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Chanukkah and Christmas collide!
Channukkah and XMAS collide
1st night of chanukkah 12/25. The contrast is stark. But with the real history of Chanukkah from the Apocryphal book of 1 Mac.
I encourage you to read the first four chapters of 1 Mac. To get that, look at the Brenton translation of the Old Testament.
Matthew 24:15-20 is a direct reference to the Maccabean revolt and Channukkah.
The abomination of desolation had already been set up once by the Greeks. Their flight was indeed in winter. And they refused to fight the first Sabbath of the revolt due to their obedience to Torah and they lost.
The crux of this was compromise and mixing. The first time the Greeks came to Judea, they were welcomed. Many of the Israelites mixed Greek customs with Torah and compromised themselves. The Greeks came back after a battle with Egypt and compromise was no longer an option. They forced Israel to forsake the commandments. No more Sabbath, no more circumcision, no more festival days, temple defiled, and they had to eat pork. Or die. And they had to adopt the Greek holidays and culture wholesale, including the sacrificing of pigs and the eating of the same.
This was very bad. Judas Maccabeus couldn’t take it and started a revolt, ultimately pushing the Greeks out and restoring Torah to judea.
How does this align with Christmas? XMAS is a non-biblical observation where people partake in rituals derived from pagan religions and dine on pork. But they do it in the name of God. This is impossible if we understand Matthew 24 to be warning us against these abominations.
I’ll be talking about Chanukka on Friday night, December 20, on a friend’s study group if you want to learn the details about this commemoration. However, don’t lose the irony that the Greeks forced believers into pagan customs while modern Christianity voluntarily partakes. Hopefully more folks will read their bibles and history and come to the realization that the worship of Yahweh is easy if we just relent and to it the way His Son showed us. Have a blessed week!
Messianic Torah Portion Vayetzei means “and he left”. This portion chronicles Jacob’s departure from the land of Canaan into the land of Haran to find a wife. Jacob made a deal with God when he left and had many lessons to learn in his 21 year away. When he returns, he is a changed man who properly credits Yahweh for his deliverance and wealth. Along the way, we have a lesson on idolatry. Jacob was not raised to be an idolator but he had to live in the land of false gods for 21 years. At the end of the journey, he rightly credits the God of Abraham for his blessings and rejects idolatry. The sages associate this passage to the rejection of idolatry and we connect this to Paul’s work in Ephesus, teaching that gods made with hands are no gods at all. The lesson for us with Messianic Torah Portion Vayetzei is that we also must reject idolatry despite being immersed in a culture of false worship.
Many historians and archeologists assume that the Bible isn't true and spend their entire careers trying to disprove it. They have persuaded a great many people who don't want to believe. Unfortunately, they've caused a lot of good people who *do* want to believe to doubt the Bible and therefore their own faith. If the Hebrews were never really in Egypt, how can there have been an Exodus? If there was no Exodus, how can there have been a Passover? If there was no Passover, how can we believe anything else in Scripture?
Dr. Douglas Petrovich is not like those archeologists. He has spent the last 16 years proving the Scriptures from the physical evidence left behind by the people who lived and wrote them.
Dr. Petrovich currently serves as adjunct Professor of Biblical History and Exegesis at Brookes Bible College, which is located in St. Louis, Missouri. He teaches remotely and resides in Richmond, Texas. From 2017–2022, he served as full Professor of Biblical History and Exegesis at The Bible Seminary, in Katy, Texas. Professor Petrovich was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. He has lived in California (twice), Illinois, Siberia (Russia), Toronto (Canada), and Texas. He is passionate about pouring his life into those whose lives God has given him the opportunity to influence, whether in the setting of the local church or an academic environment. He is committed to modeling his life after that of the incarnate son of God, Jesus Christ, albeit quite imperfectly. He has been married to his wife, Sherri, since 1991, and they have three adult children.
He has taught over 50 different courses in his teaching career, which includes courses in biblical studies (especially biblical languages and exposition) and in ancient Near Eastern history and archaeology. His Ph.D. includes a major in Syro-Palestinian archaeology, a 1st minor in (Middle and Late) Egyptian language, and a 2nd minor in ancient Near Eastern religions. He has participated in archaeological digs at Hazor, Tell Tayinat, and Shiloh, which reflects his love for seeing how ancient history converges with the events and people of the Bible.
Professor Petrovich has been an ordained pastor since 1998, having begun as an assistant pastor at a church in Glendale, California. For the majority of his 10 years in Siberia, he served as a church-planting pastor in the city of Berdsk. He has appeared in two documentary films, the more recent being Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy (2019), which features his groundbreaking discovery that connects the world’s oldest alphabetic script with the Israelites’ initial national script. The earlier film in which he appears is entitled Is Genesis History? (2017), which became the most watched documentary film on Netflix during the summer of 2018. In that film, he identifies the correct location for the city of Babel in Genesis 11, as well as its famous tower.
** Books by Dr. Petrovich **
The World's Oldest Alphabet, https://store.carta-jerusalem.....com/archaeology/734-
Origins of the Hebrews, (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/4eYKEW0
Nimrod the Empire Builder, (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/41gwzA4
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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Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:6-8 ESV
God gives everyone a range of skillsets that we can use in service to his kingdom. Leadership, administration, mechanics, languages, etc. The list of possible gifts of God is endless! In this passage Paul mentions several of those gifts, and here's what each of them is really about.
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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Messianic Torah Portion Toldot
This is a discussion on the Torah Portion called Toldot from a New Testament perspective. Topics covered:
• How covenants are often inaugurated with meals and how that ties into the New Covenant.
• How incredibly evil circumstances can be used by God to bring about His ultimate plans.
• Why we need to embrace predestination and understand it is not at odds with free will.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Romans 12:3 ESV
The grace Paul is speaking of is the favor God showed him in appointing him as an apostle to the nations, and all of the authority and responsibility that comes with that commission.
Grace isn't a divinely bestowed super power. It's unobligated favor, an honor bestowed on one person by another. Just as God showed Paul grace in making him a teacher and evangelist, he graces every person in his kingdom with a unique set of skills and a mission to accomplish for the his glory and for the growth of his kingdom. That doesn't mean we all have a commission as high as Paul's, but as Paul pointed out elsewhere, every part of a body is important, no matter how lowly it might seem.
God has given you grace by making you who you are and by giving you a role to play in his plan.
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
Send me a friend request on The Torah Network: https://social.ttn.place/jaycarper
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The Torah is the Foundation
The book of Revelation quotes or alludes to the Old Testament no less than 505 times. The book of Revelation only has 404 total verses. Did you know this? Did you know that to understand what the future holds we must study the bible from Genesis 1 all the way through?
This path we are on is a fundamental re-orientation of our thought process with respect to Christianity. Almost all of us learn the NT first then think the OT is like a glossary of terms or just a place to look to bolster the information in the New Testament. This is backwards. The Torah is the foundation that informs the NT. Learning the bible in the order in which things happened, i.e., starting in Genesis and really learning the Tanakh, then learning the New Testament, is what the first century Christians did. The Messiah did not come to start a new religion but to build on existing faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc.
As we discussed in last week’s Torah portion, the order Paul refers to in Romans 13 was established through the Torah. When Paul wrote that people must be subject to governing authorities, we see that begin when Abraham gave a tenth to Melchizedek. Abraham was a known leader who had just won a military battle and still gave proper respect to one whose rank was higher than his. Abraham also made the deal for Sarah’s tomb in a public setting, insisting on paying full price with witnesses, so there would be no doubt of his ownership of that land.
When Paul went on to talk about honoring authorities for the sake of conscience, that also harkens back to Abraham’s servant who was trusted to bring back a bride for Isaac. Abraham could not do this work himself, so he made his servant swear to do it. His servant could have gone rogue, kept the camels and gold, and never came back. Or came back and lied. But that’s not what happened. Abraham’s servant did what was right in the sight of YHVH and Abraham even when nobody would have known he did wrong.
You see that honoring authorities is a virtue established in the earliest parts of the Old Testament. Paul was not issuing some new edict but rather re-iterating an existing biblical truth. Those of us who study the Torah while believing in Yeshua the Messiah have put the truth back in the proper order. The Torah informs the rest of the Old Testament, the Old Testament in total informs the New, and we look for the return of the Messiah who will establish peace by ushering in an orderly kingdom based on the truths we hold dear that are established from Genesis to Revelation.
Our challenge, though, is re-orienting our minds. Most of Christianity has been taught the New Testament is the foundation and the rest of the bible is just handy to have when it bolsters a point of doctrine or makes a point we want to make. It’s incredibly difficult to rebuild a foundation, especially one that is this ingrained into us. It’s akin to learning a second language. For many years, everything you learn of the foreign language will be compared to your native tongue. In fact, you may never get to the point where you can completely break from using your native tongue as the foundation.
Remember how I said that the book of Revelation quotes or alludes to the Old Testament at least 505 times? This is not unique to the book of Revelation. The Gospels refer to the OT almost constantly, too. So do the letters and epistles. If you want to understand the New Testament, you must first understand the Old. This is a tall task, but as the Messiah said, believing in Him is founded on Moses…. Because Moses wrote of Him! Shalom and have a blessed week!
Romans 11:30-32 ESV For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
How does God use our disobedience to bring us (and the Jews!) to repentance and restoration to relationship with him?
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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And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
Romans 11:23-24 ESV
Very few native branches of Israel were left on the tree after the first few centuries of Christianity, so that today both the native and the wild branches need to be grafted back into the olive tree of Israel. God has promised that he will restore the genetic descendants of Jacob, and he has the power to do it!
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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The goal in raising children is to produce productive adults that can contribute to the betterment of mankind. Today, this is best achieved by breaking from the traditional education system in whole or in part. This is a testimonial about our experience with home schooling meant to encourage others who are looking for alternatives. Tips for how to home school or employ alternative paths while keeping your children in the government schools can be found at https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/homeschooling
Messianic Torah Portion Vayera is the foundation for John 3:16 that God gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life. This truth is founded upon Abraham’s willingness to slay Isaac, the son of the Promise and God substituting the ram for Isaac. In this discussion, we show how Abraham’s obedience foreshadowed the Messiah and the many direct parallels from this Torah portion to New Testament scripture.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5-6 ESV
Disciples of Yeshua shouldn't divide over relatively minor issues. We don't have to agree on everything, but we also shouldn't bring shame on God's name by public (or private!) bickering over matters of opinion that aren't central to our common faith in God and the Messiah of Israel.
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
Send me a friend request on The Torah Network: https://social.ttn.place/jaycarper
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"HARRIS-TRUMP 2024; The Professor vs. The Prophet; Allan Lichtman's Prediction and Kim Clement's Prophecy," written, produced, narrated, and compiled by George Lujack of Scripture Truth Ministries.
If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Romans 11:16 ESV
What does "firstfruits" and "root" refer to in Romans 11:16? The context makes it clear. This chapter is talking about how God will never forsake the natural branches of Israel because of the promises he made to Israel's patriarchs. The firstfruit of the dough and the root of the tree are the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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
Send me a friend request on The Torah Network: https://social.ttn.place/jaycarper
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This Torah portion should be called "The Promise" from a New Covenant perspective because it is about the promise made to Abraham to make him the father of many nations. We discussed this Torah Portion extensively against the fulfillment of The Promise as articulated in Galatians 3.
So I ask, did [the Jews] stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
Romans 11:11-12 ESV
How did the failure of the Jews to accept their Messiah mean riches for the Gentiles? In the same way that the failure of Israel to repent in Jonah's day meant riches for at least one generation of the people of Ninevah. The ministries of Paul and Jonah are parallel in many ways. Jonah can even be thought of as the first apostle to the nations, a foreshadowing of Paul's ministry.
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
Send me a friend request on The Torah Network: https://social.ttn.place/jaycarper
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Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/
How the collision of the USS Fitzgerald gives insight on the end of days
