Establishing A Relationship With God

ESTABLISHING A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD Visit my Blog http://godsaffairs.blogspot.com to find this and other articles about the same genre. I also invite you to write there your comments or just write me at my e-mail address [email protected]. May God bless you and keep you! For the vast majority of people, life is just a product of being alive, since none of us have chosen to be born and to live; we’re just happen to be here in this planet, living among billions of other people and doing basically what those around us do to cope with our situations and problems. Most of us don’t even know why we are here, living, so we just try not to think much about it, but, still, we have to go through life for many years: First as babies and toddlers, we have to deal with dissatisfaction everytime we can’t get everything we want, and with the reprimands and punishments from our parents everytime we do something bad, even though we don’t understand why was it bad; then at school age, as family issues were not enough, we have to deal with teachers and school administrators, their demands, a strict code of behavior, harsh tests and tedious homework, more family problems, etc., all within a time lapse of about 13 years, at the end of which the new challenges of having to choose a College career take many of us to a totally unknown dimension of some happy crazy times, many frustration episodes, an almost unbearable load of academic responsibilities, lectures, more homework, presentations, etc., and when College ends and we think we are done and joy would come to our lives, it is then when our real amount of problems rise up to the sky during the rest of our lives, with the pressure for being married with the perfect half, to get the job of our dreams that actually never comes to us, dealing with our children without knowing how, trying always to choose the perfect friends, striving for being noticeable and important into our society, dealing with those who play dirty and unfair against us, wanting to have the house you always dreamt of, working day and night to have tons of money to spend it in brand new luxury cars, huge TV sets, cutting edge audio systems, boats, planes, trips around the world, the pleasure to show off with your relatives and friends, fighting the feeling of frustration and anxiety when those tons of money never get to you, and finally when time comes, you die with a terrible fear of not knowing what will be beyond… …DID WE ASK FOR ALL THIS???... Certainly not!, but if you are reading this, you are alive, so I’m afraid you, as well as I, have to do your best to survive. If all these huge amount of troubles are not enough, there is one more issue most of us have to add to our already convulsive life: Religion and faith to a God we don’t see and we don’t understand, but since everyone else seems to believe in Him, then we try to do the same. This is what we’ve been taught to do, so why not?, after all, by just trying, we are accepted by the rest of the people that lives around us (family, friends and the society). Actually, the mere fact of belonging to a certain religious congregation, regardless of its denomination, has become an important element of our social status, bringing along respect, new friends, some sense of belonging and the feeling that we are doing the right thing.

Well, this is all right since there is nothing bad about it, but now we have to ask ourselves: Am I really having a Relationship with God? Is it what I’m doing good enough to have a Relationship with God?, and maybe the most important one… Do I really know how to establish a Relationship with my God? Many people are led to think that they have a relationship with God just because they go to church every, or almost every Sunday. Many of them go further and light up candles as an offer for their prayers to be heard, get actively involved into church ministries, and some even sacrifice themselves physically by performing mortification offerings, all these things just to obtain God’s benevolence and of course, salvation… …But, are they doing enough?...Are they doing what it is right? I’m sure you, my dear reader would agree with me that God’s blessings and favors, as well as salvation can only be obtained by doing what God wants us to do!...This is a logical statement and one that most believers, if not all of them, one way or another seem comfortable to accept, because it seems to be true, according to what we’ve been taught. Well, I have good news and bad news: Good news is, Yes, it is very true that by doing everything God wants us to do, we get entitled to receive His blessings and, at the end of our lives, also be eternally blessed with Salvation. Bad news is, even though we think and even feel sure about doing what God wants us to do, WE MIGHT NOT BE DOING IT AT ALL!!! I was not only surprised when I realized about this…I was shocked!!!...Well, I’m not precisely the one who used to go to church every Sunday, not even half of the year’s Sundays, I didn’t use to pray everyday, I didn’t use to have the presence of God in my mind and heart all day long, everyday, etc., etc., etc. In other words, I wasn’t an example to follow on things related to God, and today, even after all the good change that has happened deep inside of me and after humbly saying that I’m kind of doing better, I still don’t feel myself as an example to be followed. What is most important to me is that now I know what to do to get blessed by God and eventually reach His Salvation, and I’m actually doing my best to do what He established He wants me and us to do!!! Then I realized that I had to seek for somehow establishing a Relationship with my God, because I thought, How can I receive all His favors if I’m not doing anything right for Him?... and then I asked myself many questions: Do I really know who He is or what exactly does He want from me?... I assumed I knew and followed His commandments, but Do I really know and follow all of them?... And about this Jesus, what do I really know about Him?... What’s exactly His role in all this?... should I accept and believe absolutely everything that’s written in the Bible?

So during my search for the truth I learnt something that started significantly changing my heart and my mind: NOTHING THAT I DO TO BE CLOSE TO GOD WILL BE ACCEPTED BY HIM IF IT’S NOT BACKED UP BY HIS WORD!!!... And where do we find His WORD? WE FIND IT IN THE BIBLE!!!... The Bible is the WORD OF GOD!!!

Let’s start from the beginning: What is the concept of Relationship? The next description of what a relationship is, specifically an interpersonal relationship, was found on wikipedia, a well-known online dictionary: “An interpersonal relationship is a relatively long-term association between two or more people. This association may be based on emotions like love and liking, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships take place in a great variety of contexts, such as family, friends, marriage, acquaintances, work, clubs, neighborhoods, and churches. They may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and are the basis of social groups and society as a whole. Although humans are fundamentally social creatures, interpersonal relationships are not always healthy. Examples of unhealthy relationships include abusive relationships and codependence. A relationship is normally viewed as a connection between two individuals, such as a romantic or intimate relationship, or a parent-child relationship. Individuals can also have relationships with groups of people, such as the relation between a pastor and his congregation, an uncle and a family, or a mayor and a town.” In the above description, the key word to define a relationship is “association”, and it says that this association is based on some kind of regulation, which of course implies some sort of agreement. As obvious as it may seem, I shall not take the chance to leave without mention the fact that, a relationship may only exist if two or more people or entities are involve in it and by no means it is a matter of one only individual. Perhaps you, my dear readers, don’t know that God Almighty has been so kind with all mankind, His sons and daughters, that He as our Father in Heaven set up a clear and definitive basis for us to establish a Relationship with Him. Yes, I’m telling you the truth!, it is all written in the Bible: He made an association with the Hebrews first, setting up all the required regulations for them to follow, and then, He made several agreements with them. But this is not all: He then extended this association to the rest of the mankind through our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) and with exactly the same premises that He established for the Jews!! No, I’m not out of my mind and I’m not lying! But this, especially for some believers, is very hard to understand, because all the misinterpretations, misconceptions, and erratic actions taken by the leaders of the Christian Religion led by the Roman Emperor Constantine, back in the beginning of the 4th Century AD. Moreover, maybe the fact that did the most damage in regard to spreading the correct and true

meanings of what God wants us to do to establish a Relationship with Him, was the brilliant but mislead interpretation of the Bible’s scriptures by the new emergent Christian religion leaders, some of which took charge against the Jews (Hebrews) by blaming them for having killed Yeshua (Jesus). This fact, or cluster of facts, happened within about 400 years after the death of Yeshua (Jesus) and shaped the emergence of a totally new and diferent creed together with a bunch of new doctrines, which took form as the brand new Christian Religion. These new Christian religion leaders were the Gentile (non-Jewish) followers and pupils of some of the Apostles, such as Simon Peter and Sha’ul (Paul) which after their conversion to the new faith were assigned as Bishops (faith overseers, congregational leaders) of the different cities these Apostles were preaching the Good News of Yeshua and establishing congregations of believers, first in Asia Minor (actual Turkey) and then throughout the whole Roman Empire, including Rome itself. After the disappearance of the original Apostles, these Bishops used to assign new Bishops in their succession, claiming to be succesors of the Apostle Peter by tradition. At first instance, these Gentile (non-Jewish) Bishops didn’t know much about the Jewish background, in contrast to the solid scriptural knowledge of the Apostles, which were Jewish and knew the Scriptures of the Tanakh very dearly, since they were coming from a totally different culture(s) and religion(s), so that Jewish background so important to understand our God Father and our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) wasn’t passed to them. Even though these Gentile Bishops accepted the Jewish Messiah in their hearts, their understanding of His teachings and the meaning of His life, death, resurrection and redeption was more idealistic than realistic, more mistic than factual. Yes, they accepted it but many whats, hows and whys rested unanswered in their hearts and minds. Just as many believers today confess accepting Jesus in their hearts, most of them haven’t grasped the very meaning of these matters related to the Messiah. As a direct consequence and I’d dare to say, still influenced by their own culture and former religious beliefs, they started to add alternative theologycal concepts and non-biblical based explanations led by their own spiritual inquietudes. Time went by and their Bishop offices were gaining more respect, leadership and power amongst the people (Gentiles) living in their cities and surrounding areas, so their influence in the people were growing rapidly, and so did their teachings, new doctrines and edicts. Have you been able to picture all this already? I want to point out that everything I’m writing here has come from a long and many times difficult research I’ve being doing in order to bring you all these facts with clarity and as much veracity as the availability of documentation has permitted me. Even though I’m intending to bring out a new article in which the facts and discussions about the history of Christianity will be presented to my dear readers, the purpose of this article called up for and forced me to include the present summary of such a history, in order to bring a clear understanding on why Christians might not be doing which is right to establish a relationship with their God and their Messiah, as I stated in the second page of this article. Continuing with this histoy summary, the existing Bishops of Asia Minor and Europe used to exchange letters and visitings in order to share their new and personal spiritual insights among themselves, which brought an obvious ground for agreements and disagreements, side takings, strong controversies, affiliations and rejections and all sorts of affairs, in an attempt to set some kind of acceptable concensus concerning the establishment of a common criteria among the leading Bishops of the different and still unorganized Christian Congregations or Ecclesias (Greek for Congregations). This

was the growing and changing scenario among the pre-Christian Congregations spread across parts of Europe and the near east, until the Roman Emperor Constantine claimed to become a Christian, more for politics than for real conviction, and in AD 325 appointed all the existing Bishops of the Empire to meet at the famous Council of Niacea. The purpose of the Councils was (is) to set unified criteria upon religious matters among the different points of view presented in such events for discussion. The first or original Christian religion started to take shape arround the following decades until eventually it was proclaimed as the Catholic (Universal) Church with a Pope as its supreme leader. Now, if you are able to understand all these historic facts which you can verify easily through the Internet, for instance, then think about the following: These Bishops and the very Emperor Constantine, which were coming from several different cultural, ethnical and religious backgrounds, where pagan cults to a splendid parthenon of Gods was the common ground among them and among the rest of the population throughout the vastness of the Roman Empire, suddenly started facing the greatest of the challenges. If the Emperor and the Bishops have already embraced Christianity, the majority of the people of the Empire haven’t yet… …Picture this: Constantine decides for the good of the Empire, which at that time was breaking apart for several reasons, to establish Christianity as the formal religion for all the peoples under his sovereignity and this way, be able to keep the Empire unity, but how would he manage to convince millions of subjects to reject and forget their gods and religious beliefs, and embrace a brand new religion with a foreign God (Yahweh), a strange Messiah they didn’t know they needed (Yeshua ( Jesus)), a bunch of weird Scriptures that are written in an uncomprehensible language (Hebrew), and a new set of added doctrines which make no sense to them????… …Moreover, imagine these millions of people at the time those Scriptures were revealed to them once first translated into Greek, which talked about this foreign God that CHOSE THE JEWISH PEOPLE AS HIS PEOPLE (inferior subjects of the Empire) and ESTABLISHED COVENANTS WITH THEM, and DELIVERED THEM FROM SLAVERY by performing awesome deeds and miracles, and TOOK THEM BY THE HAND to a LAND THAT HE PROMISED TO THEM (a Land that was subjected as a mere province of the Empire), and SENT HIS OWN BELOVED SON YESHUA (Jesus) TO LIVE AMONG THEM AND BLESS THEM WITH HIS TEACHINGS, and then DIED FOR THEM AND DELIVERED THEM FROM SIN!!... …WOW!!!!!!... ISN’T THIS HEAVY????... …Well, this all happened indeed, and to achieve this, Constantine first decreed free of cult through the empire and empowered the Christian Bishops to be more aggressive towards the conversion of the people around their dominions. Bishops then started being seen as some sort of kings, with total authority in religious and political matters, and then throughout time, the God, the Messiah and the Scriptures of the Jews became the God, the Messiah and the Scriptures of the Gentiles. Some of the most respectable Bishops begun to spread sentiments of hatred against the Jews, blaming them for having killed Jesus, since obviously didn’t understand that their Messiah’s main purpose on earth was to give Himself as the perfect sacrifice Lamb to forgive our sins, no matter which people had been chosen by God to fulfill this (My article THE LAMB OF GOD explains this deeply). All this was happening within certain time, Yeshua’s name was westernized and changed to Isus (Greek) and Jesu (Latin), and then Jesus, as

well as it happened with the rest of the Jewish characters of the Renewed Covenant, which of course they called it New Testament to separate it from the Jewish Tanakh. All these historical facts and changes, additions and subtraction, amplifications and contractions, deviations and misinterpretations, lack of original fundamental background and lots of Scriptures translation mistakes, get us back to the heart of this message: Today’s Christianity is so different appart from what the whole thing originally was at the time of Yeshua, that many of its religious uses, costumes, dogmas and traditions are not biblical at all. Christianity and all the people under its umbrella, regardsless of any denomination, claim the Bible as being the very WORD OF GOD, the indisputable base for the Christian Creed, the ultimate set of standards under which Christians are encouraged to live their lives. At this point I’m assuming all Christian readers completely agree with me, that’s what our Bible stands for!!... …Well, if this is true, why then Christians do so different to what the Bible says they should do?????... …Before I continue, I want to make it clear again: I believe in God and I believe in Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, I believe in the Holy Spirit, I believe that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are God, and that our God is ONE, I believe that the Holy Bible is indeed the Word of God and I accept it as the ultimate set of standards under which I live by. So as being me just like one of you my dear Christian reader, I share with you this common ground about our faith, so whatever I write here for you, is for your own good, but don’t believe me; test everything I write here againts the Bible, for I don’t want you to feel decieved by me. Please stay with me patiently and look for the truth! Let’s refer to something every Christian, one way or another should be familiar with: The Ten Commandments as they are written in the Bible, and I mean, all Bibles: Exodus 20 (Old Testament): Exo 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying, Exo 20:2 I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, Exo 20:6 and showing loving-kindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Exo 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Exo 20:11 for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exo 20:12 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not kill. Exo 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. Exo 20:15 Thou shalt not steal. Exo 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Exo 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

The First Commandment (verses 20:3 to 20:6) states not to make any graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Then Why Catholics and Orthodox Christians have images and statues in their churches and homes? (Virgin Mary, Jesus, the Saints, etc.). Yeshua (Jesus) as a Jew He was, perfectly understood and followed this Commandment. The Commandment continues: “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them”… Then Why Catholic and Orthodox Christians bow and serve their images? (Praying to these images of Mary, Jesus, the Saints, offering them promises in exchange for favors or miracles, lighting up candle offerings toward them, etc.) The Fourth Commandment (verses 20:8 to 20:11) states: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy”. Then Why Christians insist in keeping and worshipping on Sunday instead of Saturday (Sabbath). As you may check in any calendar in your house or office, the seventh day is always Saturday (Sabbath), not Sunday. God Himself states in the commandment that He blessed the Sabbath day and made it Holy, never the Sunday. Yeshua (Jesus) used to observe the Sabbath, He actually used to go every Sabbath to the Synagogue during all His life. The Seventh Commandment (verse 20:14) states: “You shall not commit adultery”. Then why so many Christians commit adultery? Why so many Christians see adultery as something not good but they still tolerate it? I could write a lot about the Ten Commandments but for the purpose of this article, I just wanted to set an example to prove the point of it. If the Christian Churches teach that we should live like Jesus did, by His example, the Why in the world are Christians living totally different than Him? Once you separate what you may be feeling at this moment and think about this for a couple of seconds, question yourself: Does this make any sense? Not to me!! Leaving now the Ten Commandments, let me offer you another example (This one might hurt but please stay with me and think): It is a fact (search it on Google) and many Christian people know about it, including the Clergy, with all due respect, that Yeshua (Jesus) wasn’t born December the 25th.

If we know this is true, then Why do we still celebrate Christmas on December 25th? Wrong traditions will not lead us to Salvation. Christmas is not a Biblical Feast. Actually no one of the Christian Feasts and High Commemorations are Biblical, with the exception of Pentecost. God commanded all the Feasts He wanted us to observe and celebrate, as well as gave us instructions of how to celebrate them, they are written in the Bible, the book of the Christian Faith, but Christians have never observed them. Ask yourself WHY???? These few appointed discrepancies that I brought to you between the Bible (Word of God) and the Christian faith, beliefs and practices, are just a spec of dust compared to the hundreds that I could list and explain to you, and my intention to let you know all this is for the solely purpose of WAKING YOU UP, if you really want to be saved and do the right thing before your God Almighty. At this point of the article… …Don’t you feel like you are serving and worshipping a God other than the one on the Bible?... …Are you really following the Messiah you are supposed to?... …Do you think that by doing what God does not want you to do and more important, by not doing what God wants you to do, you will be entitle for Blessings and Salvation? All what I have exposed to you so far through this article might be very confusing and bitter for many of you, my fellow Christians, and I know that many of those who started reading it didn’t want to go on until this very word. But if you have followed me until this point regardless of what your feelings are, then I’ll praise our Lord a thousand times for it, since that means your heart is getting stronger by seeking for the truth of the Word of God, despite the antagonistic thoughts coming from your mind. It’s not your fault that you didn’t know all this, and it’s not my call nor my intention to point or blame someone, but if you begin following the Call of God which is the only right way and it’s based totally in the Bible, The Holy Word of God, you will then start realizing that many practices that your Christian Church and/or religion undertakes and leads you to do the same way aren’t based in His Word and Commandments, but they are actually coming from Pagan religious traditions and practices. Let’s take again the example of Christmas: I told you above that Yeshua (Jesus) wasn’t born in December 25 th, and I’m about to prove it so you won’t feel deceived by me: Winter season in Israel is very cold and if you know the fact that temperatures in desserts are dramatically changing from too hot to too cold in a single day on a regular basis, then you may agree with me that during winter time, lower temperatures can be extremely cold. If we accept the account of Yeshua’s (Jesus’) birth in Bethlehem and place this event during this season, maybe Yeshua Himself would have survived because of His divine nature, but Mary and Joseph would have died for sure. Also, it is recorded in the Mishnah (A Jewish book that contains old traditions and uses) that every year during the OctoberNovember time period, all shepherds used to keep their lambs and other live stock away from the fields and place them into barns, to precisely protect them from the cold weather during winter time, so they were released out again at the end of February. Based on this old but accurate account as it is, there were no shepherds working around anywhere in Israel, and this includes Bethlehem and its vicinities. The biblical account related with the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) tells us: Luk 2:8 And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. Luk 2:9 And an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. Luk 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people:

Luk 2:11 for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luk 2:12 And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. Luk 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased. Luk 2:15 And it came to pass, when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. Luk 2:16 And they came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger. Luk 2:17 And when they saw it, they made known concerning the saying which was spoken to them about this child. If the shepherds weren’t working with their flocks on the fields during December, then to which shepherds did the angel address to? So, obviously the event of the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) couldn’t have happened on December 25th. So where does celebrating Christmas on this date come from? The Roman Emperor Constantine established it and declared it during the mid 4th Century, mixing the birth of the Messiah with the already celebrated birth of the Sun God (Pagan tradition), with corresponded to about four days after the winter solstice, when the Sun starts to bring longer light days. See these links: http://dancingfromgenesis.wordpress.com/2008/12/23/roman-emperor-constantine-started-established-christmascelebration-with-pagan-festivals-of-mediterranean-osirian-sarturnalia-and-rites-of-persian-mithra-sun-fire-godworship-merged-with-christmas-cel/ http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm http://www.thercg.org/books/ttooc.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas My dear readers and fellow Christians, if you read the information contained in the above links or just Google “The origin of Christmas” and read some of the more than 1,400,000 Links, you just realized that it’s not me who’s inventing all this shocking information, but instead, they are historical and well documented true facts. Moreover, if you paid close attention to the links you went through, you realized by now that many of them are Christian Web Sites of different denominations. By now, I’m just done about bringing you more proofs, but I would invite you to go a step further and conduct an easy but very productive research on Google about topics like the “Origin of Easter”, “Origin of the Christmas Tree”, “Santa Claus”, “Saint Nicholas”, and “Isis and the Virgin Mary”. Yes, the results you’ll have will be shocking, but if you are looking for the truth and really want to rectify your ways, be brave and do it. Remember: The Truth Shall set you free!!! Let’s refocus and ask to ourselves: Why again do I need to know all this? My fellow Christians, I invite you to think about what of those religious traditions described above have you been following and practicing during all your life… …many of you have even treasured dearly these religious traditions and practices with all your heart…I have, in the past! Now ask yourself: Are these religious traditions commanded by our God? Are they commanded in the Bible?

Might they be of Pagan origin? Are you worshipping and praising God His way (according to what He stated in the Bible it should be) or your way, or your religion’s way? Which of these ways should be the appropriate one? Have you ever looked in the Bible for the veracity and truthfulness of your religious traditions and practices? If you are absolutely sure the God of the Bible is your God and the God of your ancestors, and the God of your Children, and your Children’s children, then you need to refocus and think critically about what are you doing and what should you be doing? Our God Yahweh, as He introduced Himself to Moses, gave us the Torah (the First Five (5) books of the Tanakh (Christian’s Old Testament)), which Christians call it “The Law”, referred as well to as “The Mosaic Law”, which contains all the Covenants, promises, blessings, warnings and instruction for us to live in harmony and order among ourselves and with Him. These manual for living includes instructions in regards with health, healthy diet, civil code, business code, labor instructions and worshipping code. On the last one, I was tempted to describe it as religious code, but He didn’t invent or establish a religion, but a whole way of living, instead. Moses and Aaron themselves wrote the Torah, which was dictated directly from Yahweh in the Tent of Meeting, which He ordered Moses to build everytime the Congregation of Israel would set camp in the wilderness throughout the 40 years the Exodus lasted, from the deliverance of slavery in Egypt to the time the Hebrew entered the Promised Land (Canaan). Apart from the first Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) which were carved by the very hand of our God on stone, there are 603 more Commandments in the Torah, totaling to 613. Now think this: If the Christian religion(s) and the people who follow this faith haven’t been willing to obey the first Ten Commandments in its entirety, what’s left for the rest of the 603 other Commandments, which are equally important, since they come from the same source, Yahweh our God Almighty? Why would you think that God established one set of instructions for the Jews and another totally different and in some instances, even opposite to the Christians? Even more odd: Where are God’s instructions for the Christians, if it is said according with that faith that “The Law” was nailed in the Cross? With all due respect, I’d like to know where is that written in the Bible? Yeshua (Jesus) was always talking and referencing about the Torah during His more than 3 years of preaching the Word of God in His message (Mathew 5), so you are telling me that at the moment of His death He just decided He was wrong? Peter and Paul talked repeatedly about observing “The Law” years after Yeshua’s (Jesus’) death, so whom do we believe to, the Bible, or our Christian leaders and religions? You are telling me that Christians don’t have and need any Law? Or perhaps the laws invented and imposed by men (criminal law, labor law, transit law, mercantile law, etc.) are more important? Well, ironically, YES, men’s laws are more important for Christians, since their non compliance implies punishment. Certainly, God’s Laws also assures punishment when we don’t observe them, but beware, maybe your life today, my fellow Christian, is somewhat miserable or at least full of problems, uneasiness, illness, bitterness, lacking of any sense, etc. Yeshua Himself was bound to and observant to His Father’s Law. He set all the examples for us to follow and we just don’t follow them. Please, dare to compare yourself in the following table against what Yeshua (Jesus) used to observe in accordance to the Law and what you as a Christian, do instead:

Yeshua (Jesus)…

We…

Observed the Sabbath (Saturday), worshipped the Lord Don’t, but go to Church on Sundays instead. on Saturdays. Didn’t work on Sabbath (Saturdays).

Do work.

Didn’t eat Pork, Lobster, Shrimp, Crab, Sea Shells, as Enjoy eating all these kinds of food without restriction. it’s written in the Law. Knew the Law and the Tanakh to the bone as the rest of the Jews and observed the Law with zealous.

Don’t know or observe God’s Law, but prefer instead men’s law.

Observed all the Biblical Feasts: Passover, unleavened bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Yom Kippur and Tabernacles (These are not the Jewish feasts as there are so called by Christians, but are our very God’s Appointed Times.

Don’t even know these feasts existed, with the exception maybe of Pentecost, which is barely observed and understood. You do in contrast observe all Christian feasts which many of them are from Pagan origin.

Didn’t even dare to worship any image or idol, pray to, Many Christian denominations openly worship images or serve any of them. and idols, pray to, and serve them. Didn’t add, subtract or change anything to the Word of Added new feasts, subtracted all God’s Feasts (except God. Pentecost), added and subtracted to the Word of God, mistranslated the Bible. Loved His Heavenly Father our God with all His heart.

Love money and life pleasures with all your heart, having God not even as your last priority.

Knew the God of the Bible.

Don’t even know His name.

Knew the Word of God (The Bible) in detail and acknowledged it all as true.

Don’t even know the books included in the “New Testament”, even less those in the “Old Testament”. You don’t know the Word of God (Bible) and don’t acknowledge it all as true, since you don’t believe in miracles, have lots of doubts about the Creation Biblical account and replace it with Darwinism, which is scientifically week and baseless.

I know and I hope that some of the items of the above list do not apply, or not entirely apply to some of you and I present my excuses, but, don’t mostly all of them apply to you as a Christian? Once again I’m not blaming you or anybody else and it is NOT my intention to offend anyone, but I must pull some important yet somewhat painful strings, in order for you to think critically regardless of your feelings.

Christians know almost nothing about these things because of what happened throughout the historical facts I explained you before. At the present time and given all the elements that define you as a Christian, still kind of believe in the God of the Jews, and accept the Bible, a Jewish book in its entirety, as the basis of your faith, and accept Yeshua (Jesus) the Jewish Messiah as yours. Now you might be asking to yourselves: If I’m not a Jew, Why then should I follow the God of the Jews?

Again, there is no way, you my fellow Christian would understand the complex answer to this question at this very moment, but I’m about to tell you a useful answer that will definitely satisfy your heart immediately: From all the Gods that mankind has created, named or considered worthy of worshipping, NO OTHER GOD has introduced Himself to any men on Earth, but YAHWEH; NO OTHER GOD has been ALIVE and ALMIGHTY without limitations, but YAHWEH; NO OTHER GOD has given a whole set of instructions to mankind (Torah), for us to live in harmony and order with HIM and with each other, but YAHWEH; NO OTHER GOD has blessed mankind with fulfilled promises and others yet to be fulfilled, but YAHWEH; NO OTHER GOD has made serious and eternal covenants with mankind, but YAHWEH; NO OTHER GOD has protected the people that loves and obeys their God from any unthinkable danger or disgrace, but YAHWEH; NO OTHER GOD has sent Prophets among mankind to give us the chance to straighten our ways over and over again, but YAHWEH; NO OTHER GOD has been so just, merciful, patient, loving, encouraging, compassionate, trustworthy, magnanimous, supportive, forgiving, committed, and worthy of all our praises, but YAHWEH; NO OTHER GOD has sent His beloved SON to be born and live among us, to teach us HIS FATHER’S ways, and ultimately TO DIE for us and for the forgiveness of our sins, but YAHWEH… …Are they enough reasons why you should follow the God of the Jews? I will give you one more: BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY AND TRUE GOD!!!!!!!!!! HALLELUYAH!!!!!!! (Hebrew for “Praise Yahweh!!!!!!) Well, now that I made my point, I hope at least I made you think more seriously about this complicated issue. Now let’s say that, even you still want to keep reading me, you are not comfortable with all this information that is new and even quiet foreign to you… …Please think about this: You are a Christian and as such, you say you believe en Jesus (Yeshua), but if so, then you know and believe that Jesus (Yeshua) is the SON OF GOD because you know He said so…then obviously, YOU BELIEVE THERE IS A GOD. The sad part here, and I invite you to keep thinking critically and logically, is that we don’t know anything about that GOD Jesus (Yeshua) was talking us about. Would it be that, because of this, you as Christian just don’t understand the Renewed Covenant (New Testament) in much of its content? I know you may be fighting with your feelings, but trust me, I know what you may feel in all detail because I’m bringing to you all these facts in accordance with my own experience and knowledge (or lack of it in my past), and when Yahweh, my GOD, gave me the grace to realize that all I ever needed to know Him and establish a relationship with Him was in the Bible, my whole life changed for better, dramatically! When you start to read a book, any book, do you start it in the middle of it?...or maybe at its third quarter?...Of course not; otherwise you just wouldn’t be able to understand it, since the very base of the story in every book is written throughout the first half of it, all the characters are presented and described into the plot throughout these first chapters, and the rationale of the plot is described and developed throughout the same first chapters…

…Well, the same happens with the Bible: In order to understand the final chapters, you by pure logic have to start reading the book from the very beginning! Why would the Bible be any different?...So if this makes sense, why do Christians insist on starting reading the Bible in its fourth quarter? There is no way, and I mean, NO WAY you can understand what you read there if you didn’t start reading the book from the very beginning!!! The New Testament (Renewed Covenant) represents only the fourth last quarter of the Holy Bible and it is the fulfillment of everything that is written throughout the Old Testament (Tanakh), in other words, the conclusion of the book. Yeshua came to this world to fulfill all the prophecies that foretold about Him in the Tanakh and to re-dimension God’s Covenant with the Jewish people, His chosen people, including in astonishing detail the circumstances of His birth, His Holy mission to accomplish among us, and the renewing of God’s Covenant with the Jews first, and then extending it to include the rest of the people (Gentiles). Please don’t get offended when I say “the Jews first”! These are not my own words but Sha’ul’s (Paul’s): Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Gentile). Rom 2:10 but glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Gentile).

But I will address this issue in a further article. Moreover, everytime Yeshua made reference of the Scriptures, Which do you think were these Scriptures, since the Renewed Covenant (His life and teachings) was started to be written about 50 years after His death? He used to refer to the Tanakh: The Torah(The law) (The Mosaic Law), The Prophets, and the other Scriptures in it!!! So in order for us to understand fully Yeshua’s Purpose to come, His Message, Death and Resurrection, we have also to know and understand the source of knowledge by which He used to teach, and by which He used to live, which is the Tanakh. I praise the Lord, God Almighty and thank Him for all my fellow Christians that, maybe against all their uneasy feelings, thoughts and now troubled beliefs, have followed this article until this point. Hoping that I explained everything with enough and solid bases, circumstances, facts and reasons, I’m intending now to tell you how can you establish a relationship with your God. While talking with the Samaritan woman, Yeshua (Jesus) said: Joh 4:22 You give worship, but without knowledge of what you are worshipping: we give worship to what we have knowledge of: for salvation comes from the Jews. Joh 4:23 But the time is coming, and is even now here, when the true worshippers will give worship to the Father in the true way of the spirit, for these are the worshippers desired by the Father.

Did you noticed the Bold Font and underlined sentence? The Samaritans were a considerable big group of Hebrews who had mixed with non-Hebrews (Canaanites, Jebusites, etc.) which used to live in the Promised Land by the time the Hebrews entered and took over on Yahweh’s orders. This mixing brought corruption among the Hebrews living in the area of Samaria, such as idol worshipping and Pagan traditions and costumes which had been forbidden by God’s Law, so for the Jews, the Samaritans were considered Pagan foreigners and ungodly people. In the above Bible verses, Yeshua is telling the Samaritan (Pagan) woman that “salvation comes from the Jews”, meaning that those who are corrupted and astray from the Torah, must go back to it in full observance as the Jews were, and still are keepers of the Torah. But He continues in verse 4:23, stating clearly that God Father approves only those true worshippers who worship Him in the true way of the spirit. Notice here that Yeshua doesn’t say WAYS but Way, singular, one only WAY, God’s way, Yahweh’s way, His Torah’s way. We, Christians, Jewish, Muslims, Indus, etc., etc., must worship Yahweh, the One and Only True God, His way and His way only, NEVER OUR WAY. God gave us the freedom to choose Him or Satan, but once you chose Him, He didn’t give us freedom to choose how we want to worship Him. We must worship, obey, love and follow Him His way!!! To make a funny note, one of my dearest friends has a T-Shirt that writes “It’s Yahweh, not Your Way! The message is simpler than you may understand: Your God Yahweh told us (all His children regardless of religion) that IF WE LOVE HIM, OBEY HIS INSTRUCTIONS AND WORSHIP HIM HIS WAY, HE WILL ALWAYS PROTECT US, PROVIDE US AND BLESS US BEYOND OUR UNDERSTANDING!!!!!!!! This is exactly what our Relationship with Him must be based on!! It’s His very Promise!! It’s been written in our Bibles since Moses’ times!! Examples abound in the Bible about riches and blessing to those who used to follow and obey Yahweh our God, as well as punishing, death and misery to those who turn their backs to Him or those who didn’t acknowledged Him as their God. The Tanakh is full of these examples and stories, and Yeshua’s teachings (in the Renewed Covenant – New Testament) are replete of examples toward these consequences. As it is written in the Third Commandment: Exo 20:5 Thou shalt …, for I Yahweh thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, Exo 20:6 and showing loving-kindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

This is the way I personally see and am able to completely understand how our Lord want to have a relationship with us: He, as our Father, wants the best for us, His children, just like us, parents, want the best for our kids; everything He instructed us (Torah), He did it for our own good, just like us, parents, instruct our kids for their own good; He reprimands us everytime we don’t follow His Commandments,

just like parents do when our children disobey us; but He shows Himself splendid in blessings to those of His children that obey Him the best they can, just like parents feel great and happy when our children obey us. Do you understand the logical concept of this relationship a little better and deeper now? God Himself invented parenthood and established a relationship with us through it. This is so true, we know how it works when we become parents, the problem is that, just as our children sometimes don’t want to obey us, we as His children, tend not to obey Him either. We always prefer to listen to those who pull us away from obedience and make us do wrong and sinful things, rather than strictly obey and be blessed. Just take a glance at our society and our youth. Isn’t wicked enough already? But there is someone who is behind of our stiff neck disobedience; Have you already Guessed? Yes, of course: Satan!! He is the Master of Deceit, the fallen angel (it’s also in the Bible), who was cast to the Earth together with more that half of the angels of Heaven and became God’s Opposer (this is what Satan means). He was one of the most loved Archangels in the Heavenly realm and because of this, he knows The Word of God (Bible) better than any man possibly can, to the point of being able to twist it and manipulate it for our confusion and deceit. His most brilliant deceit is to make us think we are not deceived!!! And I’m sorry but it is true, this also applies to our religious beliefs, traditions and customs. As long as he (Satan) keeps you away from the truth of God’s Word and His Torah, he was, is and will do whatever it is necessary to keep you as far away as possible from Yahweh, regardless of your religious affiliation. And I’m not only talking about you, my fellow reader who goes to the Church every Sunday, but the deceit goes especially to the leaders of all the existing religious groups, just because they are also humans and, because they study the Word of God to administer it to you, they could eventually realize that the Bible says different things to what they preach and do, so they would eventually want to correct their ways and go back to the Torah, which would mean lots of lost souls for his (Satan’s) cause. Now, in all this confusion, let’s say you are maturing on these matters and your heart and mind is telling you that you want or should do something about it, to start nurturing a relationship with your God, by loving Him with all your heart, by surrendering yourself to His will and obeying His Torah in the best of your abilities, and by worshipping Him His way and not your way, together with a real acceptance and love of Yeshua (Jesus) in your heart, I’d recommend the following: 1.

Read the Torah, which include the first 5 books of the Tanakh (Old Testament), since through the Torah you will know your God, His Covenants with you (Mankind) and will learn His ways, as well as His 613 Commandments for us to follow, and this way you’ll learn what to do and how to do to obey Him at your best.

2.

Read the rest of the Tanakh (Old Testament), especially the Prophets, so you’ll be able to discern the do’s and don’t’s with your God and what to expect from Him, if you do what is right and acceptable before His eyes, or if you do what is wrong and not acceptable before His eyes.

3.

Do a research of the places where you can learn the Jewish Roots of the Bible, so you will be able to understand better and deeper about the many Bible existing mistranslations, how the wording in Hebrew changes, amplifies and brings a new and brighter meaning to the Scriptures, as they were intended to mean throughout both Old and New Testaments.

4.

Google about traditions and costumes that are not backed up by the Bible, especially if you are a Christian, so you will learn, think and mature about them and then, decide if you need to do any change(s) to your life.

5.

Begin to love you God with all your heart, with all your life and with all your strength. This process will happen to you while you go on the Torah and the Tanakh and get knowing your God.

Please remember: God knocks at the doors of your heart many times in your life, but if never answer His calls, He eventually gets tired of trying and wasting time with you. So please, think about all this, do your own research, make your decisions wisely toward the truth, and grow spiritually as much as you can…He is longing for you!! If you made it to this point of the article, then I’ll praise our God a thousand more times to celebrate it. I’d also like to invite you to contact me if you want to know more about what to do to establish your relationship with our Lord God Almighty. Please write me to: [email protected]. May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, your God, Bless and Keep you!

Shalom (Peace to you),

GEORGE TOKAREW