Festival Observance: “a law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings”? (Pt.1)
As time has progressed, I've grown more and more frustrated with the practice of observing the Festivals of יהוה (YHVH) outside His prescribed way, namely the commandment of observance IN the Land of Israel AT the Place of His Great Name. A more exhaustive (and exhausting) criticism can be found in the following article: Should we celebrate the Festivals of יהוה any where but Jerusalem? Of course, many of the Festival gatherings outside the Land of Israel are done so as educational tools for Christians and/or Messianics (pointing to the Messianic significance in each), but as a remnant of the Christian world becomes more aware of their Ephraimite and Torah-based heritage, they are embracing a "religious" lifestyle which centers around celebratory Festival gatherings in various places (outside the Land) which have very little regard for Israel and Jerusalem. In many cases, individuals in numerous communities are openly or secretly criticized for not observing something they are NOT even commanded to observe in the first place (at least not IN all the "places" the Festivals are currently being observed).
And hence the most common justification for observing the Festivals in the Diaspora are verses that "seem" to indicate "all places" are acceptable for observance, such as Leviticus 23:21 and 31:
21: On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
31: You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
Those verses are compelling until one has also considered verse 14 in the same passage:
14: Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
Did you catch that? יהוה has written that we are to bring His offering to the Priests, but fast from various things until the offering is brought... and THIS also is to be done as a "perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places".
This of course begs the question, did יהוה expect us to bring this offering to the Altar even after it had been destroyed as we linger in exile in "all our dwelling places"? Obviously, He didn't expect such because it would be impossible, just as gathering to observe the Festivals in exile are impossible because "THE" place of His Name is not with us in the Diaspora to gather to (some will argue that when "two or more gather in His Name, He is in our midst", but that is Christian-think that negates the plain Torah instruction, at least in regards to Festival observance). Further confirmation of this reality can be found in Hosea 2:11 where יהוה said He would bring an end to the Festivals as PUNISHMENT for our ancestors' crookedness. How did He accomplish this cessation? It is simple. He eventually removed Israel and Judah from the Land of His Altar and He removed the Altar.
For more insight regarding the importance of Jerusalem and the Festivals, consider the following quotes from the Temple Institute:
“A vivid eye-witness description of the vast numbers of pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem from the far-flung corners of the Jewish exile is recorded by Philo of Alexandria (circa 20 b.c.e. - 50 c.e.), a leader of the great Jewish community of Alexandria, Egypt towards the end of the Second Temple era. He writes: "Multitudes of people from a multitude of cities flow in an endless stream to the Holy Temple for each festival... from the east and west, from the north and south" (On Laws 1:96).”
"The overwhelming sense of joy and elation in Jerusalem itself knew no bounds; it permeated every street, every courtyard, every house... the homes were filled to capacity with family and guests from far and wide. It was an unparalleled feeling of belonging and brotherhood that encompassed all the participants and their great sentiment of freedom and redemption was the unsurpassed height of true religious experience. Jerusalem veritably rang out with song and the holy, intense celebration of life lived in religious freedom and Divine purpose. Indeed, a popular expression in the Talmud coined by the rabbis recalls that the very walls of Jerusalem shook and "the roofs were shattered" from the sounds of joy as the Passover sacrifice was eaten and songs of Hallel thanksgiving burst forth from every house and courtyard at midnight." - Passover, Temple Institute
Another question: Why would Jews living in remote places throng to Jerusalem for the Festivals in antiquity if they could justifiably observe them in regions and cities afar off from Jerusalem? I would suggest that such a practice would be unthinkable in their time (and should be in our time), largely because the Torah specifically instructs where the observances were to be held (see the main article for more details)
Instead, what should we do during Festival time?
Instead of gathering for Festivals in spiritual Babylon, we should sit, remember, and weep for Zion the way Psalm 137 depicts:
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How can we sing the songs of יהוה
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
We should not gather in festive celebration, making one city or another, one synagogue or another, one man's ministry or another, wealthy with our wallets while Jerusalem remains humbled by Islam, Catholicism, and Secular/Marxist Zionism (all of which despise יהוה and the very thought of His Altar). My brothers, we should not neglect or despise Zion in our thoughts and actions like they!
Pray for the shalom of Zion. May the nakedness of Sodom depart from her (Jeremiah 23:14). May Elijah come and restore all things (Malachi 4:1-6; Matthew 17:10-14). And may the City of Shalom (Yeru-Shalayim), actually become Yeru-Shalayim again! Mashiach come!
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Tomb of Joseph gets a facelift
Why are the Jews, from the House of Judah, so interested in Joseph and his tomb?
Joseph was certainly a major figure in Israelite history, but those of Joseph today (largely goyim outside of the Land) should remember that the House of Judah is made up of the "tribe" of Judah AND the "tribe" of Benjamin. And of course Benjamin should have a special affinity toward Joseph since he was his only full brother (only two sons of Rachel). Regardless, Jews and Joes of all flavors should have an affinity to each other because all our truly brothers and should want all (including our Ezekiel 37 companions) to dwell in unity under the covering of the Most High, but such will likely only occur at the hand of the Anointed (Mashiach) BRANCH of David.
Likud’s Sagiv Asulin discusses “10-Israel” with Arutz Sheva (IsraelNationalNews.com)
Likud Hopeful Lays Down Red Lines by Hillel Fendel.
Asulin’s name has been mentioned as a friend of a Christian Messianic group entitled Worldwide Biblical Zionists (WBZ). WBZ works to bring Ephraimites [Christians who believe they are descended from the Lost Tribe of Ephraim] to the land of Israel to begin what WBZ says is “hopefully the beginning of the ‘footsteps’ of bringing together Ephraim and Judah by the Messiah of Israel.”
Challenged on this point, Asulin told IsraelNationalNews, “I believe that I do a great service for the State of Israel by working with our friends in the United States. At the same time, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am against having any contact with any group that has the slightest bearing on missionary activity or something that would harm the Jewish People or Jewish religion. This is a clear red line. If I learn that a group with which I am in contact is clearly involved in something harmful to Judaism or the Jewish People, I will cut off these ties.” READ FULL ARTICLE
I wish he wouldn't have focused in on the "United States" in his statement. The WBZ and similar orgs have affiliations and members scattered all over the world (which is where Ephraim/10-Israel is). The United States and Western European nations may have a high concentration of the House of Joseph, but those regions certainly do NOT have a monopolistic/exclusive representation.
Glad the "Joes" are getting some press though!
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And now for a World Government?
This one showed up on the Drudge Report today (and caught my attention for no acutely apparent reason): And now for a World Government (Financial Times) by Gideon Rachman.
I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to take over the US. I have never seen black helicopters hovering in the sky above Montana. But, for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible.
A “world government” would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws. The European Union has already set up a continental government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil service and the ability to deploy military force.
So could the European model go global? There are three reasons for thinking that it might. READ MORE....
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Crash course in Phariseeism / Rabbinic Orthodoxy
In the following video, Nehemia Gordon (a Karaite Hakham) gives his perspective on Phariseeism in conjunction with a few teachings of Yeshua (Jesus). Gordon holds a Master's degree in Biblical Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He translated texts contained in the "Dead Sea Scrolls Reader", was an assistant on the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication project coordinated by Emanuel Tov, and worked as a researcher on the Hebrew University Bible Project under the auspices of Shemaryahu Talmon. He has unique credibility in this area because of his rabbinic upbringing, a lifestyle he rejected later in life.
If the video freezes at any point, you can drag the slider forward and backward to cause Google to reinitialize the video. There may be a buffering problem for some watchers.
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Study Shows 20 Percent of Spaniards Have Jewish Ancestors
(IsraelNN.com) Twenty percent of the population of the Iberian Peninsula has Sephardic Jewish ancestry and 11 percent have Arab or Berber ancestors, geneticists have found. The genetic signatures of people in Spain and Portugal provide "new and explicit evidence of the mass conversions of Sephardic Jews and Muslims to Catholicism in the 15th and 16th centuries," following the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims from that country.
The research was carried out by a team of geneticists and published in a report by the American Journal of Human Genetics and the International Herald Tribune (IHT).
The Alhambra Decree
The findings have a bearing on the question of how many Jews converted to Christianity and how many chose to remain Jewish and be expelled, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella signed the Alhambra Decree ordering Jews out of Spain. READ MORE...
I have not read any of the finer details of the actual study, but I suspect the Y-Chromosomal markers they are pin-pointing are directly related to the House of Judah (the Jews) and not reflecting the House of Joseph (Ephraim) which has a much larger representation in the Spanish population than just 20 percent.
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Modern-day financial prophet or just common sense warnings?
Watch how the peers of Peter Schiff (president of Euro Pacific Capital) laugh and mock him in the following video cuts as he warns America about what is coming (warnings made in 2006/2007).
In the current financial/economic climate, the warnings of Schiff seem much more laudable and graspable. Notice how the mockery has been reduced significantly in the following more recent broadcasts.
One of the main traits of End-Time Babylon is her consumerism. What is the main thing Schiff is encouraging American citizens to stop doing? Start saving and STOP CONSUMING!!
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Neo-Nazism on the rise in Germany?
German Police Arrest More Than 40 At Neo-Nazi March - Several hundred mainly left-wing sympathisers, some chanting `Nazis out` and `Get Lost`, tried to confront some 700 neo-Nazis. ... German police arrested more than 40 demonstrators who were trying to block a march organised by far-right activists in eastern Berlin on Saturday, a police spokesman said.
Several hundred mainly left-wing sympathisers, some chanting "Nazis out" and "Get Lost", tried to confront some 700 neo-Nazis. The neo-Nazis were clad in black and carried black and red banners with the slogans "Young people need a future".
This is what surprises me. It wasn't the Neo-Nazi marchers who were arrested. It was those protesting and blocking the Neo-Nazis who were actually put in jail. This is a nation that triggered a war that ended up claiming 70 million lives because of Nazism, but somehow Nazism is given activist freedom and protection in a march (see article: WWII Casualties). That is truly perplexing and disconcerting!
Is Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) a right-wing extremist?
Revelation 19:11-18:
(11) And I saw the heaven opened, and there was a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Trustworthy and True, and in righteousness He judges and fights.
(12) And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns, having a Name that had been written, which no one had perceived except Himself
(13) and having been dressed in a robe dipped in blood – and His Name is called: The Word of יהוה.
(14) And the armies in the heaven, dressed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.
(15) And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations. And He shall shepherd them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of El Shaddai.
(16) And on His robe and on His banner He has a name written: SOVEREIGN OF SOVEREIGNS AND MASTER OF MASTERS.
(17) And I saw one messenger standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great Elohim,
(18) to eat the flesh of sovereigns, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of strong ones, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”
Yeshua was, is, and will be an extremist. The Gospels and the passage above certainly answers that question... and probably answers another. Is יהוה Elohim of the Old Testament the same יהוה of the New Testament? Can you follow an extremist and not be an extremist?
Numbers 25:6-13:
(6) And see, one of the children of Yisra’el came and brought to his brothers a Midyanite woman before the eyes of Mosheh and before the eyes of all the congregation of the children of Yisra’el, who were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
(7) And when Pinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aharon the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand,
(8) and he went after the man of Yisra’el into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Yisra’el, and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague among the children of Yisra’el came to a stop.
(9) And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.
(10) And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
(11) “Pinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aharon the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Yisra’el, because he was ardent with My ardour in their midst, so that I did not consume the children of Yisra’el in My ardour.
(12) “Therefore say, ‘See, I am giving him My covenant of peace,
(13) and it shall be to him and to his seed after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was ardent for his Elohim, and made atonement for the children of Yisra’el.’ ”
Extremism is extremely good when it is in alignment with the extremism of יהוה. Knowing His will is a whole different question and conundrum, but there should be no doubt that His will is historically and prophetically "extreme" and not exactly "politically correct".
Unfortunately, there has been extremism in the past that was wrongly justified in the "name of God", such as Christians killing Jews, Muslims, and/or pagans and vice versa, but could any of those killings be comparable to the actions of Phinehas in antiquity? No, they can't, but similar righteous acts of extremism will occur in the future as Revelation 19 and other prophetic passages exude.
Shalom Aleichem.
Is the World Already Under GLOBAL Government? (INR/Audio)
Listen to Radio broadcast HERE: Audio: Are We Already Under GLOBAL Government?.
Author, researcher and lecturer, Joan Veon, joins Tamar and talks about the current financial crisis, and how it was planned to jump start the long awaited goal of a One World Government. Was this crisis manufactured? If so, was it done to weaken soverign countries in the world, bringing them to their knees, thus making it open to 'outside' intervention? U.S. President Bush hosted this last month, an Economic Summit of the G-20, where some critics say he handed over U.S. economic sovereignty to the E.U., an outside global entity. Veon exsposes these plans and talks about her NEWEST VIDEO, "2008 CREDIT CRISIS" and EXPLAINS HOW THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE MUCH TO LOSE THROUGH THE TEARING DOWN AND TRANSFER OF AMERICA'S FINANCIAL SOVEREIGNTY. Click HERE to view diagrams and explanations and click 'Open' when asked. - Extract from INR
Listen to Radio broadcast HERE: Audio: Are We Already Under GLOBAL Government?.
World Government Is Not Coming, It is Here by Joan Veon.
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