History is Repeating: The Comeback of Totalitarianism.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Did you know there are people who purposely want to erase history so that it does repeat? Do you know this was a very common weapon used against nations just a few decades ago?
Communism and Fascism were universally rejected in the 1990s. Somehow these are making a comeback and we have to stop it. These two terms refer to economic systems that bring about dictatorships where all commerce, thought, production, power, etc. become centralized in a government and the people do not possess any rights whatsoever. They are awful systems that bring death and oppression. Those of us who are in our 50s or higher were taught to loathe these systems and value freedom and the free market in school. We were taught this through books that showed the awful result of these systems of government. Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Atlas Shrugged, and other works were these books. If you’ve never read one of these, you really ought to.
Ask yourself a couple questions. Do you hold any beliefs today that are in direct opposition to something you believed recently? If so, how did that happen?
Do you hold any political beliefs that are completely incongruent? Meaning at total odds with each other?
If the answer is yes, you really want to keep listening. Because something has been done to you by outside forces to get you this way. Intentionally. And for sinister reasons.
The goals of the societal takedown. Keep in mind they socialist/Marxist/communist people did not believe these points were valid for society. They used these to destroy existing societies so they could replace authority with themselves.
https://cdn.subsplash.com/docu....ments/W8FD27/_source
Deception is key. It’s 100% trickery. You must be mad and outraged at something, even if it’s not real. In most cases it’s not real. Then somebody sweeps in with a fix. And the fix doesn’t even make sense. We’re 36 trillion in debt as a nation so we need to cut government. At the same time proposing cutting enormous taxes or even offering refunds. That makes no sense whatsoever. Zero.
More at https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/history-is-re

Did DOGE Accidentally Reveal the Babylon of Revelation?
There have been some significant developments with the world’s economy in recent years that shows us who the Babylon from Revelation may be. This video also includes a lesson on when to take the bible literally and when to not.

⁣Romans 16:17-18 ESV
17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

Religious people of all denominations are too quick to either label every different opinion as heresy or to quit one church for another as soon as the pastor says something they don't like. We really need better coping skills.

I have been thinking of common disagreements in three categories: Discordant, Divergent, and Academic. I've also been thinking of people who unintentionally create division in three categories: Sensationalists, Closed-minded, and Obsessive.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

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⁣Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

What are the "secret things" in this verse? I'd like to offer two possibilities, one focusing on love for God, and the other on love for your neighbor.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

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When and How to Interpret Scripture
The bible is written in a style that us westerners aren’t familiar with. By learning a couple things about how scripture was written and expected to be received, we can glean a lot more truth even in our native languages. This message touches on the way first century believers would have interpreted the Old Testament and subsequently wrote the New. These tips will help you understand the scriptures closer to their original intent, when things are supposed to be taken literally, and when they aren’t. These are very big helps when trying to understand prophecy and the Apostle Paul.

⁣At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.
Romans 15:25-26 ESV

Paul explains that the Jewish believers in Jerusalem deserved the help of the new Gentile believers, but he doesn't explain why they needed help. In this video, I offer some possible reasons.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

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Messianic Torah Portion Vaera (I appeared) chronicles the beginning of the Exodus. In our study, we parallel the plagues of Exodus with those in Revelation 6 and contrast the purposes of each set of plagues.

⁣For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”
Romans 15:18-21 ESV

Why was Paul so intent on preaching the Gospel where nobody else had been? To avoid building "on someone else's foundation"? This sounds like he's treating his ministry as a competition, but when you realize that he saw himself as fulfilling the prophecy he quotes in this passage, his statement takes on another character. It wasn't a competition, but a great blessing from God, and he wanted to honor that blessing with his whole being!

Thumbnail background image adapted from an original work by Cristiano64 at https://commons.wikimedia.org/....wiki/File:Claudio_41 under CC 3.0 license.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

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⁣Wild Branch Community read and discussed Exodus 7:19-8:19 and the first three plagues of Egypt.

God doesn't send plagues just to make people suffer. His discipline is always instructive and for our ultimate good. He sent plagues on Egypt to show Egypt, Israel, and the whole world just who he is, who they are in relation to him, and who their false gods really are.

Pharaoh could have saved Egypt at any point, but he valued his own pride and position more than his people. God disciplines those whom he loves, and that discipline almost always spills over onto the people around you, especially those for whom you are responsible. God's love language is obedience, but submission to God doesn't just show love for him. It shows love for your people.

Wild Branch Community is a home fellowship of Torah-observant believers in Texas between Houston and Austin. Find out more about us at https://WildBranchTX.org.

The recent history of time keeping can make it very difficult for us to understand how those who wrote the books of the bible kept time. When you stop to think about it, can you even relate to how we kept time just thirty years ago?

Go Fund Me Bless Israel
ברוך ישראל
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ברוך ישראל
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⁣I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:14-16 ESV

Paul says “able to instruct one another” for two reasons. First, the prophecies that he quoted just prior describe a priestly role of discipleship in which Israel instructs adoptees from the nations in the ways of YHWH. Second, the primary responsibility of a disciple is to become like his master, but the next is to make more disciples. As he has described elsewhere, this is one of the primary reasons we are instructed to gather together regularly as believers: to encourage and instruct each other.

Christianity has developed a "church culture" in which everyone expects one person to stand before the congregation and teach them everything. The rest of us are just supposed to sit in the pews and be "fed". This passage from Romans shows that this isn't what God intended. Certainly God has specially commissioned some people to be Teachers, but we are all supposed to be learning and becoming teachers of one another. Nobody has a monopoly on all knowledge. We all know some things better than the people around us, and we should be willing to teach when the need and opportunity arises.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

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⁣We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
Romans 15:1-3 ESV

Who are the strong and the weak? What does it mean for the strong to "bear with the failings" of the weak? It most definitely does not mean that those who have rejected the Law of Moses should be patient with those who are still trying to keep the commandments. That's exactly the opposite of Paul's meaning. Paul was not an antinomian nor even a metanomian.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

Follow me on Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@AmericanTorah
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2025 Holy Days in Kansas City
We are hosting Sukkot aka The Feast of Tabernacles in Kansas City in 2025 in addition to all the Holy Days of Leviticus 23. This video is the announcement, please follow the link below to get details as they become available. Please contact us through the website to let us know if you are intending to fellowship with us for any of Yahweh’s appointed times this year. These blessed events require planning, so we really need get an idea of how many may come. Please also contact us with any gifts you may want to bless us with from dance to music, kids classes, group activities, crafting, or anything else.
The Holy Days from Leviticus 23 prophetically explain the plan of salvation that God established at the foundation of earth. They have deep meaning for Christians and were continued to be kept by the New Testament converts in the first century. We observe these days in a New Covenant context, as the early believers did, in anticipation of the return of Yeshua the Messiah, where He will usher in a millennial kingdom where observance of these days will be required.
We welcome all who wish to observe God’s Holy Days in 2025 in Kansas City in a spirit of unity and cooperation.
https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/holy-day-date

Messianic Torah Portion Shemot is the beginning of the book of Exodus. This study is prefaced with the origin of the word Exodus and how there will only every be the one Exodus. We spoke about the remarkable parallels between Shemot and the end times. And, as always, why the Torah is so important to the New Testament.
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⁣It's amazing and beautiful to see so many people returning to God's commandments, but there is also a lot of ugliness along the way. We are still human, after all. Whether you call this movement Messianic Judaism, Hebrew Roots, Pronomianism, or something else, everyone has their own idea of what it means and how to live it out. Sometimes those differences can turn into arguments and division.

This is not how YHWH wants his people to be!

On Thursday, January 16th, Ed Doss joined the Common Sense Bible Study crew for a live conversation about Unity in the Kingdom.

Ed Doss is a former evangelist with more than 30 years of outreach and evangelistic experience. As a missionary, Ed has planted two churches in Los Angeles and Victorville, California, alongside two campus ministries in Phoenix, Arizona, and in Los Angeles. Ed served as an evangelist in the Phoenix Church of Christ for five years and founded Digging Deeper, a Biblical teaching group in Dallas that explores the often overlooked and untaught parts of Scripture.

Ed has authored papers on topics such as the six-day creation week, the two houses of Israel, and understanding the book of Job. He is the author of the book Finding the Ancient Paths: the Harmony of Law & Grace (affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4fCYEFb) and host of "Finding the Ancient Paths" on YouTube with many great videos on Biblical topics.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

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⁣In Genesis 49, Jacob blesses his sons, but many of these blessings sound more like curses. What's really going on? By recognizing who each of his sons were and prophesying over them accordingly, Jacob set them on a course to reinforce each other's strengths and minimize each other's weaknesses.

This is how the body of Christ should be. A blessing for one of us should be a blessing to all of us, and a curse to one of us should be an opportunity to defend and encourage a brother, not to tear him down.

Wild Branch Community is a home fellowship of Torah-observant believers in Texas between Houston and Austin. Find out more about us at https://WildBranchTX.org.

Messianic Torah Portion Vayechi (and he lived)
This Torah portion wraps up the book of Genesis with the death of Israel/Jacob (the person) and the end of Joseph’s life. This Torah portion contains big clues that salvation has always been available to both those of the nation of Israel and those of the nations. Specifically, Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh were mixed race, with their mother being Potifera, the daughter of an Egyptian priest. Jacob was embalmed as a Pharaoh while buried in the promised land, which also gives a hint to the future and how we live in Babylon today, but will ultimately be joined to Messiah in the true Israel.
Our study was long and included much discussion. Please enjoy this discussion and feel free to join us each Shabbat!
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Mainstream Christianity First Century Christianity
Go to church on Sunday or Keep the Sabbath
Sunday, Christmas, Easter or The Holy Days of the Bible
Dead people are now spirits or Dead people are dead awaiting resurrection
Trinity is mandatory or Accepting Yeshua as the Messiah and Son of God is the key to life
Works optional/not required or Repentance and change mandatory
Goal of life is going to heaven or Being in a better resurrection/the kingdom of God/ the Olam Haba
Old Testament for reference onlyor The Old Testament was the only bible they had for decades
Christianity is a different/new religion pr Christianity is the continuation of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob