“spirit of service”

An ominous shadow is moving across the land and beginning to inhabit the souls of men. The shadow I am speaking of is the “spirit of service.” This spirit appeals to a natural desire within all of us ‘to do’ or ‘to be found doing.’ The appearance of this spirit on its surface can seem not only good but even necessary, but what lies beneath is the substance that a Holy Elohim finds so repulsive in man, that is, the self-will that defiantly says, “I will, I can, Yes we can!” The pinnacle of a humanity with this mindset is to build, improve, and rectify without much if any acknowledgement of an Elohim who gives sunshine and rain to both the righteous and the unrighteous. Without this acknowledgement man continues to build his skyscrapers, institutions, and societies as if they are the reason for our existence. And if our towers fall or our culture becomes corrupt, then we will just rebuild them with granite rather than brick. This is the essence of defiance. The reliance on human will rather than on an Elohim who gives all things.

I recently received an important manuscript from a dear prayer-warrior who keeps prayerful watch over the saints around the globe from her post in northern Minnesota. The manuscript, compiled by Sue Bradley with urgent messages from Pastor David Wilkerson of Times Square Church in New York City and Rabbi Jonathan Cahn of the Beth Israel Messianic Congregation in Lodi New Jersey, warns of an impending judgment of Yahweh upon America with the epicenter occurring in New York City…again. The article provides both historical and biblical understanding as to why New York City and Ground Zero is the focus of His judgment just like Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were the center of His judgment in ancient Israel. The fall-out from the crisis though will affect the entire land – as in ancient Israel so also in contemporary America. A link to the manuscript is provided below:

The Watchmen, 911 and the Harbingers

If you have been reading this blog, you know that I have been spending some time in the book of Ezekiel—especially as the word relates to the restoration of the two sticks (two houses) into one stick in Ezekiel 37. As I studied the chapters that come before and after Ezekiel 37, I was pierced in my spirit by what I read in Ezekiel 33. I tried to lay the impact of those verses aside but couldn’t seem to forget them. Several weeks later I received the manuscript from the Ben Israel community in northern Minnesota that confirmed what had already been provoked in my spirit. The manuscript begins with the following passage:

Ezekiel 33:1-6

“Again the word of Adonai came unto me, saying,
Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them,
When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts,
and set him for their watchman:
If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him.
But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come,
and take [any] person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity;
but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel;
therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from Me.”

I’m compelled by what Yahweh has confirmed in my spirit through Ezekiel 33 to sound a trumpet of warning. In the manuscript, Pastor Wilkerson gives his account of how he came to this prophetic revelation and a practical word that he received from the Holy Spirit for his own direction to employ before and during the crisis. And while both Pastor Wilkerson and Rabbi Cahn provide prophetic understanding regarding the coming judgment, I would like to add a word of encouragement. I firmly believe that the coming events are part of the restoration process of kol Yisrael—both houses made into one new man. Derek Prince, a late great man of Yah, prophetically saw the God of Israel bringing Christians and Jews together through the affliction imposed by external forces—namely communism/socialism, humanism, and most importantly Islam. Mr. Prince described these forces as operating like a pincer to encircle and cut-off the people of Yah to destroy them. As the heat gets turned-up though, these two groups will begin to increasingly see each other for who they actually are and the stick called Yahudah will be joined to the stick called Yosef that is in the hand of Efrayim—and they will be one-stick in the Hand of Yahshua. Todah Rabah Yahweh!

Hosea

For almost two years now I have been fascinated as well as somewhat fixated on the life and ministry of the prophet Hosea. The book of Hosea is one of the key books in the Bible for understanding Yahweh’s plan for kol Yisrael and especially the House of Ephraim. Hosea, a prophet from the southern kingdom of Judah, was sent to the northern kingdom of Israel (or Ephraim) to warn them of Yahweh’s impending judgment due to their flagrant harlotry. After the kingdom was divided, Ephraim committed spiritual harlotry by mixing pagan religious practices and symbols of worship with the one true faith that had been passed down from the patriarchs and King David. Jeroboam, the new King of Israel, did this to keep the people from going back to Jerusalem for Temple worship that might result in their making permanent Aliyah (return) to the land and the faith of their fathers. What amazes me though is how Yahweh decided to convey the message of His disgust with their abominations by having His messenger Hosea marry a harlot!

In the wisdom of Yah, the prophet was the message. The circumstances of Hosea’s life reflected the condition of the people to whom he was sent. I often wonder what Hosea had to confront—a man of Yah and a prophet no less—once he began walking in a call such as that! Did the priests, Levites, and the Judean community in which he dwelled ostracize him? I’m sure he was an unwelcome message in the northern kingdom. Like the priest, the prophet often has to identify with the sins of the people so his face is literally rubbed into that sin to authenticate the identification. And as a by-product of the preparation of the messenger Yah always gives the people something to hang onto that allows them to reject the message. If they cannot find error in the message, then they will find it in the messenger. Even Yahshua who was flawless endured this type of rejection.

This method employed by Elohim is not unique in Scripture. Isaiah proclaims in chapter six, “I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips!” Despite his circumstances, the man of Yah is by no means exempt from the responsibility for his sin and should be grieved over the fact that he has defect. In fact, I would think that a man like Hosea would feel the agony and despair of his circumstances on a level hardly understood by most people. I cannot imagine that he willingly and gleefully chose to marry a prostitute. This raises the question: Did Hosea have a choice in his calling? And, if he did, did he understand what would be required of him before he made that choice? Let’s take a look at the beginning of the book of Hosea to try and better understand the El of our devotion and His plan for our restoration as manifested through the life of Hosea.

The words in Hosea 1:1-10 are instructive, sobering, and ultimately encouraging. Yahweh tells Hosea to take a wife of whoring and children of whoring, for the land had created great whoring by departing from Yahweh. Hosea then married Gomer a prostitute and they had three children. Yahweh had Hosea give each child a name with prophetic significance. The first child was a son whom Elohim instructed Hosea to name Yizre-El (Jezreel) which means the gathering and collection of the previously scattered seed. Literally “El will scatter, El will sow.” The name of this child indicates that Ephraim will be broken and destroyed by being placed in a metaphoric valley of scattering (Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition Study Bible). And Gomer conceived again and bore a daughter whom Yahweh had Hosea name Lo-Ruchamah which means no mercy or no compassion. After she had weaned Lo-Ruchamah she conceived, and bore a son. Then said Elohim, “Call his name Lo-Ami for you are not my people, and I will not be your Elohim.”

Yahweh literally disowned, banished, and turned into outcasts the children of the ten northern tribes of Israel (see Isaiah 11:12). For many scholars and scribes of biblical history this banishment by Elohim of the ten northern tribes from the family of Israel represents the end of the story for the House of Ephraim–-they are lost to history having been scattered among the nations—hence, the theory of the lost ten tribes of Israel. But while the first nine verses in Hosea 1:1-10 are sobering the last verse in this passage can only be described as very encouraging!

Hosea 1:10

“Yet the full number of the children of Yisrael shall be as the sand of the sea, that cannot be measured or numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people –Lo Ami, there it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living El – B’nai-Elohim.”

Do you know of any group of people who today walk the face of the earth claiming to be the children of the living God? I do! The Apostle Peter confirms the fulfillment of this prophetic promise in 1 Peter 2:10 “Who in times past were Lo-Ami-Not a people but are now the people of Yahweh: who were Lo-Ruchamah – No-Mercy, but now have obtained rachamim.” I don’t know about you, but the fulfillment of the promise of multiplicity given by Yahweh to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then to Ephraim and his descendants gets me so excited that I don’t know what to do with myself—may the Eternal One of Yisrael be praised le-olam-va-ed!

The Hiding Place

Yoo-Hoo! Ephraim…where are you? Your brother Yahudah is looking for you, and Yahweh too. You can’t hide forever. The time has come to join your brother in following the eternal commandments and statutes that glorify the Name that the Father has placed above all names. What’s that? You say Yahudah doesn’t accept Yahshua as the Messiah? Well…that’s true, but how do you expect Yahudah to see Yahshua unless he is provoked by those who already know Yahshua? I know I know, you are comfortable in the religious traditions handed down to us from the fathers and the world has made a place for our man-ordained Sabbath and festivals, but I’m afraid that Easter, Christmas, and Sunday worship services will never provoke Yahudah to jealousy. They know that Yahweh’s commandments are eternal and anything or anyone that attempts to replace them with something that is not of Him or from Him is not being true to His Word. So…please, come out of your hiding place so that the two houses can become ‘one stick’ again like we were during the glorious reign of King David!

You ask, “When did our hiding begin?” Well…ever since Yahweh completed the desolation of the northern kingdom in 721 B.C.E., our people have been scattered to the four corners of the globe. But in His infinite wisdom He did this so that His promise to the patriarchs might be fulfilled and Yahweh always keeps His promises. And when He sent His only begotten son, Yahshua ha Yahudi, to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24), the seeking of us began in earnest. Only Yahshua knows where to find us because He is the one who hid us! It is as simple as hide-n-seek. Yahweh says through the prophet Zechariah 10:8 “I will whistle for them to gather them together, For I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they were before.” He continues in verse 9, “When I scatter them among the peoples, they will remember Me in far countries, and they with their children will live and come back.” My friend…Yahweh is now whistling for us because the time has come to reveal ourselves to our brother Yahudah!

Yes…it’s true that Yahweh intentionally hid us among the nations so that the promise of multiplicity given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then Ephraim could be fulfilled. Why did Yahweh hide us and not Yahudah? Well…the scriptures tell us that Jacob blessed our father Yoseph by passing down the promise of multiplicity through his son Ephraim and then Jacob turned around and blessed Yahudah by saying that through him the Messiah would come. To increase the tension between these two siblings, Jacob also told Yahudah that he would have preeminence over his brothers! Of course, we know that the people of Yahudah have suffered greatly throughout their generations. They have been despised because of their enviable position of being close to the Father. And while the Father is rolling-out the red carpet for our return, don’t expect our brother to so readily welcome us back after our nearly three thousand years of wallowing with the swine! (Luke 15)

Ephraim, my son…the people of Yah are a marked as well as blessed people. But to fulfill the promise of multiplicity the house of Ephraim, or the ten tribes of the northern kingdom, had to be hidden from the wrath of the world. Unfortunately, we have become all to accustom to the ways of the world. We have become camouflage experts! We have hid ourselves in the hills while the Philistines have occupied the field. Despite having a Son of David, who is the battle bow, the tent peg, and the cornerstone—as our rock and our salvation, we each have gone our own way just as our father Jeroboam did. Truly there is nothing new under the sun.