The Two-Hundred-Eighty-First (What to Do)

The topic this week is based on something I’m being more and more convinced of every day.  A few weeks ago, we talked about how it seems like the time we’re living in right now is a time of spiritual dividing.  I believe that if it’s not the actual sheep and goats dividing Yeshua talked about then it’s a type, or reflection, maybe even a precursor to that dividing.  This week, we’re going to look at what we should be doing as believers during this time.

Something that came to my mind the other day is the possibility that every single example of division in the history of mankind, whether major or minor, has its origin in the spiritual.  From YHWH’s desire to prevent all of mankind from organizing together by giving us different languages (Genesis 11:7-9), to Satan’s desire to divide mankind and conquer it, or even just to cause chaos, it seems to me that regardless of the method of division used, it originates from the spiritual.  Even when you look at countries themselves, or major people groups in general, you find that much of the political landscape we see today was formed based on religious disagreements, which is, of course, spiritual in origin based on Satan’s work to not only infiltrate and corrupt but also divide YHWH’s people.

For example, there is a clear division between Russia and Europe, which seems to stem, in a way, from the separation of the Orthodox Church from the Catholic Church.  There is also a clear division between America and Europe, which stems from the separation of the Puritans from the Church of England, an offshoot of the Catholic Church.  Other separations, like those of Asia and Africa, seem to stem from the tower of Babel, but also have clear indications, in general, of Satan’s influence given their religious focus on the natural, like animalism and looking inward to man vice to YHWH in worship.

That being said, during this time of separation, we, as believers, should always be looking for the origin, or purpose, behind anything that seems to be trying to separate people.  We’ll get into how we do that in a moment, but the way I see it, since the tower of Babel separation initiated by YHWH, the divisions we’ve seen created in mankind have largely been influenced by Satan in an effort to more easily influence man into walking away from, rebelling against, YHWH.  The people that remained loyal to YHWH, His remnant, while they were certainly helped and protected by Him at times, were separated mainly by Satan’s action rather than YHWH’s action.  In other words, I believe the people that came out of YHWH’s people were “pulled” by Satan rather than YHWH “pushing” them out.

Now, however, it seems to me that YHWH has taken an active role in the separation that’s occurring.  It feels as though He is pushing people out based on them not being truly obedient and faithful to Him, in conjunction with Satan pulling people out through his deceit.  The reason I feel this way is because rather than seeing only deceit in what’s happening today, there is an element of the revealing of truth that is also occurring.  Things are coming out, being revealed, about the truth regarding things like major historical events, historical and present political events and alliances, aspects of medicine and the medical industry, aspects of nutrition and how to actually eat healthy, the capability of natural healing, etc.  Satan, being the father of lies (John 8:44, Revelation 12:9), would never push truth in an effort to divide people.  He would only use more lies and deceit in his efforts, because once people get some truth they immediately recognize it and search for more, and when that happens the truth about Satan’s works get found out.  The other thing that’s different than previous divisions is that this time the separation is not along already defined divisions.  People on both sides of these existing divisions are hearing, understanding, and believing the truth, effectively making a third group of people that doesn’t align with the previous two.

Obviously, I have no scriptural basis for any of these observations (except those with verses referenced), so take them for what you will based on that.  What we do have scriptural basis for is what we should be doing in this time.  It’s nothing groundbreaking or surprising if you’ve been following along through all our studies to this point, but it’s certainly worth repeating to make sure we stay grounded as the separating continues.

In order for us to keep from falling into the same traps of deceit that the world is falling into, the most obvious thing to do is identify and call out the dark, evil, deceitful, secret things that we see in the world.  That includes things on the world stage but also things more local to us, and even things in our immediate vicinity and sphere of influence.  Believers truly need to be the light of the world, and what light does is it reveals what is hidden in the darkness (Matthew 5:14, John 1:4-9, 3:19-21, 12:35-36, 12:46, Psalm 112:4, 1 John 1:5-7, 2 Peter 1:19, Ephesians 5:13, etc.).

We tend to focus on our actions being a light, in terms of doing good in the world, and that certainly is a part of it as Yeshua said (Matthew 5:16).  However, being a light, and shining our light, is not only that, it’s also exposing the darkness, the deceit, with light, the truth.  That’s what Paul talked about (Ephesians 5:8-13).  

One thing that has been reinforced to me over and over since Yeshua brought me back to Him about six years ago is that the world really has no answer or rebuttal when you speak truth, or expose deceit.  It’s such a rare thing when this happens because we’re conditioned to avoid confrontation and “let sleeping dogs lie,” that when it does happen the world is taken aback.  You can almost see, or at least sense, a recoil by the individual who is deceiving or manipulating as they struggle to figure out how to respond so they can prevent being exposed.  

The thing about that is we also need to be willing to admit when we are knowingly or unknowingly being deceitful or manipulative.  We cannot let pride get in the way of our being truthful, being a light.  Hopefully, we are not being knowingly deceitful or manipulative, because if we are we need to immediately repent from it and come clean to whomever we are being that way.  However, even if we are in the area of unknowingly doing it, we need to be humble enough to admit that we ourselves were deceived, and repent and make amends to those we affected by it.

In order for us as believers to be a light, we need to have a reputation of being a light.  That’s why Paul talked about not being obscene, talking foolishly, being immoral, drunk, involved in debauchery, etc. (Ephesians 5:3-4, 15-18).  That doesn’t mean we have to be perfect all the time, although that should always be our goal, but when we do stumble we can’t hesitate to repent from it and call ourselves out to others.  

The other thing is, you may not be comfortable calling out darkness or deceit in the world to others for whatever reason, but we should still be actively looking for it and at least making a note of it to ourselves.  Even if we’re not sure if something’s completely false or if there’s something hidden behind it, we should make sure we note it as a question mark to ourselves.  This is part of walking in the light.  Letting things go by tends to cause us to dull our ability to discern them, which will prevent us from being sure when something comes along that’s imperative for us to know is deceitful.

The biggest thing I think causes believers to hesitate calling out darkness is what I believe is an influence of Satan.  Namely, a big thing among believers is saying we shouldn’t judge others, so we think that means letting others do whatever they want, or think is best, rather than speaking up when what they are saying or doing clearly goes against YHWH.  Mind you, this view does stem from Yeshua’s own words (Matthew 7:1), but I believe the way His words are used are taken too far and allow sinfulness to go un-rebuked.  Not to mention, the pervasive view of this among believers does not align with the overall context of what Yeshua was saying.

The first thing to recognize is what judging actually means.  When a dispute goes before a judge, in an ideal world, the judge gets both sides of the dispute.  In other words, the judge is presented the truth from both sides, and then he or she makes a judgment on the issue.  In real life, because man has a sinful nature, each side selectively chooses which part of the truth they want to present that makes their claim look the best, and sometimes there is some deceit in there whether by actual statements/information or by omission, but ideally, the judge’s job is not to determine whether or not something is truthful (because the entering requirement is that everyone is truthful).  His or her job is to take the truth, hold it up against the law, determine whether or not there is transgression, and if there is, what the consequence of that transgression should be.    

Therefore, calling out something we know is not true or that we know is evil is not considered judging.  It’s simply stating a fact.  The other thing to recognize is that Paul tells us that while we should be allowing YHWH to judge non-believers, we are also fully capable, and even encouraged, to judge disputes among believers (1 Corinthians 5:9-6:11).  To reconcile this with Yeshua’s words, you must read the whole context of what He said (Matthew 7:1-5).  In the end, it wasn’t about not judging at all, it was about identifying and correcting the error in our own ways before we ultimately help identify and correct the error in someone else’s ways.  

Regardless, stating a fact, as in identifying and calling out darkness, deceit, and evil, is not judging in the first place.  It’s stating facts.  We have to know how to identify those things though, to be sure we are stating facts and not opinions or feelings.  That’s where scripture along with the influence of the Holy Spirit comes in.  

The problem is that mainstream Christianity today has largely made scripture useless in helping us to be sure about what is true and what is not, what is of YHWH and what is against YHWH.  The words of scripture have been manipulated, cherry picked, and twisted to the point of reading doctrine into scripture rather than getting doctrine from scripture.  Plain words and obvious meanings have been substituted with nebulous thoughts and vacillating feelings.

If identifying and calling out darkness is the method of preventing us from going down the wrong path away from YHWH, and helping others do the same, then focusing on the words of YHWH and Yeshua and doing them is the method of walking down the right path and helping us to do the identifying and calling out.  The only way for us to do this though, is to recognize not only the authority of scripture, but its applicability in our lives.  There’s a reason that it says YHWH’s Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).  We have to not only believe in its truth and sanctity, but also change our lives and how we interact with others and the world based on what it says, not find ways to justify getting out of doing what is says.  

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again, no matter which way I look at it, I have found that there’s no way to get around the fact that YHWH’s Law is not only still in effect but that we, as His people, should be living our lives according to it.  And that means not just the Ten Commandments (which includes the commandment to observe, set apart, the seventh day Sabbath, by the way (Exodus 20:8-11)), but all the others included in the Torah.  Anything else, anything that goes against these commandments, that we are told we should be doing as Christians are merely doctrines of men and the same thing Yeshua preached against the Pharisees enforcing (Matthew 15:3-9).

Christianity says Yeshua abolished the Law, or at least replaced it with His own Law.  Then why did He specifically say He didn’t come to do that? (Matthew 5:17-18)  Why did He preach following the Law and teaching others to do the same? (Matthew 5:19-20).  Why did He preach that everything written in the law was really about following it in your heart, not just your actions? (Matthew 5:21-48)  Why did He say He didn’t come to do His own will but to do YHWH’s will? (John 6:38)

Christianity says the Law was only for Israel and the church is not Israel but we are a part of a new covenant.  You mean the one that was promised specifically to Israel and Judah? (Hebrews 10:16, Jeremiah 31:31-34)  You mean the one we’re grafted into? (Romans 11:24)  How can we be grafted into faithful Israel and the Law not be applicable to us?

Christianity says everything changed after the crucifixion and resurrection when the Law was “nailed to the cross.”  Then why did the disciples, who became the apostles, continue to follow it? (Acts 17:1, 13:14-15, 42-43, 21:26)  Why did they tell non-Jewish believers to follow parts of the Law to start out with because they’ll hear the rest of it in the synagogue that they attend? (Acts 15:20-21, 21:25)  Why did Paul state multiple times that we are not to reject the Law and that the Law is holy, righteous and good? (Romans 6:1-2, 15,  7:12)  Why are there prophecies about the post-resurrection return of Yeshua that talk about people that eat pork being among the wicked, that the Feast of Tabernacles will be observed, and that salvation is for those who keep the Sabbath and hold to His covenant? (Isaiah 66:15-17, Zechariah 14:18, Isaiah 56:2, 4-7)

Christianity says that the Law was only for a specific time, or “dispensation.”  Then how were there clean and unclean animals a millenium before the Law was given? (Genesis 7:1-3, 8-9)  How did Cain and Abel know how to make offerings to YHWH without getting killed by Him like Aaron’s sons did? (Genesis 4:3-5, Leviticus 10:1-2)

Once we understand that YHWH’s Law is still applicable to His people, we can not only use it to help us walk the narrow path but also help us identify deceit, evil, and darkness.  If we don’t still have that standard, His standard, then we have nothing against which to assess what is right and what is wrong, what is truth and what is a lie.  Everything just becomes whatever we want it to be, rather than what YHWH has said it is.

So, in this season, focus on scripture, the words of YHWH and Yeshua.  Do what They say, and use Their words to help you identify and call out deceit, darkness, evil, things done in the dark, witchcraft, occult-related views, beliefs, and practices, etc.  By doing this you will prevent yourself from being pulled by Satan’s deceit away from YHWH and into the herd of goats, and remain in the flock of Yeshua’s sheep.  His voice is what we should know, hear, and obey (John 10:4).

We hope you have a great week!  Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!  

-Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)