Invited to participate on a couple of forums where Hebrew Roots folks have taken up residence, I’ve learned a lot. Following is a post I wrote earlier, and I thought that the readers here might find it to be helpful in their discussions with HR folks they know.
One thing I want you to notice is the nature of the title statement. If you frame it as a question (which it, in reality is), “Does not God want us to keep ALL of His Word?”, recognize that the question has no acceptable answer, much like the classic catch-22 query, “Have you stopped beating your wife?” All we can do in a case like that is to present the truths of the Gospel and who we are in Christ and our relationship to the Law because we are in Christ, pray pray pray and leave the rest to God.
Oh – one more thing: this is a bluntness alert. If you do not like straightforward bluntness, you might want to skip this one 
.
Does God not want us to keep ALL of His Word???
From ‘whiteangel’:
As we enter the last days, things are gonna get pretty rough, I would rather being doing what the Bible teaches and not what man wants it to say. So help me out, please, prove to me that Yahweh does not expect us to keep ALL of his word. I know that Jesus fulfilled a part of the law with his death for our sins.
I gave my life to Jesus at the very young age of 6 (yes, I knew what I was doing), I was filled with the Holy spirit when I was 13. Haven’t always lived a great life but try and have asked for forgiveness for my sins almost nightly. This isn’t my question.
JGIG’s response:
I wish I could give more attention to this, but simply do not have the time today.
To answer the bolded in red above, on a practical level, God allowed the Temple and the Levitical priesthood to pass. He has not allowed them to be rebuilt/re-established.
The New Temple is Christ and His Body:
John 2:19-22
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Ephesians 2:19-22
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
1 Peter 2:4-5
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
And the sacrifices are now living ones:
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Hebrews 13:15
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
The Mosaic Covenant Law may not be picked apart as modern Torah folk do; they walk in either ignorance or rebellion to the Law as it is written and clothe themselves in Law when the Word says they are to clothe themselves in Christ:
Romans 13:8-14
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
If we were supposed to “put on the Law”, this would have been a really good place for God to tell us.
And if you are serious about the jots and tittles, are you out there working toward a new Temple and gathering up the Levitical priesthood?
If you offer sacrifices on an altar – you commit great heresy against the Cross and our God. Yet sacrifices are an inextricable part of the Law as it is written, and their absence is indeed proof that the Law is obsolete. God’s commandments? Not obsolete. His instructions to mankind throughout history have changed from time to time. The instructions to the Body of Christ are found in the epistles. Some of those things are found in Mosaic Covenant Law, some not; obviously the things God expects of His Body are not inclusive of Mosaic Covenant Law.
But you all go ahead and tell yourselves how since the heavens and the earth are still here so NONE of the jots and tittles have passed.
And then go on to DISOBEY and DISHONOR God and the completed work of Jesus Christ by playing ‘keep the Law’, and then go on to IGNORE major parts of the Law that you say you ‘keep’, also IGNORING the clear teachings of the apostles to the Body of Christ about the believer’s relationship to the Law in Christ.
The Law keeping community is a walking contradiction, people.
Romans 3:21-31
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Did you catch that? Not only justification, but also righteousness come through faith in Christ.
How do we uphold the Law?
By using it properly:
1 Timothy 1:8-11
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
Who are you in Christ?
What does Romans 3 say?
Who does Timothy say that the Law is for?
Can we learn from the Law?
Yes.
Are we who are in Christ and clothed in Him and His righteousness bound to keep the Law?
No.
Nor is it possible, as God has removed vital components with which to keep it. There is a reason for that, and it is found in the completed work of Christ. To keep the Law, one cannot just play at it. It’s like Law ‘keepers’ are in a flight simulator, thinking they’re flying around, seeing the world from on high, when in reality they are putting themselves in a box of isolation and submitting themselves to these:
1 Timothy 1:3-7
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
6 Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
Step out of the simulator and see the contraption that you have stepped into and have been deceived by. It is elaborate and it is fascinating, yet it is a counterfeit, and not at all what God has for the believer in Christ, nor can one who is in that box go out and actually DO what Christ did command: love God, love others, go out into all the world and preach Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. Mosaic Covenant Law cannot do that. The Law of Christ can.
Love goes where Law cannot.
-JGIG
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A clear presentation of the Gospel can be found HERE. For more resources regarding the Hebrew Roots/Messianic movements see the Post Index and the Articles Page. General study helps, discernment, and apologetics sites can be found HERE. Good, foundational studies with a special emphasis on Old Covenant/New Covenant Truths can be found HERE. Be sure to check out the testimonies on the Testimonies Page, as well. Make use of the tabs with drop-down menus found at the top of this site – there’s tons of info there, and it’s very navigable.
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Other articles of interest:
- Millennial Prophecy – Measuring Unrevealed Prophecies in Light of Revealed Truths
- Tzit Tzit For the Believer In Christ?
- 12 Undeniable Truths That Drive Law ‘Keepers’ Crazy
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Filed under: "Law Keepers", Belief Sytems, Christianity, Discernment, Grace and Law, Hebraic Roots, Hebrew Roots Movement, Law of Christ, Law of Moses vs. Law of Christ, Legalism, Messianic Judaism, Religion, Teachable/Unteachable, Torah, Uncategorized | Tagged: "Law Keepers", Christianity, Discernment, Grace and Law, Hebraic Roots, Hebrew Roots Movement, Law of Christ/Law of Moses, Religion, Teachable/Unteachable, Torah |
Joyfully Growing in Grace 
Very well articulated!
Well done! You have a great way of using allegory (?), like the flight simulator. Not sure if that’s the right term or not… but how do you come up with those kinds of things? It’s educational :) and helps apply the message. Great job!
I have been blessed by your blog and so, have nominated you (it) for the Liebster Blog Award. Please visit my site for details.
I really appreciate this site. I recently discovered JGIG after a facebook friend liked a ministry webpage (which I will not name but can be easily guessed). Interested, it didn’t take me long to start to see the direction the teacher was starting to head, and after a quick google search, found JGIG. One thing I’d add (or perhaps clarify) to the discussion of the above “question” being responding to. If HR advocates ask it the way it is phrased above, one way to respond is to turn it around and ask “Then why don’t YOU keep all of His word?”, and then launch into the passages mentioned above (and/or other relevant passages, etc.). Taken to logical conclusion, the HR people don’t keep very much of the New Testament (if any, ultimately).
Hi John,
Welcome to JGIG!
That those who pursue Torah observance keep little of the Law as it is written is painfully obvious. I would encourage you to gently reinforce the truths of the Gospel to those Law ‘keepers’ that you interact with. There is a real spiritual veil that drops over the minds and hearts of those who are taught that they are still bound to Mosaic Covenant Law (see 2 Corinthians 3). Reinforce the truths of the Gospel, pray pray pray, and leave the rest to God.
Blessings,
-JGIG
Way cool web site addressing the HRM. My wife was exsposed to the heresy that is taught in this movement from several freinds and a local congregation. And after I attended a “sabath” several times I had many red flags go off. We left and went were the word was taught. The “Messianic” church used terms like “renewed covanant, Yeshua name only because Jesus’s name was derived from the greek god zeus, claims that the New Testament was originaly writen in Hebrew therefore the greek new testament was corrupt and should be and could only be understood through a hebraic lense (they only had that eye piece), that we must become more Hebrew in our thinking and then there’s the whole church bashing thing…to name a few. I have done allot of research in the HRM and it’s sad to say most seem to be made up of gentile possers trying to add to the work of the cross and the Grace of Jesus Christ. It makes my heart sad for the damage this does to the Jewish community when they see gentile believers destorted view of theology the HRM presents. This must really grieve the Heart of Jesus who died for them. The HRM movement and it’s heritical teaching has created a rif in my relationship with my wife…to a point were she’s stopped going to church with me disolutioned with the Church from the heresy the HRM presents. The teaching is very destructive mixing law and grace, Jesus +.
I thank the Lord for goups like JGIG. That they like the Bereans search the scriptures daily to let the word valdate and/or terminate any movement that is contrary to written word of God. We are truely living in the last days of the great falling away. Let us fix our eyes and hearts on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. Blessings to you! In the Fathers love, Mark
Hi Mark,
Welcome to JGIG!
Thank you for your comments and sharing a bit of your story. I’m sorry your wife has become disallusioned with the Church (the Body of Christ). Unfortunately, that is something that happens when some are exposed to HRM teachings. Some embrace the HRM; some reject it; some come away from it not knowing what to believe and end up confused and wounded, often after going in confused and wounded! Others become agnostic or even atheists – they just chuck it all after all the conflicting information and turmoil they are exposed to. The HRM is very good at tearing down the Biblical concept of the Body – and while the ‘spirit’ behind HRM teachings knows exactly what it’s doing, many in the HRM don’t know the damage they do as they shoot their own Body repeatedly. It is very sad.
As I’ve told others who comment here who have family members influenced by the HRM; you are not alone. It grieves me to see the division that the HRM brings to not only the Body of Christ but also to families. You and your wife will be in my prayers. Reinforce the truths of the Gospel and who she is in Christ, love her well, pray pray pray, and leave the rest to God.
Every blessing,
-JGIG
Very glad I found this site it is very insightful!
Thanks, kelly =o)!
JGIG, you said:
“The instructions to the Body of Christ are found in the epistles. Some of those things are found in Mosaic Covenant Law, some not.”
So you do believe that there are some parts of the Torah that believers should keep. “Do not steal” and “do not murder,” I would imagine are on the list of laws that Christians should be keeping. Right?
But you go further and say that the instructions to the Body of Christ are found in the epistles. My question is: “Why do you believe that God only speaks to Christians in the epistles?” Where does the NT say “Thou shalt only follow the NT now?”
And historically speaking, the NT took time to come together. There were many years that passed after Jesus’ death and resurrection when nothing had yet been written (and then it was only a letter here and a letter there). Are you saying that these early believers in Jesus were only required to keep the instructions that Paul would write in his letters to churches later on? Were they only supposed to follow the instructions in the gospel accounts that were written years after Jesus’ death?
Or were early believers expected to go to the synagogues on the Sabbath to hear the Torah and the Prophets, and learn what God expected of them as Acts 15:21 suggests?
John 15:1-17
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
The above passage speaks to both of your points. The fruit that I see from the HRM is not good fruit. Why would I want to pursue that? Why would I want to learn to be like them?
You wrote in another comment, “For example, do we continue in our previous lives of stealing from others? Or disrespecting our parents? What about covetousness? Do you at least believe that these things are a “sin” because they go against what God has commanded (in this case the 10 Commandments)?”, basically echoing that comment here. And I will echo my response here, as well:
All of the commandments are covered under the ‘love one another’ concept taught by Jesus in John 15. If we are loving one another, we are not stealing, murdering, coveting, etc. Elsewhere Christ teaches us to love God, love others, and make disciples, to go to all tribes and tongues. Love goes where Law cannot. The Law cannot go into all cultures, the Gospel can. The epistles showed believers how to walk out the Law of Love in certain circumstances – and yes, those writings did take time to come together, but it was a relatively short period of time, with letters being copied and passed around to congregations withing the Body of Christ. That’s one of the reasons we have so much manuscript evidence for the New Testament.
As for Moses being preached in the synagogues/Temple every Sabbath, the ‘four things’ in Acts 15 were not a ‘point of departure’ for the Gentiles; they were things that the Gentiles were to adhere to to avoid offending the Jewish believers they fellowshipped with – nothing else was required of them:
Acts 15:22-29
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
There was no indication that Gentiles would be going to learn Moses from that point on . . . in fact, in the very near future from that point, anyone preaching Jesus Christ and Him Crucified was thrown out of the Temple/synagogues, even arrested at times, definitely persecuted! If believers in Christ poured into the Temple/synagogues to learn Moses, then we would have synagogues full of believers in Christ. Is that the case? No . . .
Rob Roy You posted…”Or were early believers expected to go to the synagogues on the Sabbath to hear the Torah and the Prophets, and learn what God expected of them as Acts 15:21 suggests?”
What do you think of Acts 21:21(NASB)…”and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.” Seems pretty clear that Paul was teaching NOT to do the things that you think Acts 15:21 suggest. I can find plenty of other examples as well. Of course if you discount the teachings of Paul as many other HRMs do then perhaps you can squeeze that little tidbit out of Acts 15:21.
JGIG said: “The fruit that I see from the HRM is not good fruit. Why would I want to pursue that? Why would I want to learn to be like them?”
That’s your problem. You’re not supposed to emulate ANYONE except the Messiah. If you’re looking to the “fruit” of other people as your example, you’re going to be disappointed every single time.
Get your eyes off mere mortals and start walking as Jesus walked. That should fix your anti-Torah myopia.
Hi joyfullygrowingintorah, aka Captain Obvious, aka JoyfullyGrowingInSin,
You wrote, “That’s your problem. You’re not supposed to emulate ANYONE except the Messiah. If you’re looking to the “fruit” of other people as your example, you’re going to be disappointed every single time.”
Jesus tells us this:
Matthew 7:15-19
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
Yet you are telling me not to look at fruit? I think I’ll go with what Jesus tells me, thanks.
Jesus walked in sacrificial love . . . you’re right, He is our example.
I’ll ignore your crack about anti-Torah myopia, as I’ve stated countless times that I believe ALL Scripture is useful for instruction in righteousness as 2 Timothy 3 states. That does not mean that we are bound to Mosaic Covenant Law, however. Statutes and precepts that are fulfilled by the Law of Love stand, while edicts and regulations designed for a specific time, people, and purpose became obsolete in Christ (Hebrews 8).
Grace and peace,
-JGIG
All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus.
If I may share some thoughts when approching the scripture we must all understand;
*The Relationship of the Dispensations (each dispensation is a distiguishable economy in the outworking of God’s purpose) And The Covanants (seven covanants) which govern God’s relationship with mankind). The covanants are:
(PAST)
EDENIC (Innocence), Adam to the fall, Gen 1:28-36
ADAMIC (conscience) Fall to the flood, Gen 3:9-8:4
NOAHIC (human government) flood to Babel, Gen 8:15-11:9
ABRAHAMIC (promise) Abram to Mosic Law, Gen 12:1- Exo 18:27
MOSAIC, LAND,DAVID (Mosaic Law) Sinai to Calvary, Exo 19:1-Acts: 1:26, Birth of the Church
(NEW) present
GRACE (New Covanant), Shavolt (Pentecost) to tribulation, Acts 2:1- Rev 19:21
(FUTURE)
KINGDOM REIGN (1000 years), Rev 20:1-10
Dispensationalism is distinguised by;
1) A literal interpretation of the Bible.
2) A consisitent distinction between Israel and the Church, and a recognition of God’s everlasting Abrahamic Covanant with the Jewish people.
3)The “Glory of God” is the theme of history.
*ref (source,ie Ariel Ministries), The relationship between the dispensations and the covanants).
Approching scripture this way, from God’s perspective, has helped me understand just a little of this New Covanant “Grace” relationship The Father has bestowed upon me and all those who put their trust and faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is such freedom and simplicity in loving Christ for wo He is first and for all the benifits that come from what He’s done.
What a blessing to be at peace having favor wih a Holy God thru Christ Jesus our Lord. He is our everthing; redemption, righteouness, rest/peace (Sabath), wisdom and joy.
All Glory, Praise and Salvation belong to our God!
Blessings!
In The Fathers Love,
Mark
Hi Mark!
You wrote, “All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus.”
Amen to that!
Thanks for your comment. The Dispensationalist view does go a long way to put the different moves of God over time into proper perspective.
That said, the classic dispensational model also asserts that sacrifices will again be offered in the Millennium – a view which I cannot agree with, for reasons discussed in the post, Millennial Prophecy: Measuring Unrevealed Prophecies in Light of Revealed Truths.
May I suggest an article that I’ve found to be freeing for me in the sense that we don’t have to put a theological ‘grid’ over the Scriptures to understand what God is saying to us: Dispensational Theology, Covenant Theology, and Christocentric Theology – A comparison of theological systems noting the overemphases on continuity or discontinuity in the major theological systems. The article addresses the strengths and weaknesses in the major theological grids we are familiar with today, and suggests that we approach the Word and any ‘grid’ by which we try to explain it from a Christological standpoint, i.e., everything through the lens of the Work of Christ and Who He is.
You will find much confirmation of your concluding remarks, “There is such freedom and simplicity in loving Christ for wo He is first and for all the benifits that come from what He’s done.
What a blessing to be at peace having favor wih a Holy God thru Christ Jesus our Lord. He is our everything; redemption, righteousness, rest/peace (Sabbath), wisdom and joy.
All Glory, Praise and Salvation belong to our God!”
Blessings to you, Mark, and Happy New Year!
-JGIG
Most excellant…I will review you suggested article. I would agree that we aproach the Word from a Christological standpoint. For He, Christ Jesus is the fullfillment of the ages. I love what the writter in Hebrews 1:1-3 says,
Hebrews 1
God’s Supreme Revelation
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Blessings to you and your’s and Happy New Year to you!
Please continue to pray for my wife and I, that our relationship would enter a season of rest and enjoyment in one another and Christ Jesus.
In The Fathers Love,
Mark
Phew. I am a christian, filled with the Holy Spirit and as I seek Him daily and earnestly, I am being drawn more and more to the old testament. Not because of any movement, not because I know anyone who has been involved in anything like this but because of the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The ‘tone’ of this site has impacted me as I come here trying to learn and I feel judged to even open the old testament and ask questions. I do not feel that this is written in love to encourage and build up the body of Christ. Exploring the Hebraic roots of my faith is not wrong. It is not legalism. And if anything helps me to understand the new testament even more. I sensed that I needed to keep the commandments of God. But this is not to earn salvation. Rather, because I am saved, I keep the commandments. This is not about works salvation. It is a love response.
I live by faith and are clothed in Christ and I obey His commands and believe that we should be encouraging each other as much as possible to know and learn more. To do more to please and honour our Lord. To continue to be set apart and be beacons of light in this dark world. Joyfully growing in grace is the title of this website, but I don’t “hear” joyful or am I just reading your tone, statements, questions and a sense of defensiveness totally incorrectly?!
CB, you may want to withold judgement about this site until you read through the series of posts on the “How I Became Aware of the Hebrew Roots Movement” page. And there was a ‘bluntness alert’ on the post above =o).
Blessings,
-JGIG
I have been reading and studying the Old Testament for thirty years, and never once did I “feel” the need to follow heretics trying to get us under the old, dead contract God made with Israel through Moses! I see JESUS CHRIST THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OLD TESTAMENT! He is there, He is everywhere! Study the Scriptures, just don’t follow these deceivers. Read Galatians and Hebrews over and over to insulate yourself from deceivers. God bless
Praise God I found this site! I lived in Jerusalem for 7 years, and had to constantly deal with the JERM, as I call it. It should be pointed out, especially in response to those who want us to “walk as Yeshua walked,” that we are not to follow Him according His flesh (the son of David), but according to His spirit (the son of God, i.e. God incarnate). There is no other foundation that ought to be laid, and just as the JERM builds upon the Law, so they go more and more the way of Judaism, as they must, and further away from God’s Kingdom, which is a life that spreads outward from our walk in the Spirit.