"For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Galations 6:8
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Paul tells us in Romans 10:4 that “Christ is the end of the law”. What on Earth did Paul mean by this? In Deuteronomy 13:4 mankind is instructed to walk after our Heavenly Father and keep his commandments, cleaving to Him:
Deuteronomy 13:4 (4) Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. The next verse says that no matter what signs and wonders are shown by a person, if that one draws us away from the instructions of verse 4 he is to be killed: Deuteronomy 13:5 (5) And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. This death sentence is presumably because the man drawing one away from God’s ways and His Law is a heretic regarding the doctrinal instructions established by God himself in verse 4. HERETIC – anyone who does not conform to an established doctrine, or principle. If Paul tells us that the advent of Christ brought an end to God’s Law, then was he not teaching us to overthrow the instructions of Deuteronomy 13:4? It appears that he would not only be heretical in his personal belief system, but he would be instructing others in his heresy. Not only would he be usurping the words of God recorded by Moses, but he would also be discounting the words by Y’shua (Jesus) Himself: Matthew 5:17 (17) Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Fulfill is the Greek word Strong’s G4137 – (pleroo) – cause to abound, render full and complete, execute, perform; fill to the top, to full measure, wanting nothing; consummate; carry into effect; carry out, accomplish, render perfect in every detail. Now if Y’shua was our example, would this not give us the understanding we need to follow in His footsteps? Did He accomplish this so we could be free to ignore it all? If Paul was actually teaching that God’s Law no longer applies today, then he would (by God’s own words) be a heretic, and we should immediately stop reading anything more he has to say. In many of today’s pulpits, pastors preach that Old Testament Law no longer applies in a New Testament era. In the past when we read the Bible superficially, we likewise thought Paul’s words seemed to present such thoughts, and it was very troubling to us because teaching against God’s Law is heretical per Deuteronomy. It was a conundrum that had to be resolved, or we felt we must discount all of Paul’s writings in order be right with our Father in Heaven. After a great deal of studies, we have come to concur with others that have found that Paul never intended his words to be interpreted in this manner. Actually, the very principles and structuring of God’s Truth would never allow for such an interpretation. Translations are never perfect, and our English word “end” had created a spin that caused the confusion. When we studied the passage as it was originally written, the meaning became clear to us. The word “end” in this passage is the Greek word Strong’s G5056 (telos) - eternal; aim or purpose. Rather than eliminating the Law, Y’shua provided the fullness of its aim or purpose for our example, and eternalized it. Once we became aware that the Father’s Law was not supposed to be ripped from our Biblical text and thrown away during the New Testament era, we had to confront many other passages in Paul’s epistles as well. “Look at what he says here!” we’d say. “Where does he GET that???” “HORRORS!” “How are we supposed to deal with what he says there?” Can any of you out there identify with these sentiments? We know now that all of Scripture is supposed to interlock harmoniously, but how are we supposed to rationalize Paul’s writings to the rest of Scripture? What are we to do with some of Paul’s words? To get to the root of all that, we need to study a little bit more about this man – about how he related to his audience and what comprised the platform of doctrinal Truth he stood on. We have a new two-part series in Short Articles titled Paul’s Paradox. We think you just might enjoy it. There will likely be further writings that at least loosely pertain to this same topic in the future, such as the Divine Patterns series previously posted under Other Writings, Short Articles also does.
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For those who are not yet familiar with our book, The Biblical Calendar Then and Now, you will not be aware that the dates we use for the Yahweh's feast days are different than those used by most folks today. However, if you have the book, we need to make you aware of an error in our dating of calendar events for the upcoming religious year.
Please accept our apologies!! As we were working on our upcoming calendars for the religious year that begins in the spring of 2019, we noticed that the data in Appendix 3 of the book was not correct. The Appendix 3 dating for the events of the 2019-2020 year are off by one week. They should be one week later. Please use the corrected dating of: New Year – 3/27/19 Passover - 4/9/19 Unleavened Bread - Day 1 - 4/10/19 Unleavened Bread - Day 7 - 4/16/19 Wave 1st Fruits - 4/21/19 Pentecost - 6/9/19 Chodesh (Summer) - 6/25/19 Chodesh (Fall) - 9/24/19 Trumpets - 9/25/19 Atonement - 10/4/19 Tabernacles - Day 1 - 10/9/19 Tabernacles - Day 8 - 10/16/19 Chanukkah - Day 1 - 12/18/19 Chodesh (Winter) - 12/24/19 Chanukkah - Day 8 - 12/25/19 Purim - 3/7/20 Shushan Purim - 3/8/20 Chodesh (Spring) – 3/24/20 (click here for a printable list) The determination for changing from one religious year to the next is typically profoundly simple. However, once in a blue moon (so to speak) it becomes a bit tricky! The data for transition into the 2019-2020 religious year brings into play a rare scenario. Please refer to our article called Beginning of Months for 2019 on the Sabbath Calendar in order to understand how we transition from one religious year to the next using this calendar. A corrected revision of the book is in process and will be available soon. We surely regret this error! We have thoroughly checked yet again to verify that the remaining information in Appendix 3 is accurate. It is the data for only this one particular year that was skewed. Thank you for your patience and understanding! One of the most effective means for instruction seems to be repetition. As a child, it is how I learned best. Constant reinforcement through repetition made inroads in my mind that would not have formed short of that repetition. In the past few years it has become apparent to us that the technique of reinforcement through repetition is not new. In fact, it is as old as time itself.
You see, the Almighty formed a fundamental basis for this technique in the seven days of creation, and has expanded on that count of seven throughout the ages. When the week was completed, time did not stand still or cease. God deemed that the count would begin again, and follow this seven-day pattern throughout time. In like manner, God unfolded the blueprint for a great number of sevens in His Word to us. In another example of God’s Divine patterns, we find the Feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23, and we are expressly told to follow the Feasts of this specific pattern through repeating them over and again each and every year. Nowhere are Father’s patterns more obvious than in His cycles of time in our space/time realm. He wants us to see them, acknowledge them, and learn from them. When we began to realize the extent and importance of the use of patterning and repetition in God’s revelation to man, it opened our eyes to ever so much more. How exciting that the Creator of the Universe cares enough about us to instruct us in such an effective and loving manner. This enlightenment has led to a few articles that attempt to relate what Father has allowed us to see about the depth and scope of His patterns, and what they mean to us as Believers. Please go to our new four-part series called: Divine Patterns in the “Short Articles” section of “Other Writings”. We’d love to receive your comments or hear what He might have shown you in this respect as well! |
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Karen Bishop Archives
March 2019
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