Father God, I ask You to help me speak the Truth, in love, lovingly, earnestly, convincingly, effectively, persuasively. I ask that You be present in these words, to reveal, to draw, to make clear, to confirm. But, as Yahshua Jesus rejoiced greatly in Spirit, and prayed, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent, and didst reveal them unto babes, for so it did seem pleasing in Thy sight.” I ask that You will help all of us to be as teachable as You want us to be, and that You grant us Supernatural revelation concerning these things. Please grant that a veil will not cover over our hearts as we consider these things. Please lead us into alllll the truth. In the Mighty Name of Yahshua Jesus, Creator King of Everything. Amen.

Should we keep any of the Old Testament laws? If so, which ones? What will happen to those who don’t keep them?

There are those in the Body of Christ today who believe that: “In order for us to please God, it is necessary for us to keep a certain number of the Old Testament laws.” Since there are many who really want to be pleasing to God, it is easy to find laws to keep, and to find people who are eager to keep them.

There are those who are in favor of being physically healthy, and are in favor of “Body Stewardship”, that is, in being good stewards of our bodies, so it is easy to find people who can be convinced that it is in their best interest to follow at least the dietary laws. Dr. R. Cherry and Dr. Wittinger, both regularly featured on T.B.N. Network, are only two of a number of medical doctors who are currently recommending the dietary laws from the Old Testament. Dr. Cherry makes it clear that while he does not believe that our souls are saved by keeping the dietary laws, he does believe that these laws could result in the saving of our health.

One way to get people started into believing that we should be keeping some of the Old Testament laws, is to ask them if they are in favor of keeping the Ten Commandments. Ask them if they think that they should be called “The Ten Suggestions”. No, they will agree that these Ten Commandments are to be taken seriously, that these are commandments, and should be followed for today.

Now that you have these kind-hearted people’s agreement and attention, you may begin to ‘tighten the grip’ or ‘thicken the plot’. Let’s look upon these Ten Laws as an innocent daisy chain of ten flower stems, still fresh with flowers, and the chain has the consistency of, and the strength of 10 brightly colored pieces of knitting yarn. These Ten Commandments are innocent enough. Everyone knows that lying, adultery, stealing and murder are bad. Everyone knows that idolatry is bad, that making God a high priority is good, and that we should honor our father and our mother. We all know that committing false witness against our neighbor is a bad thing. Most would agree that we should not cuss or covet. Let’s seeeeeeeeee, what did we leave out?

By now we have 9 lovely flowers with their stems lovingly and lightly tied around our wrists, like brightly colored pieces of yarn. A child could break any one of the nine, but who would want to? Like the kid who said Moses was really evil, ‘cauz he broke all 10 Commandments at one time.’

Ahhhh, but we left one out of the list! Let’s go back and pick that one up. Let’s look at Exodus 20. Oh yes, here’s a bright colored old flower that God made, called “the Sabbath”. What is the harm in having a special day for the Lord, in going to church on Sunday and in taking a Sunday afternoon nap? As I tell my wife, “You know what the Bible says every Christian couple has to do on Sunday afternoon!” And what can be the harm in having some popcorn while we watch the football game?

But wait a minute! Doesn’t everybody know that the Sabbath officially begins at sundown on Friday Night, and ends at sundown on Saturday Night? Any decent Bible student can tell you that! So can any Jewish person. They can also verify that “The Sabbath Day” is Saturday. Are you still in the mood to keep the “Ten Commandments”?

Some people believe that pig meat is bad for you, except for ‘ham’burger, and few people really know what they put into hot dogs, so, what’s say we give up eating pork? What’s the harm? Sooooo, also, what could be the harm in adding the other dietary laws, because some people believe that’s healthy. They know what’s best for us.

Then one comes to the importance of the feasts of the Lord. Passover is a type of Christ, our Passover Lamb slain for us, so that His blood can be applied to the doorpost of our hearts so that the Death Angel can pass over us. Pentecost (Shavuot) is a type of the Holy Spirit being poured out on us, and that’s a good thing to celebrate, so let’s keep that Feast! After all, what is the harm? And, The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was mandatory in the olden days, and will be compulsory in the future, so why not make it compulsory now? It couldn’t hurt, right?

The logical conclusion to this kind of thinking causes some to believe that there are at least 600 laws from the Old Testament that we must keep, if we reeeeeeeally want to please God. No, someone comes along and says that the number is 613, or 619. Some say that the reason we do not keep the laws concerning the animal sacrifices, is because Yahshua Jesus said that “It is finished!” on the Cross. The only problem here is that He did not make specifically clear exactly what it was that was finished, so, perhaps we need to keep the laws of animal sacrifice, too, eh? It couldn’t hurt, right? (It could hurt the animals.) What about the law that says that we should stone our rebellious kids to death? (That could hurt the kids!) Should we keep that one too? If not, why not?

Those who are legalistic and religious and deceived and ignorant say, “Yes!, Let’s keep all of these Old Testament Laws!!!!” God and the Apostle Shaul/Paul and the New Testament, and those who are spiritually mature say, “NO!. NO!, A thousand (Well, over 600 times) times, NO!”

THOSE IN FAVOUR SAY “I”

Here is part of the argument that some legalistic and religious people give in favor of keeping the Old Testament Law:

1. They say, “When the New Testament refers to the ‘Scriptures’ it is always referring to the Old Testament Law. “You search the Scriptures, for in them ye think that ye have eternal life, but these are they which testify of Me.” (Jn. 5:39) They believe that this means that we should also keep the Old Testament Scriptures.

2. They believe that when Jesus said that He had not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it, He meant that we should keep keeping it. Mt.5 But, does this mean that we should stone to death those who work on Saturday? But, if Christ FULFILLED THE LAW, why do we need to fulfill it?

3. They believe that when Jesus spoke of the Pharisees, He said that we should do what they say, (in keeping the Law) but not what they do. “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Mt.5. The Torah says that a jealous husband, along with the priest, should force feed his wife to drink poison, so that if she is guilty, her intestines will fall out. Isn’ that offal? Is that what we should do?

SOME SCRIPTURES TO CONSIDER

Matt 5: "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until Heaven and Earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 21 You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”

Before we go farther, I would like to comment about this passage. I have read every Scripture in the New Testament containing the word “law”, and all of these I have read in a significant number of translations. Here is what I believe that this passage is saying: In the same way that the law and the sacrifices pointed forward to the Christ, Christ became the fulfillment of these types and shadows. It becomes obvious, as one reads through the New Testament, that Christ fulfilled everything written in the Torah, thus obviating or making unnecessary the keeping of the Law, since Christ had fulfilled it. To keep being preoccupied with the Law, when its Fulfillment was present, would be like coming to the Wedding Night when the marriage was to be consummated, and instead, the Bride be pre-occupied with old love letters, the wedding announcement, the engagement ring, the hope chest AND the pre-marriage rules of behavior. Christ IS the fulfillment of the Law! He desires intimacy with us, not a distracted focus on the pre-marriage behavior. In this regard, God is not asking us to obey the letter of the Law, but to fulfill the Spirit of the Law.

Mark 7:6-9 “And He said to them, ‘Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. 7 But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' 8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men. 9 He was also saying to them, ‘You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.’ ” (NAS)

Jesus said that the false teachers were making the Word of God of none effect because of the tradition of men. There are those today, who, under the guise of the importance of “knowing our Jewish roots” are leading people astray into the tradition of men that makes the Word of God of no effect. God wants us to appreciate the Old Testament, and to know that it is for our good. It helps us understand the nature and character of Our Heavenly Father Who is also the same today, yesterday and forever, but Who wants us to relate to Him intimately,

What would you think of a new wife who was totally preoccupied with the ways and activity and behavior of her husband’s first marriage, that she did not have the time or inclination to be currently intimate with her husband? Yahweh used to be married to Israel, but then, He divorced her on the grounds of her spiritual adultery and disobedience and rejection of Him. Now He is married to us. Are we to be so consumed with a preoccupation with our Heavenly Husband’s first marriage, that we have no time for our own??? (Please see page 48.)

Matt 22:36 “‘Master, which is the great commandment in the law?’ 37 Jesus (Yahshua) said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ ”

Here, God is telling us that if we truly want to be pleasing to Him, that we will automatically fulfill all the requirements of pleasing Him, by simply loving Him with all of our being, and to love our neighbor as our self. Christ is telling us here, where we need to hang all of the law!

Luke 10:25 “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ 26 And He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’ 27 And he answered and said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ 28 And He said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’ "

But there are those today, who change these Words of Christ to say the opposite, by saying, “No, if you reeeeally want to live, you also have to keep Sabbath, keep the dietary, keep the feasts, and keep a whole bunch of other laws from the Old Testament, (except the ones that I say), and you will live.” But Yahshua Jesus said, simply, “Love the Lord thy God with all your being, love your neighbor as much as you love yourself, and you will do just fine.” In fact, Yahshua said, if you do this, you can hang up everything else in the Laws of the Old Testament.

Luke 16:16 “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since then the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 But it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.”

Here, Yahshua Jesus is telling us something important (Doesn’t He always?!.) He is telling us that the Law, the Torah, STOPPED with John the Baptist, and that from the beginning of the ministry of the Christ, that the new Message is the Gospel of the Kingdom!!! Again, Yahshua points out that the Law has not failed. Instead, it has found its glorious total fulfillment in Yahshua the Christ, and in His Kingdom!!!

John 1:17 “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Yahshua Jesus Christ.” (NAS) Can you see the change? Before Christ, we were to have stoned our rebellious kids to death, to kill cows if we want to please God, and to poison our wife if we were jealous, but now, we are to relate to God and to our dear ones differently, under the new and better Law, the Law of Grace, and of Truth.

John 8:5 “‘Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?’ 6 And they were saying this, testing Him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground.” (NAS)

If Jesus Yahshua wanted to prove to us that Torah Old Testament Law-keeping was important here, He would have stooped down, picked up a hefty rock, and made a bloody example of this death-penalty deserving female. So today, there are many who would legalistically advocate the use of the old law to bring present torment. I actually watched a woman while she was dying, in Nigeria, because she had been stoned by the people. In a land where witchcraft is common, they murdered her for allegedly being a “witch”. Those people believed in practicing that part of the Torah, at least. In our own country’s history, in the town of Salem, they falsely accused innocent ladies for being guilty of witchcraft, then murdered those ladies by hanging them. If forefathers really had wanted to fulfill the Old Testament part of the Bible, they would have thrown rocks at those ladies until they were dead, instead of hanging them. Christ commands us that grace and truth are to be demonstrated and applied, under a new set of laws, called grace, and truth - “the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, that has set us free from the law of sin and of death.”!!!

Two Kinds of Laws:

1) The Law of the Spirit of Life = N.T.

2) The Law of Sin and Death = O.T.

Acts 13:38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him, everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” (NAS)

Can you see the difference???

Old Testament Torah Law = bondage.

Christ, & the New Testament Law = freedom!!!

THE SECT OF THE PHARISEES

If you want to know what to call those who believe that we should keep the Law of Moses, or the Torah, you may call them “certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed.” Acts 15:5 “But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.’ ” (There are those today who are telling us the same thing!) 6 “And the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘Brethren, you know that in the early days, God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the Word of the Gospel and believe. 8 And God, Who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Yahshua Jesus, in the same way as they also are.’ " (NAS)

Here, it is obvious that the New Testament is saying that the Law of Moses was and is a “Yoke that neither our fathers or we could bear”!!! He then contrasts the Law to “the grace of our Lord Yahshua Jesus”. God is saying here that to encourage others to keep the Old Law is the same as if we placed a yoke of slavery on their neck! Furthermore, by doing so, it is explained to us that, when we do this, that we “are putting God to the test.”

Acts 15:18 “Says the Lord, Who makes these things known from of old. 19 Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.” (NAS)

Please hear here dear ones: The New Testament here clearly settles the matter. The Bible is here telling us exactly how many commandments and laws are to be carried over from the Old Testament Law - exactly THREE COMMANDMENTS!!! Not 10 Commandments, Not 600 commandments; NOT 613, 619, or 666 commandments - but THREE commandments!!! Anything more than this is described as an unwise “troubling”.

Acts 15:27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you (1) abstain from things sacrificed to idols and (2) from blood and from things strangled and (3) from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell." (NAS) These are the ONLY things from the Torah to be kept today! Note the words: “NO GREATER BURDEN”!!! Anything more than these three things is too great a burden! There is nothing here, or anywhere in the New Testament about bacon, or keeping the Sabbath, or about keeping the Feasts, or about killing cows, or about not having sex with your spouse during the menstrual cycle. There is much that the New Covenant does cover, things like, no mental sinning, keeping a right heart attitude, humility, tenderheartedness, love and gentleness.

We believe that the Old Testament is true, but that the commandments in the Old Testament are no longer to be observed, except those underscored in the New. Murdering our rebellious children is not underscored in the New, although honouring our parents is.

Rom 2:28 “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” (NAS) In other words, Paul here is saying that, as to the Old Testament Law, fulfilling the Spirit of the Law is what God has in mind, and NOT the letter of the Law.

Rom 3:20 “Because by the works of the Law, no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”(NAS) The Torah justifies nothing, nor does the keeping of Torah justify anything, nor does keeping Torah make anyone more righteous or in right standing with Yahweh God..

JEWISHNESS TODAY

We have always had a great love for the Jewish people, and Papa Yahweh certainly wants us to dearly love, respect, honor and pray for the Jewish people. The Bible promises that the Israelites will once again be grafted in, and that the land of Israel will have a central place in the days to come. Anti-Semitism comes disguised in many cloaks, and, clearly, we and God are not, and must not be, anti-Semitic. It is precisely because we love the Jewish people that we are making clear the difference! For there are those who are saying, apparently, that the Jew will come into Christ without coming through the Cross, the Blood, or through God’s Perfect Sacrifice, through grace. The joke here is: that the Jew himself will not be able to come to Christ by any other way than the way that we are outlining here. The Way, the Truth and the Life is still Yahshua the Messiah, and not the Old Testament Law or the Torah!!! Messianic Jews, and every person that seeks to minister to the Jewish person, must sound a clear trumpet in this regard, or else be guilty of presenting heresy instead of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Otherwise, we will be guilty of winning a Jewish proselyte to a cultic “neo-pseudo-Jewishness” that has brought them little closer to Christ - especially if it is said that the keeping of the Old Testament Law or the Torah is necessary. The Torah does not save, does not justify, does not sanctify, does not ‘please God more’, does not profit - but only Yahshua and His saving blood, and being led by His Holy Spirit. If we add anything else, we become guilty of trampling upon the Blood of Christ, and the value of His shed blood.

One characteristic of a cult or heresy, is that which teaches that: belief in Christ PLUS something else is necessary, that the Gospel of the Kingdom PLUS something else is important. The Mormons have the Bible Plus the Book of Mormon; the J.W.’s have the J.W. Bible Plus the Watchtower literature, the Catholics have the Catholic Bible Plus the Tradition of their Church Plus Mary - But the Torah keepers have the simple Gospel of the Lord Yahshua Jesus Christ PLUS keeping the Old Sabbath, plus the Kosher Laws, plus the keeping of the Holy Days, including 600+ laws from the Torah, as a necessary means of pleasing God. Because of this, Torah keepers are likewise guilty of heresy!

HASHEM!

Another thing that needs to be told to our Christian, Messianic and Jewish friends, as well as the rest of the world, is that the Name of the Father God is Yahweh, and NOT Adonay or Adonai or Jehovah or Jahveh or Yahveh and not Hashem; and that the Name of the Son is YAHSHUA - and NOT Y’shua, NOT Yeshua. Otherwise, we are unwittingly participating in the Enemy’s conspiracy to suppress the Name. Remember: The devil does NOT want God’s Name ‘Yahweh’, or Christ’s Name ‘Yahshua’ to be 1) known, 2) understood, 3) used, 4) appreciated, 5) taught or 6) worshiped, while the Heavenly Father does. Which side will we be on? Yah + shua = the Salvation of Yahweh. Yeshua means “blotted out”. Christ’s Name was Yahshua. Yahweh's Name is NOT "Hahshem"! But, He knows Who we are talking to when we call Him by a name that is not His, and He answers, and He saves, and, our baptism is valid. To take Yahweh’s Name in vain has nothing to do with Its pronunciation, but with the misrepresentation of God’s character.

WHO HAS BEWITCHED OR SEDUCED YOU?

Gal 2:19 "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?"

You can be certain that God is definitely anti-legalism, anti-Old Testament law keeping as a means of pleasing God! There is a foolish “bewitching” that takes people away from a present day focus on intimacy with Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom and the sweet leading of the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to love the Jewish people and the land of Israel, to appreciate our Jewish roots, to appreciate the Jews, to learn about Jewish customs, and to worship with Messianic Jews; but it is quite another thing for us to see Old Testament or Torah Commandment keeping as a “deeper truth”, a 'better way', or something that will be more pleasing to God. This can be an excuse for religious arrogance and smug superiority. It is one thing to sing a Jewish song or dance a Jewish dance or use a Hebrew word, but it is quite another thing to think that by doing these things we can be more pleasing to God. It is important for us to know and convey that God could care less if we eat ham or keep the Sabbath.

Col 2:16 “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--

17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from Whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. 20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using)-- in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

Rom 3:31 “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.” (NAS) This verse is followed by a whole chapter that carefully explains that the Law does no good whatsoever in saving or justifying a person, but faith in the grace and love and Person of Yahshua Jesus Christ and in His shed Blood upon the Cross.

THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM

Several times in this teaching, mention has been made of “The Gospel of the Kingdom”. The Gospel of the Kingdom is the Message that Jesus Yahshua, as GOD, as our Passover Lamb, paid the ransom for our sins, and that He rose again and reigns in our hearts as our God and our Life; that we must be led by the Holy Spirit at all times and in everything, and that doing the will of the Father (which, of course, includes accepting Christ within as LORD and Saviour,) is the ONLY means of inheriting the Kingdom of God! Mat.7:21. There is only ONE Gospel of the Kingdom, and it has nothing to do with keeping of Old Testament Torah Law, except the Message that we are free from it, and that we must not allow ourselves to become entangled again by it. The Apostle Paul declared that if anyone comes around preaching any other gospel than this one concerning the Lordship of Christ, that he or she should go to hell, and that they were already under the curse of God. Gal 1:6-9 NKJV "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him Who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." ! !

These people who stress the importance of keeping Torah, or the Old Testament Law, seldom focus on New Testament priorities and mandates, such as the Lordship of Christ, the fulfillment of the Great Commission, Christ in you the Hope of Glory, the coming out-pouring of the Glory of God, the Throne Room Mentality, and the importance of saving men's souls. Instead, the distracted focus is on Jewish roots, the Jewish modalities of worship, blowing the horn, the keeping of the sabbaths, the feasts, and the Law, and being and acting and singing and dancing Jewish, instead of dynamically allowing Christ to live His glorified Life through us!

The Purpose of the Law

The Law was invented by God the Father to present to all of mankind the kind of standard of behavior that God expected of His people in the Olden Days. They were to quickly come to the place where they realized their need for a Savior - to come to the place where they threw themselves upon the mercy of God for His help and enablement. The Law was never given with the expectancy that it would be an end in itself, but that Christ would be the End of the Law, and the real beginning of Grace found in Him. Here, the Bible points out that Abraham lived by faith and was pleasing to God, having reward covenants four hundred years prior to the giving of the Law.

Rom 4:15 “For the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation. 16 For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.” (NAS)

Rom 6:14 “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!” (NAS) Repeat after me: “We are NOT under law, but under grace!” Again: “We are NOT -”

Rom 7:4 “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. 7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting, if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ " Rom 7:12 “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (NAS)

Once again, please repeat after me: “I am dead to the Law!” Now: “I am joined to Another!” Now: “I’ve been released from the Law!” Again: - - -!!!

Rom 8:1-4 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the LAW of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the LAW of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (NAS)

Remember: We have been released from the Law, the Torah, and we have died to this law.

On the basis of these words from God, please repeat these Bible phrases:

“I am free from the Law.”

“I have died to the Law.”

“I ‘ve been released from the Law.:

“I am not under Law.”

Again,

“I am free from the Law.”

“I have died to the Law.”

“I ‘ve been released from the Law.:

“I am not under Law.”

Again,

“I am free from the Law.”

“I have died to the Law.”

“I ‘ve been released from the Law.:

“I am not under Law.”

However, do you know what some Christian’s say? They say heresy:

““I am still chained to the Law.”

“My life is tied to the Law.”

“We must keep the Law.

“We’re still under the Law.”

“You should keep the Law.” ”

Rom 10:4 “For Christ is the End of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (NAS) Please note: Christ is the END of the Law!!! It does not say, that Christ is the CONTINUATION of the Law.”

Rom 13:8 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.” (NAS) Please note here: not one time has the importance of the Sabbath been mentioned, nor the eating of beef vs. bacon, nor the keeping of the feasts. Love is the fulfillment of the Law, not eating beef on Friday night, nor worshipping the Lord on Saturday, nor Monday. When the Bible says, “This is the day that Yahweh (the Lord) has made”, it is NOT just talking about Saturday or Sunday, but, about every day!!!

Gal 2:15 "We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Yahshua Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Yahshua Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified. 17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."(NAS) Understand this: It is not possible to live to the Law, - and, at the same time, to live to God. Please repeat: “I have died to the Law.” Say it again. If I am still indebted to the Law, then the crucifixion of Christ was a spastic waste. Or, to put it in Bible words, “Christ died needlessly, or in vain.”

Eph 2:13 “But now, in Christ Yahshua Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself IS our peace, Who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the Cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” (NAS) Notice here, that Law of Commandments has been ABOLISHED!!, done away with, finished, destroyed, made to no longer apply!!! Here’s what the New Testament calls the Old Testament Law: “EMNITY” or “Hostility” Eph.2:15 “Law of commandments = enmity”.

Phil 3:6 “As to zeal, a persecutor of the Church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. 7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Yahshua Jesus my Lord, for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish (‘dung’, ‘refuse’, ‘manure’, ‘poop’) in order that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.” (NAS) Note: Included in the list of those things that Paul chose to count as rubbish (‘dung’, ‘refuse’, ‘manure’,) was any righteousness found by blamelessly keeping the Law of the Torah in the Old Testament. A question God asks, “Why do you run back to this ‘yoke of Bondage’ ” or to these “legalistically religious chains that enslave you???”

Titus 3:8 “This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. 9 But shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law; for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, 11 knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.” (NAS) There were and are those who will take sincere-hearted Christians and seduce and bewitch them into believing that they will be better Christians if they will only keep the Old Testament laws - but these deceivers are to be rejected after the first and second admonition.

Heb 7:11 “Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? 12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.” (NAS) The Levitical priesthood has been replaced by the Melchizedek priesthood after the Image of Christ. It is His grace that rules the day. The Law has been replaced by Yahshua Jesus. If we keep the Old Testament laws, we don’t need Jesus!!! Heb 7:15 “And this is clearer still, if another Priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 Who has become such, not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an Indestructible Life. 17 For it is witnessed of Him, ‘Thou art a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ 18 For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the Law made nothing perfect), and, on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” (NAS) Notice that the Law has been set aside, and a new priesthood has been established, that is most definitely NOT based on the Old Testament Law. The Bible here, clearly states that the Old Testament Torah law is WEAK AND USELESS!!! (v.18)

Heb 7:22 “So much the more also, Yahshua Jesus has become the Guarantee of a better covenant.” (NAS) The Old covenant has been replaced by "a better Covenant" - the Covenant of Love in Christ Yahshua Jesus!

Heb 8:6 “But now, He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says, ‘Behold, days are coming’, says the Lord, ‘when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them’, says the Lord. 10 For this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days’, says the Lord: ‘I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ ” (NAS) Note: better promises, better covenant, better ministry.

Heb 10:8 “After saying above, ‘Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast not desired, nor hast Thou taken pleasure in them’ (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Thy will.’ He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (NAS) Notice that Jesus Yahshua is saying here that God has taken away (v.9) the Old Testament Law Covenant, and has established a New Covenant. It says that God is definitely NOT pleased with those who still try to keep the Old Testament Law.

* Phil 3:2 “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” This is how Paul refers to those who would emphasize the need to keep the Old Testament Laws. He calls them “dogs”. He calls them “evil workers”, the "false circumcision".

* Col 2:16 “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” (NAS) God is telling us clearly that walking with Him has absolutely nothing to do with keeping the Feast, eating ham and nothing to do with keeping the Sabbath!!!

THOSE OPPOSED TO KEEPING THE OLD TESTAMENT, SAY, “FREEDOM”!!

KEEP ALL THE LAW!!!

James 2:10 says “For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” In other words, when one begins advocating the importance of keeping the Old Testament laws, one steps on to a treadmill going backwards, very, very fast! I have a close friend, who advocates just the keeping of the "moral" law of Moses. But the problem exists, that if we are to keep one part of the law, we need to keep it all.

According to the Bible, if a man or woman sets out to keep any part of the Old Testament Law, he or she becomes duty bound to keep it all, including the following: (Am I going to be party to murder, here?)

Note this Old Testament Torah commandment law: Deut 21:18 "If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, 19 then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his home town. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.' 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear of it and fear.” (NAS) Well, my friend, this is part of the Old Testament Law. This is the Torah! I hope that you are not planning on murdering your child if an Old Testament Law-keeping cult member tells you to! You should go back and read “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, a historically accurate play about an early American village of Sabbath keepers who hung by the neck, decent and God loving women in the name of Old Testament - Torah keeping legalism.

Peter

The Apostle Paul publicly rebuked St. Peter when Peter recommended the keeping of certain Old Testament laws.

Gal 2:14 “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) in the presence of all, ‘If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? 15 We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless, knowing that a *man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith in Christ Jesus Yahshua, even we have believed in Christ Jesus Yahshua, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and NOT by the *works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” (NAS) Some, who advocate keeping of the Old Testament Torah law, agree that while we are not justified by law keeping, that we are nevertheless supposed to keep the old law to please Christ. Here, Paul is saying, 'forget about the law!", as it says in Romans 8, “The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Yahshua Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death.”!!!

*1 Tim 6:3 “If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Yahshua Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain, from such , turn away.” (NAS)

Acts 13:38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” (NAS) In other words, the Law of Moses leaves us in a chained and bound condition.

OLD TESTAMENT EYE GLASSES

(By Joshua P. Bohlen)

One of the problems with being occupied with the study of the Torah, or the Law, is that it can take our focus off of the end or fulfillment of the Law, namely Jesus Christ Himself.

I’ve heard it said by some of these dear folks that we need to view the New Testament through the eyes of the Old Testament. I find this view to be unbiblical. 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 states, “But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of The Old Covenant (Torah) the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses (Torah) is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (NAS) I believe that this passage indicates that we must read the Old Testament through the eyes of the New Testament, yes, even through the eyes of Christ the very Word of God--John 1:1. To view the New Covenant (N. T.) through the eyes of the Old, is like standing on Mount Sinai trying to see Mount Calvary or Zion through the wrong end of a binoculars. The truths of the Gospel of the Kingdom becomes distorted.

It also seems as though those who have a preoccupation with Old Testament laws and regulations seldom, if ever, talk of the Spirit. Little is mentioned of the Spirit-led life-style or the importance of being “led by the Spirit”. It seems as though the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit are at the outer edge of their doctrines. Look into it.

Leaven of the Pharisees, permeates the whole Christian walk

Yes, be wary, be a little bit on your guard. Jesus said to His disciples: "Beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees."

This doctrine of doing to please the Father is exactly the kind of leaven Jesus was talking of. Just remember this: a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Just a little bit of this teaching accepted into your mind and heart will mess up your whole walk with the Lord. Unfortunately, this kind of philosophy permeates so much of the Church's teachings that it's sometimes hard to discern what's what anymore. It disguises itself in so many different forms. Obeying the Law as a means of pleasing God or "winning" salvation, is its basic raw form. Works-based righteousness, or performance-based acceptance by God is to be found in every single religion in the world. Almost without exception, every religion, cult, etc., has this as a basic doctrine. Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hindus, Buddhists, Islam, Catholic, 7th Day Adventists, you name it... These say: "DO!" Jesus and the Gospel of Christ says: "DONE!--It is finished!" Any other "gospel" that says that you have to do something to be in right-standing with God is an affront to the Cross of Christ; it is an offense, an insult, a slap in the face of Christ. To say that we have to continue to do something good to be in right standing with God is like saying, "Thanks Jesus, but Your suffering on the Cross was really not necessary, I can do it on my own without You." Yet that is exactly what we say when we try to do more to please Him. The only thing we can do is thank Him and accept His finished work on the Cross. Yours and my righteousness are as filthy rags. Our faith in His righteous deed is what is required of us. The very faith we have in His righteousness puts us in the right place!

Acts 15:5 “But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses (Torah).’ ” (NAS)

(End of Joshua’s words.”)

The following Scripture tells us who should practice the Law:

1 Tim 1:5 “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. 8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the *fact that law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.” (NAS)

Let’s go over this list again. Here the Bible plainly states that the Law, the present practice of the Torah and the laws of the Old Testament, is for the following people, and for the following people only

1. “for those who are lawless”

2. “and rebellious”

3. “for the ungodly

4. “and sinners”

5. “for the unholy”

6. “and profane”

7. “for those who murder their parents”

8. “for murderers”

9. “and immoral men”

10. “and homosexuals”

11. “and kidnappers”

12. “and liars”

13. “and perjurers”

14. “Whatever (or whoever) else is contrary to sound teaching”.

Don’t get us wrong. We recommend the keeping of the Old Testament Torah law, but only for those who fit into one of the above 14 categories of people. Otherwise, please remember:

“You are free from the Law.” Acts 13:38

“You have died to the Law.” Rom.7:4

“You‘ve been released from the Law” v. 6

“You are not under Law.” Rom. 6:14

We quote the following passage elsewhere, but wanted to include it here for additional perspective. If you want to have the total amount of Old Testament Law that God tells us to keep for this modern day, here it is:

Acts 15:4 “And when they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. 5 But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses (Torah).’ 6 And the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel and believe. 8 And God, Who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.’ 12 And all the multitude kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 And after they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, ‘Brethren, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His Name. 15 And with this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 "After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, 17 In order that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My Name," 18 Says the Lord, Who makes these things known from of old. 19 Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. (NAS)

Acts 15:28 "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell." (NAS)

Here is the whole list then, from God, as to the sum total of things from the Old Testament that we need to “no greater burden” about:

Commandment Number One: Don’t eat stuff that has been given to idols

Commandment Number Two: Don’t eat stuff strangled or blood of animals

Commandment Number Three: Don’t have sex, mentally, or otherwise, with anyone other than your own spouse!

A CULTIC MOVEMENT

There is a movement afoot, that is devastating, divisive, damnable, deceptive and diabolical in nature. It is a cultic teaching that seems to be gaining inroads into the Body of Christ, that our dear ones need to be warned against, and equipped to teach against. It is a heresy that says that we must keep certain of the Old Testament Laws (Torah), including the keeping of the Sabbath, as a means of pleasing God. But here is what God has to say about this:

Gal 1:6 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him Who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the Gospel of Christ. 8 But even though we, or an angel from Heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.” NAS) In other words, “To hell with him!” or, "Let him or her be damned!"

CH 3:1 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Yahshua Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”

>Note: Paul uses the word “bewitched” here. We believe that there is a spirit of witchcraft that deludes, blinds and seduces people away from intimacy with Christ, the things of the Spirit and the Great Commission, into a religious and legalistic need to keep certain of the Old Testament laws as a means of pleasing God.

3 “ Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain-- if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does He then, Who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 6 Even so, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed in you.’ 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. 10 For as many as *are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.’ 11 Now *that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, ‘The righteous man shall live by faith.’ 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, ‘He who practices them shall live by them.’ 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’-- 14 in order that in Christ Jesus Yahshua the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 15 Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his Seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to One, ‘And to your Seed,’ that is, Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. 19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a Mediator, until the Seed should come to Whom the promise had been made. 20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only One. 21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Yahshua Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that *faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Yahshua Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus Yahshua. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (NAS)

Gal 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and *worthless elemental things (Torah), to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? 10 You *observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. (NAS)

Thus, we should NOT keep or observe or pay any attention to days, months, seasons, or years, because the Law (The Torah) here, is referred to being “weak, worthless, and elemental yoke of slavery”.

Gal 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (The Law, The Torah). (Paul is here, talking about the Old Testament Law!) 2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.” (In other words, if one tries to obey the Old Testament Law, Christ becomes of no benefit!, ‘severed from Christ’, and ‘fallen from grace’!!!) 3 “And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are ***seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus Yahshua neither **circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. 7 **You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion did not come from Him Who calls you. 9 A little leaven(= The Law, The Torah) leavens the whole lump of dough. 10 I have confidence in you in the Lord, that you will adopt no other view; but the one who **is disturbing you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. 11 But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the Cross has been abolished. 12 Would that those who are troubling you would even mutilate (castrate) themselves.

Here, God is saying that any one who wants to emphasize the importance of keeping the Old Testament Law or Torah, who wants to be religious or legalistic, should go all the way and take a knife and cut their testicles off!!! Then, according to Deut.23:1 he will never be allowed to enter the assembly of the Lord.

Galatians 5:12

I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

They ... which trouble you, [anastatountes (NT:387)] - turning upside down (Acts 17:6): setting up what ought to be down, and down what ought to be up: different from [ho (NT:3588) tarassoon (NT:5015)] Gal 5:10, 'they who are subverting you.'

" "Were even cut off - rather, 'that they would even cut themselves off' from your communion, as a worthless foreskin cast away; even as they desire you to cut off your foreskin (Gal 1:7-8: cf. Phil 3:3) [apokopsontai: middle]. Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom explain, 'Would that they would even cut themselves of' - i.e., cut off not merely the foreskin, but the whole member, like the Galatian priests of Cybele: if circumcision be not enough, then let them have excision also: an outburst hardly suitable to the gravity of an apostle, and unsupported by the ancient versions. Gal 5:9-10 point to communication as the judgment threatened against the troublers; and danger of the "leaven" spreading, as the reason for it." " (from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

In other words - the key to all is to love the Lord, and each other, and to always be led by the Holy Spirit!!! There is no mention here of the need to keep the Sabbath. To those of you who have started to get into this delusion of Sabbath keeping, etc., we are lovingly, gently and strongly encouraging you to flee from this cultic doctrine of Old Testament Law Torah keeping. Those who advocate the keeping of Old Testament Law ‘abolish the Cross of Jesus Yahshua Christ’!! Gal.5:11

Gal 6:12 “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised (keep the Law, the Torah), simply that they may not be persecuted for the Cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Yahshua Christ, through Which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither is circumcision ANYTHING, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” (NAS) In other words, there is zero profit in keeping the Old Testament laws!!!

God, in the, Book of Hebrews, tells us that the former commandments and laws were set aside for:

a better___hope!

a better___covenant!

better___promises!

better___sacrifices!

a better___possession!

a better___country!

a better___resurrection!

a better___blood!

Please tell me: Why would anyone want to go back to:

a worse hope?

a worse covenant?

worse promises?

worse sacrifices?

a worse possession?

a worse country?

a worse resurrection?

a worse blood?

This is exactly what a person does, when they seek to keep Torah Old Testament, old Covenant Law or Laws.

KEEP ALL THE LAw

James 2:10 says “For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”

According to the Bible, if a man or woman sets out to keep any part of the Old Testament Law, that he or she becomes duty bound to keep it all.

A DISTRACTION

One of the main problems with these kinds of belief systems, is that they, and this one is no exception, distract us from the main purpose and priority that God has for us - and that is to fulfill the Great Commission!!! The devil wants to cause us to look away from Yahshua and the Centrality of seeing the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, and, instead, to seek some other means than the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the King’s Greatest Secret! Remember: Gal 1:6-9 "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him Who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." NKJV

HOW TO SEDUCE SOMEONE

If the devil would write a book about how to seduce or deceive someone, would you be interested? There are those in the course of our ministry that we know that we have the power or ability to seduce, molest, imprison, control, deceive or rob. But God is demanding that we ministers of the Most High God, ALWAYS behave with the utmost integrity!!! Perhaps you should be aware of satan’s devices, as then you would know when the devil is trying to seduce you! ‘How about your wife scratching my back?’ It couldn’t hurt, right? Yes, it could. ‘How about a little back-rub?’ ‘How about preaching about how the sexual relationship with one’s spouse is like our relationship with the Lord?’ It couldn’t hurt, right? Yes, it could hurt!!! ‘How about a little friendly frontal Christian hug? After all, we are supposed to greet each other with a holy kiss, right?’ Yes, it could hurt!! Keep your hands off of my wife, or God will lay His hands on you! But this religion and legalism that recommends that we keep certain of the Old Testament or Torah Law is a lying, seducing, tricky, deceptive, religious, legalistic, horrible, divisive, damnable demonic principality that we must avoid at all costs!!! Furthermore, if you have become involved in this horrible deception, you must repent from it, and turn away from it and run from it, and from those who want to seduce you into it.

THE SABBATH

There are those today who believe that we should keep the Sabbath. By this, they mean that we must observe Sabbath from Sundown on Friday night, through Sundown on Saturday night. But there is NOT one place in the New Testament that encourages the keeping of the Sabbath!! The "rest" that is spoken of in Hebrews 3 and 4 has to do with entering into the "King's Greatest Secret" in that we cease from our own works, and sweetly allow Christ to live His Life and do His works through us, as we rest in Him. (See our book, The King's Greatest Secret!)

THE LETTER OF THE LAW vs. THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW

It is a great idea to look at the Old Testament Laws, and ask ourselves the question, "Hmmm, I wonder what You, Papa Yahweh, had in mind, in the giving of this particular Old Testament Law?" For example, with regard to the Sabbath, the thing God clearly had in mind was that we periodically, regularly schedule a time of rest for ourselves, and reverence for the Lord God. Few Christians regularly schedule rest and restoration into their lives. Sunday is often the busiest day of the week for Christians. Saturday is, as well. Vacations are often not restful. God's idea behind the Sabbath is: "For God's sake, man, take a break!" and, "Come apart, or you will come apart!"

The law that stated that the parents should have stoned their children to death if they persisted in their rebellion was: "God hates rebellion and disobedience."

CONCLUSION

The Bible has words to say about those who would advocate the keeping of the Old Testament Laws, as a present day means of pleasing Yahweh.

1. God says that they are preaching another gospel than the Gospel of the Kingdom, and that, as such, they are to be damned to hell.

2. These who want us to keep the Torah Old Testament Law, God calls: ‘seducers’, ‘deceivers’, ‘bewitchers’, ‘dividers’, ‘troublers’, and ‘Judaizers’, etc. He tells us to reject them and to practice Kingdom Quarantine after the first and second admonition (Tit. 3:10).

3. God tells us that He wishes that those who would advocate Old Testament Law keeping, including circumcision, that they should take a knife and go all the way and cut off their testicles!!! The NIV here, says, "castrate themselves"! One of the translations says, "cut off the entire organ". This is how intensely, how strongly, the New Testament feels about those who try to tell us to keep the O ld Testament Law.

MENSTRUATION

Lev 15:19 "And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. 20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. 21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 22 And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 23 And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. 24 And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean." KJV

This question calls for the question: "Should we keep the Old Testament Law". The short answer to this question is: We are to KEEP NO OLD TESTAMENT LAW THAT IS NOT EMPHASIZED IN THE NEW!!!!!!!!!!!

Otherwise, we are to keep all the Law, including: the other laws in Lev. Concerning the mixture of seed, the wearing of linen and wool, excusing a man who has sex with a concubine, betrothed to another.

Poison his wife is he is jealous of her - Num.5

Kill witches - Lev.20:27

Kill cows - Lev.16

Stone non-virgins who marry - Deut 22:21

Stone idol worshippers - Lev.20:2; Deut.13:10

Stone Sabbath breakers - Num.15:35

Stone adulterers - Lev.20:10

Kill blasphemers - Lev.24:16

Kill rebellious kids - Deut.21:21

Not allow bastards in church to the 10th generation - Deut.23

If we are to keep this menstruation law, then, we must bar all menstruating women from the church, must not allow husbands to come to church, for 7 days, who have had sex with their wife while she was menstruating, not sit in church pews or chairs where they have sat. In short, ALL MENSTRUATING WOMEN MUST BE SHUT UP AT HOME, ONE WEEK OUT OF FOUR!!!

Someone said, "Well, the New Testament use of the word "law" has five different meanings." My question is: In Lev., a few verses prior to where menstruation is mentioned, it also commands animal sacrifice, meal sacrifices, the sacrifice of turtledoves, pigeons, then putting bird's blood on the house. Then, in chapter 15, where menstruation is mentioned, it says that EVERY time semen happens, everyone is unclean until the even, after every thing semen touches and the people involved are washed and washed, and if a man has sex with his wife during her period, then, he also must be unclean for 7 days, after which time one must bring either 2 turtledoves or 2 pigeons for the spilling of their blood. (By the way, I've got some pigeons in my barn that I would sell you.) Three verses later, it talks about killing two goats for the Day of Atonement! If we are going to keep this law concerning menstruation, then we must keep the laws surrounding it!!!!!!!

There is NO mention of menstruation in the New Testament!!!

There is nothing unclean about menstruation in science.

There is nothing unclean about menstruation in medicine. In the New Testament, there is no hint, suggestion, implication, mention, indication or inference, remotely related to menstruation. If we are to keep this law of menstruation, then we must keep the WHOLE LAW, including all of the above mentioned laws, including ALL the laws that tells us to kill kids, witches, Sabbath breakers, etc.

Heb 13:4 "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled:"

1 Cor 7:5 "Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time - " Here it is talking about the husband and the wife having sex ANY TIME EITHER OF THEM DESIRES IT! No exception is given, unless, by MUTUAL agreement for the purpose of fasting and prayer. No mention here, is made of menstruation or headache or low libido or inconvenience or hatred of sex.

It has been proven that a woman may have a much higher libido during her menstruation. In countries, like those in Africa, when couples refrain from sex during possible fertility, and again during menstruation, the couple may only have sex once or twice in a month!

For a person to even raise this question indicates a deep and strong need for him or her to be taught the basic rudiments of the bold and strident anti-Law stance of the New Testament. It becomes absolutely necessary to read and agree with alllll the Scriptures in this article, Law, Grace and Law!

This business of Old Testament Torah Law keeping is an abominable and horrible and seductive and highly contaminating, contagious HERESY! Paul tells all who recommend keeping the Old Testament Law to go all the way and castrate themselves! Gal 5:12 "emasculate themselves!" NIV

This law is like the one about circumcision, if we practice this one, we frustrate the grace of God! Gal 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (the Old Testament Law)

TRICKY BEWITCHING!

One of the things that Old Testament Law keepers will do, when asked directly if they teach that people should keep the Old Testament Law, will say, "No." "We do not keep the Old Testament Law, because we have to, but, to please the Lord." The sick joke is: The Lord is NOT PLEASED with those who "become entangled again in this yoke of bondage" of Old Testament Torah Law keeping.

Another devious thing they will say when confronted, is: "We are NOT SAVED (redeemed, sanctified, justified) by keeping the Law, but we must still KEEP the Old Testament Torah Law."

AS we have said in another place, the "Jewish Version" deceptively changes the words in the Bible that tell us to NOT keep the O.T. Law, to: "We are to still keep the Torah Law. We are just not supposed to be "legalistic" about it." ! !

SOME REASONS PEOPLE END UP IN THIS HERESY

1) Like most religious deception, one’s intellect is appealed to.

2) The quick ability to be superior, doctrinally, to others. Pride.

3) To know more and to be pleasing more to God than are others. For example, it can feel good to keep the Sabbath, etc., and to look down our noses at others because they are not as enlightened or as law keeping or as spiritual or as mature or as knowledgeable or as superior as we are!!!

4) Jesus said, "If anyone will do the will of God, he (she) will know whether the doctrine be of God.." Total commitment dispels deception.

5) We have noticed that this heresy appeals to people who really, really want to please God, but to whom the simple Gospel of the Kingdom is not enough. They want to DO more for God, and the simple leading of the Holy Spirit, the blood of Christ is not enough, the Great Commission is not enough, the King's Greatest Secret, the Throne-Room mentality is not enough. They want to DO something complicated, something religious, etc. Thus, going back to keeping the Old Covenant feels good to them.

6) The old devil, the Enemy wants to keep people from priorities, from "hitting the bulls-eye of the Will of God, the leading of the Holy Spirit, from fulfilling the Great Commission, from practicing the Presence of God, from living "Christ in You the Hope of Glory", the King's Greatest Secret, the Throne-Room Mentality, and from the focus of the Salvation of the lost.

7) God will allow some people to experience a heresy, so that when they are delivered from it, they will be able to bring others out of the deception.

God is calling us to repent from this sin of Old Testament, Torah Law-keeping in Yahshua’s mighty Name! Amen.

Because of the highly contaminating nature of this deception, we are asking you to consider the advisability of practicing Kingdom Quarantine against those who are spreading this false gospel of adherence to Old Testament Law and Torah keeping. As the Bible says. “If anyone, including an angel, comes to preaching another gospel, let him be cursed! (damned). ” (Gal 1:8,9) and, “Those who are troubling you, will bear their judgment, whomever they may be.” (Gal. 5:10) And, “Reject the factious man, after the first and second admonition.” (Titus 3:10) “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Yahshua Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” (II Jn 1:7-11)

A WORD TO THE WISE!

In the beginning of this article, we began to describe to you an example of the Ten Commandments being like a seemingly innocent daisy chain of little flower stems, each having the consistency of knitting yarn. But, soon, the deception deepened, and the bondage to the Law increased, until, many have awakened down the days to discover that they have allowed themselves to become enslaved to the Old Testament Torah Law that produces bondage, sin and death. Now the chains have been forged until you have come to the place where you are deep in bondage and deception. Well, we have good news for you! The time is now when you are to hear the Voice of the Son of God and, arise, and shake off the shackles that have bound you to this life of legalism and religiosity.

Gal 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm (stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set you free) and do not be (entangled) subject again to a yoke of slavery (the Torah, the Old Testament Law). 2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, (that is, if you try to keep the Old Law, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” (NAS)

We here at the Great Commission Ministries at 9473 County Road D, Webster, Wisconsin, 54893, Phone 715-866-4060, are inviting you to become free in Yahshua’s Mighty Name, and then to “Stand fast in the liberty where with Christ has set you free, and BE NOT ENTANGLED AGAIN IN THIS YOKE OF BONDAGE - the bondage of Old Testament Torah Law keeping! We celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, not out of legalism or religiosity, nor out of a sense of duty, but freely, voluntarily, not as a “got to”, but as a privilege. We do NOT observe the Feast because the Old Testament, or because Torah tells us to, but because we want to celebrate the Presence of God freely. Amen. If you feel that you have need of further teaching about this, or any other spiritual subject, we are offering our services to you for discipleship in the Gospel of the Kingdom. Amen.

1 Tim 1:8 “But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching." (NAS)

God’s precious best be to you and to yours. Again, if you would like to discuss any of these or other matters, or would like counseling or prayer, you may call 715-866-4060 or e-mail us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A LETTER TO SOME DEAR ONES

Dearly Beloved Sister _____ , and Beloved Brother _______ ,

Thank you for taking the time and going to the expense of calling, to renew acquaintance. I know that this takes courage on your part.

Please permit me to tell you a little story, and to ask a question or questions.

Story: Once upon a time, a few years ago, we had some dear friends, named ______ . They were very dear to us. So dear, in fact, that we made a covenant together that we would rather lose our land and farm, than to lose their friendship. ______ even built on the 25 thousand dollar addition on our place, for Karen's parents to be able to stay here. The _______’s visited at our house and attended our meetings on a weekly basis. They were a very great help and strength to our ministry. We visited at their home and our fellowship was very sweet. They contributed finances and a great deal of sweat equity to our ministry. Our Joshua was dating their daughter, and we even talked of marriage between them.

Suddenly, because of something that happened, (of which I will tell you in a moment), our friendship was no more. They no longer came to our home. They no longer came to our meetings. They no longer contributed time, work, or finances to our ministry. We no longer went to their house. We no longer prayed together. For all intents and purposes, our friendship was finished, over with, destroyed. We have not seen each other, visited with each other, embraced each other, prayed or worshipped together for a number of years now.

Would you like to know what destroyed this most lovely of friendships? (I have a lump in my throat as I write to you.)

It was the heresy of the importance of Old Testament Torah Law keeping. This friendship was destroyed because these dear friends came somehow to believe that it was important to keep the Sabbath, to keep the Jewish holidays, to observe 300 to 619 Old Testament Torah laws.

The New Testament CLEARLY tells us that there is NO Old Testament or Torah law that we are to observe or to consider important for us today, except those laws that are underscored, reemphasized, or commanded in the New Covenant, or the New Testament. In other words, ONLY those laws emphasized in the New Testament are important for us to consider today, except for the historical value and meaning of those old Torah rules, like, "Stone your children to death if they misbehave!" This law is valuable to us, to show us what God thinks of disobedient children. But we are no longer to stone them to death, or, be legalistically or religious about other Old Covenant Laws, such as:, "don't eat bacon", or "don't have sex during menstruation". These laws had significance in the olden days, but with today's sanitation laws and practices, we are to call nothing unclean that God calls clean.

It is acceptable to appreciate the Torah and the Old Testament and "Jewish Roots" for "historical benefit", and, to better understand the heart of God, but, thus saith the Lord Yahweh, there is NO LAW from the Old Testament that we are to regard as important to keep or observe for today, UNLESS that law was reintroduced, re-emphasized, or underscored in the New Covenant, the New Testament! To believe otherwise is to embrace heresy and deception and spiritual disease and contamination. There is NOTHING in the New Testament commanded about keeping the Sabbath or the Feasts or menstruation, or stoning our children or tithing. There IS something in the New Testament about loving each other, about murder and stealing and sexual sin and coveting and gossip and lying, and head covering, and tongues, and baptism, the King’s Greatest Secret, The Throne-Room Mentality, the Great Commission, the Gospel of the Kingdom, getting people saved and discipled, about giving our all, to God, etc.

OUR PRE-MARRIAGE COVENANT

I may have mentioned this to you before, but, in our courtship years, Karen and I wrote love letters to each other. Prior to our marriage, Karen and I had certain RULES that we followed in our pre marriage days. We had 10 premarriage commandments, like.

1. Thou shalt not have intercourse.

2. Thou shalt not be naked in front of each other.

3. Thou shalt not sleep together.

4. Thou shalt not go to the toilet in front of each other.

5. Thou shalt keep Karen's maiden name.

6. Thou shalt maintain separate checking accounts.

7. Shalt not kiss certain parts of each other's bodies.

8. Thou shalt not take showers or baths together.

9. Thou shalt not use certain intimate, erotic words of love.

10. Thou shalt not conceive or give birth to children.

These 10 commandments were very important to us. We observed, loved, kept and obeyed them. But then, a change took place. We got married,!!! Over 45 years ago, we got married! And though those pre-marriage commandments were to us a matter of life and death, and though those love letters were very important to us both, Karen and I entered into a New Covenant with each other, that replaced the Old Rules and the Old Covenant! For either of us (or any body else, for that matter) to insist that we continue to observe these old Rules, after we experienced our new covenant, would be heresy and insanity. It is common for us, since our marriage, to have blatantly ignored and broken EVERY one of those Old Rules, because we are under a BETTER COVENANT, A BETTER ARRANGEMENT, BETTER RULES, BETTER AGREEMENTS, etc.

But there are some who would say, when it is time for Karen and I to make love with each other, "NO! When it is time for you to make love, you must, instead, go to your closet, get out your old love letters, your old rules, and KEEP THE OLD RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

In the Olden days, those rules had value, had purpose, were important, are interesting for us to recall. The recalling of them, speaks to the importance of our breaking of them today.

Would you like to know how our friendship with the _________‘s was destroyed? It was destroyed because some Old Testament Old Torah observers came to our Feast of Tabernacles, and began enticing and seducing, wooing and bewitching with their damnable heresy about the importance of keeping the Old Testament Torah. Because the _________’s eagerly, painfully, wanted to be even more pleasing to God, they allowed themselves to be bewitched, deceived, wooed, entangled, bound, fooled, isolated, separated, estranged, enticed and seduced. Immediately, they were seduced into the 'pre marriage' behavior. But they were not content to keep this heresy to themselves. Like the bite of the vampire, they not only became seduced, but they felt compelled to bite, seduce and bewitch others. The _______’s have not been to ONE of our services since that time. The daughter _____ has not been to our home since that time. Another friend, ________, who had been coming to our home on a weekly basis, has not been to our home since that time. The original seducers of the _____’s, named ____, have not been to our services since that time. No hugs, no help, no fellowship, no friendship, no togetherness, no unity, no giving, no mutual ministry, no discipleship. Where these past fast friends are concerned, there is great sadness, loneliness and loss. I become angry and homesick when I think of the death of these lovely, lovely friendships.

It was after this that I mandated that you not come to our meetings, because I knew that you were also becoming infected with this damnable contamination. I did not want you to come here and dance and smile and fellowship and eat with and seduce and contaminate and bewitch our precious few humble dear ones with your very damaging emphasis on the importance of Old Torah Law keeping. I asked you, instead, to repent of this damnable heresy. I tried to warn you. I tried to teach you. Finally, when I could see that my loving earnest counsel was unavailing, I did the only and best thing I knew how, and that was to quarantine you, and to forbid your presence at our meetings.

I say again: If, to ANY extent, you still embrace this heresy of seeing the importance of keeping ANY Old Testament Law not reemphasized in the New Testament, then, please, I beg you, I command you, stay away from our people and from our meetings and from our place. We will love you from a distance. For all of these obvious reasons set forth in this article, we cannot recommend your ministry to any others. In fact, we may, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, actually warn others, that you are a potential source of hideous contamination into this horrible, seductive, bewitching, contaminating, enslaving, heresy of your emphasis on the need to keep Old Covenant, Old Testament Torah law keeping.

If you will promise us that you will repent or have completely repented from this idea that it is important to keep the Old Testament Torah law, and are willing for teaching and dialogue concerning the matter, there is a possibility that this quarantine can be lifted.

Let's communicate about this matter. I also want to hear from _______ about this. I feel as strongly about this as I would toward a sexual predator, because of the strong seductive and bewitching quality of this "Jewish Roots" heresy.

Respectfully,

john roy bohlen 715-866-4060 email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

WHY WE CELEBRATE TABERNACLES

Again, let me talk to you as to why we observe the Feast of Tabernacles: It is NOT, I repeat, is NOT because the Old Testament commands it. It is for the following reasons:

1. Tabernacles has never yet been fulfilled. We believe that one of these years, soon, perhaps this year, that it WILL BE fulfilled, and that, as the people waited, in the New Testament, in the Upper Room, and as Yahshua Jesus, in the New Testament, fulfilled Passover and Pentecost, that Tabernacles will be fulfilled in a mighty outpouring of the Glory and Presence of God in a way that the World has never seen, and the Church has never imagined.

2. As Tabernacles was commanded and demanded and compulsory in the PAST, AND in the FUTURE, we believe that there is a window of opportunity for us to celebrate it now, voluntarily, but, not because we have to.

3. It cannot HURT, to gather together for the purpose of celebrating Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for sharing, for worship, for waiting on God, for teaching, for giving each other an opportunity to be used of God to bless the others, to allow a creative opportunity for people to allow God to be God through them to the rest of us. Amen.

4. But NOT because the Torah or Zechariah commands it. Amen

Heb 7:16 "Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life."

We love you!

Here is a copy of a letter I sent to certain friends in 2007:

Dear Lady

Thank you for the time, effort, heart and energy you invested in sending me your letter concerning Torah.

I have and am also investing some time, effort, heart and energy in my gentle response.

There is no mention in all of Scripture of the Hebrew/Greek culture/thinking perspective problem. You quoted a few Scriptures in your letter. One reference you did refer to says this: Heb 8:7-10 "The Old Agreement didn't even work. If it had, there would have been no need for another to replace it. 8 But God Himself found fault with the Old One, for He said, 'The Day will come when I will make a New Agreement with the people of Israel and the people of Judah. 9 This New Agreement will not be like the old one I gave to their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; they did not keep their part in that agreement, so I had to cancel it. 10 But this is the new agreement I will make with the people of Israel, says the Lord:" TLB

You, young lady, are recommending and teaching that we go back to keeping "the Old One"!

You mentioned Isa.40:21. There is no mention of the Law.

You mentioned about how the Greeks want to throw away the old. The Bible refers to Torah as a dead husband, that we are now free from, ("Be NOT entangled again in this Yoke of Bondage') or "The Law of sin and death", and that now we have a new one = the "Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus" that has made us free from Torah.

The rite of circumcision was included in Torah. Paul says that those seducing bewitchers who advocate present time observance of Torah, should go all the way and circumcise and cut off the entire organ! Gal 5:12 "As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! 13 You, my brothers, were called to be free." (from New International Version)

The Bible uses some very serious terms to describe those who advocate the keeping of Torah.

"Sect of the Pharisees" - Acts 15

"Judaizers"

"Foolish" Gal:3

"Bewitched" Gal.3:1

"Seducers"

Dear One: Please note this: "A deceived person never knows that they are deceived." You, young lady, have become deceived. To believe in or to teach the importance of present day Torah observance is to believe in or teach a bewitching seductive heresy.

If you are still interested in ever communicating with me or us, or still wish ever to attend one of our Feasts, I will respectfully request that you first read this article "Law, Grace, and Law", which carefully and quietly shares the truth about these things, from the Bible. If you like, I will email it to you.. Otherwise, I wish you and yours, the best of luck. But, thank you again for having written.

But I have little hope for you and for your friends. This heresy is one of the most bewitching and seductive and contagious heresies that I know of. I have never seen any of our dear ones delivered from it. And, one of the saddest things about this wrong doctrine is, that it appeals to deeply committed Christians, who want to do MORE than grace requires, desires or allows. Sorry,

johnroy bohlen

(This is another copy of a letter that I sent to dear, dear friends in 2009.

You will notice that these questions are review questions for this Law, Grace and Law.)

Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement - 2009

Dearly Beloved Brother and Sister,

We reeeeeeeally, deeeeeeeeeply love you!!

We have admired you and have respected you.

May our love and respect and deep admiration continue throughout our life-time and throughout Eternity. Amen.

I have some questions. I earnestly hope and pray that you will be very patient with me, as I ask them.

Father Yahweh Papa God:

Yahshua Jesus:

Ruach HaKodesh: Please guide and guard our friendships and our learning, throughout. Please, always lead us into all truth. Amen.

QUIET QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND REVIEW

1) Can we agree that all of the "normal" Bibles can be used: The KJV, Amplified, NAS, RVS, etc., or do we need to go to an "exotic" Bible, that has been printed with a bias?

2) Doesn't the phrase, in Heb 7:16 "the law of a carnal commandment" refer to the Torah?

3) In Heb. 7:17, doesn’t the phrase "disannulling of the commandment" refer to the Torah?

4) In Heb.7:19 "For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God." Doesn't the phrase "the law" here refer to the Torah? And,

5) Doesn't the phrase "a better hope" here, refer to a better hope than the Torah could give us?

6) In Heb.7:22 "By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better Testament", doesn't the phrase here, "a better Testament" refer to a better Testament than the Torah?

7) Should we keep any of the Old Testament laws? If so, which ones? All of them?

8) Do we have to keep the feast of Tabernacles?

9) When Jesus said that “It is finished!”, what did He mean was finished?

10) When Jesus said that He had not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it, wasn't He the Fulfillment? If He was, are we not discrediting what He did when we also try to fulfill Torah?

11) According to Luke 16:16, when did the Old Testament Law cease to be compulsory?

12) According to Romans 8:1,2 and Lk.16:16, what law are we to obey at this time?

13) In John 8, why did Jesus not stone the woman taken in adultery? Did not the Torah command it? Did Jesus break the Law?

14) How many Old Testament Commandments are we responsible to keep?

15) What are they?

16) In Rom 7:4, when it says "ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him Who is raised from the dead", what does it mean that ye are become dead to the law"? Isn't the "law" referred to here, the Torah?

17) When God, in the, Book of Hebrews, tells us that the former commandments and (Torah?) laws were set aside for:

a better___hope!

a better___covenant!

better___promises!

better___sacrifices!

a better___possession!

a better___country!

a better___resurrection!

a better___blood!

Please tell me: Why would anyone want to go back to:

a worse old hope?

a worse old covenant?

worse old promises?

worse old sacrifices?

a worse old possession?

a worse old country?

a worse old resurrection?

a worse old blood?

18) Isn't this exactly what a person does, when they seek to keep Torah Old Testament, old Covenant Law or Laws?

19) In Romans 8: 2, when it says “For the law of the ______ _____ _____ has set you free from the LAW of _____ ____ ____________.", hasn't the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Yahshua, set us free from Torah?

20). In Gal 2:19, Paul testifies that he is now "dead to the law" so that he "might live unto God", do we have any right to be "alive to the law - (Torah) ? Should not our testimony be that we are "dead to the law"? Are you now recommending that we live in and for the law?

21) In Gal 2:21, What does it mean, "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." ?

22) In Rom 4:14, "For if they which are of the law (Torah?) be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:", do you recommend that we be "of the law"?

23) In the next verse, 15 "Because the law (Torah?) worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.", do you still recommend the law?

24) According to Eph.2:15, what is the “barrier”, the “dividing wall”, the “enmity”, that Christ abolished, destroyed and put to death? Is it not the Torah?

25) The old priesthood of the Law (Torah?) was replaced by what new priesthood?

26) In Heb.10:9, what was the "first" that Yahshua took away?

27) In Phil 3:2 who are the "dogs", the "evil workers", the "false circumcision" referring to?

28) In James 2, what is the difference between the "law" in verse 10 that you are recommending that we keep "the whole of", and the "law of liberty", in verse 12?

29) If we must keep the Sabbath, why not stone a rebellious son, or one taken in adultery, or stone a witch (I personally watched a woman dying on the streets of Akure, Nigeria, who had been stoned because they thought she was a witch. Would you have wished that I had assisted in her stoning?)

30) What was the fight about between Paul and Peter in Gal 2:14?

31) According to Acts 13:38 & 39, would present day following of the Law of Moses leave us in a chained or bound condition?

32) According to 1 Tim.1:5-11, who should practice the Law?

33) Gal.1:6 has Paul calling down a damnable curse on whom?

34) In Gal.3:1, why did Paul call them "foolish" and "bewitched", and (v.2) what was the only thing he wanted to know?

35) What is the tutor or schoolmaster that Gal.3:25 says that we are not to be under? Is it not Torah?

36) According to Gal.4:9, how could anyone want to become enslaved all over again?

37) What and who is Paul talking about in verse 10? "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." Wasn't he saying that we should not, need not, observe days, months or years?

38) Why did Paul say that he was afraid that he had labored over them in vain? (Gal.4:9)

39) Who is this group of people that Paul describes in the following manner: 1) “Christ is of no benefit to them”; (Gal 5:2) 2) “have been severed or cut off from Christ” (Gal.5:4 NAS); and 3) Have “fallen from grace”? In all three cases, was he not referring to those who advocate the present day keeping of Torah?

40) Who does Paul encourage to castrate themselves, and why? (Gal.5:12) NAS Is he not referring to those who recommend the present day keeping of Torah? Circumcision.

41.) Complete this verse: “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not _______ ______ _____.” Can't we fill in the blanks by saying, "If you are led by the Holy Spirit, we are NOT under Torah, and not to be under Torah!"?

42. What negative effect does a preoccupation with the Law do as to the Great Commission and the Kingdom of God? Have you noticed that, among the Torah keepers, that there is NOT a focus on abiding in Christ, in soul winning, in missionary endeavors, in The King's Greatest Secret, on seeking first the Kingdom of God, in the Great Commission, in being led by the Holy Spirit, etc.??? Instead, isn't the focus on Torah, Torah, Torah?

43) What does it mean to abide not in the teaching of Christ? (2 John 1:7-11)

44) In Gal 4:23-24, "For these women are two covenants, one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar." And Gal 4:30 "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman." (NAS) Is it not saying that we must cast out that which is from Mt. Sinai, and that this Torah law is NOT to be an heir with the New?

45) In Romans 7:1-4, I am reminded of the Pre-marriage Rules Karen and I had in place BEFORE we were married. Could you please tell me what you think of this illustration?:

Karen and I had certain RULES that we followed in our pre- marriage days. We had at least 10 premarriage commandments, like.

1. Thou shalt not have intercourse.

2. Thou shalt not be naked in front of each other.

3. Thou shalt not sleep together.

4. Thou shalt not go to the toilet in front of each other.

5. Thou shalt keep Karen's maiden name.

6. Thou shalt maintain separate checking accounts.

7. Shalt not kiss certain parts of each other's bodies.

8. Thou shalt not take showers or baths together.

9. Thou shalt not use certain intimate, erotic words of love.

10. Thou shalt not conceive or give birth to children.

These 10 commandments were very important to us. We observed, loved, kept and obeyed them. But then, a change took place. We got married,!!! Over 45 years ago, we got married! And though those pre-marriage commandments were, at one time, to us a matter of life and death, and though those love letters were very important to us both, Karen and I entered into a New Covenant with each other that replaced to Old Rules and the Old Covenant! For either of us (or any body else, for that matter) to insist that we continue to observe these old Rules, after we experienced our 'new covenant', would be heresy and insanity. It is common for us, since our marriage, to have blatantly ignored and broken EVERY one of those Old Rules, because we are under a BETTER COVENANT, A BETTER ARRANGEMENT, BETTER RULES, BETTER AGREEMENTS, etc. The "pre-marriage rules" were fulfilled!

46) In Mt.22, when Yahshua said, v. 40 " On these two commandments 'hang' all the law and the prophets.” Did He not mean that Torah should be hung up so that a focus could now be placed on these two commandments?

47) John 1:17 “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Yahshua Jesus Christ.” (NAS) Can you see the change? Before Christ, we were to have stoned our rebellious kids to death, to kill cows if we want to please God, and to poison our wife if we were jealous, but now, isn't it true that we are to relate to God and to our dear ones differently, under the new and better Law, the Law of Grace, and of Truth.

48) In Romans 8:2, it says, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the (Torah?) law of sin and death."

And in verse 3: "For what the law (Torah?) could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:" Isn't it true that God was here contrasting Torah with The Law of the Spirit of Life innnnn Christ Yahshua?

50) What do you think about this similar comparison?:

Acts 13:38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him, everyone who believe,s is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” (NAS)

Can you see the difference???

Old Testament Torah Law = bondage.

Christ, & the New Testament Law = freedom!!!

51) Who are these people??: “Certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed.” Acts 15:5 “But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.’ ” ?? Were these not Christians who were advocating the keeping of Torah?

52) What was God's answer to their question? 10 "Now, therefore, why do you put God to the test, by placing upon the neck of the disciples, a yoke (Torah) which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Yahshua Jesus, in the same way as they also are.’ " (NAS) Isn't it obvious that the New Testament is saying that the Law of Moses, was and is, a “Yoke that neither our fathers or we could bear”!!! Doesn't God then contrast the Torah Law to “the grace of our Lord Yahshua Jesus”. Isn't God saying here that, to encourage others to keep the Old Torah Law is the same as if we placed a yoke of slavery on their neck?! Furthermore, by doing so, isn't it explained to us that, when we do this, that we “are putting God to the test.”??

53) Acts 15:18 “Says the Lord, Who makes these things known from of old. 19 Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20 but that we write to them that they 1) abstain from things contaminated by idols and 2) from fornication and 3) from what is strangled and from blood.” (NAS)

Isn't the Bible here telling us exactly how many commandments and laws are to be carried over from the Old Testament Law - exactly THREE COMMANDMENTS!!? Not 10 Commandments, Not 600 commandments; NOT 613, 619, or 666 commandments - but THREE commandments!!? Isn't anything more than this described as an unwise “troubling”?

Acts 15:27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you (1) abstain from things sacrificed to idols and (2) from blood and from things strangled and (3) from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell." (NAS) Are not these the ONLY things from the Torah to be kept today!? Note the words: “NO GREATER BURDEN”!!! Is it not true that anything more than these three things is too great a burden?! There is nothing here, or anywhere in the New Testament about bacon, or keeping the Sabbath, or about keeping the Feasts, or about killing cows, or about not having sex with your spouse during the menstrual cycle. There is much that the New Covenant does cover, things like, no mental sinning, keeping a right heart attitude, humility, tenderheartedness, love and gentleness.

54) Rom 2:28 “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” (NAS) In other words, isn't God saying here that, as to the Old Testament Torah Law, fulfilling the Spirit of the Law is what God has in mind, and NOT the letter of the Law?

55) Rom 3:20 “Because by the works of the Law, no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”(NAS) Isn't God saying here, that the keeping of Torah does NOT justify anything, nor does keeping Torah make anyone more righteous or in right standing with Yahweh God?

56) What do you think about this following paragraph?

We have always had a great love for the Jewish people, and Papa Yahweh certainly wants us to dearly love, respect, honor and pray for the Jewish people. The Bible promises that the Israelites will once again be grafted in, and that the land of Israel will have a central place in the days to come. Anti-Semitism comes disguised in many cloaks, and, clearly, we and God are not, and must not be, anti-Semitic. It is precisely because we love the Jewish people that we are making clear the difference! For there are those who are saying, apparently, that the Jew will come into Christ without coming through the Cross, the Blood, or through God’s Perfect Sacrifice, through grace. The joke here is: that the Jew himself will not be able to come to Christ by any other way than the way that we are outlining here. The Way, the Truth and the Life is still Yahshua the Messiah, and not the Old Testament Law or the Torah!!! Messianic Jews, and every person that seeks to minister to the Jewish person, must sound a clear trumpet in this regard, or else be guilty of presenting heresy, instead of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Otherwise we will be guilty of winning a Jewish proselyte to a cultic “neo-pseudo-Jewishness” that has brought them little closer to Christ - especially if it is said that the keeping of the Old Testament Law or the Torah is necessary. The Torah does not save, does not justify, does not sanctify, does not ‘please God more’, does not profit - but only Yahshua and His saving blood, and being led by His Holy Spirit. If we add anything else, we become guilty of trampling upon the Blood of Christ, and the value of His shed blood

57) What do you think about this following paragraph?

One characteristic of a cult or heresy is that which teaches that belief in Christ PLUS something else is necessary, that the Gospel of the Kingdom PLUS something else is important. The Mormons have the Bible plus the Book of Mormon; the J.W.’s have the J.W. Bible Plus the Watchtower literature, the Catholics have the Catholic Bible Plus the Tradition of their Church Plus Mary - But the Torah keepers have the simple Gospel of the Lord Yahshua Jesus Christ PLUS keeping the Old Sabbath, plus the Kosher Laws, plus the keeping of the Holy Days, including 600+ laws from the Torah, as a necessary means of pleasing God. Because of this, are not Christians, who advocate keeping the Torah, likewise guilty of heresy?

58) Is the following not true?

Another thing that needs to be told to our Christian, Messianic and Jewish friends, as well as the rest of the world, is that the Name of the Father God is Yahweh, and NOT Adonay or Adonai or or YHWH or Jehovah or Jahveh or Yahveh and not Hashem; and that the Name of the Son is YAHSHUA - and NOT Y’shua, NOT Yeshua. Otherwise, we are unwittingly participating in the Enemy’s conspiracy to suppress the Name. Remember: The devil does NOT want God’s Name ‘Yahweh’, or Christ’s Name ‘Yahshua’ to be 1) known, 2) understood, 3) used, 4) appreciated, 5) taught or 6) worshiped, while the Heavenly Father does. Which side will we be on? Yah + shua = the Salvation of Yahweh. Yeshua means “blotted out”. Christ’s Name was Yahshua. Yahweh's Name is NOT "Hahshem"! But, He knows Who we are talking to when we call Him by a name that is not His, and He answers, and He saves, and, our baptism is valid. To take Yahweh’s Name in vain has nothing to do with Its pronunciation, but with the misrepresentation of God’s character.

59) "Who has bewitched you?" Isn't God talking about Christians who have begun advocating Torah Old Testament Law keeping? Will you look at this from The Living Bible?

Gal 3:1 "Oh, foolish Galatians! What magician has hypnotized you and cast an evil spell upon you? For, you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ's death, as clearly as though I had waved a placard before you, with a picture on it of Christ, dying on the Cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by trying to keep the Jewish laws? Of course not, for the Holy Spirit came upon you only after you heard about Christ, and trusted Him to save you. 3 Then, have you gone completely crazy? For, if trying to obey the Jewish laws never gave you spiritual life in the first place, why do you think that trying to obey them now will make you stronger Christians?" TLB

And, again, a few verses later: Gal 3:12 "How different from this way of faith, is the way of law (Torah), which says that a man is saved by obeying every law of God, without one slip. 13 But Christ has bought us out from under the doom of that impossible system (Torah), by taking the curse for our wrongdoing upon Himself." TLB

60) Rom 7:4 “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. Are we not to be "dead to the Torah law"??

6 But now, we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter." Have we not been "released from the Torah law?! Have we not died to this Torah law that did chain us? Are you advocating that we reverse all of this and become chained, once again? Didn't God command us to "Stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has set us free, and become not again entangled in this yoke of (Torah) bondage"!!? Should we not therefore gloriously shout, "I am joined to Another!!"?

61) When the Bible declares: “I am free from the Law!”

“I have died to the Law!” “I ‘ve been released from the Law!:

“I am not under Law!” isn't God talking about Torah Old Testament Law keeping???

62) Or, instead, it this following what you are advising us to confess and preach this contrary gospel to others, contrary to the Gospel of the Kingdom??

“We must go back to being still chained to the Law!”

“My life is to be tied to the Law!”

“We must now keep the Law!”

“We’re still under the Law!”

“You should still keep the Law!”

63) Rom 10:4 “For Christ is the End of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (NAS) Doesn't it say that Christ is the END of the Law??! Does it say that Christ is the CONTINUATION of the Law.”

64) When the Bible says in Rom 13:8 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.” (NAS) Isn't it true here that, in the New Testament, not one time, has the importance of the Sabbath been mentioned, nor the eating of beef vs. bacon, nor the keeping of the feasts.

65) Eph 2:13 “But now, in Christ Yahshua Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near, by the blood of Christ. 14 For, He, Himself, IS our Peace, Who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall (Torah?), 15 by abolishing, in His flesh, the enmity (Torah?), which is the Law of commandments (Torah?), contained in ordinances (Torah?), , that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the Cross, by it having put to death the enmity (Torah?), .”

66) Phil 3:6 “As to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. 7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Yahshua Jesus my Lord, for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish (‘dung’, ‘refuse’, ‘manure’, ‘poop’) in order that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.” (NAS) Note: Included in the list of those things that Paul chose to count as rubbish (‘dung’, ‘refuse’, ‘manure’,) was any righteousness found by blamelessly keeping the Law of the Torah in the Old Testament. A question God asks, “Why do you run back to this stinking ‘yoke of Bondage’ ” or to these worthless “legalistically religious chains that enslave you???”

67) What do you think about this: Heb 7:11 “Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for Another Priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated, according to the order of Aaron? 12 For, when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.” (NAS) The Levitical priesthood has been replaced by the Melchizedek priesthood after the Image of Christ. It is His grace that rules the day. The Law has been replaced by Yahshua Jesus. If we keep the Old Testament laws, we don’t need Jesus!!! Heb 7:15 “And this is clearer still, if another Priest arises, according to the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 Who has become such, not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructibleLife. 17 For it is witnessed of Him, ‘Thou art a Priest, forever, According to the order of Melchizedek.’ 18 For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment (Torah) because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” (NAS) Notice that the Law has been set aside, and a new priesthood has been established, that is most definitely NOT based on the Old Testament Law. The Bible here, clearly states that the Old Testament Torah law is WEAK AND USELESS!!! (v.18)

Heb 7:22 “So much the more also, Yahshua Jesus has become the Guarantee of a better covenant.” (NAS) The Old covenant has been replaced by a better Covenant - the Covenant of Love in Christ Yahshua Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you agree?

68) What do you think about this? Heb 8:6 “But now, He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For, finding fault with them, He says, ‘Behold, days are coming’, says the Lord, ‘when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them’, says the Lord. 10 For this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days’, says the Lord: ‘I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ ” (NAS) Note: better promises, better covenant, better ministry.

69) Heb 10:8 “After saying above, ‘Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast not desired, nor hast Thou taken pleasure in them’ (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Thy will.’ He takes away the first, (Torah) in order to establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (NAS) Notice that Jesus Yahshua is saying here that God has taken away (v.9) the Old Testament Law Covenant, and has established a New Covenant. According to this, and these many other passages, is God pleased with those who still try to keep the Old Testament Law???

70) Col 2:16 “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” (NAS) Isn't God telling us clearly that walking with Him has absolutely nothing to do with keeping the Feast, eating ham and nothing to do with keeping the Sabbath??!

71) "Through Him, everyone who believes, is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” (NAS) In other words, doesn't the Torah Law of Moses leave us in a chained and bound condition from which we cannot be freed? Are you living and preaching a false gospel that tries to entice us to become entangled again in this Torah yoke of bondage???

72) 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 states, “But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of The Old Covenant (Torah) the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day, whenever Moses (Torah) is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (NAS) Our son, Joshua, makes this observation: Is he correct?? "It also seems as though those who have a preoccupation with Old Testament laws and regulations seldom, if ever, talk of the Spirit. Little is mentioned of the Spirit-led life-style, or the importance of being “led by the Spirit”. It seems as though the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit, are at the outer edge of their doctrines. Look into it."

73) Acts 15:5 “But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses (Torah).’ ” (NAS) Is this what you are teaching and believing??

74) Gal.3:19 "Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a Mediator, until the Seed should come to Whom the promise had been made." Does not the word "until" mean until? Here, it also says that Christ came to redeem us from the curse of the law. Why would we want to return to the curse of what Christ came to redeem us from?

75) If we are "not under the law, but under grace", are we to still be under the law? (Ro.6:14,15)

76) 6 "For in Christ Jesus Yahshua neither **circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, (Doesn't this mean that there is NO benefit to keeping Torah?) but faith working through love. 7 **You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion (Torah) did not come from Him Who calls you. 9 A little leaven(= The Law, The Torah) leavens the whole lump of dough. 10 I have confidence in you in the Lord, that you will adopt no other view; but the one who **is disturbing you (trying to convince you to observe Torah and keep the Old Testament Law?) shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. 11 But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, (Torah) why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the Cross has been abolished. 12 Would that those who are troubling you would even mutilate (castrate) themselves. ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Here, isn't God saying that any one who wants to emphasize the importance of keeping the Old Testament Law, or Torah, who wants to be religious or legalistic, should go all the way and take a knife and cut their testicles (or, their entire organ) off!!! Then, according to Deut.23:1 he will never be allowed to enter the assembly of the Lord.

77) Gal 6:12 “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised (keep the Law, the Torah), simply that they may not be persecuted for the Cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law (Torah), themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Yahshua Christ, through Which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For, neither is circumcision ANYTHING, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” (NAS) In other words, isn't this saying that there is zero profit in keeping the Old Testament laws?!

78) Gal 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm (stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set you free) and do not be (entangled) subject again to a yoke of slavery (the Torah, the Old Testament Law?). 2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, (that is, if you try to keep the Old Testament Torah Law, Christ will be of NO benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law (Do you believe this?); you have fallen from grace.” (NAS)

79) In Acts 10:14 "But Peter said, 'Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.' 15 And the Voice spake unto him again the second time, 'What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.' ", wasn't this indicating the doing away of Torah?

80) In 1 Tim 4:3-5 " . . Commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." Comment?

81) When Paul says, three times, in 1 Cor 6:12-13, and in 1 Cor 10:23 "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them.", and specifically mentioning meat, wasn't he now speaking of the doing away of Torah and the dietary laws, to be replaced with a lifestyle, in keeping with the leading of the Holy Spirit, and the Law of the Spirit of Life, in Christ?

These are all the questions I have for now. But, again, please be assured of our love.

I do not know whether or not you had planned on coming to our Feast observance this year or not, but, until we can answer these questions between us, I will encourage you to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with other Torah observers. I do not wish our Feast observers to go back.

We love you! 715-866-4060

john roy and Karen Bohlen

ATTACHMENT:

I recently attended an adult Sunday School Class in an evangelical, fundamental full Gospel church, when the teacher told us that we must keep the Old Testament Torah Law. No one, myself included, challenged her: But, it sounded to me that she was telling us, in no uncertain terms, that we must:

1) Kill cows as a means of pleasing God

2) Kill witches

3) Kill our wife, if we are jealous of her, by poison

4) Kill blasphemers

5) Kill Sabbath breakers

6) Stone our kids to death if they keep disobeying

7) Keep Sabbath, from sundown Friday, to sundown Saturday

8) Circumcise all males in the church

9) Consider unclean and quarantine all Tampon wearing women, one week out of four

10) Mandate year long honeymoons for all newlyweds

11) Not allow any bastard to enter church, to the tenth generation.

I had to stifle myself from standing, raising my fist, and shouting, "Fly specks and heifer dust!!! What this woman is trying to teach us is spastic, rank, God-awful, hideous, hurtful, harmful heresy!"

What should I have done???????????????????????!!!!!!!

The woman was teaching from Mt.5:17 ff, where Christ announced that He came to FULFILL the law! He was announcing that HE WAS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW!!!!!!!! This means that, because He came to die as our sacrifice, that we no longer need to kill cows, that He IS our Sabbath, that He can enable children to behave, witches to be converted, jealousy to be healed, blasphemers to be saved, that every day is holy, that all of marriage is to be a honeymoon, that circumcision is no longer necessary, that all things are sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, that menstruating women are now clean, and that we are to call nothing unclean that God calls clean.

Christ is the fulfillment of the Law!

CONTACT INFORMATION

You may contact us at: Great Commission Ministries

9473 County Road D

Webster, WI 54893

Phone: 715-866-4060 email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.Great-Commission-Ministries.org

Other books and articles we have written:

How To Rule The World, or Seek 1st the Kingdom of God

The Cult of Cannibals, or, How To Rightly Relate

The Sexual Ministry, or, How To Live Happily Ever After

How To Raise 'Purfect' Kids

The King's Greatest Secret!

FGM, or Female Circumcision

Poetry

Law, Grace and Law

Body Stewardship

The Glorious Church

Apostles: Who, How, What, When and Where

True African Adventure Stories

How To Save Time

What is God's Name?

Law Grace and Law

SCRIPTURES USED

LAW & GRACE & LAW

THOSE IN FAVOUR SAY “I”

SOME SCRIPTURES TO CONSIDER

Two Kinds of Laws:

THE SECT OF THE PHARISEES

JEWISHNESS TODAY

HASHEM!

THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM

The Purpose of the Law

THOSE OPPOSED TO KEEPING THE OLD TESTAMENT, SAY, “FREEDOM”!!

KEEP ALL THE LAW!!!

OLD TESTAMENT EYE GLASSES

A CULTIC MOVEMENT

KEEP ALL THE LAw

HOW TO SEDUCE SOMEONE

THE SABBATH

THE LETTER OF THE LAW vs. THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW

CONCLUSION

MENSTRUATION

TRICKY BEWITCHING!

A LETTER TO SOME DEAR ONES

OUR PRE-MARRIAGE COVENANT

WHY WE CELEBRATE TABERNACLES

QUIET QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND REVIEW

ATTACHMENT:

CONTACT INFORMATION

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