can’t handle all the tough questions being asked, but YHWH can. He wants us to ask the tough questions. But we need to have our hearts right in order to get answers. We need to ask with a teachable heart, eager to learn. Not eager to argue. Not eager to convince God of our way of thinking.

But let me issue this Word of Caution: God will answer you when you humbly seek His truth. Sometimes that truth conflicts with what we’ve always thought to be true. And you will come to a crossroads. I did. You will have to decide to pursue God’s truth or continue with what’s been comfortable in the past. Whatever decision you make, it will cost you.

I personally have chosen to pursue God’s truth. My walk here on earth has gotten suddenly more rocky and uncomfortable, but my walk with the LORD has grown deeper. My compassion for mankind has swelled. My tolerance for persecution has raised considerably. My focus has shifted from the temporal to the eternal. Now the love I have for my neighbor is a result of an overflow of my love for YHWH.

Now I understand why Jesus prioritized the greatest commandment to be loving the LORD your God with all of your heart, soul and strength. Because I find when we do that, we can better love our neighbors…especially when it feels like they don’t love us.

May YHWH bless you and keep you. May YHWH make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May YHWH lift up His countenance upon you. May He give you peace (shalom) in Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name.