Your Sons Like Poplars...

The Yhwh gave this to me a couple of weeks ago, and I just haven't had time to write about it yet, but this was such an encouragement and confirmation about what Yhwh is doing in these last days, and in our lives.

I was reading in Isaiah 45, and had gone back the enxt day, to read and study and chew on the text, but I wanted to start a chapter previous, to get more of the context and appreciate what the text was saying.  When I started reading in chapter 44, it said this:

 NAU Isaiah 44:1 "But now listen, O Jacob, My servant, And Israel, whom I have chosen:  2 Thus says the LORD who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you, 'Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.  3 'For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;  4 And they will spring up among the grass Like poplars by streams of water.'  5 "This one will say, 'I am the LORD'S'; And that one will call on the name of Jacob; And another will write on his hand, 'Belonging to the LORD,' And will name Israel's name with honor. 

The latter half of Isaiah is written all about the restoration of Israel in the last days.  Yhwh always tells Jacob/Israel now to be afraid, and that He is for them.  

3 'For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;

In verse three, He says that He will "pour out water on thirsty land, and streams on dry ground."  The Word in Scripture is likened to Water, and dry, thirsty ground to people or lands where there is no hearing of the Word of the Yhwh.  As I was reading through this verse, it brought to mind imagery, both of Yhwh literally fulfilling this in the land of Israel, where there are already streams of living water flowing in previously dry stream beds.  But then we also have the spiritual component, because the phrase is complemented in the second stanza by saying He would pour pout His Spirit on your descendants.  The apostle Peter stated that this is what was happening on Pentecost, after the ascension of the resurrected Messiah, Yeshua ben Josef. 

4 And they will spring up among the grass Like poplars by streams of water.' 

Then I received another insight as I continued to read.  The imagery of trees planted by streams of water from Psalm 1.  "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the Torah  of Yhwh, and on His Torah He will meditate, day and night.  And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf never withers, in whatever he does, he prospers" (Ps. 1:1-3).

And so I picture all this dry, cracked waste land which we picture of ancient Egypt, and I think of John hte Baptist at the Jordan, with the scribes and the Pharisees looking on.  And he says to them, "God can raise up children from these stones!"  And I wonder if he is not drawing from this prophecy in Isaiah 44.

 4 And they will spring up among the grass Like poplars by streams of water.'  5 "This one will say, 'I am the LORD'S'; And that one will call on the name of Jacob; And another will write on his hand, 'Belonging to the LORD,' And will name Israel's name with honor. 

And so you have a picture of this vast waste land, dry and cracked, with sparse shoots of grass here and there, and all of a sudden, these Poplar trees begin to shoot up, not all together, but spaced apart, in random places... and they begin to grow large in height and strong, like trees planted by streams of water.  And the water is the Word, the Torah (which let's not forgot, was the only Word of God during the time of Yeshua and the apostles).  

So this passage is telling us that in the last days, in land stricken by a famine of the Word of the Yhwh, that He would pour out His Spirit on sons and daughters, and cause them to grow up like Poplars planted by streams of water, that is, full of strength and knowledge and understanding of the Word, the Torah... and that they would begin again to identify with Israel, and proclaiming to belong to the God of Israel.

And that has been me and my wife's experience with our beliefs and convictions, as we have studied about the return of the Messiah in the last days, and of his coming for His people.  And Abba has revealed these truths to us.  As He says in Ps. 25:14, "The secret (or counsel) of the Yhwh is for those who fear Him, and to them He will make known His covenant."

An Recent Encouraging Biblical insight on Romans 11:36

Recently, at our church, the pastor has been giving us scripture verses for the congregation to memorize.  A couple of weeks ago he gave us the verse from Romans 11:36:

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory for eternity! Amen.

One day I was meditating (i.e. actively thinking, pondering) on this verse, and I had an insight, i think is from the Yhwh. It should encourage you through your trials, especially in the New Age of trials and tribulations that we are quickly coming into.

I was considering how the I AM is completely sovereign over provision for our need(s) in time of crisis and need... and then it occurred to me, He is also sovereign over our time and level of need.  For FROM Him and TO Him and THROUGH Him are all things!

So not only is He completely sovereign over all the supply of our need, according to His rickes in Yeshua haMashiach (Phil 4:19), but He is also completely sovereign over when and how much IS our need!

Therefore, after his marvelous conclusion in chapter 11, Rabbi Paul goes on to tell us what our response should be in light of such great truths!:

Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve whatis the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.

O saints, put your trust in Him!  Amen.

Speaking the names of gods... Good Lord?

Among the different religions of the world, there are many different religous figures who are revered, and or worshipped, or given the status of gods.  And of all these various religions, they have no problem speaking the name of their god.  In Islam the defiantly chant, "Allahu akbar" (Allah is greater!), In Buddhism, the adherents often quote, refer to and model their lives after the Buddah.  Hindus have many gods, such as Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva, Lakshmi, Durga, to name a few....  

But did you ever notice it's not that way in Chrisitanity (and Judaism to a lesser extent).  In Christianity, it's followers have to hide behind a translation.  They never speak the name of their God, the one true God, but hide behind a translation of a title meaning master.  But then difficulties arise... the worshipper has to rely upon the knowledge, intent/agenda and resources of the translators of their religous text, especially and primarily when the original tests are not in that followers native tongue (ie, language).

So in Christianity, the name most often used for their God, is "Lord", or "LORD."  This implies someone who has control over, lordship over, or a mastery over a specific object or region.  One day a few weeks ago, I heard someone suggest to look up the definition of "Lord" on the Merriam Webster dictionary.  Happening to have that on my phone, I typed it in, and found at the bottom of the entry, it indicated the Heb. origin was none other than Ba'al!  Hmmmph!

Good Lord!  Not really.  For those of you who have ventured to study the historical development of the  evolution of religious gods/deities, you will know that Ba'al, the sun-god, worshiped in Egypt as Ra, Sumeria (ancient Babylon in Iraq/Persia) as Ba'al, is based on the myth of Gilgamesh, known in the Bible as Nimrod, who was the one-world ruler over mankind of his day, when the earth was still being populated.  

I went to Merriam Webster dictionary on the larger screened PC computer, and could not find this reference, but it was stating that the first known use of the (etymological origin) of the word was in the 12 C. Europe, hlaford, a loaf-keeper.  Hmmmph?  Why the discrepancies?  So I researched a little more, and found it at dictionary.com.  See below.  I pasted the pertinent section.

(4.) Heb. ba'al, a master, as having domination. This word is applied to human relations, as that of husband, to persons skilled in some art or profession, and to heathen deities. "The men of Shechem," literally"the baals of Shechem" (Judg. 9:2, 3). These were the Israelite inhabitants who had reduced the Canaanites to a condition of vassalage (Josh. 16:10;17:13). (5.) Heb. seren, applied exclusively to the "lords of the Philistines"(Judg. 3:3). The LXX. render it by satrapies. At this period the Philistines were not, as at a later period (1 Sam. 21:10), under a kingly government.(See Josh. 13:3; 1 Sam. 6:18.) There were five such lordships, viz., Gath,Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron.  

(posted from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lord)

In Genesis 10, Nimrod is credited with founding eight cities, both in the land of Shinar (ancient Persia/Sumeria) and in Assyria (modern Syria), which contains some of the longest inhabited cities of the world!  He is credited with being the founder and leader at the building of the tower of Babel, and in the Israelite historic writings, he is said to have organized three parties in their attempt to dethrone the God of heaven!  One of the groups indeed, shot arrows into heaven from atop the tower at Babel before their languages were confused.

So the conclusion is, when you are (in English) using the word "Lord" in reference to the one true Creator God of the universe, you are calling the name of Ba'al or Nimrod, the proto-type of the coming one-world ruler and Anti-Christ.  And it's extremely frustrating, I have found in my own experience, trying to correct the problem, because the word "Lord" is so ingrained in my habit of referring to Yhwh, King of the Universe.  It is in our Bibles, which note *it is a 'device" to refer to the name of the Hebrew God of scriptures.  Why not use the device of Buddah, or Krishna?  Because that would be outright recognized as idolatry!  It is also found in Hymnals, praise songs, and certainly cultural cliches of amazement or disbelief, "Good Lord!"  But I want to suggest, Ba'al was not good, but wicked!

I don't know about you guys, but something funny is up!  I now try to speak the Biblical names of God.  Call it reconnecting with my Hebrew roots... as if that's a bad thing!  Didn't Yeshua our Adonai (see!) teach "salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22)?  My Savior was Hebrew, coming in fulfillment of the promise Yhwh made to Abraham and the Hebrews descended from him!

And that could very well lead to another post... have you ever thought about why they don't translate the Hebrew name of the messiah Yehoshua as Joshua, instead of "Jesus"?  Jesus sounds more palatable to pagan ears, more similar to the names of gods they were used to worshipping, such as Ze-us, Dionysius, etc., with the "-sus" ending.  But nowhere in the original Hebrew texts is "Jesus" used.  The name "Jesus" does not translate into Hebrew.  This is significant, because it involves the concept of the meaning of the name "Ye-hoshua," which means, "Yahweh is salvation!" 

Elohim, our Creator, created all of creation through speaking, the spoken word.  We are created (intimately, caringly) in His image, with the ability to speak, and we are warned in the Bible of the consequences of the words we speak.  "Death and Life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit" (Prov. 18:21).  So when we speak the name Yehoshua, or the shortened form Y'shua, we are proclaiming a Biblical truth, that Yhwh is salvation!  It is a shout of defeat over the enemy, who was set up camp all over this world, in his attempt to become as the one true God (cf. Is. 14).  The spirits and the fallen watchers wince at the sound of the name Yeshua!  

Remember, we are told in 1 John 5:19 that "the entire world lies in the control of the evil one."  That means he might even have agents within Biblical translation societies, certainly many TV preachers, and Y'shua Himself taught that in the last days there would be many false prophets, and many antichrists (1 Jn. 2:18-19; Mt. 24:24), to lead astray, and even deceive the elect.

And maybe the awakening to this knowledge is a fulfillment of the Last days spoken of in Hosea 2:16 - "It will come about in that day," declares the Yhwh, "that you will call me Ishi ["my Man", ie, "Husband"] and no longer call me Baali ["my Lord" or "master"]"!

 

Having Your Blessed Life Now!

Much controversy has sprung from Joel Osteen's book, "How to Have Your Best Life Now!"  But believe it or not, the Bible actually does tell you how to have your blessed life now!  Right here, in the last times, with the coming of the pseudo-Christ and the worst period of deceit and persecution in human history, that we are warned about in the pages of the most Holy Book, the Bible.

The Bible is full of pages of scriptures where the Hebrew Prophets, Psalmists and Apostles tell us that we can have our blessed life now!  Now, note, I didn't say "best life," but rather "blessed life," and I think that your blessed life is quite possibly the best life you can have.

One example that I want to use from the pages of scripture is from the very first chapter of the Psalms.  The Psalmist tells us:

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the advice of the wicked;

nor does he stand in the way of sinners;

nor does he sit in the assembly of mockers.

2 Instead, in the law of Yahweh is his delight,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

Here you have it. It really doesn't get any simpler than this. How can you have your blessed life in a world that is filled with persecution, anti-Semitism, trans-humanism, invasion of demons who were let loose after being bound for 70 generations? How can you have your blessed life living among nations where there is a growing consensus against Judeo-Christian values, where the Church looks and sounds like the world, the number of demon-possession cases is on the rise?


The Psalmist tells us that the have to have your blessed life now, is "to come out from them and be separate!" Not to walk in the advice of the wicked, or to stand in the way of sinners, or even sit in the assembly of mockers, but to DELIGHT yourself in the TORAH of YHWH, to meditate on it day and night! 


And so here you have it!  It's really a quite simple concept.  But it's something that Christians have been taught (at least the last century) that "We are free from the Torah!", and thus doing away with the foundation and support for the B'rit Chadasha (aka New Testament).

And if we DO do this, we meditate (think about or on) the Torah (first five books of the Bible), the Psalmist goes on to tell us what our life is going to look like.

3 And so, he is like a tree planted by streams of water

that gives its fruit in its season;

its leaf also does not wither.

Therefore all that he does prospers.

And this is how you can have your Blessed life Now!



49 Earthquakes Last 24 Hours "Alaska 5.1 Iceland Volcano 5.

7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.  Matthew 24:7-8

Truly the amount of quakes and their intensity is on the rise.  It is a continual shaking, as you can get on the emergency disaster service sites any day and count the hundreds of quakes and tremors as our earth is, literally fulfilling the words of scripture, "reeling back and forth like a drunkard!"  And these words were spoken through the Hebrew prophets over 2,000 years ago, and Yeshua our Adonai, to predict the precise state and condition of our world today.  Nostradamus can't touch this!  The LORD says He is the one who "declares the end from the beginning" (Is. 46:9-10)!

All these things are coming to pass... turn from your sin, and put your trust in Yeshua (aka Jesus), whose name means "salvation," for He alone is able to save you from your sins, restore you to your Maker, and give you eternal life, to rescue you from the comng Wrath and Destruction!

JESUS DOES CONDEMN HOMOSEXUALITY

The blog at this link is a follow up to my RE: Evangelical Gay Awakening. Walter Martin has a very thorough, informed response to what society says (1 Jn. 2:15-17).

JESUS DOES CONDEMN HOMOSEXUALITY