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Hebrew Roots- Messianic Community Fellowship

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Ga-Rankuwa Unit 7
Hebrew Roots- Messianic Community Fellowship

Messianic Hebrew teachings,Sound weekly Torah portions,Basic Hebrew lessons for personal Bible study

11/09/2023

𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐇 (𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑)

The primary service to יהוה (HaShem /YHWH) is to stand before Him to secrifice. In the absence of the Temple in Jerusalem, there is no sacrifice offered but the sacrifice of Tefillah is the primary service we can intentionally offer to ADONAI. There are of course many of sacrifices such as
1. Sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15)
2. Sacrifice of thanksgiving - Zivkhei Torah (Ps 50:14,107:22)
3. Sacrifice of doing good - Tzedekah (Prov 21:3/Hebrew 13:16)

Prayer is not even a good word because it is a latin word for begging. The Hebrew word translated prayer is Tefillah. It means to align with God. So prayer is to seek to align with God and we do that through reciting His will as revealed in His word then scriptures.

Notice the following:

- Tefillah is not to seek to change God's will for our will. Tefillah is to change our will for His will.
- So prayer is not meant to change God, it changes us.
- In tefillah (prayer) we don't force God to want what we want. In tefillah (prayer) we learn to want what the FATHER want. We can’t do that effectively unless we know the Father’s will.

Is for that reason Yeshua taught His talmudim (disciples), to ask for the KINGOM of God to come and the WILL of the FATHER to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Meeting our needs is part of His will. "Give us this day our daily bread". Asking is for the FATHER 'S providence is part of the components of Tefillah, but is not the main component.

We must know before who we stand or kneel when we pray. We must know what His character and will is.

The main components of prayer are summerized in the model of Tefillah Yeshua taught His disciple,
- it starts with praises to YHWH,
- then supplications or requests based on His revealed will.
- After that thanksgiving.

The practical way of offering Tefillah is what is known in Hebrew as AMIDAH. It is a simple yet deep way of communing with the FATHER.
AMIDAH simply means standing. It is a foundation of prayer which I find to be a practical guide into approaching the FATHER.

It is done three times a day by those who are devoted to pray. The three times of prayer in Israel's way of prayer is divided in a day as

Three Times A Day Prayer

1. Evening prayer - Ma'ariv
2. Afternoon prayer - Minchah
3. Morning prayer - Shacharit

Daniel is seen as the man who prayed three times a day. It was his daily practice even though He had a buzy day because he was serving in the Kingdom of Nebuchadnatza, even when he worked for Nebuchadnatza the king of Babylon, Daniel new that he was first and foremost the servent of YHWH. He still found time to Tefillah (prayer) this three times

In the absent of the Jerusalem Temple he still offered sacrifices of prayer right in idolatrous nation of Babylon.

The three times of prayer were divided according to the three times of sacrifices in Isra’el. That had not changed hence AMIDAH is still relevant to the people of Isra’el and those who fear the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In the times of the gospels and book of Acts when the Temple was still standing, where there were sacrifices, prayers were offered at the same time of sacrifices.

Check what happened in times of Zechariah John the Baptist's father who was the High priest of the time.

"𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒁𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒉’𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒌𝒐𝒉𝒆𝒏 (𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕) 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑨𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑰 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑨𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝑶𝑳𝒀 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑰 𝑻𝑶 𝑩𝑼𝑹𝑵 𝑰𝑵𝑪𝑬𝑵𝑺𝑬.
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝑯𝑶𝑳𝑬 𝑪𝑹𝑶𝑾𝑫 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑷𝑹𝑨𝒀𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝑵𝑪𝑬𝑵𝑺𝑬 𝑩𝑼𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮."
Luke 1:8‭-‬10 TLV

NOTICE. In the time of incense burning, in the morning when the priest went to the Temple, devout people were gathered in the Temple for prayer. That was called in Hebrew shacharit which speaks of morning prayers.

In the book of Acts 3:1 we see Peter and John going to the Temple, note, at 9 hour, the time of "Prayer". In those time they counted time from sunrise as first hour so 9th hour was about three o'clock. So, that was afternoon about three o'clock in our time. Peter and John were going to the Tample fkr prayer at the time of afternoon sacrifice. We see that pattern of praying even by a gentile who was devout man called Cornelius, who prayed at about same time as Peter and John custom or lifestyle of prayer. Note that it was time for prayer for all Isra’el not only for few disciples of our Master Messiah Yeshua.

Yeshua went to pray in the morning at times is seen during ministry sneaking out to solitory place to pray during the day and in the other times is seen in the evening going to pray.

This type of prayer is called AMIDAH or standing prayer because it is done standing. Yeshua said to His disciples, "when you STAND to pray, forgive...", the language here depict a posture of AMIDAH prayer.

David was a king of Isra’el but had time to sacrifice also in prayer. In His Psalms he speaks of prayer as sacrifices. Raising the hance as evening sacrifices or prayer as sacrifices.

He served as a king but his primary service to God was sacrifices of Tefillah (Prayer).

So the primary meaning of the Phrase "SERVENT OF GOD" was never for the preacher, it was meant for those who serve Him. It should be the one who stand before the Lord in tefillah, not to beg but to align to God in all kinds of prayers. I am not saying we can't call preachers servent of God, but when we call them is with assumption that they are daily devoted on standing before YHWH in sacrifices (prayer)

The bible says God dwells in the praises of Isra’el. AMIDAH is only type of praises which Isra’el still stand doing every day.

O my God, I cried out by day, but You did not answer, by night, but there was no rest for me. Yet You are holy, ENTHRONED on the PRAISES OF ISRAEL.
Psalms 22:3‭-‬4 TLV

Every day when you take part in morning or afternoon or evening prayers, you may feel like you are alone, but I want you to know that you are joining into the praises of Isra’el in which God dwells.

SHALOM SHABBAT FAMILY
TJ Mokgola

30/08/2023

𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 BIBLICAL 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐀𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 TRUTH

𝑴𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑬𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆 are meant to be understood in the metaphorical language.

The writings of the Gospels and Epistles are filled with imagery and metaphors. There is a need for a skill to bridge the language and cultural distances by the one who seek to teach these literatures. There is obviously distances between us here and now and them there and over 2000 years then.

Paul encouraged Timothy to himself approved by both Elohim and man in terms of handling scriptures.

““𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒖𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑬𝒍𝒐𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉.” ‭‭𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒚𝒐𝒔 𝑩ĕ𝒕 (2 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒚)‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬ ‭𝑻𝑺2009‬‬ ”

Dividing the workday of truth is actually a work, Paul said those who do it faithfully must be double paid. The Tree of life translation cites it this way,

“𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆, 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉.” ‭‭2 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒚‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬ ‭𝑻𝑳𝑽‬‬

So a person who teaches must be himself or herself tried and be found true, 𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵. This person must be mastering a Hebraic biblical codes before he open his mouth to teach. Yakov (James) said that there will be stricter judgement for those who teach.
Cutting a straight path means something more than going to pulpit for performances, rhyming and acting. It means you know what is a metaphor or parable and you know what is literal and plain truth.

Like I said the wrings of the early disciples of Yeshua our Master are written in first century Hebraic cultural plain truth, litaraly, imagery and metaphors. One need to know when each of this style applied.
The problem with metaphors is that, a translator can translate a metaphor from one language into another and give a totally different meaning from what it was intended.

I was just debating with a Facebook friend who quoted Colossians 2:

“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌, 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒉.”
Colossians‬ ‭2‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭TLV‬‬

He used the NLT translation which put it even more differently than this. It then said these are the “SHADOWS” of the things to come.

Firstly that text is understood by many I have heard as saying, “people must not be concerned about what they eat or drink or celebrating holidays or new moon, because these are just “shadows”of the things to come.” The thing they fail to see is that Paul himself celebrated all of that in the literal until his death. He never went to church on Sunday or celebrated Christmas or Easter and so on. He remained a faithful Jew and his story is recorded in the book of Acts.

So this text is one of those which are used as weaponry against those of us who are Torah observant. It is taken literally as saying the Torah is the “SHADOW”.

The problem with this understanding is that those who think this way had picked verses and ignored the context of the letter itself. The letter is written to Colossians gentiles who never observed dietary laws and biblical holy days. They observed lots of pagan holy days including angel worship as Paul alluded to in Col 2:18. These were the people filled with Greek mythology and pagan worship.

Paul is clearly addressing in this letter something that is very close to the community there. So context shows that these gentile believers were now starting to observe things that are known to be observed by the Jews and the community there has started to ridicule them based on what they now observe. Paul then was saying let no one judge you concerning this things that you are now observing. That is the context. Sadly people will choose versions or translations that seems to align with their subjectivity and use them as proof text. I never like to make doctrinal conclusions based solely on a translation because I learned long ago that translators can be subjective as well.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬

Secondarily the case of dietary instructions (food law), Shabbat and feasts being “SHADOW” of the Messiah is a metaphor, is not a literal and practical practicable concept.

The word “SHADOW” there doesn’t mean that the Torah teaching is a “SHADOW” it means it is foreshadowing something to come. To foreshadow means what is presently literal true in the teaching of the Torah commands is foreshadowing what is hidden truth in the future. Foreshadowing or metaphor mirrors the abstract or hidden truth.

𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐇𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲?

When Paul wrote that, He himself was

-observing Shabbat as his customs

“𝑨𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎, 𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑱𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆; 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒕, 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.” ‭‭𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒔‬ ‭17‬:‭2‬ ‭𝑻𝑳𝑽‬‬

-he insisted on planing his Calendar around the feasts (Acts 20:6,16 / 1 Cor 16:8-9)and these festivals are instructed by God in Leviticus 23.

“𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑷𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒊 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒛𝒂𝒉 (Days of unleavened bread/ Passover Luke 22:1). 𝑰𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔.

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑬𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒂, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒎, 𝒊𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒖𝒐𝒕 (Pentecost).” ‭‭𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒔‬ ‭20‬:‭6‬, ‭16‬ ‭𝑻𝑳𝑽‬‬

“𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈—𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆, 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒔. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝑬𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒖𝒐𝒕 (Pentecost),” ‭‭1 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔‬ ‭16‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭𝑻𝑳𝑽‬‬

Paul wanted to go to Corinth to be with them but he is not going because of pentecost (Shavuot) arrangements.

- Made vows and performed temple rituals (Acts 18:18; Acts 21:26) according to (Numbers 6:1-20)

““𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍, 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒂, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒂. 𝑨𝒕 𝑪𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒗𝒐𝒘.” ‭‭𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒔‬ ‭18‬:‭18‬ ‭𝑻𝑳𝑽‬‬

- Paul lived with accordance with the Torah and kept it.

““𝑺𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒗𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔.

𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒔, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓, KEEPING THE TORAH.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏, 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.” ‭‭𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒔‬ ‭21‬:‭23‬-‭24‬, ‭26‬ ‭𝑻𝑳𝑽‬‬

Paul didn’t just keep the Torah, he perfumed sacrifice rituals as long as the Tample was still standing according to the Torah.

- Paul insisted more than three times that his followers must hold on the traditions he taught them (1 Cor 11:2/ 2 Thes 2:15/ 2 Thes 3:6).

““𝑩𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒉. 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭TLV‬‬

“𝑺𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓.” ‭‭𝑻𝒂𝒔`𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒒𝒊𝒎 𝑩ĕ𝒕 (2 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔)‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬ ‭𝑻𝑺2009‬‬

“𝑵𝒐𝒘, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒀𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒉 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒖𝒔.” ‭‭2 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 (2 𝑻𝒉)‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬ ‭𝑪𝑱𝑩‬‬

Paul didn’t just admonish his followers to keep his customs as he fallows the messiah, he enforced them and promised a punishment of expulsion to the dissidents.

𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐔𝐋 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇?

𝑺𝑯𝑨𝑩𝑩𝑨𝑻 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝒀𝑬𝑺𝑯𝑼𝑨, 𝑨𝑷𝑶𝑺𝑻𝑳𝑬𝑺 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑷𝑨𝑼𝑳’𝑺 𝑪𝑼𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑴

“𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒛𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅. 𝑨𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎, 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒚𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅.” ‭‭𝑳𝒖𝒌𝒆‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬ ‭𝑻𝑳𝑽‬‬

Traditions that Paul is talking about could not be traditions that Paul is not practicing, we need to know what traditions did Paul practice, one of Paul and Yeshua’s customs (traditions) according to Luke in Acts 17:2 and Luke 4:16, is a custom of going to synagogue on Shabbat. So, Paul couldn’t mean that Shabbat which was his and Yeshua’s customs were mere SHADOWS. That is a wrong way of reading it. The apostles themselves and the gentiles who followed them were Shabbat observed.

“𝑨𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒕.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒕, 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅.” ‭‭𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒔‬ ‭13‬:‭42‬, ‭44‬ ‭𝑻𝑳𝑽‬‬

It is clear here that the context was, all followers of the Messiah including the gentiles went to synagogue on Shabbat not to church on Sunday. Shabbat was a custom they kept.

-Paul himself told people that he has done nothing against the traditions of fathers (Acts 28:17/ 25:8) meaning the traditions that Paul taught in Corinth and Thessalonica were not New traditions, but the same traditions of the fathers that he taught is just that this time he is following them according to the Way.

-Paul himself said:
““𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒕, 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒍𝒐𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝑶𝑹𝑨𝑯 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑷𝑯𝑬𝑻𝑺,” ‭‭𝑴𝒂`𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒊 (𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒔)‬ ‭24‬:‭14‬ ‭𝑻𝑺2009‬‬

Paul would be double tongued if he said Torah is a shadow in one side and in the other side said he believes everything in the Torah!

“𝑰𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑱𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, “𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒔.

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖—𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒏.”

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒀𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒔.” ‭‭𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒔‬ ‭28‬:‭17‬, ‭20‬, ‭23‬ ‭𝑻𝑳𝑽‬‬

So Paul’s version of Yeshua and the Kingdom of God was based in nothing else than the Torah and prophets. The TANAKH scripture is the bases and witness of the kingdom of God.

So one cannot use one metaphorical verse to erase all the evidence of literal life of Paul being a Torah obsevent as said by Y’kov (James) in Acts 21:24.
What is true through the metaphor might be untrue in the plain and literal.

𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐃𝐎𝐄𝐒𝐍’𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐒!

The anti-Torah movement like to mistaken metaphors as replacement of the plain and literal text of the scripture.

It is sad that people don’t understand that metaphors and imagery used in the gospels and epistles are only metaphors meant to reveal hidden and abstract truth. Paul also calls that mysteries.

Many times metaphors are abstract way of interpreting the plain and literal truth, they are not meant to be read literally and practiced literally. When Yeshua said, if you want to follow me, carry your cross and follow me, was a metaphor for self denial not for people to carry the Roman holy cross in their necks.

For example, Paul said we must walk in the spirit. That is a metaphor which cannot be literally practiced, you cannot walk literally in the spirit. So, a diligent student will want to know what does it mean to walk in the spirit according to Paul?

Here is an example of understanding what Paul meant by walking in the spirit. Paul said that “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔” then later in the same context said “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕” KJV will say, “the law is spiritual” (Romans 7:1,14). Sadly many teaches that Torah is flesh or carnal. That is the reason what in Romans 7:1 Paul said, “𝑰 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒉”. It is disappointing that people who know nothing about the Torah pose as great scholars and are trying to teach letters of Paul which can only understood by those who understand the Torah.

If the Torah is spiritual according to him, Paul’s version of walking in the Spirit is simply a metaphor of walking according to Torah instructions. He then said the evidence of the works of flesh are sexual immorality, impurity etc. he listed everything against the Torah as the work of flesh, in the other hand he listed what he called the fruit of the Spirit and he then said there is no Torah against them (Gal 5:19-23.) All that are called the fruit of the spirit are admonished and instructed in the Torah.

So the measurement of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is Torah according Paul. So to Paul walking in the spirit and producing the fruit of the spirit is simply applying the Torah principles in our lives.

He then said to the Galatians, “𝘽𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧’𝙨 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙨 — 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙝’𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙖𝙝 𝙪𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙨.”
‭‭Galatians (Gal)‬ ‭6‬:‭2‬ ‭CJB‬‬

So the fruit of the Holy Spirit is walking according to what the Torah teaches. In fact in the scripture the Holy Spirit causes believers to walk according to the Torah (Ezekiel 36:27).
Prophets predicted that God will write His Torah in the hearts of believers in the New Testament age.

““𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔” —𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒊— “𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝑴𝒚 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝒀𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝑴𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭32‬ ‭TLV‬‬

“𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒔, 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.”
‭‭Yechezk'el (Ezk)‬ ‭36‬:‭27‬ ‭CJB‬‬

𝑵𝑶𝑻𝑬 : 𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑰𝑺 𝑻𝑹𝑼𝑬 𝑴𝑬𝑻𝑨𝑷𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑪𝑨𝑳𝑳𝒀 𝑰𝑺 𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝑨𝑳𝑾𝑨𝒀𝑺 𝑻𝑹𝑼𝑬 𝑳𝑰𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑨𝑳𝑳𝒀 !

Let me give an a example about what Matthew metaphorically said about Yeshua coming back from Egypt as a baby.

“𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒅’𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑭𝑼𝑳𝑭𝑰𝑳𝑳 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝑨𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒊 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒕, 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈,

“𝑶𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑬𝒈𝒚𝒑𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒏.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬ ‭TLV‬‬

So, for the return of Yeshua from Egypt, Matthew gives us an imagery of words spoken by prophet Hosea. Here is the literal prophecy.

““𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐠𝐲𝐩𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐧.”
‭‭Hosea‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬ ‭TLV‬‬

So in the literal the prophet was talking about Israel coming out of Egypt, metaphorically Matthew used what the prophet said in the literal as Yeshua coming from Egypt, to make a specific point. So Matthew’s quote was metaphor so that he makes his point, but literally untrue. You can’t then erase or ignore the original plain and literal truth because of the metaphor that Matthew used. It is still true that God called Israel His son out of Egypt. Israel is God’s son according to God, Exodus 4:22, Jer 31:9. If you study the Gospels well you find that what God said about Israel in the Torah and prophets, is what the disciples of the Messiah said Metaphorically about Yeshua.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙨, 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙜𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮.

Words like focusing on Jesus are metaphors that means nothing literal. People uses big terms such as christocintric and kingdom mindedness but can’t tell you how is that practically applicable to our day to day life. It is the Torah of God that is written in such a way that people can practically live by.

People who emphasise kingdom mindedness dispute that Yeshua is the literal king of Israel as prophesied by prophets and spoken by angels Luke 1:32. If you are a kingdom minded you must advocate for the literal kingdom of Yeshua as recorded in the gospels that he will sit on the throne of David, and rule over Israel forever.

I have never had any kingdom minded people speaking about the fact that Yeshua is the literal king of the Jews as recorded in the gospels and will come to rule in Jerusalem for 1000 years on earth Rev 20:4,6.
We are taught the metaphorical kingdom that doesn’t exist in the literal and people are hoping for metaphorical kingdom and reject the literal kingdom because they don’t see metaphors speaking for the literal.

All these are metaphors that are made up by those with eloquent of speeches but cannot simply lead people into the practical way of applying what they teach. We cannot see the fruits of their teaching in the day to day life because everything is metaphorical so they call it spiritual.

There were intimate terms, imagery and metaphors that were used in the first century times of the early followers of the Messiah which when used today have no same meaning as then. You need to go to the people of the language to know what they meant in their original manuscripts and how they practiced what they taught.

So what is true metaphorically can be literally untrue. Another example, Yeshua is metaphorically the LAMB that died for the sins of the world. That is metaphor that mirrored literal lambs that were killed, their blood put on the doorposts when Israel was literally delivered from Egypt.

Note that in the literal, Yeshua was a human being not a Lamb, whose blood was the blood of human which could not qualify to be sacrificed literally on God’s alter according to God’s law.

Yeshua was never killed literally as a lamb by a priest and sacrificed on the alter as they would to a literal lamb. He was killed by the ungodly Romans by way of cruel nailing him on a tree (cross) which is literally a curse according to God’s Torah.

Sadly that same cross that speaks of a curse has made it through as another idol before which people kneel in worship because of people interpreting metaphors as literal. People simply took what is a metaphor and practiced it as literal and now you see people kneeling at the foot of the cross which God forbidden because is idolatry. The cross has received a significant place in the hearts of people than the FATHER Himself. Things that are in the centre of people’s hearts are what the FATHER did for them not the FATHER Himself. Cross, grace, faith, saved, power etc has ascended to the throne where The FATHER should be. While these things are important in our walk, they are means to the end not the end themselves. The Messiah himself came to reveal the FATHER not the things he has done to us. We worship the FATHER for His HOLINESS, PRAISE HIM for HIS GREATNESS and THANK HIM for HIS WORKS. The walk of faith is about the FATHER, we OBEY HIM thought WALKING IN HIS INSTRUCTIONS OF THE TORAH

People are proudly magnifying the Roman wooden cross over the teaching of the Torah because Paul used the imagery of the cross as a metaphor of the suffering servant prophesied by the prophets.
In the literal Yeshua’s blood could have been an abomination in the alter of God. Even Abraham was not allowed to sacrifice his son because those types of sacrifices are made by pagans and not allowed by God. The reason why the Jews had to remove the body of Yeshua and other three from the cross is because it would be a curse to the land according to the Torah if the sun was to set with those bodies at the cross.

So we need to learn to separate between the truth taught by the metaphors and the truth in the plain and literal.

𝐒𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖, 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲. Paul literally observed Shabbat and the feasts as his customs until his death, so was Yeshua our Master. It would have been hypocritical for him to teach that people should not follow the Torah while he himself followed it (Acts 21:24).

- Yeshua instructed his disciples to observe the teaching of the Torah by the Torah teachers and Pharisees (Matthew 23:1-3). He never said that was the “SHADOW”.
- He told his disciples that they must observe the Torah and teach it (Matthew 5:17-19).

The Torah included what God said about the Shabbat, the feasts and food to be eaten by those He has a covenant with. So using the metaphor of “SHADOW” by hyper grace community in the literal sense is carelessly diving the word of truth. Metaphorical truth can be literally false. But truth need to be taught in alignment of the whole counsel of scripture not selected verses …

𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐒…

Shavua Tov
TJames Mokgola

12/08/2023

There are two ways of reading scriptures:

1. Reading the bible after being persuaded to believe certian doctrines🤔, that is subjective reading, that way you are likely reading things you are convicted by into scriptures.

2. Another way is to read it because you are searching. Yeshua said, "search the scriptures..."
So, you want to know truth that scripture teaches solely from scriptures and authentic historical records. So, you put aside your prior convictions and the emotions that goes with it.

That is objective reading of scriptures but is not simple!

Imagine you study the scriptures and you put aside all prior theological and denominational doctrines and terminologies you learned such as trinity, 5fold, christocentric point of views, etc. The question is, will you come to the same conclusion you hold today?
Mostly, the doctrine of the person who led you into the faith is the one that you are settled in, but in reality, there are many denominations that hold deferent opposing doctrines reading the same scriptures. That means people becomes products of denominational docrine that let them into faith🧐.

The question is, if you find out that, somethings you believed are actually contrary to the teachings of scriptures, are you objective enough to change that point of view and align to what scriptures are teaching?

12/08/2023

I was introduced to apostolic ministries late 90s. I consumed all materials around the subjects such as Apostolic, prophetic, fivefold ministries and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

I was drawn to this movement because of what the Bible teaches about it. My greatest passion was and is still is, what Paul said in His epistles to Ephesians, Corinthians and Romans. According to Paul what has been coined as the 5fold ministries in Ephesians 4, the 9 gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12, and gifts of the Father in Romans 12, all of them are given for purpose such as, UNITY OF THE BODY OF THE MESSIAH (CHRIST), UNITY OF FIATH, EDIFICATION OF THE BELIEVERS AND MATURITY OF THE ENTIRE MESSIANIC BELIEVERS BODY AND JOINING THE JEW AND THE GENTILE IN ONE BODY.

I have studied this movements very closely my library is full of the apostolic and prophetic books because I love the themes and long to see the end results as apostle Paul put it.

While there are nothing wrong with the subjects themselves, here are things I have NOTICED though, we are bombarded with more information and knowledge about the apostolic and prophetic, we have participated in them passionately. We were made big headed with non-transformative information. We criticised denominations for dividing the church because we anticipated that the apostolic movement is finally the answer to oneness of the body, maturity and edification of the believers.

Truth be told, for the years I have studied and participated in this movement, we have created as many divisions as denominational institutions had. Actually the apostolic movement is mutation of denominationalism, it has just changed a name and ways of functions but the DNA is the same. Every apostolic network that is raised was and is itself a division of the Christian church in the local communities, nationally and internationally. in some instances there is the so called interdenominational but you can hardly hear about inter- apostolic networks. Each of them has their unique badges and identifies themselves with their gang ringleader at the top. Each one sees itself as authentic than the others. And they are actually independent from what is supposed to be one body, so they gang against each other based on the charisma they posses. They sell through their oratory charisma and confuse that with the power of the gospel. Should you have five Christians in one building you are sure you have six different liturgies, creeds, forms of the Messiahs, and Gods, that is when I count you amongst them kkkk.

What Paul warned bout some who say; “I am of Paul and others I am of Apollos and others I am of the Messiah” is happening more today than it was with denominations.

The results of the apostolic movement are totally opposite to the purposes for which Paul intended in his writings. Luke’s book of Acts has a perfect picture of true apostolic movement, though the Messianic communities were growing throughout the regions, the Jerusalem community remained a governmental structure that instructed the whole Messianic communities over the regions. The was a sense of oneness. Another noticeable thing about the followers of the Messiah was that they never broke way from synagogue and the entire Israel communities. At the end of His ministry Paul went back to the leadership of all Jewish communities to give a report Acts 28:17-20. He clearly stated that his mission was for the hope of Israel meaning he didn’t mean to start a New Religion. All apostles including Paul reported and accounted to the apostolic community in Jerusalem up until he left the sene.

There was one center though there were many self governing congregations from various regions. But those congregations were not independent. They still went up to Jerusalem to settle issues when there was misunderstanding. Today if there is misunderstanding in Christion church, one can just start his own apostolic network or independent congregation. The church doesn’t have same authorities as the early first century Messianic community.

Here are some of clearly visible indisputable results of the present time apostolic networks, denominations and so called Independent churches.

1. Instead of unity of the body we have dish-unity of the church both locally and internationally.

2. Instead of maturity of the body we see the emerging of too many immature Independent self-appointed apostles, prophetess and prophetesses, etc. One way of knowing who an apostle is, is when he is sent, if not, he is not an apostle, he is just taking a walk. Apostle means the one who is sent, when he says, "I am an apostle", just ask, who sent you? True apostles in Acts 13 are divinely appointed but are sent by the Assembly, they are servants of the Assembly not the lords of the church.

3. Instead of edification of the body we see self-edification of ringleaders of unholy gangs masquerading as apostle and prophets of God. they often word hard to brand themselves that even when they said nothing of substance their subordinate makes makes lots of noise and shout "deep".

True apostles are concerned about the body of the Messiah locally, nationally and internationally. God build through apostles non denominational, non independent and inclusive governmental structures that govern the body of believers locally, regionally and internationally and it is clear that the church is not near that place.

4. Instead of unity of faith we see multiplication of man made creeds that has no bases in scriptures or the revealed purposes of God for his people. People are so divided in their creeds to the point that the scriptural doctrine is no longer important. All early Messianic apostles had one creed that was cited by the Messiah Yeshua himself. His creed was simply what is called in Hebrew Sh’ma (Mark 12:28). In this creed Yeshua cited Durotomy 6:4-9 and Leviticus 19:18 which is still cited as a basic synagogue creed in all synagogues throughout the world today.

The main creed of the apostolic was like this: Hear, Israel, ADONAI OUR GOD ADONAI IS ONE.
AND YOU ARE TO LOVE ADONAI YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL AND WITH ALL YOUR UNDERSTANDING, AND WITH YOUR STRENGTH….
YOU ARE TO LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF.

Yeshua said to his followers that there is no great commandment (creed) than these. Yeshua and the Torah teachers agreed on this one thing.
1. That God is ONE
2. That we are to love God
3. That we are to love our neighbour

These here is an apostolic goal and true apostolic creed greater than the Constantine’s Nicene or so called apostolic creed. True apostolic creed of the early Messianic Community which is Deutoronomy 6 which they recieved from their Rabbi or teacher Yeshua was instructive while the Nicene creed is informative.

What is generally called Christocentric doctrine is actually and clearly an egocentric doctrine masquerading as Messianic doctrine.

Most of the apostolic network ringleaders will never go or be part of anything unless their personal interests are addressed or are to be recognised or see how they could personally benefit.

The fruits of true Messianic apostolic mission according to Paul are, unity of believers, edification of messianic communities, maturity, oneness between the Jew and gentile in the body of the Messiah.

The current structure of the church can never accomplish these goals. It is difficult to find something functional that the church agree on.

Even Islam and Judaism has differences among themselves but they have many things they agree on of which they can work together.

Even though there are different Islamic groups that don't agree in many front, they agree in things like devotions, times of prayers and so on, that is the same in Jewish communities, they have different sects such as orthodox synagogues, Conservative synagogues, and now Messianic Synagogues but they agree in every shabbat torah portions, times of prayers, Amidah prayers and so on.

I am just saying

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