Nazarene Israelite Two House Congregation of Port Elizabeth

What is the difference between the clean and unclean?

Not many people in the churches of the world know the difference between the clean and the unclean mentioned in the Tanach, since they have come to believe that Messiah has somehow made everything edible. Even though the house of Israel once stood shoulder to shoulder with the house of Judah at Mount Sinai, where they as Abraham’s children through Isaac and Jacob entered into a marriage covenant with YHVH our Elohim, YHVH divorced them because of idolatry and scattered them into mainly the western nations of the world, but as YHVH also promised Abraham, those of us who have become not the people of Elohim, have received mercy and He is busy calling us back to be reconciled to Him through Yahshua our Messiah, to become His people once again, through whom He will also eventually save the rest of mankind.

After YHVH divorced the house of Israel and scattered them into the nations of the world,they came to a point where they have forgotten their faith, their culture and their language and were eventually controlled by Esau - the Roman Church since it was started by Simon Magus a number of years after Messiah ascended to heaven.They started adopting the cultures, languages and even the religions of the people amongst whom they were scattered and started believing that they were mere Gentiles. The house of Israel presently under influence of the Roman Church and her protesting daughtershave virtually changed every doctrine to be found in the Scriptures, as witnessed inEzekiel 22: 26 in this way: “Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” Most of the churches of the world sincerely believe that they are all serving the same Almighty One, and that it does not matter what you eat and when you worship Him, He is only too pleased that they all call upon Him. However, it is abundantly clear from the quoted verse in Ezekiel, that YHVH the Elohim of all Israel is not pleased with the way most have become deceived by Satan and his human agents to show their faith in Him!

In fact the Scriptures issue a clear warning to those who put no difference between the set-apart and the profane or the unclean and the clean, as is recorded for us in Leviticus 10: 1& 2, as follows: ‘Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before YHVH, which He had not commanded them. (2) And fire came out from the presence of YHVH and consumed them, and they died before YHVH.’ At this point, YHVH has just manifested His glory or esteem unto the people of Israel and they witnessed fire sent out before Him to consume the sacrifice upon the altar. The people were astounded at the power Elohim used to show them His presence and shouted and fell on their faces before Him. Aaron’s two sons must have thought that they will draw the people’s attention to them if they could perform an equally astounding occurrence, so they did what was not required of them by YHVH. YHVH immediately consumed them with fire, because they had not make a distinction between what is Set-apart and what is profane as witnessed in Leviticus 10: 8 – 11, in this way: ‘YHVH then spoke to Aaron, saying, (9)“Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you may not die— it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations--  (10) and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, (11) and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which YHVH has spoken to them through Moses.”’ Here we are also given the reason for the incorrect action by Aaron’s two sons – that they were intoxicated when they decided to do so. It is also for this reason that even though we are allowed to consume alcoholic beverages in moderation, we should never do so before we attend worship services.

We also see immediately after this incident in Leviticus 11, YHVH commanded Moses to instruct the children of Israel regarding the Law of the clean and unclean beasts, what could be eaten and what could not be eaten, those that were an abomination to Him and those that are not. We read Elohim’s concluding words from the end of Leviticus 11 from verses 45 – 47, saying: “For I am YHVH, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, to be your Elohim; thus you shall be holy for I am holy.(46) This is the Law regarding the animal, and the bird, and every living thing that moves in the waters, and everything that swarms on the earth, (47) to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten.” In fact YHVH reiterated this commandment in Leviticus 20: 25 & 26, saying: “You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean. (26) Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I YHVH am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be mine.”

Looking at society in the world in which we reside, we see that even after the house of Israel has been in exile for more than 2730 years, they absolutely persist in their disregard of Elohim’s laws, as was also prophesied in Isaiah 65: 1 – 12, in this way: “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek for Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ to a nation which did not call on My name. (2) I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, (3) A people who continually provoke Me to My face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks; (4) who sit among graves, and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine’s flesh, and the broth of unclean meat is in their pots. (5) Who say,‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me; for I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.(6)Behold, it is written before Me, I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will even repay into their bosom, (7) both their own iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers together,” says YHVH. “Because they have burned incense on the mountains, and scorned Me on the hills, therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.” (8) Thus says YHVH, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it, so I will act on behalf of My servants in order not to destroy all of them. (9) And I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and an heir of My mountains from Judah; even My chosen ones shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there. (10) And Sharon shall be a pasture land for flocks, and the valley of Achor [1](or trouble) a resting place for herds, for My people who seek Me. (11) But you who forsake YHVH, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for fortune (for Gawd or G-d the god of fortune),and who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny (for Meni the god of destiny),(12) I will destine you for the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter. Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear. And you did evil in My sight, and chose that in which I did not delight.” Without realizing it, many from the house of Israel trust in the god of destiny to determine their future. They believe their whole lives are controlled by luck and chance without realizing it, and even though the whole world lies in the power of Satan (as per first John 5: 19[2]), YHVH is and has always been in full control what happens to His creation on earth.

The question is: What group of people is described in Isaiah 65? Rav Shaul gives us the answer in Romans 10: 19 & 20, saying: ‘But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? At the first Moses says, “I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.” (20) And Isaiah is very bold and says, “ I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO SOUGHT ME NOT, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.” Isaiah like Hosea calls them a people who were not a people (‘Lo-ammi’) and a people who are not calling upon the name of YHVH, the Elohim of Israel. This describes the ones whom Esau or the Roman Church is now controlling, who refer to themselves as Christians. They do not call on the name of YHVH, but prefer to call upon the name of G-d (or Gawd), which happens to be the same god of fate that the Babylonians worshipped anciently. Does that sound impossible? Yes it does, but if you do a little research of your own you will soon discover that it is in fact true.These are the ones who have forgotten their identity as the house of Israel who were scattered into the nations of the world becauseof idolatry, as witnessed in Isaiah 66: 17, as follows: ‘“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens, following one in the center, who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things, and mice, shall come to an end altogether,” declares YHVH.’ These are the people described by Hosea as being ‘not a people’, who pronounce themselves sanctified or ‘set-apart’; they claim to be the elect, but they have forgotten the difference between the clean and unclean, the set-apart and the profane. We know what is described here is yet in the future, since we are told in verses 15 & 16 of Isaiah 66: ‘For behold, YHVH will come in fire and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. (16) For YHVH will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on all flesh, and those slain by YHVH will be many.’This is clearly a reference to the coming Day of YHVH, an event to follow the great tribulation in the future.

Those eating pig and the abominations mentioned in this section of the Scriptures will be among those to be destroyed on the Day of YHVH immediately prior to the second coming of Yahshua our Messiah. The abomination spoke about here is all the unclean foods that are forbidden in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, including such things as shrimp, oysters, lobsters snails, rabbit, squirrel and all rodents, clams octopus, squid, ostrich and the like, eaten by Israelites who believe they are nothing but Gentiles and have also forgotten Elohim and His Torah teachings. Many of these things are seen as delicacies and eaten by many Christians, who profess faith in Messiah. Even so Isaiah 66: 19 – 23 tells us that there will be survivors from this group who would come to the realization that they are a remnant of the lost ten tribes, who will be brought back to Elohim as first fruits who will alsobecome priests and Levites after Messiah’s return, as follows: “And I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Rosh, Tubal, and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations. (20) Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering (meaning first-fruits) to YHVH, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says YHVH, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of YHVH.  (21) I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites, ” says YHVH. (22) “For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,” declares YHVH, “So your offspring and your name will endure. (23) And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says YHVH.’ We see that YHVH mentions a number of nations in verse 19 of Isaiah 66 who will be a direct cause for a remnant of the lost ten tribes to return to Him, because they are beginning to see the signs of the times and begin to understand that it is time to return to Elohim in repentance (Teshuvah). Could these nations be the hunters that YHVH is talking about in Jeremiah 16: 16?

We read the end time prophecy in this regard by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 16: 14 – 21, saying: Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares YHVH, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As YHVH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ (15) but, ‘As YHVH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the counties where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers. (16) “Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares YHVH, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I shall send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and from the clefts of the rocks. (17) For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. (18) And I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations.” (19) O YHVH, my strength and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to Thee the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, futility and things of no profit.” (20) Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods! (21) Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is YHVH.” Yes, it is clear that these Gentiles, or as they are called in Ephesians 2: 11, the so-called “Un-circumcision”[3]are in fact returning Israelites who have forgotten their identity, their faith and their language, who will as indicated in these verses,  have their iniquity recompensed double.

We read about the punishment that will be meted out to the returning children from the house of Israel in Ezekiel 22: 4 - 25, in this way: “You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the lands. (5) Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of ill repute, full of turmoil. (6) Behold, the rulers of Israel, each according to his power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood. (7) They have treated father and mother lightly within you. The alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you.(8) You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. (9) Slanderous men have been in you  for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have committed acts of lewdness. (10) In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity. (11) And one has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. And another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. (12) In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by oppression, and you have forgotten Me,” declares YHVH Elohim. (13) Behold, then, I smite My hand at your dishonest gain which you have acquired and at the bloodshed which is among you. (14) Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I, YHVH, have spoken and shall act. (15)And I shall scatter you among the nations, and I shall disperse you through the lands, and I shall consume your uncleanness from you. (16) And you will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am YHVH.”’” (17) And the word of YHVH came to me saying,(18) “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are the dross of silver. (19) Therefore, thus says YHVH Elohim, ‘Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. (20) As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I shall gather you in My anger and in My wrath, and I shall lay you there and melt you. (21) And I shall gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it.(22) As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, YHVH, have poured out My wrath on you.’”  (23)And the word of YHVH came to me saying, (24) “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day if indignation. (25) There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. (26) “Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.”’

Verse 26 can only refer to the house of Israel who has been in captivity by Esau and became known as Christianity since the movement was started by Simon Magus a short time after Messiah’s death and resurrection.The prophet Daniel described the ferocious monster to ascend after the empires of Chaldea, Medo-Persian and Greece, as the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the dominant power when Messiah was impaled;it fits that criterion and has for more than 2,000 years actively worked to destroy the people of the Covenant as the embodiment of Jacob’s brother Esau.  Furthermore, the Christian Church with its un-Scriptural Doctrines, dispensational theology and anti-Semitic actions has shown itself to be in full complicit with the Roman Church rather than the representative of the true Messiah, Yahshua. The future anti-Messiah will be a descendant of Esau since the goal of the anti-Messiah will and has always been to break Jacob’s possession of the Covenant YHVH made with his descendants. However, we see that at the time of the end the two camps of Jacob, namely the house of Israel and the house of Judah will work together to bring Esau into subjection, as clearly shown in Zechariah 9: 13 - 17, in this way: ‘For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece (or more correctly Rome);and I will make you like a warrior’s sword. (14) Then YHVH will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; and YHVH Elohim will blow the trumpet, and will march in the storm winds of the south. (15) YHVH of hosts will defend them.And they will devour, and trample on the sling stones; and they will drink, and be boisterous as with wine; and they will be filled like a sacrificial basin, drenched like the corners of the altar. (16)And YHVH their Elohim will save them in that day as the flock of His people; for they are as the stones of a crown, sparkling in His land. (17) For what comeliness and beauty will be theirs! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.’

Even so, in Ezekiel 34 the prophet Ezekiel prophesied against the shepherds or religious teachers in Israel who fleece the sheep in verses 1 - 6, saying: ‘Then the word of YHVH came to me saying, (2) “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says YHVH Elohim, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? (3) You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. (4) Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. (5) And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. (6) My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill, and My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth; and there was no one to search or seek for them.”’” We read more about these shepherds in Israel,  these spiritual leaders who have left the people like a scattered flock exposed to the ravages of wild beasts as in Zechariah 11: 15 – 17, in this way: ‘And YHVH said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. (16) For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs. (17) Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! A sword will be on his arm and on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered and his right eye will be blind.’

Continuing in Ezekiel 34: 12 – 26, we see how our heavenly Father has prepared to take care of the remnant of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, because of the promises that He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as follows: “As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. (13) And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. (14)I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing ground, and they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. (15)I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest, declares YHVH. (16)I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment.(17)And as for you, My flock, thus says YHVH, ‘Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. (18)Is it too slight a thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must foul the rest with your feet? (19)And as for My flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet, and they must drink what you foul with your feet!’(20)Therefore, thus says YHVH Elohim to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. (21)Because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad, (22)Therefore, I will deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another. (23)Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. (24)And I, YHVH, will be their Elohim, and My servant David will be prince among them; I, YHVH, have spoken.” (25)And I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land, so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. (26)  And I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing.”Verse 15 talks about the Millennial rest during which Messiah will rule the world from Jerusalem, during which time the house of Israel and their children will also be correctly instructed in the Way of Elohim and His Torah teachings. We also know that there will be no false prophets or agents of Satan, nor demons or even Satan himself, during Messiah’s millennial rule, as witnessed in Revelation 20: 1 – 3, in this way: ‘And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. (2) And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, (3) and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.’

We from the lost ten tribes who have been called by Elohim and has awakened to our Israelite identity, have an obligation to begin the process of instructing other returning lost sheep from the house of Israel  as to who they are and assist them in their return to YHVH and His Torah. It is a blessing we should not miss with our ultimate goal of bringing esteem to the name of YHVH as Daniel prophesied in Daniel 12: 1 - 3, saying: “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. (2) And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. (3) And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Think about it!

 

[1] It was at the valley of Achor where the Israelites stoned and burnt Achan and all his possessions, because he acted unfaithfully and stole some of the treasures they took from Jericho and he hid it in the ground under his tent. As a result when the nation wanted to take over the city of Ai after they destroyed Jericho, the hearts of the people melted and they could not fight. So as per the instruction of YHVH Joshua had to find the guilty party, and destroy him and his property. In addition they raised a heap of stones over Achan and his destroyed property in the valley of Achor as a reminder for future generations.

[2] 1 John 5: 19, ‘We know that we are of Elohim, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.’

[3] Ephesians 2: 11, ‘Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Un-circumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands.’