#15-Responsibility

-NOTE: This blog is not the follow up blog to blog #14-


It is not my responsibility to change others.


This is a huge lesson I have been trying to learn for a few years.
Ever since I started studying the Bible in context to history, Judaism, and geography....I believed that because I had learned what I learned, and because it was SO life changing for me, that I needed to go and teach everyone what I had learned.

While based on Deuteronomy 6 and other such verses, we are commanded to teach others the truth of God and are accountable for living and acting on this truth....

I have learned that it is not my responsibility for others to accept what I have to teach.

I first learned this while going to the AA hall I was at for awhile: You can't change others, you can only change yourself.

The past year or so, I have really just been shredding myself apart because I felt like I have not been able to share the things I have learned.

I am so over thinking like that.
Last year at Northwestern, I was upset all year because I never met one person interested in what I had learned and was desperate to share....

My attitude has finally come around to accept that I can't change others or force them to care.
Not even with the things that changed myself.

Since I typed my blog "I went to the Wall to Meet God" where I shared some of the things I have been learning and experiencing and struggling with here in Israel....I've had some interesting things going with myself spiritually.

I said in that blog that I felt like I figured out what it is God is calling me towards: a communal type community living with others living with God.

However, I have had some clarifications on what this might not entail:

I do not want to teach the Bible as a career.
I don't want to be a professor.
I don't want to be a pastor.
I don't want to "be" a "teacher" in academics.
I don't want to be a pastor living with a bunch of people in a commune, taking the responsibility to "lead" them. That idea is so contradictory to what I believe. I don't want to take the place of God in peoples eyes. I don't want people to come to me for help. I want to help others but not feel like it is some responsibility of mine to do so. I want to help others draw closer to God because they want to draw closer to God...not because they need ME to do so. I don't want to be the Shepherd. I want to helps others see that HE is their shepherd.

No joke, as soon as I posted that blog, I had this HUGE desire to play music and drums that I never experienced or felt like before. It freaked me out.... because I was like 'Hey God...what the heck...I JUST felt sure on what I am doing..?" So, I may still do a commune...but not at all in the way that probably comes to your mind when you read that.

I really started to think about what I am doing.

I am going to college for 3 years to get a degree in a topic that I do not want to make into a career anywhere near the sense that everyone else who majors in what I am majoring in is.

It is automatically assumed that if you are a Biblical Studies Major, that you are going to Seminary...hands down.

But I have come to realize...ya know. I am not studying this stuff for other people.

I am studying this stuff because I LIKE it.
The fact is, I am terrible at school. just terrible at it. I don't deserve to or have any right to try and go down the path of my professors and become some great Bible scholar...I am a terrible student. I can't do this stuff the way the world has laid out.

So I am putting myself into some major debt to study a topic... (I actually think I concluded this midway through last year on, I just did not want to admit it)...that I don't want to do as a career.

In fact, the opposite. I want to teach people...but I don't want to rely on other peoples ability to accept what I teach to make a difference in how I survive in life or support myself.

If that is the case, I might as well quit now because I have learned that most people...or at least not enough people desire to learn about the Bible to make a career out of me teaching them. People don't care enough about the things I study for me to make a career out of.
So I have concluded this:

I am going to teach, however, it will be through books or other such mediums where I do it and people have the option to read it or not....in other words, the responsibility is on THEM to learn, not me to teach.

I don't care if I type up 30 page blogs on Microsoft word and people don't read it. I find it funny how many people tell me how long my blogs are and they either have not finished it or won't read it. I don't have a problem with it. Don't read my blogs out of obligation...read out of desire to want to learn. But I am not typing these for you...I type them for myself because they help me think.
I have really learned and started to live the idea that I am not going to run to every person and say "Listen!" Rather, I am not opening my mouth on things unless someone asks.

So I now am in a dilemma though....for what am I going to do to support my life and the future people who may rely on me for support in life?
Who knows!
The only group of people I actually truly care to teach...in the sense of a responsibility to help lead in life...and would do it for a living are the youth I have already taught...and based on how that has gone, I could be a youth pastor or something and love it.
But who cares! God will work it all out. I've been thinking about all this because I had a crazy dream last night that I could not get a job after graduation and couldn't pay my loans off and was sent to prison. Awesome.
I don't want that fear to be the very thing that causes me not to do what God may want me to do.

I like music. The only true natural gift I have in this world is drumming...I am going to enhance that and work at that.

Maybe do music full time? I don't know. It was interesting, because this past Sunday I walked half hour into the New City of Jerusalem to a music store in some mall (I really had no idea where I was). But I was going crazy for a pair of drum sticks. So I bought some and a practice pad...just for something to hit. I'm standing in line and this guy next to me is all like 'you play drums?" I'm like. Yeah.

Turned out he is the worship director for a local congregation...they meet right across the hall from the music store. He has been looking for a drummer. So I went to band practice and watched. I might start playing drums for them sometime soon.

But it was so shocking....because I was expecting God to put me in the places that would be a sign as to what I should be doing in my life. I still can't wrap my mind around how many things could of happened that would have made it so I would not of met him.

A few weeks ago I posted in our school paper that I was willing to teach a Bible study on the festivals....no one has responded. Its been like 3 or 4 weeks.

And God finds me a place to possibly play drums? Interesting.

So maybe in the future I will be doing more with music than I have been thinking.But I seriously would consider doing youth pastor stuff for awhile too. Who knows ya know?
However, as far as what to do with my desire to teach....I am glad I have finally come to the conclusion that I can teach everyday...through blogs right now, and in the future find another medium. I can offer to do things, but I do not have to rely on others to want to be taught in order to teach.

You don't want to learn what I have to say, don't read my blog! So simple, so refreshing.

I will teach in the future in a way where my life is not effected by others paying attention or not. Instead, I will just rely on God and work with the things He has already blessed me with.

I am a drummer. I am a teacher.
I am not a academic person. I would go mad trying to teach what I would like to teach going through the mediums of the Churches standards today....it probably would not even be allowed. How could I ever be an ordained minister when I don't agree with half the doctrine of most Churches today? I couldn't.
So oh well.

I'm just going to live my life....and attempt to follow God with all of my Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength.

because I can't change others.

Sweet.






Shalom!

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#14-To the Church of America, Italy, Canada, Russia, United Kingdom, Ireland, Mexi...

September 26th, 2010-18th Tishrei, 5771
Today has been a very interesting day. We went on a field study to the Land of Samaria today.

We first stopped at a lookout place called Alon (pronounced "Alone"). This is the area of the Red marker below on the map. It was extremely foggy around this area because of how intense the hills are. It creates rain shadows and temperature differences, so sadly the view was not very good today, no matter where we went.

But we got to Alon and we discussed and overview of the Land of Ephraim and Manasseh and the problems they create with the Biblical text. We studied some serious stuff today. I have to explain it in this blog.

Section A
At Alon (Red marker), we discussed the background of Joshuah's conquest of Canaan and the Lands of Ephraim and Manasseh (Samaria).

View The Land of Samaria in a larger map
THIS IS A FULL INTERACTIVE MAP. CLICK ON THE COLORS FOR MORE DETAILS.

If one studies the geology of Israel, along with modern day Archeology, one finds that the heartland of the Conquest of Israel under Joshua was this area: the Lands of Ephraim and Manasseh.

Joshuah 8:30-33: The very first permanent settlement of the Land under Joshua is in this area of Israel.
Joshuah 24:1: When Joshuah passes his leadership down, he does so in Sheckem, which is in Manasseh. Why? Because he passes down the baton at the heartland of the Land of the Israelites.

Joshuah 18:1-When the land gets divided up between the tribes, it is done so at Shiloh...in Ephraim. Why? Because you break up the land with the heartland as the foundation.

The support for Samaria being the heartland and focus of the Land and the tribes goes on and on.

Whats my point? Under Joshua and through the times of the Judges, the heartland of politics, culture, and religious activities is in Ephraim and Manasseh.

NOT JUDAH.

It is interesting because this is also the only area of Canaan with no conquest account written for it. Ephraim and Manasseh's account on being taken over under Joshuah has no record in the Bible. This could be because of the fact that Abraham and Jacob had already come to the land...to Shekhem (Jacobs Well) and therefor, the Land was already theirs...they just had not been there for 400 years. (This is exactly the same position Jews have on settling the West bank today...exact same situation).

Ephraim and Manasseh is the Heart of Israel.

NOT JUDAH.
NOT THE JEWS.

Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Torah.
The Land's of Samaria are as a place for worship.

Up until the time of David, Shiloh was the heart of all religious activities to God: It was where God put His name.

Shiloh (In Ephraim) was where the Tabernacle was permanently put.
Shiloh was where the Ark of the Covenant sat.

Shiloh was where God dwelt with His people.

So where and how and why did it all switch to Jerusalem?
I found myself asking this at 10 o'clock this morning

Section B
After Alon, we went from there to Mount Gerizim. This is the Green marker on the map below.



Mt.Gerizim is the location where the Samaritans had built a Temple.
Little history:

The Samaritans and the Jews never got along throughout the Bible, and by Jesus' day (2nd Temple period) they practically hated each other.
Why? Well, Ezra mentions that the Samaritans married outside of the Jewish line. So the Jews looked at them as lower than dirt.

However, the history here is so much more than that.
The Samaritans basically had their own "Jerusalem" on top of Mt.Gerizim.
They had a Temple that they would celebrate all of the Festivals and do all of the Sacrifices at.
The Jews hated them for this.

I was amazed when we got to the top of the Mt Gerizim and learned that today, in 2010, there are 800 Samaritans left in the entire world.
400 live in the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
400 live on top of Mt. Gerizim.

And to this day they STILL do the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb.
They still do the sacrifices. They still do things the way it was done over 2,000 years ago.
Today, the Jews don't hate the Samaritans like they did in Jesus' day.....or at least not as extreme.
Today, the feeling has gone from anger to jealousy.

The Jews are jealous of the modern day Samaritans because they can still perform sacrifices.
This raises a question: Why can they still do sacrifices but the Jews can't?

Location Location Location:

It goes back to Torah.

This blew my mind and made me even more curious over what has happened in the Lands of Samaria throughout history.
Remember my question above? Where, When, and Why did the move from Samaria to Jerusalem take place?
Well, while on the top of Mt.Gerizim, we had a brief tour/history talk about the place by the son of the current High Priest of the Samaritans.
And according to the belief of the Samaritans....
they don't believe God EVER moved His chosen city from Samaria to Jerusalem.

THAT is why they are still there.
That is why today they can still do the sacrifices.
The Jews can't because there is no alter on the Mount today where they believe God put His name.

AH ha! Now we have a big conflict that in my mind questions the authority and legitimacy of the rest of the entire Bible.

Christians you need to struggle with this. This questions the entire legitimacy of the whole Bible after the Torah (After Deuteronomy).

Here is what we have:

Two groups of people.

One group says that after the book of Judges, under the authority of God...David moved God's chosen dwelling location from Shiloh in Samaria to Jerusalem in Judah. The land's of Samaria loose the blessing of having God's dwelling place (the Tabernacle) in their Land. You can read the rest of the story in the Bible... because this is the story that the whole rest of the Bible follows.

The other group of people say that God never moved His chosen location. They say that it has ALWAYS remained the same. They say that the Jews are a cult of heretical heathens who distorted the truth of God. And what is the truth of God? The Torah. Which says that His chosen location to put His name is in Samaria...and to this very day that group of people have never left. And they still keep Torah. And they still do sacrifices. They do not believe the rest of the Old Testament from Joshua to Malachi is God's Scripture. Naturally, they think the New Testament is BS.

They hold as Scripture besides the Torah.
And they Live it.


OOH. There is a HUGE DILEMMA HERE.
This is big. This is probably one of the strangest, most confusing things I have heard in years.

I am happy that God showed it to me and answered it for me in one day...which is rare. Usually I have to go through turmoil to figure out whats going on.

At 10:00 Am this morning I found myself questioning why God moved His chosen city and people: the Tribe of Manasseh to the Tribe of Judah in Jerusalem.

At 11:30 Am this morning I find myself completely questioning my very faith in God.


Section C: The Answer
After Mt.Gerizim, we head to Shiloh (The Blue marker on the map below)



Quick Recap:
The Samaritans believe nothing is Scripture except the Torah. This means the Old Testament after Deuteronomy and the New Testament is false.

The Jews believe that Torah is Scripture. Along with Joshua-Malachi.

This means that the Samaritans DO NOT accept the only Biblical explanation as to why God moved His dwelling location from Manasseh to Judah.
The Jews do however.

What is the answer as to why God moved the location where He would put His name and where He would dwell?

It would be best if you would just go and read the whole book of 1 Samuel. The whole book tells the whole story.

But here is the gist of it:

1 Samuel 2:12-17 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD. (13) The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, (14) and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. (15) Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw." (16) And if the man said to him, "Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish," he would say, "No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force." (17) Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.

-The Sons of Eli are disobeying God. They made a making a mockery out of the Commands in the Torah.

1 Samuel 2:27-28 And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, "Thus the LORD has said, 'Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father (Joseph) when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? (28) Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.

1 Samuel 2:29: Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?'

-God says it right there: The sons of Eli and Eli himself are breaking God's Torah by mocking the sacrifices.

Notice this though: The Hebrew here is fascinating.

The Hebrew word for honor your sons is כּבד כּבד or kâbad kâbêd (Strong's #H3513). We translate it as "honor" but it also means "to be heavy", or "to make weighty" or "to make fat".

Throw that back into the verse:

1 Samuel 2:29: Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and make your sons weighty (fat) above me by fattening yourselves (H1254-baw-raw') on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?'
There is a play on words here.

Continue (I am sorry but you have to read this!):
1 Samuel 2:30-36 Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: 'I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,' but now the LORD declares: 'Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor

-Guess what the Hebrew word used here for "Honor"? Thats right: kâbad kâbêd!


"and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed."- The Hebrew word used here is baw-zaw'! (H959)...it means "to scorn"!

In other words, the sons of Eli fattened themselves...they "weighted themselves up" and it built them up.
God says He will Fatten those up who Fatten HIM up...and scorn those who don't! (How logical is this verse?? Amazing.)
Ask yourself, what does it mean to "fatten" or make yourself more "weight" that is supposed to belong to God?

(31) Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. (32) Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. (33) The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men. (34) And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day. (35) And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. (36) And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, "Please put me in one of the priests' places, that I may eat a morsel of bread."'"

-Look at the punishment God is giving the family of Eli for breaking the Torah!
Eli's sons are taking the Sacrifices that are supposed to "build God up"...and using it to 'build themselves up"
But God destroys them, for He ONLY builds those up who build HIM up first.

I want you to go read the reaction God has to this: He calls Samuel. (1 Samuel 3:10-19)

1 Samuel 4:1-21 tells how God let His GLORY leave Shiloh. The Israelites abused God and God let the Ark of the Covenant be taken by the Philistines.
The last verse of this story is this:

1 Samuel 4:22 "And she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured."
Guess what the Hebrew word for "glory" is here?


H3513: kâbad kâbêd:
"and she said, 'the weight (fat) of God has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured."

Question:
Why did the "weightiness" of God's glory (Oh man!) leave Israel?
So, what does it mean to "fatten" yourself up with things that are supposed to "fatten" God up?
It means you take the glory from God.

BECAUSE THE SONS OF ELI TOOK THE WEIGHT OF THE GLORY THEMSELVES.
They glorified themselves by breaking God's Commands.

Now all you John Piper fans (Read "Desiring God")....Christian Hedonists:
If the purpose of life is to glorify God,
how is that done?

BY KEEPING HIS COMMANDS. Sadly, Piper fails to say this in his book.

John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

"those who glorify me I will glorify" -1 Samuel 2:30


Sadly, the presence of God leaves Shiloh never to return.

The rest is History from there.


Section D

We are forced to look at this HISTORY (factual, non-debatable matter) lesson one of two ways (Logic says there are only two options here....)

We can say either:
1) The Samaritans are right. God never changed the location of His dwelling place. He never changed the People that He called and put His name on. If this is the case, the rest of the Bible is wrong. David was a heathen. The prophets are all wrong.
Jesus is not Messiah.

God does not change His dwelling place.

OR

2) God DID change His location of His Home and where He would dwell. He also changed who He would put His name on and where. This means that not only is the Torah true,but that the reason why God changed His dwelling place was because the leaders broke the Torah. It also means that David was a man after God's own heart and will; the prophets were right; and Jesus is the Messiah (I know some would disagree with me on this last one...but I am writing this for the Christian Church).

God can change His dwelling place.

What is the ONLY commonality between these two views?
TORAH. (This is so important to realize).
Notice, how the entire legitimacy of the Bible comes down to this one thing: Can God change where He will dwell once He has decided?

Now, because I know Christians, you will without a doubt and a second guess pick the second option.

Good. Do it. Pick the second option. I dare you.

What is the second option?
God can change where He dwells.

You pick this option because you believe that God, through Jesus, got rid of the law (I do not know how many times I have been told this very thing this week). You believe based off of 1 Corinthians 6:19 that through Jesus Christs death and resurrection, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit that God left the presence of the Temple that stood in Jerusalem and came and dwelt inside of man making MAN THE TEMPLE OF GOD.

Good I agree with you.

Except I don't.

YOU seriously need to think about the logic in this.
See, if you accept the Samaritans view, then really life is good. Just move to Mt.Gerizim and follow Torah. Ignore the rest of the Scriptures.....ignore what the prophets say to Judah when they break Torah and God threatens to leave their presence, ignore Christ as the Messiah.

BUT.
If you believe option number two...you are forced by the laws of logic and God in my mind, to accept everything that comes before it.

A=B B=C C=D -> A=D. It is called the Transitive Property.

So the premises for this belief is this and only this (remember how I said that the legitimacy of the Scriptures comes down to if God can change His dwelling place?)

-God can change His dwelling place.
Also remember though, that BOTH the Samaritan AND the Jew accept the Torah as the word of Adonai.

Now go re-read the entire Old Testament. Do it.

What do you find?

Oh. You find that IF God can decide to change His choice of dwelling, THEN He TELLS the criteria for Him to be able to stay in that location of Dwelling. (IF b then c: Therefor: b->c; call this premise "B"...I swear, this is all logically correct.)

Uh-Oh. My heart is beating a 130 beats per minute....people could dance to this stuff.

by 3:00 this afternoon while learning this stuff...

I started to think:
"Wait..Wait...wait...wait: God can change His dwelling place on earth?"

I mean, I obviously believed that, but then doesn't that mean that if God wants to change from Shiloh to Jerusalem..from Ephraim to Judah...
that He can just change from "Jews to Christians?"(If thats what you want to call it....)

Suddenly I found myself facing a thought that freaked me out...the idea of God abolishing His promise to Abraham; abolishing His Torah. Considering this just seemed so contradictory to everything I believe and tons of Scripture too. My explanation for WHY this is contradictory to Scripture is firmly grounded in Scripture. But that is a different blog and I am not going in to details on that right now.

Now, I KNOW I am going to get some Christian on here who will use this argument to say I am wrong...to say that God can change location AND change His Law: that the criteria for where He dwells is not the Torah.

but there is a WHOLE other way of looking at this:

The exact opposite. (I am using Logic variables here)
If God changes from Shiloh to Jerusalem (therefor, C{B->C} (God can change His dwelling (= C {Shiloh to Jerusalem}), then Jerusalem to the whole World (B{b->c}=C=D (Jerusalem to the Hearts of Man)...what does that mean? It means that God SAYS His premise for where He dwells is based on if man will hear and obey His commands...(A).
Start here:

Notice how I said earlier that BOTH options (The Samaritans or the Jews) accept the Torah. Interesting.
And based on Scripture, even though God changed the location of where He put His name...this does not go against Torah.

In fact, the opposite because God expected the SAME from Judah as He did from Manasseh.

-Jeremiah 7-
"The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: (2) "Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD. (3) Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. (4)(b) Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.' (/b) (5) "For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, (6) if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, (7) then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.
"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. (9) Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, (10) and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'--only to go on doing all these abominations? (11) Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.

-Oh. That last verse should ring a bell....haha. Jesus is saying to Judah in His day the exact same thing Jeremiah was saying to Judah in His day: God will take His presence from you....and both are prophesying that God is going to move from the Temple to the Hearts of man!


The next verses are CRUCIAL:

Jeremiah 7:12-15 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel . (13) And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, (14) therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. (15) And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.


As it was in Shiloh, so it is in Jerusalem.

....By 4:00 PM I was beginning to understand....

Jeremiah 7:22-26
"For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. (23) But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.' (24) But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. (25) From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. (26) Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers."

This verse gives me chills.

Look at this:
"I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. (23) But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice"

Oh man. I can't even explain right now what this means.

Next blog. I think this may have to be a two part. This verse is the Thesis to my entire belief system about Jesus and the fulfillment of Torah.

By 2:00AM I understood.
This is the best picture of Yeshua I have ever been blessed with personally.

Moral of the story:

As it was in Samaria, so it is in Judah.
As it is in Shiloh, so it is in Jerusalem.
As it is in the Tabernacle, so shall it be in the Temple
As it is in the Temple, so shall it be in those who call on the voice of the LORD.

"I am the LORD and I do not change"-Adonai

If you accept that God can change where He dwells, you better fear God like Jeremiah urged Judah to fear God....for God CAN change where He dwells, and the requirements for Him to dwell remain the same.

The differences between us today being the Temple verses Jerusalem and Shiloh, is God wont leave His Temple now. Because now there is no middle ground....or anywhere else to go...UNLESS Jesus is not the Messiah (In which case we all might as well be Samaritans!)

Now this gets fascinating.
When the people of Shiloh disobey God-God leaves.

However, when Judah disobeys God-God makes JUDAH leave.
In other words, God does not re-locate Himself anymore. He stays AND YOU need to change. Not Him.

Now, if we are the Temple of the LORD, you are either in or your out...and if you aren't obeying the VOICE of Adonai...you cannot be in. He won't leave you. He will cast you out. He will claim to of never of known you.

(I realize this is the only part of my argument that is not logically sufficient, for God obviously "left"-whatever that means...Jerusalem and entered the hearts of man, even though I just said God was not leaving anymore...but the reason why I am saying that now it is like it was at the Babylonian exile is because of Christ. What is God going to do, send another Messiah? NO. God is staying put, so now He doesn't know you if you are not in...again, unless Christ is not the Messiah.)

As it was in one Temple, it was ALWAYS the same in the others.
You give me ONE verse where this does not apply to our lives today....
if not, it applies MORE SO BECAUSE WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE WEIGHT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.

God's requirements for Him to dwell with man has been established for 1000000000000000000000000000+ years.
And His name is Yeshua.
And His word is the Torah.
And you need to KNOW Him.

God will not "move" His presence again like He did with Shiloh.
God will not "choose" a new people again.

"It is Finished."

You are either a part of this Temple for good or you or not.
But you have to OBEY THE VOICE OF GOD....there is no way around it.

Not the traditions of men!

Jeremiah 7:31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

And until the Bride of Christ lets go of these traditions, it will never be the Bride Adonai has ALWAYS desired.
You FILL THE TEMPLE OF GOD WITH YOUR IDOLS OF MAN....YOUR TRADITIONS AND SCHEMES TO JUSTIFY YOUR WAYS.
YOU CRY "THE TEMPLE, THE TEMPLE THE TEMPLE...I AM THE TEMPLE.(Jeremiah 7:4) JESUS WON'T LEAVE ME."

But the fact is HE WAS NEVER WITH YOU.

FOR HE HAS SAID "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (22) On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' (23) And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of TORAH-LESSNESS (lawlessness).' (24) "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (25) And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (26) And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.


"I NEVER KNEW YOU" -Jesus

Section E-The Conclusion
God dwells where man obeys...for KNOWING God is to hear His voice and obey Him (A)
God can change where He dwells. (B)
God dwells in Shiloh. (-> C)
Shiloh breaks God's Commands (Torah). (C=-A=B)
God moves to Jerusalem.(D) (This proves B)
Judah breaks God's Commands (Torah).(D->-A=B)
Judah moves to Babylon.
God stays put.
Jesus comes and fulfills the ultimate role of the mediator between Man and God.
God dwells IN man. (E)
God stays if man KNOWS Him (E->A).
Therefor, if you don't know the Voice of God...He does not know you. (E->-A=B)

Nothing has changed throughout history. God expects from man what He has always expected from man.

A and B are always constant for God. His location may change but His premise for staying is always the same: Know and obey His voice.
If A then -B
If -A then B.
Read this as "If you know God's voice then He dwells in you and He will not leave."
But...
"If you don't know Gods voice then He does not dwell in you and will leave."

The requirement: KNOW the LORD-Yeshua..and to Know Him is to Hear His voice...to Walk in His Halakha. (Next Blog I will explain this!).. because as we can see, we have established that God can dwell where He wants to based off of His requirements.
So what are His requirements? Next blog.

If today the Church believes that God will still dwell in our hearts even if we do not follow God (as the Torah says), then mind you, we are no different than Shiloh or Judah. Read Jeremiah! That is exactly what Jeremiah warned Judah not to think and believe!
If you take the Commands of God out of this equation, you negate the whole thing. Why? Because the Torah was the foundation and absolute guarantee that God would dwell with man (heck, the Torah is how we knew the presence of God through Yeshua would dwell with man...read Luke 24:13-27)! This means that there is no sound way of saying that the Samaritans today are wrong if you get rid of the Torah still applying in our lives today! Because there is only two ways to look at this: either God can decide where to dwell (the Bible teaching), or He already decided in Samaria (the Samaritan teaching). But the premise is obeying Torah! So you get rid of that, you might as well move to Mt.Gerizim to dwell with God.

Ooh. This gets interesting.

If you study Scripture...Old and New...you find that THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE REQUIREMENT OF GOD FROM THE BEGINNING.
It was not about keeping Torah...it was about KNOWING God. There is a difference...again though, I will explain this in my next blog.

"On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' (23) And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you"

The Greek word here for Knew is "γινώσκω" (Ginosko)or ἔγνων(egnon)
It is the same word used in the Septuagint for Genesis 4:1-

"Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD."

The Hebrew word used is "ידע"
yaw-dah'

Yeshua is saying that if you don't KNOW Him like Adam KNEW His Wife...and that knowing resulted in a son (in other words a deep, intimate, relationship)...then you will not enter into the Kingdom of God....and God will not dwell in you....and you won't dwell with Him.

You should seriously read "Sex God" by Rob Bell if you want to get a fuller picture on what it means to have a deep, intimate relationship with God.

You will not be the Little Man of God's Eye (Deuteronomy 32:10) if you don't make God's Torah the little man of your eye (Proverbs 7)! Why? Because when you focus on the Torah and "make these words the forefront of your mind (Deuteronomy 6), as the Shema says....only THEN can you stare God back into His eyes...and only then does He see Himself in you... because He IS dwelling inside of you! The Torah is the bottom line of His will for how we live in this world.

And now we see the true reason why Shiloh failed and why Judah and the Jews have always failed, and therefor, we can truly understand the Gospel of Christ:

1 Samuel 2:12 "Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD."
The Hebrew here is Yaw-dah'!

1 Samuel 3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
The Hebrew word here is Yaw-dah'!

BUT this verse right here gives us the answer to what it means to know the LORD.
Samuel did not know the LORD yet because Samuel had not had the Word of the LORD revealed to Him!

What does it mean to KNOW the LORD?

TO HEAR HIS VOICE...AND HIS VOICE IS HIS WORD.....HIS TORAH....HIS COMMANDS.

My next blog will be just on this and will prove once and for all what I am saying.
It will explain why Torah needs to be kept yet why keeping Torah is not the same as KNOWING the LORDS Word....and therefor, Torah does not give Salvation, but Salvation allows you to live the way God desires His followers to live! (Because THIS is Heaven...THIS is Shalom...This is Eden....read my past blogs to understand fully what I am saying.)

I will answer this question in my next blog: What does it mean to KNOW the LORD?

To KNOW the LORD is to Keep His Commands by Hearing His voice. Thats my answer, but I will Biblically prove it in my next blog.

So, if you want into this Temple.
This Temple of Messiah-the SON of Adonai-
Then you NEED to Hear His Voice and Obey His Commands.

God commanded Moses on what to put in the Tabernacle in Exodus 38.
VERY specific instructions.
Question: If Moses said "NO God...I will put in your Holy of Holies whatever I please"
Would God have still dwelt there?
NO.

And If God says to you-the Church-The Temple of Christ: "KEEP my Sabbath...enter my rest" and you say "No. I will do as I please."

Will God still dwell with US?
Don't count on it.
I pluralize "Us" BECAUSE in 1 Corinthians 6:19, when Paul calls us the Temple of God-the current dwelling place of Adonai,

He says YOU are the Temple. but the "you" there in Greek is ὑμῶν (Humos).
This is Plural.
We are not a bunch of little temples of God running around.
We all make up the one Temple of God...together.

Man, "Kawhal" makes sense to me....read my paper on EKKLESIA. See, I meet followers of God all the time who are on the right path with God. No problems. People who live above the Law without breaking it. I am not talking about our individual relationships with God. I am talking about OUR relationship with God.

We are the Temple.



To the Church of Christ:

You are Shiloh of the modern day.


The Tabernacle Plateau of Shiloh. Note it's emptiness.

Shalom!

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