Naaman was a man in the Bible who had a serious skin disease and desired to be healed. According to 2 Kings 5:1-14 he eventually got around to going to the prophet Elisha's house to seek a healing. The Prophet sent a servant out to meet Naaman and this servant gave Naaman Elisha's words - "Go down to the Jordan river and dip yourself in it seven times." At first Naaman was furious, proclaiming to the servant that he thought the prophet would come out and do something flashy to heal Naaman's disease. He then remarked that there were better rivers to dip in and asked why he couldn't just go to them to cleanse himself. Eventually, he did have enough faith to be healed of his disease, but the healing only came after obedience to the inspired words of the prophet.
Some things in the Bible seem simple, plain, and even foolish at first glance. However we may look at certain biblical instructions, do we have enough faith to follow them? Will we be as Naaman was at first or will we be as Naaman was at the last? Matthew Janzen
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I was talking to a fellow the other day about doing some work for him and I told him I had Sunday (Easter Sunday) open. His response was, "You remember it's Easter right?" My response was, "Yes, I know. I do not celebrate Easter." He must have not celebrated it either because in a few minutes I will be leaving to go to his house for work.
To many people it seems strange to not celebrate Easter, but instead work on the day, but this would have been the practice of Yeshua the Messiah and every single follower of Yeshua in the 1st century Christian faith. No one, let me repeat, not one single follower of Yeshua in the 1st century (in the New Testament Scriptures) celebrated Easter. Easter didn't have anything to do with Yeshua, but it had everything to do with the custom of the heathens who honored the spring fertility goddes by such names as Ashtoreth, Astarte, Eostre, Ishtar, etc. All the sunrise services, egg hunts, easter bunnies, etc. stem from worship to this goddess. If Yeshua the Messiah, nor his apostles and followers celebrated Easter then why should we? If they didn't think it to be important to their true worship and faith, why should we? Do you realize that while Yeshua lived (as well as His disciples) there were people on the earth and possibly in close proximity to Jerusalem that did celebrate Easter? Did you know that the people who celebrated it were not followers of Yahweh at all? Did you realize that people actually hunted eggs, had sunrise services, and depicted "easter" bunnies before and during the time of Yeshua for heathen, pagan worship? Is Yahweh honored in the celebration of Easter? Not in the least bit, He is rather dishonored. To take such paganism and attempt to attach it to the resurrection of the Son of Yahweh is a stench in Yahweh's nostrils. You don't mix the holy with the unholy. You don't proclaim a feast to Yahweh and then build a golden calf to help you out in your worship (Exodus 32). Father help us to see the error of our ways more and more. Matthew Janzen This post was written by a fellow brother in the faith. It is a response to someone who wrote a very brief essay which downplayed the significance of the law/torah of Yahweh. Hope you all enjoy!
------ What is sin? According to 1 John 3:4 sin is the transgression of the law. If the Messiah destroyed the effectiveness of the law, then how do we define sin? I think all one must do is read the verse above. I agree that the law will not justify anyone; it is a schoolmaster to bring people to the Messiah, but I don't agree that it condemns us. As a matter of fact, it liberates us. Hence the reason James says, "...the one who look intently into the perfect law of FREEDOM and perserveres in it, and is not a forgetful heaer but a doer who acts - this person will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:25). The author of the email says, "the law is perfect" but then goes on to say that it condemns us. The law only condemns those who break it. I don't for one minute think that there is a man alive who keeps the law perfectly, but there are many who do not care if they keep it at all. By not acknowledging this perfect law that the Messiah himself kept, we place ourselves into bondage over an over again, trampling the blood of our precious Savior in the ground. Just because the law does not justify you doesn't mean it doesn't provide a plan for active holiness. If we say that we live by the spirit we must walk by the spirit (Romans 7). Furthermore if our Messiah kept the law perfectly, and we are supposed to model our lives after him, then why would anybody not want to keep the law? Once again, it is not the law that condemns us, but the debt we owe to the law that nailed the unblemished lamb to the tree. Our sin put him on the tree and if we are to repent and turn from it we can't continue to break God's law, knowing that's the very reason Christ died. So if Christ died for our sin, "Do we then cancel the law through faith? Absolutely not! On the contrary we uphold the law." (Romans 3:31) From our own Messiah's mouth we hear this, "For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished." (Matthew 5:18) It baffles me to think that this sinless Messiah (God's annointed) would be lying. I think it would be wise to look at Paul's writings again and rethink this view. By the way, Paul was a law keeper too. In Acts 21:24 the apostles are talking to Paul and they says this: "Take these men, purify yourselves with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. The neveryone will KNOW that what they were told about you amoun ts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the LAW." This email is not meant to be critical but to rebuke false teaching. Paul tells Timothy, "I solemnly charge you: proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:2) I am afraid that "...certain men are turning the grace of our Lord into a license to sin and denying our only Master and Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. (Jude 1:4). Sorry for the lengthy reply, I hope this give you another angle to look at things. I encourage you to be like the Bereans and search the scriptures daily to see if these things are so (Acts 17:11). With so much love, TJ Martin Last night I attended a teaching/lecture about the Passover led by a Messianic Rabbi from the Atlanta area. It was very enjoyable to say the least, and I agreed with much of what He had to say, although I didn't partake in the "seder" because I will keep Passover next moon in the Gregorian month of April.
There was a few things mentioned by the Rabbi concerning the Jewish traditions that take place during the Passover seder/meal. These traditions are not participated in by me and my family because we feel they are additions to the Passover and not commandments from Yahweh. Exodus 12 is great place to go to learn about how to keep Passover, but Jewish tradition has added some baggage to its observance and such tradition is not necessary if one desires to celebrate the Passover. That being said, I was talking to one of my friends during a break about asking the Rabbi about Easter - and I eventually got to ask him myself just before his departure from the church grounds. I asked him, "Sir, did the earliest followers of Yeshua in the 1st century celebrate Easter?" He looked at me like I was crazy! "Of course not! You've got to be kidding me!" were basically his words/statement. I then told him that I had figured he felt this way, but just wanted to hear it from him. Easter is a man-made festival/day that has nothing to do with true worship. The name stems from a fertility goddess if anyone desires to do the research to find, and the practices such as sunrise services, easter egg hunts, bunnies laying eggs, etc. all have everything to do with false worship rather than with true worship. It is certainly true that Yeshua resurrected from the tomb on the third day, but none of his disciples or anyone in the Bible ever celebrated what the professing church world calls Easter today. Simple question: If the early assembly did not celebrate Easter in the 1st century, why do people make it such an importance today? Why didn't the early believers think it to be important? The answer is because it was not important. They did not see it proper to mix pagan/heathen customs with great truths like the resurrection. Matthew Janzen |
AuthorBlog by Matthew Janzen. Lover of Yahweh, Yeshua, my wife and 5 children. All else is commentary. Archives
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