Nazarene Israelite Two House Congregation of Port Elizabeth

The truth shall set you free!

The language used by most people in the western nations of the world have deteriorated so much over the past 30 years, that it is difficult to imagine a conversation/discussion where someone does not use a swearword to get his/her point across, despite the fact that we are living during the end of time identified by the Prophet Daniel in Daniel 12: 4, saying: “But as for  you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book  until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” Why do I see a connection about the time we live in and the way we live our lives at this time? The reason being that as a believer in the word of Elohim, the Scriptures, I am ever aware of Isaiah’s warning in Isaiah 55: 6 & 7, saying: ‘Seek YHVH while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. (7) Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let Him return to YHVH, and He will have compassion on him; and to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.’

 

Fellow believers since this indicates that there is a cut off time during which our heavenly Father will allow us to repent and will forgive us our wrongdoings, let’s make use of the small window of opportunity He allows us to return to Him and start obeying His commandments for our own good. In addition we read the warning of the prophet Malachi in Malachi 4: 1, saying: “For behold, the day is coming burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says YHVH of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” We know that what is described here will only happen after the Great White Throne judgement period described in Revelation 20: 14, as follows: ‘And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.’ Nevertheless, you and I do not know when our proverbial line will be drawn. Nobody knows when his/her time is over, or when Messiah comes to rule the world from Jerusalem.  Fact is that you and I can be hit by a stray bullet or get involved in a fatal accident at which time our chance to repent will be over. It is therefore very important what we do and how we live our lives from now on! That is of course if we are truly interested in salvation. But it seems that no one is truly interested in what our heavenly Father wanted the descendants of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob to have for their good, since most of the lost sheep of the house of Israel whom YHVH scattered into the nations of the world, lost our culture, language and faith and became Christianized, something most of us came to believe to be G-ds gift to mankind. Like our ancient forefathers were blindsided by Balaam who could not curse the nation of Israel because they were blessed by YHVH as His people at that time, but went ahead and caused the nation to curse themselves as witnessed in Numbers 25: 1 – 3, in this way: ‘While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. (2) For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. (3) So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and YHVH was angry against Israel.’ As a result, due to the laws of cause and effect that YHVH put in place since the creation of mankind, 24,000 of the children of Israel died in the plague that followed, but which was thankfully stopped due to the zealous action and the righteous indignation of Phinehas the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron the priest who pierced both the man of Israel and the daughter of the leader of the Midianite people who blatantly brought the Midianite woman into his tent in the sight of Moses.

 

Many of the citizens of South Africa are deeply concerned since our nation recently experienced a period of major deception that started a few years ago when a private aircraft belonging to wealthy foreign businessmen was allowed to land on a South African military air-force base by the President of South Africa,  to bring in an Indian wedding party including bride and groom for a wedding paid for by the South African government for financial favors promised to the government leaders of South Africa. As a result the government of South Africa came under control of a family of wealthy foreign businessmen with the President and other Minister who were paid large sums of bribes allowing foreign parties to infiltrate and destroy the South African railways, Airways, Arms industry and the Electricity Supply commission in order to get their hands on our country’s mineral rights in exchange for the enrichment of a large portion of the South African government ministers, their families and heads of the departments of most government institutions over the next few years. This in turn resulted in ongoing public hearings and court cases in which many of the perpetrators are exonerated for their crimes due to a so-called lack of evidence and on-going lies, of those who deny their involvement. Because of a lack of proper law enforcement since even some of the senior members of our police force and heads of government departments were also involved in the state capture scenario that seems to be ongoing at this time. In addition it appears that many of the citizens in South Africa turned to crime, because they believe they will, can and are getting away with it, as easy as those who were/are involved in the state capture. Similarly the citizens in the rest of the Israelite nations are under attack of liberal citizens and their press who hate truth and are all out to destroy everything their forefathers stood for. Even though the total rot of both the United States of America and the United Kingdom have temporarily being stopped by President Donald Trump and the present Prime Minister of England, Theresa May, who are trying to correct years of wrong decisions taken by their liberal predecessors. However, it is as if the world is being controlled by Satan and his agents, as a precursor of what we are warned will happen in Revelation 16: 13 & 14, as follows: ‘And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; (14) for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of Elohim, the Almighty.’

 

During April 1970 a reader of a magazine suggested that ‘lest we forget’ the following be published again: “In May of 1919 at Dusseldorf Germany, the Allied Forces obtained a copy of the Communist Rules for Revolution which is still being followed today:

A.      Corrupt the young, get them away from religion, get them interested in sex. Make them superficial, destroy their ruggedness.

B.      Get control of all means of publicity thereby:

1.       Get the people’s minds off their government by focusing their attention on athletics, sexy books and plays and other trivialities.

2.       Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance.

3.       Destroy the people’s faith in their natural leaders by holding the latter up to contempt, ridicule and obloquy.

4.       Always preach true democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.

5.       By encouraging government extravagance, destroy its credit, produce fear of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.

6.       Foment unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster lenient and soft attitude on the party of government toward such disorders.

7.       By Specious argument, cause the breakdown of the old moral virtues, honesty, sobriety, confidence, faith in the pledged word, ruggedness.

C.      Cause the registration of all firearms on some pretext, with a view toward confiscating them and leaving the population helpless.”

 

Fact is that what the Communist planned to do to the west at that time they have succeeded doing because of the liberal attitudes of our people. In South Africa like the USA and the United Kingdom people fought tooth and nail against the Communist danger, but it seems because of our actions in the recent past, what we feared most happened to us.  

 

Instead of turning to YHVH the Elohim of Israel in sackcloth and ashes and repent of our numerous sins, most are turning to the false god and messiah introduced to us and our forefathers whilst we were in Europe in captivity by Esau or more specifically the Roman Catholic Church and her protesting daughters, praying that our nations live in peace with the people we were scattered into, instead of calling on YHVH our Elohim to save us from our exile under the control of non-Israelite pagan leaders. Our situation is aptly described in Lamentations penned by the prophet Jeremiah, but especially the fifth chapter of the Book, as follows: ‘Remember, O YHVH, what has befallen us; look, and see our reproach! (2) Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to aliens. (3) We have become orphans without a father, our mothers are like widows. (4) We have to pay for our drinking water, our wood comes to us at a price. (5) Our pursuers are at our necks; we are worn out, there is no rest for us. (6) We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. (7) Our fathers sinned, and are no more; it is we who have borne their iniquities. (8) Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand. (9) We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness. (10) Our skin has become as hot as an oven, because of the burning heat of famine. (11) They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.  (12) Princes were hung by their hands; elders were not respected. (13) Young men worked at the grinding mill; and youths stumbled under loads of wood. (14) Elders are gone from the gate, young men from their music. (15) The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned into mourning. (16) The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! (17) Because of this our heart is faint; because of these things our eyes are dim; (18) because of Mount Zion which lies desolate, foxes prowl in it. (19) Thou, O YHVH, dost rule forever; Thy throne is from generation to generation. (20) Why dost Thou forget us forever; why dost Thou forsake us so long?  (21) Restore us to Thee, O YHVH, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old, (22) unless Thou hast utterly rejected us, and art exceedingly angry with us.’

 

The question is where are we able to find truth in our world today? Do we find it with those who profess to faith in a false messiah? Ask anyone who claims to be a Christian, Nazarene or Messianic believer what truth is and such a believer will tell you that whatever he/she came to believe it is. Most of these groups claim that their belief system or doctrines are based on the Scriptures and each group claims to have the truth. However, if we examine their doctrines, we will see that, even though most believe in a savior, very few agree doctrinally. Whereas most of those who will be adversely effected by the new laws to take our property rights away without compensation, are deeply concerned about what is happening here, most of the lost sheep of the house of Israel; who were deceived to believe they are nothing but Gentiles are totally bewitched and have rejected the truth for falsehood introduced by Constantine and the Crusaders.  We have been duped by Satan and his agents to reject the Torah teachings of our heavenly Father and have as a result curse ourselves with the curses YHVH said He would meet out on the descendants of Jacob. Because so few still consider the Tanach and Torah as valid teachings for our daily living, most are totally unaware of the fact that we are totally deceived as witnessed in Revelation 12: 9, in this way: ‘And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.’ Because of this ongoing deception most of those who claim to be Spirit filled are of one mind when it comes to the times and laws that the pope introduced at that time, even though they disagree on some points. Surely if we consider all the different doctrines, we must agree that all cannot be right, when some doctrines of one group are completely opposite to those of another. Why all this confusion? Why such differences of beliefs? Where can we find real truth?

However, to get to the root of the problem, we need to ask ourselves, who is the originator of all the confusion? We all know that right at the beginning, after our Father YHVH created, or rather recreated the earth, Satan came on the scene again. Let us backtrack a bit: Prior to this, at the very beginning, Father YHVH planned to bring forth beings that could become his children. These children would be like Him in every respect. They would have His character reproduced in them by His Set-apart Spirit. YHVH commenced His plan to reproduce Himself by creating powerful spiritual beings called angels. These angels were free moral agents, with the ability to choose to go the way of YHVH – the way of giving and sharing, or the wrong way - which is in essence a way of get. They followed the correct way for many years, until one day, a third of the angels followed the archangel Lucifer in rebellion against YHVH to take over the throne of YHVH in the third heaven. They fought against the other two thirds of the angels, still loyal to the Eternal, but, they were overcome and thrown down to earth, where they are now living as fallen angels or demons. These angels, who are spirit beings and who sinned with full knowledge, could not change once they decided to follow a life of wrongdoing (Isaiah 14). This war between the angels and demons left the world formless and void. This is the condition we find the earth in when we open our Scriptures at Genesis 1: 2 and it was at this point in time that YHVH decided to recreate the heavens and the earth. He also at this point chose not to create his future children as spirit beings. He decided at the outset, to create human kind from physical matter, in His image with the mind power to think, plan and ‘create’. They too would have free moral agency to decide between good and evil. They had to prove through their lives that they would develop the perfect character of YHVH and follow His way of life. The plan was that when they have fully developed the character of our Father YHVH, they would eat of the tree of life and live forever. But, at this point in time the serpent, Satan came on the scene. Being the adversary, he did not come on the scene to promote harmony with YHVH, but rather to sow disunity. He succeeded and the rest is history: Adam and Eve sinned, induced by the lies and temptation of Satan. Since then all humankind have sinned and fall short of the esteem of YHVH. At that point in time they were banished from the Garden of Eden, so that they cannot access the tree of life, any longer. Death spread to all humankind through the sins of our forefathers. YHVH has allowed all of mankind to be led into sin by Satan, thus allowing us to see for ourselves where sin leads us. He is allowing humanity to experiment with different forms of government, culture, education and religion. He is allowing us to learn that by living life free of His leadership only leads to failure.

This seems to be a very simple explanation of what happened in those early days. There might have been numerous reasons why Eve succumbed to Satan, but the end result is the same. Both she and Adam moved away from YHVH and His word. This is also the same reason why so many Christian/Messianic and Nazarene groups have been seduced by Satan. They have decided to follow some doctrines and to reject others and in doing so, they have moved away from the word of YHVH. Many will assure you that they only listen to YHVH, and not to Satan, as mother Eve did. But, is this really the case? When Satan came to Eve, he did not start by telling her that he is the great deceiver who came to turn her and Adam away from YHVH. No, we read in Genesis 3: 1, ‘Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field.’ Being the deceiver of the whole world (as we see in Revelation 12: 9), Satan disguised his real intent. He tempted Eve with something that she desired. Before she knew she had departed from our Father’s truth and presence. If some of the so-called doctrines of the various religious groups do not come from YHVH, then where do they come from? Have they not come from that great deceiver called Satan, the devil? Mother Eve was deceived by Satan to partake of the fruit of the tree of good and evil. We read in Genesis 3: 6 ‘When the woman saw that the tree was good for food (it appealed to the lust of the flesh), and that it was a delight to the eyes (it appealed to Eves human reasoning), and that the tree was desirable to make one wise (it appealed to Eve’s vanity or pride of life), she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her and he ate.’ Mother Eve was deceived by Satan to partake of the fruit of the tree of good and evil. He is even today, busy deceiving people to partake of that very tree. To get you to abandon your current beliefs, Satan through a human agent offer you a position or something that appeals to your vanity, the lust of the flesh, or your human reasoning. In our previous affiliation, when the group started going back from the Sabbath to Sunday; from observing the Feast Days of YHVH and from eating Kosher Foods, they started offering members positions in the Ministry, to get them to stay on and accept the changes without complaining.

 

The fruits of the tree of good and evil are mixed: some good, combined with some evil. That is why these fruits are desired by many people. There is a coating of truth which conceals varying amounts of error. A glass of milk is good for you, but if it contains poison, it could kill you. It is the same with truth. If you believe in truth, it will set you free from sin. However, if it is mixed with error, it could result in your spiritual demise. There are groups who easily accept that Messiah is the son of our Heavenly Father YHVH, without understanding that He was the word that became flesh as the Son of Man to become our kinsman redeemer to pay the punishment or judgment due to our disobedience to Torah for those whom YHVH calls as first-fruits from the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but also to buy back the piece of the property we lost in the Promised Land due to idolatry. After Yahshua’s death and resurrection He became the Son of Elohim, as the first-born from the dead,  to show us how we will one day be born-again as Elohim’s spiritual sons at the resurrection of the first-fruits when Messiah comes to rule the world from Jerusalem. In addition they absolutely refuse to use the Set-apart Names of both our Father and His son. By doing so they are essentially saying that they are ‘not His People’, as we read in Isaiah 52: 6 “Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, ‘Here I am.” These people ignore the only name by which men must be saved, as we read in Acts 4: 12, as follows: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” There are many other examples of truth and error being mixed, such as keeping Christmas as the birth of Messiah, even though we are not given the date of His birth anywhere in the Scriptures. YHVH warns repeatedly that His people must not adopt pagan ways. Yet many believe that they may dress up as Santa Claus saying that our Messiah is the reason for the season. How can any group who desires to walk in truth, support paganism? Satan soothes the consciences of many by means of half-truths and ultimately by means of blatant lies. Like the ministers in various groups, Satan, the great deceiver comes to the different groups, as an angel of light to deceive the servants of YHVH who are not on their guard. The Oneness of Elohim is one doctrine where Satan is having a field day convincing believers otherwise. Satan seduced Eve, right under our Father’s nose, so to speak. He even tried to tempt Yahshua. These two incidents show us clearly that no individual or group is exempt from the onslaught of Satan, by virtue of the fact that they have a close relationship with Father YHVH. In fact the closer one desires to be with YHVH, the greater will be Satan’s effort to break that relationship. Do not forget that Satan is presently the god of this world (see 2 Corinthians 4: 4). Let us also not forget that He wants to detract us from the pure worship of YHVH, so that most will not know whom they really worship. His main purpose is to make a mockery of true worship. He even enters our fellowship at times and distracts our thoughts, so that we do not hear or listen to what we are being taught.

 

One of the causes for the conflicting beliefs is a false confidence, which ignores the facts given in Ephesians 6: 12, as follows: ‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.’  We have seen that Eve’s beliefs were ultimately based on Satan’s words, even though she started on the correct path. At the beginning she and Adam listened to YHVH, but eventually deceived by Satan, she obeyed Satan. We see in Revelation 2: 4 that in the case of the congregation at Ephesus, they too allowed other things to creep in, for we are told that they left their first love. We also read from 1 Timothy 4: 1, ‘But the spirit explicitly says that in the later times (our day) some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.’ How can that be, you may ask? Are we not all filled with the Set-apart Spirit? The most important evidence of having the Set-apart Spirit is that such a group will have truth. How is it then possible that not every group claiming to have the Set-apart Spirit has the truth of YHVH? The reason is that they might have the wrong spirit present in their group. Yahshua himself said in the first part of John 16: 13, “But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth.” Yahshua also said in Matthew 7: 21 – 23 that in the end, what will matter are not claims to fame of having the Set-apart Spirit, but the extent to which we were walking in truth by obeying His commandments. All the ‘wonderful works’ would be claimed by groups and people who also claim to have the Set-apart Spirit. These people like to point to the good works and miracles that they perform in our Master’s Name. But Yahshua said that only those who hear His words and acts upon it may be compared to a man who built his house on the rock – Messiah.

 

What is truth? If we want to be obedient to truth, we need to know what it is. We cannot rely on customs, beliefs, popularity poles, persuasive clever arguments – we cannot even trust the claims of these many so-called spirit filled groups. Where then, can we find truth? We know that truth is defined as: accurate, authentic, information, which is consistent with fact or reality, not full of errors and falsehood. Yahshua himself said in John 17: 17,”Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth.” We also need to remember that when Yahshua said this, the Renewed Covenant was not even published and He was referring to the Tanach as truth. In Psalm 119: 142 we read more specifically that Torah or Elohim’s Law is truth, as follows: ‘Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is truth.’ However, Satan has placed many barriers and obstacles in the way of finding truth. Satan has not only concealed the original translation of the Scriptures, but he has also compounded the difficulty by the nuances of translators’ preferences or beliefs. Satan started deceiving mankind in the Garden of Eden, but is even now busy deceiving people and groups by hiding truth through mistranslations, etc. In the process many a believer has fallen foul to his devices. He continues to trap the unsuspecting and gullible and has led many astray. But, not all is lost. Those who are willing to study and search truth will find it in the Scriptures, even without the original texts. Many translations have been made from the original manuscripts and even though these translations have tended to reflect the beliefs or agendas of the translators, they have been very important. In any case, despite the many translations, the Scriptures remain our only reference to be used to discover the Truths of YHVH. We need to study using many different translations as well as concordances, commentaries and encyclopedias. We must check and countercheck each reference, so as to weed out as much un-truths as possible.  A good reference bible is an invaluable tool for checking one word or thought against a similar occurrence elsewhere in the Scriptures. It is a good motto to let the Scriptures interpret the Scriptures. Yahshua promised in John 8: 32 that those who believed in Him would know the truth, saying: “and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” This is not an empty promise if we keep studying the word of YHVH, we will be led into all truth by the Set-apart Spirit. However, we must make an effort to search for it like one who is looking for treasure.  We do not automatically obtain truth by saying that we believe in YHVH. We need to seek and we will find, as Yahshua said in Matthew 7: 7 and Luke 11: 9, but also how King Solomon wrote about us who have been made a kingdom of priests by belief in Yahshua, the rock of our salvation and cornerstone of Elohim’s congregation (see 1 Peter 2: 7 - 9[1]) in Proverbs 25: 2, saying: ‘It is the glory of Elohim to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out the matter.’ These words are charged with His faith that raised the dead, stilled the storm and brought the world into being. Here we are told by the highest authority in the world, how to find truth. Are you and I truly prepared to search for it with our whole heart (belief system) and soul (the way we live our lives)?

 

Truth is not found by accepting that which has been honored by tradition. Neither is it found by accepting whatever we are taught by so-called religions of the world – remembering that Judaism is not a religion, but a covenantal relationship with Elohim. Truth is also not necessarily found by asking clever questions. We must personally search for YHVH in the Scriptures as we read from Jeremiah 29: 13 & 14: ‘And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (14) And I will be found by you,’ declares YHVH, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares YHVH, ‘and I will bring you back to the place where I sent you into exile.’ The truth is available and must be sought by digging for it in the Scriptures. YHVH will reveal truth to His true followers who are willing to delve beneath the many layers of tradition, but He conceals truth from those who do not seek for it. Truth is given to those who are earnestly seeking to learn YHVH’s ways. Yahshua said in Matthew 5: 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”  Yahshua taught in parables to those who had eyes and saw not and ears and heard not. However, he expounded the meaning of these parables to his disciples. The disciples left all to follow their Rabbi. To find Rabbi Yahshua’s truths today, we too must be willing to forsake all. We must turn from compromising, clever sounding, popular and shallow doctrines with no Scriptural backing. Those who approach the Scriptures to find support for their doctrines will almost always come to the wrong conclusion. The correct method is to put the Scriptures first and to learn what it teaches. All doctrines must be substantiated by two or three Scriptural witnesses. Truth will be found by those whose honest prayers are as we read in Psalm 86: 11 ‘Teach me Thy way, O YHVH; I will walk in Thy truth; unite my heart to fear Thy name.’ Yes brethren, with an attitude of total submission to YHVH and a desire to obey Him and learn of Him, we will be led by His Set-apart Spirit into all truth. Only then will we know the truth that will lead to salvation (or make us free).  Once we have found truth we must humble ourselves to be taught by YHVH.  If we find that we were in error before we found the truth, we need to repent and make the necessary corrections in our lives, i.e. return to Torah observance.

 

We must never end our search for more of the truth of YHVH, as searching for and discovering more truth is the only way that we grow spiritually. However, when we search for truth and find it, YHVH expects us to implement it in our lives, by doing it. If we do not change accordingly, YHVH will not give us more truth until we accept the new truth and return to Torah. Truth should motivate us to continue to search for more truth. Nevertheless, finding truth imposes a major responsibility, as we read in the second part of Luke 12: 48, as follows: “And from everyone who has been given much shall much be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” When you have found the truths of YHVH, a flame is kindled in you that no opposition from man or demons can extinguish. You will want to shout out the truth knowing that you have indeed found that pearl of great price. We conclude by reading from Psalm 91: 14 – 16, in this way: “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. (15) He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him. (16) With a long life I will satisfy him, and let him behold My salvation.”  Halleluyah!

 

 

[1] 1 Peter 2: 7 – 9: ‘This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR Elohim’s OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.’