Ty Lamb has an agricultural background, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Pastoral Ministry and Biblical Studies from the Arizona College of the Bible, an ordained minister, an author, an independent John Maxwell Team Member, a Board Member of the Greater Prescott Area Healing Rooms and leads the Great Prescott Area Intercessor Teams for local prayer gatherings and geographic journeys locally and across the nation. He enjoys a ministry presence on social media, personal pastoral counseling, facilitates small groups, loves to preach and teach and delve into God's word. He and his wife Tamara reside in Prescott, Arizona, and enjoy five adult children with nine incredible grandkids.
We have a food industry that is catering to cravings and food addictions and gluttony. Then, we have people who are not taking responsibility for their own health in the way they eat and consume whatever their flesh is craving. “All I care about is that it tastes good.”
So, over a few decades we have a population of gluttonous people who are sitting in front of the television with their convenience comfort foods and automated lifestyles instead of physical exercise. We’re also becoming entertainment junkies to boot. That is another subject all together. This has created a very lazy, sick, debilitated population who are expecting the big government to take care of them when they get sick. Then, they wonder why the medical care system is overwhelmed. Then, they wonder why the insurance system is overwhelmed and unaffordable.
Then, for the doctors, they see 150 obese whiner cry babies every week begging for their problems to go away with a pill or a potion and pretty soon you have burned out doctors that become AMA protocol robots. How many doctor visits have you been to where the wait time is an hour or two past your appointment time and your exam room experience is answering questions to a tap and a click on the computer screen and the doctor does a 5 minute drop in?
(Wes Stafford, Wednesday, May 28, 2008) The waiting room fills long before patients are seen Wednesdays at the Helen M. Nickless Health Clinic, 1458 W. Center Road, Hampton Township.
The system will never fix itself. In fact, it will eventually implode unless “we, the people” do something about it, or it evolves into complete socialized medicine and we will have lost all our individual freedom. Satan wants this to happen. He wants you to be sick, sluggish, low energy- he wants you to die young. He wants you dependent on “the system.” It will make you easy to control and manipulate. Eventually, like the other mandate that is going around these days, there will eventually be a mandate for other new technology efforts to identify you, monitor you and control you with some sort of implantable device.
It’s time to preach about gluttony and the lack of self control in the church. It’s time to teach about individual responsibilities regarding our health and well-being. That will go over like a lead balloon to a “if it doesn’t taste good, I’m not going to eat it” generation.
It’s time for the food industry to be overhauled from the farm to the market. It’s time for junk food manufacturers to have a major wake up call and pay fines for selling poison to a stressed out, dependent, hungry, consumer generation.
Come on folks, what else are we going to do besides sit there, get fat and sick, pop pills and die?
For Jesus Christ Has Set Us Free! – Serious things satan does not want you to know.
First written on my Facebook page in 2014.
Satan does not want you to know this – expect to be distracted or disrupted from reading this. Expect a stirring in your soul.
Our ignorance (lack of being informed and properly instructed) of the spiritual battles we are in places us in a position of tolerating them and suffering with them unnecessarily. We cannot operate in what we don’t know!! If we are born in bondage and everyone around us is in bondage, what else are we to expect to know until someone breaks through the wall of unbelief. So, until then, we often turn to medications, psychology, self-help and other “bandaids” to try to lessen the symptoms of our bondage. We try to accomplish freedom or mitigate lingering bondage with our own gadgets, medications and our own strength. They only have a limited effect on your symptoms, but it is the best thing the world can offer. Then we have to deal with dependency on them and all the gamut of side effects. It becomes a rigged “patch job” that gets us by. Though we may have been told that Yeshua can set us free, for some reason we choose to wallow in the mud of misery and struggles. We must be rationalizing it by thinking, Well, its been 2000 years so Yeshua must be diminishing in power like a battery that is running out of power.
Then, we have been conditioned and patterned by our past life experience to reach for a pill every time we have an ache or a pain. When we are tired we reach for a cup of coffee or a Red Bull. When sick, we call the doctor and go to the hospital. When we are broke and out of money we look for another job. When we need a break from stress we crack open a beer or pour ourselves a glass of wine. While some of this is not necessarily a bad thing, and may have logical and practical solution, it establishes a pattern of priority. Praying to Yeshua, becomes a last resort when we have exhausted everything else. We need to change our patterns and habits so that we go to Yeshua first, for everything and every need in our lives. He is rich, powerful and able to grant us everything we need and His heart jumps and a smile comes to His face when we come to Him first. Some of us have lost our “first love” or maybe never had it in the first place.
What satan and his demons don’t want you to know is that when we receive salvation through Yeshua Jesus Christ and His blood atonement, EVERY curse and spiritual bondage are legally broken in the spiritual realm. That is the KEY to all the freedom of healing and deliverance from ALL the lingering effects of spiritual bondage.
For example, the crown of thorns that was placed on Jesus head was symbolic of the fact that each of us has a thorny band around our head. It was the result of the fall of man, that we would work and toil with thorns and thistles and the sweat of our brow (Gen. 3:18-19). We see that Yeshua took this to the cross and broke the curse with His blood. It also tells us that if we trust fully in Him, we no longer have to strive in our own strength under the curse.
Galatians 3 (ESV)
12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Let us also see that the thorny band was around the head, that because of the curse, our minds have become worldly and dim. We can see that we are often tormented in our thoughts and psyche. Resulting from this we think depraved thoughts, have psychological disfunction and disorders, are filled with negativity, depression and despair. Sometimes we cannot see the light of day or have a rational positive thought. Various forms of mental illness are epidemic in our day, explained away with suggestions of chemical imbalances and genetic traits. While there are some practical things we need to take responsibility for like changing our thoughts, guarding our minds, eating healthy diets, renewing our minds by reading the Bible daily, there is the case of demonic bondage taking residence in our minds. Jesus took all of this to the cross. The bondage is legally broken. Our own thorny crown can be taken off and thrown to the wind. It becomes our responsibility to command our authority and freedom in Christ, shake it off and walk in newness of life.
Romans 12 (ESV)
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Jesus effectively broke the curse. It becomes our faith filled responsibility to believe it, claim it, stand in it and walk it out. Suppose you bought a house on an auction block sight unseen. You went to the house and there were people living there. You showed them the deed that you are the legal owner and gave them an eviction notice.
Nobody, especially demons want to be evicted from their comfortable habitat
Later, you went back after the time and the people were still there. They are illegal tenants that refuse to leave. They don’t want to leave as they have been there for years and it has been their home. So you have to call the sheriff to have them forcefully evicted. This is what we are talking about in spiritual terms. Jesus purchased us with His blood, but the former demonic tenants do not want to leave. You have to force them out and keep them out.
Yes, you will have demonic opposition trying to keep you down and hold you back! Yes, it requires effort on our part! To refuse this amazing gift of freedom would be like your father saying, “I just bought you a new car. Will you to drive down to the dealership and pick it up.” Would you hesitate or refuse to go pick up the new car? Hardly not! Not to shame anyone for not knowing what to do, but it is sad that we don’t take full advantage of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jesus bought it and we so got it! Now that we know these things, lets jump into action!
2 Corinthians 10 (ESV)
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
Wow! We have to truly realize that though we cannot see Him, Jesus is ever present and with us. He is actually in a greater place to help us in our time of need because He is operating, not from a body of flesh on the earth, but from heaven.
Luke 9 (ESV) And He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
Luke 10 (ESV)
18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
John 14 (ESV)
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do
; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
13 Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
Do we actually, REALLY believe this? Granted, there are some things we may ask for that Jesus does not give us. There are reasons for this that we must explore more deeply. One of them, of course, is to draw our faith to action. If He gave us everything we asked for we would become a bunch of spoiled rotten, couch potato do nothings! Sometimes we “have not because we ask not” or because we “wait not” and go do it ourselves in our timing and strength. No wonder there is so much failure. Despite what may seem like unanswered prayer, we stand in our full weight of faith that Jesus hears us and is acting on our prayer requests and will be in our BEST INTEREST, from His point of view. We learn to trust that He knows what is best for us at any point in our lives. He does expect us to keep our eyes and focus on Him as our Source for all things, just as sunlight is the physical source for all life on earth, yet we engage in faith partnership with action and responsibility for most practical things in life. Just as the Israelites had to gather manna every day, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”
Matthew 11 (ESV)
4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:
5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.”So again, I emphasize, satan does not want you to know that his legal hold on you is broken. He wants to keep you down so that it seems like the blood of Jesus is powerless and of no effect. He wants the world to see Christians still in chains of bondage so they will look elsewhere and turn to something else for relief. Satan wants to render you powerless and of no effect in the greater spiritual battle in the world. If he can keep you in ignorance of this fact, he will keep you down, then he can try to take your spouse and children. He can take your job. He can ravage your heath. He can keep you addicted to drugs and alcohol. He can keep you in poverty. He can steal you blind.
John 8 (ESV)
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered Him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the Son remains forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill Me because My word finds no place in you.
38 I speak of what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
The next thing Christians are not taught, is that satan does not just tuck tail and walk away when you get saved. Though he has lost, he will fight you and struggle with you to hold on to his former claim on your soul. He hopes that because you thought it would be easy, you will just give up the battle. Because of this fact, generational curses may also have to be specifically renounced, brought under the blood and shaken off. Bondages of addiction and sin need to be specifically confessed and released to Jesus. The more specific you are, the more focused and strategic you are, the bolder you are, the less demons will be able to maintain their stronghold over you.
You must be “activated” and “stimulated” with the truth from the Word of God, employing specific scripture passages just like Jesus did in the wilderness temptation. You will continue to use legal terms, “it is written,” and promises of God to “resist the devil.” Eventually you will begin to get the taste of freedom and want it all the more! As you continue to stand in faith, and command the authority of Christ in your life with all of the promises of God, the demons that have tormented you all your life will be forced to flee. You can and will be free, in Jesus name!! Mohammed’s name won’t work. Confucius can’t do it! Buddha is powerless to help you. Only Jesus Christ can set you free!
Finally, but very importantly, satan does not want you to know that you don’t have to do all of this in your own strength. Satan does not want you to know about the supernatural power that will manifest in your life when you press in on the Lord seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is a greater, secondary impartation that takes place after you have been saved. This is another reason many believers stay in bondage and sin. This is why so many churches are dry and dead; there is no life in them. They are void of POWER. They don’t seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Actually, there are church leaders and denominations that don’t want you to know this either. They see you as easier to control and manage if you are not set free through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Things can get messy in their little tidy controlled world. Its time to break out of the shackles of oppression and man’s religion! Oh, that’s going to upset some folks!
Psalm 68 (ESV) 34 Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies.
35 Awesome is God from His sanctuary; the God of Israel—He is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!
Acts 1 (ESV)
4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, He said, “you heard from me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Acts 19 (ESV)
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland
country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 And Paul said,“John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
Ephesians 1 (ESV)
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,
16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him,
18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of His powertoward us who believe, according to the working of His great might
20 that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and
seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above
every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
You now know the truth that can make you free!
Hallelujah to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world and fills us with His power!
Question: Why are some Christians starting to do Jewish holidays?
Answer:First of all, they really aren’t “Jewish” holidays.
Jews simply do what the Bible tells them to do. Faithful Jews have been doing these things for centuries. They are Bible festivals or feasts called “appointed times” with the Lord. Yehovah promises to bless His people for their obedience. It is like having a divine appointment with Yehovah to receive His blessings.
Basically, Yehovah (the God YHVH who reveals Himself in the Bible) instructs His people to observe three times a year- Spring-Passover, Summer-Pentecost and Fall-Tabernacles (See Leviticus 23). In recent years some Christians are beginning to recognize they have been following “church tradition” instead of the Bible and and so they want to start following the Bible.
Some take a knee-jerk reaction to this waving the red flag of legalism or thinking someone might be converting to Judaism. This is actually not the case at all. The New Testament does not promote division between Jew and Gentile. In fact, it teaches exactly the opposite. Paul calls it, becoming “one new man.”
Ephesians 2 (ESV)
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Paul clearly saw the household of God would include both Jews and gentiles. Retrospectively, we can gain further clarity to what Yeshua spoke early in His ministry. Here we can clearly see that Yeshua intended for His followers to be obedient to the Law of Moses.
Matthew 5 (ESV)
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Some interpret “all is accomplished” (v.18) to refer to “it is finished” spoken on the cross (John 19:30). This is very shortsighted and aligns with replacement theology. Others believe “all is accomplished” to imply the fulfillment of the coming kingdom (Luke 22:18).
The caution I will share with you is what has taken place in most modern Western churches. Most follow a doctrine of grace to the exclusion of any works (Ephesians 2:8-10). They hold this doctrine to be central throughout their Christian life which tends to excuse them from doing any good works following their salvation. Consequently, many are stunted in their spiritual growth and maturity through the continuous rehearsal of salvation doctrine.
In closing, let us please, re-read what Matthew captured in the teachings of Yeshua:
Matthew 5: 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. 6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, 8 the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord.
Then, this morning He said to me,
“My children always remember who rules the swamp. This may surprise you but I am the ‘Chief Alligator’ over the swamp and in the swamp. The earth is ‘My footstool!’
“I gave you a very simple means by which to discern good from evil. There are good trees and bad trees and you will know them by their fruit. So also, there are good and bad alligators in the swamp of the world. The dragon, the prince of the air has been cast out and corrupts whatever he occupies. Adam decided he wanted to learn good from evil. The swam is a laboratory of learning. There are good and bad alligators in this classroom of learning. You will know them by their fruit.”
“My children, do not expect to be in a swamp without alligators. This is your classroom. This is your learning- this is your test! Do you desire good or evil? Choose who you will serve! Continue the battle! Don’t expect one man to rise up to defeat the evil in the swamp until I come.”
“Trump is not a savior. Turn your hearts and minds and eyes to Me. I am the Chief Alligator!”
“Must I remove a man so your eyes will turn to Me?” Selah
The eight lamp “Hanukkia” is used during this winter festival.
Question: Should a Christian celebrate Hanukkah? Why don’t Christian’s celebrate it? What significance is there for believers in Jesus?
Answer: Yes, though most Western Christians have never been taught to celebrate it, I believe Christians should celebrate Hanukkah. Here is why-
Holidays are designed to help us remember important historical events. These events helped to shape who we are as people. If we forget them, over time, we will forget who we are.Christians don’t “remember” Hanukkah because this historic event took place before Jesus was born and the accounts surrounding Hanukkah are not in our Bibles. The five books of Maccabees, primarily the first two were not included in the Hebrew Bible because the official list of books had already been formalized.
Most Western Christians have been taught replacement theology which promotes division and separation from the Jews and all of the biblical feasts which is unfortunate. The Christian church has been severed from its roots or removed from its foundation since the time of Constantine in 325 AD.
Hanukkah is significant for Christians because Yeshua (Jesus) also recognized the festival. Hanukkah is also known as the “Feast of Lights” or the “Feast of Dedication.” We see this in John 10:22. Hanukkah is a historical remembrance of the struggle between the Greeks and the Jews that took place in the time span between Malachi and the birth of Yeshua around 160-165 BC. It reminds us that with the favor of God, we can overcome the oppression of the world and its (man made) humanist ideologies. It is a message of hope and promise for the people of God who are not afraid of revolution and that God is with us in revolutionary conquest when we are fighting for His cause. It reminds us that God is with us during dark troubling times, even during the Diaspora (scattering of the people of Israel).
Moreover, we can make the suggestion that if the Maccabees revolt had not taken place back in that time, it is possible that Israel would not have survived as a nation. Then, if there was no Israel, it would be difficult to present Messiah to the world. Many prophecies concerning the coming of Messiah would be maligned. The revolt and subsequent Temple re-dedication were essential for the preparation of Messiah to come.
The miraculous sign of God came as a supernatural replenishment of oil for the Menorah that burned for eight days with one flask of oil. Eight is the number associated with “new beginnings.” This is why we see the 9 lamps of the Hanukkia presented during this festival- a center light with eight lamps representing each day the Menorah in the temple remained burning. For distinction, the Menorah itself has 7 lights.
Closing thoughts- Hanukkah gives us the light of hope during the dark seasons of history for the people of God. We can clearly see Yeshua in the celebration if you look for Him. Yeshua is the “Light of the World” who came to save us. There is also strong probability that Mary conceived of the Holy Spirit during Hanukkah giving the Festival of Lights a new and deeper meaning. Yeshua was born nine months later on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, “Sukkot.”
I can’t think of any reason why a believer in Yeshua (Jesus) should turn a blind eye and ignore the Feast of Lights- Hanukkah. We should be seeking every opportunity to teach our children, family, friends and churches the deep meaningful history and the miracles Yehovah performs among His people. It is a happy festival with bright blue and white decor, food and fellowship lasting eight days and offers wonderful devotional elements for Christians.
We are living in the year 2020 or shall we say 20/20 and we are seeing things taking place with crystal clarity. The Lord told me and many others this would be the case. The Lord can and does use strange things like idioms in our own language to get our attention.
In this season, we are learning how important politics is to the climate and conditions of our daily life, and in the case of the US, how politics affects the entire world. Political leadership is crucial because there is a trickle down effect in the spirit realm that spreads far and wide. The leader opens the door in the spirit world to allow either blessings or curses to flow into the land. We’ve learned that in a democratic republic the people, including the uneducated and uninformed, can actually vote for their own blessing or demise by the leadership they choose. It causes me to reflect on how King Saul was the people’s choice (1 Sam 8:19-21). It didn’t go so well. Hindsight tells us that we never should have asked the Lord for an “earthly” king. But, here we are 3000 years later and nothing is new under the sun.
Naturally, the more depraved a nation becomes due to unaddressed social ills, the more likely people will make depraved choices. In time, the depraved will overtake the majority thus voting their own destruction. It doesn’t even require an act of God! Like blind sheep, people will drive themselves over a cliff! The consequences of entitlement mindset will be likened to an animal that finally dies because of an infestation of parasites.
The God of the Bible is more than a personal pocket God. He is the Supreme God of the Universe who also judges the nations of the earth.
Moreover, we are making a detrimental mistake by looking to politics to solve our present crisis and dilemmas. Our nation has deviated so far and so long from our God given identity and purpose that money and political and social engineering cannot fix. The level of depravity has reached its limit. God knows that a people can become so depraved and carnally minded that they are beyond the hope of redemption. This is why nations fall into devastation and destruction.
As we have learned from scripture in Luke chapter 15, verse 16, that we can take an American idiom saying, “living high on the hog” will actually take you there, eating pig slop in a pigpen. Sometimes it is only there where reality hits us square in the nose that we can humble ourselves and cry out to God. The fear of ‘God-sized consequences’ leads to wisdom (Proverbs 1:7).
Our only hope is a massive radical movement of the majority, top down from the highest to the lowest, men, women and children, to humble ourselves, get on our faces and cry out, to confess and repent of our sin, and to dedicate ourselves to permanent lifelong fundamental change and radical sacrificial devotion to God. We need the Spirit of God to manifest this movement. We learn over and over from the Bible that it is when the people cry out of desperation, it arouses the Spirit of God to act. Here are just a few examples-Judges 10:10, 2 Chronicles 7:14; 20:9, Psalm 130, Matthew 15:22.
Physically getting on our knees is a gesture of sincerity and desperation. The more desperate we get, the more we are willing to do things like this. This gets God’s attention because we are more likely to make lasting changes.
Personally, and frankly, I sometimes believe it’s too late. Honestly, most of the time. Our minds and flesh have become too indoctrinated and set on having a love of pleasure rather than a love for God and the things God loves. Thankfully, there are others who pick me up and still hold on to the hope of a great reprieve from certain judgment. Thank you so very much for standing firm and holding on to the hope of a mighty move of God in these last days. Bless you!
This is a critical question for every one of us. God is listening…
The most important question we should be dealing with at this time in history is-
What will I do with four more years? What steps can I take and what plan of action can I implement to maximize four more years of the Trump administration era should the Lord grant them to us? You need to know, and God wants to hear about it? God is waiting to supernaturally assist you in an action plan.
Understanding the time we are living in is important. This can give you greater urgency and motivation. We need to weigh the consequences if we choose to do nothing. We know what the Bible says about the last days and where we are in it. The church is divided into two basic camps- the book of Revelation was largely fulfilled in 70 AD and there is no future antichrist figure (preterism) OR those who believe there was a near partial fulfillment of the book of Revelation in 70 AD, but there awaits a future time of global fulfillment. Obviously, I am of the 2nd camp. I believe there are too many signs to ignore, but we will not go into them here.
I strongly believe the “Last Days” scenario is developing right before our very eyes. As the two political party platforms contrast their polarized views we can anticipate the consequences. The case is quite clear, if the “liberal, progressive, socialist left” gains control of the White House, we will see the sun begin to set on Christianity in America.
We need to ask ourselves and search our hearts, “What will I accomplish in the next 4 years under the Trump administration should the Lord grant them to us? Here are some thoughts to help you make your personal list of objectives. To ask the Lord for 4 more years of Trump-
is to give the church and its missionaries 4 more years to get the gospel out there to the far reaches of the earth with less duress so everyone can hear the gospel. What will I do to encourage, help support and expand that effort?
It gives me 4 more years to minister to my family so all my children and grandchildren know the truth. What can I do to promote the importance of family bonding and cohesiveness? What can I do to reduce divorce and marital strife? How do I teach my children the importance of the biblically defined family unit to promote a healthy society?
It gives us 4 more years of Christian freedom to pray and hope and prepare for a great harvest revival of these last days. How an I prepare myself to be a useful instrument for evangelism, discipleship and “being the church?”
It gives us 4 more years to have the muzzle of the preacher loosened so the people can hear and receive the truth of the gospel without fear of reprisal. What can I do to encourage my pastor and other ministers to stop compromising and to preach the truth in love without fear?
It gives us 4 more years to strengthen the “Christian” stronghold of America in the world. If America can be seen as a large platform on the earth to preach, teach and evangelize the world, what can I do to strengthen this platform? Like a table, this platform has legs underneath it that the enemy has been working to weaken and break- a) finances- sacrificial giving with accountability and stewardship, b) government freedom, c) active volunteerism with churches and ministries working together, d) accurate media exposure and promotion.
It gives us 4 more years to raise up Christian believers to position themselves in the influential cultural institutions of the land and to teach the biblical worldview to the next generation. Consider the following areas of cultural influence: a) Religion. b) Family/Home. c) Government. d) Media. e) Education. f) Business/Marketplace. g) Arts and Entertainment. Can you define where you can influence these areas? What would your plan be to begin to affect change and transformation of your neighborhood, community, city, state, region?
It gives us 4 more years for the US to re-establish national sovereignty and to decrease our dependency on other nations. What can you do to increase your devotion to the American free enterprise system? How can you support local businesses and American made products?
It gives the USA 4 more years to complete the border wall with Mexico to better control illegal immigration and drug and human trafficking. What can you do to improve the immigration process and make sure it is legal and beneficial to America? What can we do to reduce the immigration of anti-American Muslim extremists? What can you do to help support the border wall construction effort?
Let us pray that we are good stewards of these next 4 years that the Lord might grant us! Will you be taking some time and write down your thoughts on these subjects and set some goals and make some plans for what we will do for these next 4 years?
I sure hope you will! If you need help, please reach out to us.
The earth is moving from freedom to bondage at the hand of man’s own invention.
Question- Why are so many Christians charged up about politics these days?
My answer- Because politics is extremely important as government stewards the laws and economies of people through which people can be free or enslaved, live or die. When life and freedom is threatened, people are forced out of their “me culture” to defend the right to live as free people. In the case of the Christian, we have a sacred duty to live out the teachings of the Bible. It requires freedom to do that- freedom to believe and worship the God of your choosing; the freedom of speech to be able to share what you believe with others; the freedom to shape culture in a way that people can be safe and to prosper; the freedom to bear arms to defend your family and your freedoms and way of life from tyrannical government; the freedom to vote so we can choose leaders that are in agreement with what we believe. This then demands faith to respond with civic responsibility. It can be historically demonstrated that there is a “force” or a nature in the human experience that finds it way in the minds of men that tends:
1) to exalt oneself above others
2) it desires to micro-manage people
3) to compete with other entities/governments for supremacy
4) to conquest other nations and peoples for control of natural resources and establish dominance- craves power and wealth
5) to put down threats from other nations
6) to enslave and exploit people to do the will and purposes of government
7) to control what people believe and how they should live because the state is central and worthy of worship
8) exaltation of self to world historical prominence
We can see that this “nature” resurfaces and repeats itself through time. From a biblical worldview, this manipulative force carries the earmarks of satan himself who is the spirit of the antichrist. We may as well say it- Satan and his demons have the ability to sway and manipulate the minds of men to carry out his schemes. Mankind is creating the very technology infrastructures that will eventually be used for their own bondage.
As believers in Bible centered faith and ideology, we have a mandate and duty to resist these governmental movements because they always result in fascism, oppression, dictatorship, genocide and the enslavement of people in a antichrist, atheistic regime. A global system would have no accountability to be other than the ultimate end of this ideology. The entire earth would become controlled and enslaved with no escape.
By now, Mankind should learn that secular humanistic atheistic institutions of man are incapable of sustaining power and control of people and governments without becoming corrupt. This has been demonstrated all around the world throughout history. The Christian enforces that God (Jesus Christ) is the Supreme head and must be the center of life, public and private. This gives permission for His divine character to permeate the hearts, minds and wills of the peoples which promote righteousness, justice, freedom, love, joy, peace, harmony, good will, blessing and the favor of God. Please read Deuteronomy 28.
Again I will state that because of the fallen nature of man, our faith must be lived out with civic governmental responsibility. We will continue to promote these worthy goals until we are taken and then return with Him in His glory and establishment of His kingdom on the earth. We are in training to rule and reign with Yeshua our Messiah in the earth.
Do you attend a church that follows the “law of leasts?” In other words, answering the question:
What is the least I must do to be saved?
We live in a rushed frenzied world of bottom lines. We often hear, “so let’s cut to the chase” or “at the end of the day.” We tend to want minimal, need to know information because we are busy and often distracted by so many things competing for our time and attention. The world at large has become a force of its own.
But here is something we should not multi-task, nor can we delegate to another. We need to understand Yeshua’s words here very clearly.
We enter the teaching discourse of Yeshua often called the “Sermon on the Mount.” Here, Yeshua is not speaking in parables, but straight and direct to His listeners-
Matthew 5 (ESV) 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Very clearly, Yeshua draws a distinction between “abolish” and “fulfill.”
For a word study on the Greek word translated as “fulfill,” lets look at the word, “ple-roo” and all its variations not just the simple single word rendering in your Bible. Here, Yeshua makes a clear distinction between the idea of “abolish” and “fulfill” so that we don’t mistake one for the other. Here is a screenshot from blueletterbible.org.
www.blueletterbible.com
Then, Yeshua’s clarification continues-
19 “Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
This is where the teaching of Yeshua would confront the “law of leasts.” We can directly interpret this to say, if you want to be least in the kingdom of heaven, just do the bare minimum requirements to be saved. This entry level requirement is here:
Romans 10 (ESV) 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Hallelujah! Confess with your mouth, “Yeshua is Lord” and believe in your heart that He was raised from the dead, you will be saved! This is a simple, bottom line, bare minimum truth. You cannot earn salvation, but it requires a confession from your mouth.
So then, moving on, from the above context in Matthew 5 to the next question that naturally surfaces- “What commandments are Yeshua referring to?” Is He referring to the Beatitudes that He just preached? There are no commands in the Beatitudes. It is a series of blessings for the poor in spirit, those who mourn; the meek, the lovers of righteousness; the merciful; the pure in heart; the peacemakers and the persecuted. Indirectly, Yeshua is telling us to align ourselves with these principles and we will be blessed.
Now let’s examine another passage in Matthew near the end of Yeshua’s ministry. It is a completely different context relating to the Law. It is clear that Yeshua means we should obey all of the commandments, not just the least of them. Yes, this means all of the Old Testament commandments. An expert in Mosaic Law asks Him a question-
Matthew 22 (ESV) 34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Can we, from this discussion, make the interpretation that the entire Law of Moses has been suddenly reduced to two laws? I suppose you might be tempted to do so if you are following the “law of leasts.”
It makes me wonder if one who follows the law of leasts is really saved at all.
Closing thoughts-
-Why nullify the Sabbath Day and select another day of our own choosing to call it the Sabbath, and now in our day ignoring the Sabbath altogether?
-Why nullify and ignore biblically prescribed festival seasons that point to our REDEMPTION in Yeshua?
-Why nullify laws that point us to PURITY and holiness?
-Why nullify laws that teach us how to live in HARMONY with fellow man?
-Why nullify laws that point us to the NEED of Yeshua?
-Why nullify laws that activate our need for confession and REPENTANCE?
-Why nullify laws that the Bible says are GOOD?
-Why nullify laws that IDENTIFY us as the people of YAH in a fallen world?
Where does the name ‘Yeshua’ come from? Don’t most people call him ‘Jesus’? The name Yeshua is a shortened version of the name Yehoshua or Joshua and is the literal Hebrew word for Salvation. Around the time of Jesus’ birth the names ‘Yeshu’ and ‘Yeshua’ were not uncommon. Reading right to left, the Hebrew letters which spell Yeshua are: Yod, Shin, Vav, Ayin. According to scholarship Aramaic was used in everyday language, but Hebrew remained the holy language and was used in daily prayer and worship. The two languages were as similar to each other as Italian is to Spanish, and both used the same alphabet. The name Yeshua transliterated into Aramaic became Yeshu, dropping the final “a” and pronouncing it “Yeh-shoo.” The name ‘Jesus’ did not exist at this time, as it was later derived as a transliteration from the Greek IESOUS. In fact, the letter ‘J’ was not added to the English alphabet until the 14th century. Note that around 1600 A.D> Protestant Bible translators started to transcribe עושי in the Old Testament into English as “Jeshua”, but kept transcribing Ιησους in the New Testament into English as “Jesus”, obscuring the connection between the equivalent Greek and Hebrew versions of the same name. The name Jesus is a transliteration of the Greek name Iesous which is a transliteration of the name Yeshua. Translation and transliteration are not the same thing. Translation involves the conversion of a word in one language to a word in another language with equivalent meaning. For example, the English word ‘Cross’ translates into the Latin word ‘Crux’ from which the word ‘Crucified’ is derived. Transliteration involves finding the equivalent letters used in a word from the alphabet of one language into the alphabet of another language. An example is the Greek word βιβλίον is the noun for a paper book or scroll and is transliterated into English as Biblion from which we have derived the word ‘Bible’. All occurrences of Yeshua as a name in the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh are in I Chron. 24:11, II Chron. 31:15, Ezra 2:1, and Nehemiah 7:7 where it is transliterated into English as Jeshua. There are even more instances of the word Yeshua being used which are translated as ‘salvation’. In the Brit Hadasha, or New Testament, the first instance of the name of the Messiah is found in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke: In Luke 1:26-39 the angel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth to bring news to a virgin named Mary. “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” In Matthew 21 we read, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (NKJV) “She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua…because he will save His people from their sins.” (Jewish New Testament) Jesus is a Jew. He is a direct descendant of King David through both his mother’s lineage and his adoptive father Joseph’s lineage. When Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue he read in Hebrew, not Greek or Aramaic. So we know that he was ‘schooled’ in Hebrew, which is almost absurd because we’re talking about God in the flesh, the Living Word, who is the Creator of all things including language.
The name Yeshua is found in letters from the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 AD).
Archeologist Amos Kloner stated that the name Yeshua had been found 71 times in burial caves from the Second Temple period.
The Old Syriac Bible (c. 200 AD) and the Peshitta (which is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition) both use the shortened version Yeshu in equivalent Arabic letters.
The Bible doesn’t give instruction to favor one language or translation over another. We are not commanded to call upon the name of the Lord in Hebrew only. Acts 2:21 says, “But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” God knows who calls upon His name, whether they do so in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew or any other language. He is still the same Lord and Savior. Below is a list of how the name Jesus is pronounced in other languages:
Arabic = Issa
Chinese (Catonese) = YeshSou
Chinese (Han) =耶稣 = Ye Su Ay Wo
Dutch = Jezus
French = Jésus
German = Jesus
Hebrew = Yeshua
Hindi = yīśu
Italian = Gesu
Japanese =イエス・キリスト = Iesu kirisuto
Korean = 예수 = Yesu
Portuguese = Jyesus
Russian = Иисус
Spanish = Jesus
In calling Him Yeshua we are restoring to Him His Jewish identity. Yeshua was and is the name He was called when He walked on this Earth. Greek masculine names have a nominative “s” ending. Therefore, the final Greek form became Iesous which in return became the Latin IESVS which was finally translated into English as Jesus. So what we end up with in “English” is a fifth-hand transliteration of the original name Yeshua. Regardless of which name is used, Yeshua (Jesus) hears the prayers of those who pray from their heart and who truly seek Him, He is the same yesterday, today and forever and just like his Father, He has several names and titles. Other names and titles by which Yeshua is known are:
Emmanuel which means ‘God is with us’.
The ‘Christ’ which is derived from the Greek word ‘Christos’ which means ‘Anointed One’ or Messiah, which is Mashiach or Moshiach in Hebrew. So ‘Yeshua Mashiach’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ are one and the same.
‘The Word’, ‘The Living Word’, ‘The Word of Life’
The ‘Son of God’ is used in a Heavenly context.*
The ‘Son of Man’ is used in a Jewish context.*
The ‘Lamb of God’ representing the ultimate, final, perfect sacrifice of Yeshua laying down His life for the sins or the world, that whoever should believe would not perish, but have everlasting life.
The ‘New Man’ , ‘Second Adam’ or ‘Last Adam’. The name ‘Adam’ in Hebrew means man. Yeshua was raised from the dead as a new, immortal, incorruptible man.
The ‘Light of the World’,
The ‘Bread of Life’
The ‘King of the Jews’,
Rabbi or Rabboni, which means teacher.
Savior
The ‘I AM’ , which is the name God attributed to Himself in Exodus 3:14
And the ‘High Priest’
See: ‘Precepts of the Blessed Hope’ by Don Mills ISBN-13: 9781606964149 at www.barnesandnoble.com ‘The Names of God’ by Nathan Stone, ISBN-13: 978-0802458568 at www.amazon.com
